2004 VW .:R32 - 3.31.2008

byobw video - 3.27.2008

better quality link here

laundry and gym at once - 3.24.2008

Laundry can no longer be an excuse for missing out on that work out.

byobw - 3.23.2008

big wheel races are back!

my pictures here: picasa
my video: in progress

i once owned a big wheel, it was back in the days of coloring inside the lines, and learning the alphabet. i never knew that the skills i learned then would all be useful in my early adulthood. in fact, coloring in between the lines is the least used of the aforementioned skills i learned as child.

for 7 years san franciscan residents have gathered on easter sunday to race bigwheels down the famous lombard street. this year was #8, but it was no longer lombard where the race was held. instead the race was moved to a less 'high profile and willing to sue' location in the potrero hill. vermont and 20th street.






the following movie may give you some insight to how far the race has come.

Ghetto meal - 3.19.2008

James deemed this moblog worthy. Top ramen and a hot dog with
jalapenos. Yeaaaa

visit the dentist for a 1/2 crown - 3.18.2008

i went to the dentist today and got myself a half crown. the time flew by because natasha has 20" widescreen lcd monitors hanging from the ceiling that play discovery channel's planet earth. today i watched birds. she has a screen to look at for herself, but it's a boring 3d modeling program that later instructs a milling machine how to precisely cut a block of material into a perfectly fitting crown for my tooth. birds fly thousands of miles each year to mate, and then back again.



viola there's my new crown!

the new r32 - 3.17.2008

this weekend elsie picked up her new r32, and it's a pretty one.

Edible Arrangements. - 3.14.2008

March 14th has many holidays. I recieved a present in celebration of
all of them!

Fernet baraka! - 3.12.2008

I didn't drink it, but it's here!

noriega nights - 3.09.2008

i live on noriega.

imagine a few bars, lots of asian restaurants, dentists, and other misc shops -that's noriega street. during a dinner with gemma and michael the idea to adventure the noriega street restaurants/bars was brought up. i even mentioned that i had access to a laminator machine. and that's where it started. noriega nights was born.

i asked a co-worker to draw a few doodles on my dry erase board friday afternoon, which i took a picture of and then resized and printed out with a bit of windows paint-shop post production. i printed a few pics from onilne photo albums to personalize them, and my noriega nights vip badges were almost complete. after a hole punch and some fishing line, we were set to go.

there's something about a theme that makes the night just that much more fun. going out just to be out is, 'out'. it's time to theme it up.

Sunset in the sunset. - 3.06.2008

With my lappy!

yelp - 3.03.2008

if you've searched for a place to eat on the internet, it's likely that you've come across yelp.com.

i used to have an excel file that i kept updated every night after venturing out into the city (when i moved to SF in 2005). i'd keep a running file of each bar/restaurant/club/store that was somewhat interesting. this way, i would be able to remember that cool italian place i went to with so-and-so about 4 months ago (where was that place again? was it in north beach? no, it was in nob hill. wait, was it in cole valley?!).

my excel spreadsheet was great, and i maintained it rather well, i even had a system. at each place, i'd grab a business card on my way out. i had a collection of business cards on my desk corner, and that was my excel spreadsheet update queue. sometimes the queue would grow for a week or two, and i'd spend an hr or so updating my spreadsheet and remember the places i liked and disliked.

there was only one problem with my spreadsheet, it was stuck at my apartment. more and more i found myself wishing i had the spreadsheet in my back pocket. friday night after happy hr with some co-workers, i would have saved the night with a perfect recommendation for dinner, but without my spreadsheet i was powerless.

so i started a new routine. go somewhere, collect the business card at the front, input the information into my spreadsheet, and added one final step: convert the spreadsheet to html and upload it to my website. now i could access the latest upload of my list anywhere on the world wide web, genious i thought i was.

until i discovered yelp.

a few guys had basically the same thought as i did, but they were genious, and i was a retard. they decided to create a website where any and everyone can have a much better 'excel spreadsheet'. they formed yelp.com. yelp is much prettier and more functional than a spreadsheet. not only does it help people like me get what i want, but it's also the first presence most smaller establishments have on the web, which is huge. they created a website that has spawned a culture of critics.

now they are on covers of magazines and run a company which nets more in a year than i'll net in the next 10.

needless to say i've ditched the excel spreadsheet and joined yelp about a year ago. not only does yelp help me find cool new places to spend my disposable income, it's also a perfect tracking device.

one nice thing about yelp is that i am able to access it from anywhere on the net, and with my iphone, which is almost anywhere i am at any given time. not only is my iphone used in order to look up what's on yelp, and where i've been. my iphone is my new queue manager. i'm proud of my yelp queue technique.

here's the system (which i'm proud of):
1.) visit a new place [club, bar, restaurant, hot dog stand, etc] and take a picture of it with iphone.
2.) email that picture with any special notes like prices, dishes, or things to mention in my review to my special 'yelp only' email address. ex: myqueue@gmail.com
3.) when i'm home i check that account for my yelp queue. not only does it have the name of each place i've been, but also some notes and a pic i may choose to upload to yelp (the spreadsheet can't do that).

Elsie and her new toy. - 3.02.2008