On Buying Flowers

Silly things, flowers,

The green little wood-board hutch on the corner,

Florid harem,

With buckets and ribbon and spilled water,

Fat yellow sunflowers,

Mums and dainty white daisies,

Proud red roses of course,

Fingers of green tinted with the tiniest purple blossoms,

Crocus and white lily,

A hullabaloo of wildflowers,

So many ladies,

Waiting to be asked to dance.

This Is The Ocean

This is the ocean

this is me

The brine churn of birds,
The cool erosion polishing the foamy waves,
Fogged horizon,
The sun blistering through the clouds.

I watch and let my mind float and drift and

sink

into the cold,
The lost valleys,
Silent canyons and ghostly plains,
And bottomless trenches,
Gathering all our bones.

Rain on the mountains,
Snow on the sea,
This is you

this is me

Braided rivers.

Are your headwaters the Alpine cataracts?
Or the muddy flood plains of India?
The Rockies green trickle creeks?
Or the blood flow of the Mississippi?
What dark icebergs weigh on you?
What convoys of ghost ships,
Sail your uncharted currents?
What monsters

troll

The surf of your laugh,
You flash in the sunlight and dance in the wind,
And amaze me.

I taste the salt

on your cool lips.

Free Throw

I'm trying to write a poem about basketball,
But it won't sink,
About the wind off the ocean,
And over Twin Peaks,
Sweeping the court on the hill
I can see Oakland from here.

About how the backboard quivers
The fog stained net
How good the glorious sun feels,
And even better to rest in the shade,
Of this douglas fir.

Just shooting baskets with my son,
Lay-ups and half-court hail-mary's,
And chasing balls,
While small dogs play in the lumpy field.

My arms know,
Better than a hug,
Better than writing this poem,
Everything,
To put the ball through the hoop.

But they fail.
It's short, long, left, right.
We blame the wind,
And this glorious sun.

Bunk

Today I built an Ikea bunk bed for my friend's twins who turned 8 today.

Yes, they "helped."

I'm taking bets on how long until one of them looses a tooth falling/diving out of it.
Happy Birthday, girls!

Farmers Market

Sweet Basil in tight bunches
Like school kids waiting to cross the street.
Fat baskets of strawberries,
Sweet and fragrant.
Flowers in the shade,
A lilliputian forest of herbs,
Rows of plastic boxes of almonds
like apartment buildings on the hill.
A whole table of vegetables
I do not recognize.

I had my first fig ever;
Which end to hold?
Do you eat the skin?
Oh, it's so soft,
Yielding to my mouth,
Sweet and warm and subtle,
Like a first kiss.

I Forget

Until I'm out the front door,
I forget what fresh air tastes like,
Ocean churned, filtered through the trees,
And stirred by sparrow wings,
Oozing Spring's green,
And the wine of decaying leaves.

It makes a sidewalk romantic out of me,
Reading meaning in the cracked cement.

Startled by the horizon,
Ships in the bay,
Cities and roads and bridges and cars
With people in them going places,

The sky church,
Makes me a convert to the Cloud Gods,
The stars and Moon and King God Sun,
And, Nimbus help me,
The first pretty girl I see.

21

Today my son Robin is 21. That's drinking age in this State. Don't know what I can tell him about drinking; haven't had one in over 18 years myself.

I got him a Paperchase ice cube tray makes "cubes" that looks like jewels. As well as a couple Billy Collin's books, and a Space Pen (used by the astronauts!) that can even write underwater...

I don't like to brag, but he IS the best kid ever.

So he's off tonight having dinner with his friends.

To Tell The Tooth

Do I need to say that it's a bit disconcerting when the dental assistant, while attempting to place a temporary crown, keeps muttering and swearing under her breath?

"Shit!"
"Jesus!" when she dropped the crown for the fourth time towards the back of my throat.

At one point she used her gloved hands to pull back her sleeves. So much for sterile.

Meanwhile, in the two plus hours I was in the chair, I read the latest Smithsonian cover to cover. Interesting article about forensic astronomy there.

Keeping Order

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn?t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Sitting Around

We've instituted a new policy at our store; no sitting on the floor. The first hour I'm sure I told at least 20 people, "I'm sorry, we're not allowed to let people sit on the floor anymore." No one questioned me but a few grumbled and a couple chose to squat and lean against display fixtures.

My impression after two days of doing this is that the store looks a lot cleaner. People aren't picnicing and leaving a mess. Fewer stacks of wedding magazines piled back in reference. Fewer coffee cups on shelves.

It helped that we had four roof leaks and one bathroom plumbing leak; the floor was wet in several areas....

I don't know if it will hurt sales but I rather doubt it. It might even help.

And the manga section is once more navigable.

Book Lights in North Beach

Interesting installation on Columbus. The books seem to randomly light up.









Underneath, words imbedded on the pavement, as if they spilled out of the books...

500!

Today marks Happy Now?'s 500th cartoon! Wow! Some of them -- one or two -- are even pretty good!

Big and Small

I've been decreasing the size of my Happy Now? cartoons the past few days and am going to try the smaller size. It's really how I designed it in the first place.



Meanwhile, people (well, at least one) have been buying the shirts! Looking good, Susan! Makes you look... smarter.

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery reception and poetry reading

National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie gave a nice speech last night; very funny and insightful, and introduced three Writer's Corp poets, my son Robin being one of them. Robin did a great reading.

Robin on the Sunday Morning News!

Sleeping In

Long week for me; 8 days in a row at work. Slept in til 7 am today!

Meanwhile the company stock has sunk to less than a dollar. It was $27 less than two years ago. Wonder if we'll make it until xmas...

Robin's featured at the SFAC Gallery!

THIS PLACE CALLED POETRY
November 7, 2008 - January 24, 2009
Location: San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

401 Van Ness Ave
(at McAllister)
San Francisco, CA 94102

Wednesday - Saturday
12:00 - 5:00pm
Call for late hours

Closed Tuesday, November 11

p: 415.554.6080
f: 415.554.6093

http://www.sfacgallery.org/exhibitions_detail.fsp?id=431702

mini documentary about Robin

3,000 Girls

Yesterday when I got to work, around 5:45 am, I was surprised to see that McDonalds had a line. It was dark so I didn't notice the other crowd of girls (mostly) waiting for an event at Hot Topic in the mall. Some had been waiting from the night before. The event was scheduled for 7 pm. A popular event.

Apparently (while I was counting drawers) the crowd swelled and became a mob which got out of hand and got quite dangerous in the crush. One woman had her nose broken being pressed up against the glass doors, another fainted and several were in fear of suffocating.

The police broke it up and cancelled the event. So with nothing else to do they came to our store. We were busy for a couple hours. A few were in tears, but generally it was a good crowd; well behaved. At the time I didn't know about the scary crush.

Vote, baby, Vote!

Since I was driving past my polling place, and since I found a place to park nearby, and since I had my democrat cheat-sheet; I voted.

My polling place is the Randall Museum, which is also some kind of afterschool program and there were lots of minivans in the parking lot and lots of kids about.

While I was voting I overheard one little girl asking about a million questions of the very patient poll master (or whatever they are called). Where do the ballots come from? Do they make them there? What do they do with the old ones? How much do they cost.

He patiently explained how it worked and why it was so important. I actually started to tear up a bit.

When it came time to feed the ballot into the reader I asked if the little girl could do it for me. She was thrilled (and so was I).

Laurie Anderson's Homeland

Last weekend I went to Berkeley to see Laurie Anderson. It was a magical evening.

A stage studded with candles it was simply four musicians weaving a night of wonder. Laurie started with a story about birds (before there was a world) and it just went onwards and upwards from there.

Darker, sadder, angrier and more political than I've ever heard her, it was also sweet and beautiful. She is a poet and a surprisingly accomplished singer and musician.

Haunting.

Tuesday Musings

Weird work schedule lately. Early, early (getting up at 4:30 am) and different days off each week.

I finally finished reading Devil in the White City. I liked it, but can't say it's the best book I've ever read. In fact, I've read some books I liked better this year. Maybe I've just been lucky lately to have some good books.

I'm poking my nose into a couple books but nothing has grabbed me yet. I think I need something that's very very well written. Maybe I'll check out Billy Collin's new book of poems...

offline...!

My website, mrblack.com, and my email have been offline all week. I had automatic payments set up for it, but the credit card expired and I didn't notice. I paid up but nothing happened for several days. Hard to get a hold of my service provider, too.

FInally I called them and they said they don't know if I've paid up or not until I call... You'd think they'd put their phone number on their website or billing emails then...!

Meanwhile, no email for most of the week. Kinda depressing.

First Anniversary!

Saturday, September 13, 2008 marks the one-year anniversary for Happy Now? Cartoons, my daily cartoon blog. That's 365 cartoons in the past year!

It's been an interesting year learning to draw on the computer, to write funny on a deadline, and to spell.

Ignored by religious leaders and clergy, overlooked by philosophers and poets, and unceremoniously snubbed by major and fringe American political parties, yet Happy Now? continues to delight a handful of disturbed fans, coerced friends, and deeply-concerned family members.

Here's to another year of pushing up daisies!

Thank you for your patronage!

Foggy Days

My commute takes me over the hill (Twin Peaks) early in the morning. Often it's the thickest fog you can imagine. You can't see across the intersection (the signal lights act like a curtain that you can't see past).

Purge

Yesterday I took two carloads of crap to the special electronic recycling drop off. Even I was amazed at how much stuff it was, and this was just the big stuff!

One Big (heavy) TV
Four computer monitors
Two computers
A big box of cables, etc.
Four printers.

That STILL leaves us with four tv's, four monitors, five computers, two printers, and much accessories...

No sooner was the dining room pretty much cleared out than the stuff for the Salvation Army rushed in to fill it. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Staycation

I'm back at work after a week off. Had to take some vacation or loose it. Meanwhile Robin's back east at the Youth Speaks conference and visiting his mom (he saw Robert Redford but didn't know who he was!).

My biggest project has been going through old computers. What's on these hard drives? Which monitor (I have at least five extras) goes with which computer (three in various state of cannibalism).

What's hard is you just can't chuck them. They either have to go to a special dump or be dropped off at a special charity location. Sheesh! And these things are big, taking up a lot of room.

I want my dining room back.

Constellation of Mists

Bone-cold night riddled with mists
off the ocean churn
Raptured from deep dark salt caves
in prehistoric canyon trenches.

This great atomic hive
a million buzzing hydrogen wings
on fat oxygen bumble bees

Now dancing around your head
like ecstatic angels
on a pinhead godhead

Our greatest effort to blossom
is only the courage to stand in it and laugh
with cold wet faces
and salty lips.

Foggy Fourth

Typical foggy Fourth in the city. In fact, some terrific fog lately. Trees puddling, traffic signals disappearing... I was out for a walk and my hair got soaked. Beautiful!

Bunny Dee!

One of the ladies at work really knows how to draw. This is from her new website, www.bunnydee.com.

Pretty cute, Dee!

Le Weekend

One of those lazy weekends mostly messing around on the computer. Watched a couple movies, neither worth noting.

Worked on my cartoons and cleaned up my desk and did some writing.

Played a few rounds of Age of Empires.

Did some grocery shopping.

Back to work tomorrow.

Mr. Excitement.

Straw Days

Last week I had half my teeth cleaned (don't worry, I had the other half cleaned last month). While my lips was still numb I managed to bite a big chunk out of it. It's one of those injuries that starts hurting more and more as the days go by. My lip has been swollen and very tender.

But it doesn't hurt. Unless I'm eating, drinking, talking, smiling, brushing my teeth, shaving... Which are things it turns out that I do with some degree of frequency. I've been drinking coffee with a straw and eating the mildest of foods (bread and butter, etc.).

I finally tracked down some goop that forms a nice coating over the divet and have been able to eat again. It's not noticeable (although if feels like it should be) except at work people notice I'm not smiling...

Here's some friendly advice. Don't eat yourself.

The Magical Powers of Masking Tape

Today we had a kids event in the store. Junie B. Jones, a popular character in the kids genre and her Stupid Smelly Bus. I didn't have time to watch the show but the kids seemed to love it. They were surprisingly well behaved.

Hot Stuff!

Robin took me out for dinner for Father's Day.



We went to Fuzio, a crazy mix of Mediterranean and asian food.



We had two appetizers; onion strings and pesto focaccia. Yum!



Robin had the Firecracker Pork and I had the ahi tuna.



We were two happy, full boys last night.

Fort Mason

Nice parking spot on a beautiful day in the city. A slight breeze ringing the cowbells the sailors have rigged to their boats.

Bridge Walk

Gold!

I read professor Brands' Money Men about the financial history of the United States through the 19th century. A very well written and interesting book. So I ordered Age of Gold by him. It's terrific.

The part I liked the best is the first third of the book which are the stories of how people got to the gold fields. Whether it was across the isthmus of Panama, around the Horn, or in a wagon crossing the United States, they all read like harrowing adventures. Wow. A little advice: even if you have a crappy map don't try to take a short cut.

The political and social history of California and its impact on the rest of the United States and the world also is fascinating reading. Brands writes history with a focus on the biographies of the people who lived it. The Civil War, immigrants, native americans, the trans-continental railroad, San Francisco, vigilantes, civil rights, and, of course, vast fortunes made and lost.

Should be required reading for all Californians.

Tragedy

For my lunches last month I sat in my car and listened to the audio book by Harold Bloom, What Piece of Work is Man. It's 8.3 hours of professor Bloom essentially giving the course he has taught for 50 years at Yale, into a microphone.

Insightful, interesting, and surprisingly emotional. And beautiful. He covers the seven major tragedies and brings to light the exciting literary news. He holds a special place for Juliet, whom he says is the first fully-formed human in literature. You may not agree but he makes one hell of an argument.

Oh yeah, a Barnes & Noble exclusive.

Under The Ice

Corresponding with starting my new job back in April, the NHL hockey playoff started. This year, with my new schedule, I was able to watch many games. Often one or two every night!

I'm not a big hockey fan, but I do enjoy the game; they're fast and things can change in the blink of an eye. After watching a bit you wonder how anyone could ever score a goal.

The playoffs are great because the same teams will play each other for many games and you start to see how they adjust, where they are strong and weak, and which players have heart to play those grueling long games into overtime (no ties allowed).

The last game of the Dallas / San Jose series went into quadruple overtime. That was a hell of a game. The Sharks lost, but they showed a lot of heart.

After many playoff series it was finally the last two standing; Detroit and Pittsburgh. The first two games were boring; Detroit dominated and scored many times. Amazingly Pittsburgh adjusted and beat Detroit in a stunning game three. Detroit won game four, barely. And game five was a nail-biter with Pittsburgh tying in the last 17 seconds and, finally, winning the game in triple overtime.

Last night, in a game of inches, Detroit won the series and the Stanley Cup. It was a hell of a season and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This picture is from the last exciting second of the 2008 Stanley Cup (notice the time on the scoreboard has run out and the puck is in the air next to the goal post!).

Now I see it's Spring. There are bills to be paid, errands and chores to be done...

Adios Kitty!

Beauty's gone now. I keep trying to not step on her... Nice ol' kitty. At least she survived!

Cat Nap

This cat sleeps about 23 hours a day. Maybe more. She can be forgiven since she's about 19 years old; still a teenager.

Update

Had some computer issues (mostly from installing new hardware combinations) and haven't been able to post for a few days... That and I've been busy watching hockey!

I'm enjoying my new job which involves being locked in a windowless room and doing a lot of computer / paperwork.

Today begins a week of cat sitting. Beauty is 18 years old but small and looks like a kitten.

Welcome, Beauty.

Cartoons

In the course of my extensive "research" (i.e. it's my day off and I don't feel like doing laundry) I often find some good cartoon sites. Today I found several (they often link to each other and unfold like an origami fortune cookie).
The Unforgiving TreeThe Perry Bible Fellowship
www.pbfcomics.com

And some classics (note the economy of line):
Arf Lovers
www.arflovers.com

Borders Sunrise

Stonestown; Monday Morning

For some reason, this Borders gets trashed more than any other Borders I've worked at; even Union Square. I don't know if some law and order is possible, but it's really ridiculous. Not uncommon to see people with an armload of magazines or books they have NO intention of buying, camping out for hours and leaving them scattered on the floor.

Saw a man yesterday with more than a dozen in a series of Manga piled on the floor next to him, reading in a chair (with his feet over the arm, of course). I wanted to take his picture, it was so outrageous. Are we a business?

It makes finding a book very difficult and the store looks like hell. It's depressing to the staff and other customers. Maybe a simple "rule" not to put books or magazines on the floor...

Book Shelves

Check out all the cool bookshelf designs.

Started my new job as Operations Supervisor at the Stonestown Borders today. It was a good day.

Moving On

Saturday will be my last day as a manager, and at the San Francisco Centre Borders. I'm transferring on Sunday to the Stonestown Borders (where I worked last week) and I'll be taking on the role as Operations Supervisor. This was a tough decision and I hate leaving behind all my friends and coworkers.

200

I admit I lost count. Sometime in the past week I posted cartoon 200 to Happy Now?, my cartoon blog. Not yet able to retire on my profits I did notice someone bought a tee shirt from my store. I think I made $0.37. So now I move into a new phase. Alas, not better art or funnier gags. I'm researching publicity and marketing. Simply, I will send out some letters to let "the media" know I exist.

I read somewhere that it takes 1,000 fans to be a success as an artist. That number seems low to me, but I guess that also depends on what one would describe as a fan. 

Yesterday, at the jewel box, I was telling staff about a book I like. Everyone I talked to caught the bug and wanted to get a copy. I'm a fan; an evangelist. And I am in a position where my influence can result in selling a few more copies of the book. Of course, someone in the media could have vaster influence (can you say, Oprah?). 

By the way, the book is Read Chinese Today, a Walk Through San Francisco's Chinatown: Understanding Chinese Characters by Their Ancestral Forms With Photographs And Map by Ping-gam Go, an interesting person in his own right.

Stonestown

This week I'm acting as the Operations Supervisor at the Borders at Stonestown mall in San Francisco.

It's a busy store but the staff is seasoned and it runs pretty well. It gets messy fast. But there are ALWAYS kids there, which is cool. I can't imagine it during the holidays.

So as Operations Supervisor I'm there first thing every morning counting morning, making sure all the registers the day before add up. I listen to music and drink coffee while I do it. It's not too bad.

The people there are nice but they all smell funny.

ABC3D

From Roaring Brook Press:

MARION BATAILLE is graphic and book designer who has never before been published in this country. She lives in Paris. This is just a hand-made mock-up of the actual book which publishes in Oct. 2008.

UPDATE: The publisher just emailed to let me know it’s available for pre-order on Amazon.

Hell

Somehow over time my brush shrunk. My Happy Now? cartoons got thinner and thinner (like my hair) without me noticing. I've changed my brush diameter from 09 to 30 and am much happier with the results.

Part of what I want to do is make cartoons that are viewable on a PDA or iPod. i.e., SMALL. For the last 20 years cartoonists have been complaining about the shrinking size of cartoons, especially in the newspapers. Some, like Calvin and Hobbes' Bill Waterson, had minimum allowable size it in their contracts.

It occurred to me that obviously newspapers (and other media) WANTED smaller cartoons... I'm here to help.

Can't Talk

I'm in a situation where there's a few important things going on that I can't talk about. I'm not one for secrets.

Some beautiful weather this week in the city. Got the chance to get outside on Saturday and have some fun. Then back to work early Sunday. Whew! I could use a few days off in a row.

After about five years I finally had lunch with my bookstore pal MAS from Union Square. Lots of gossip (speaking of secrets) to catch up on. They she came over to our store for a "self-audit." I will go to hers this week for the same.

Now some rant. I hate coupons. I rarely ever remember to use them. And then I feel cheated if I haven't. They take time and effort to manage them, especially ones with time windows. Blech! We were talking yesterday at work about Borders vs. Barnes & Noble. I'd rather pay the $25 a year for a discount card, then have a free card that made me have to go online, read junk email, print and carry and time manage coupons. If they are sufficient savings I carry them in my wallet then forget to use them and feel bad about myself as I through out the expired ones.

I'm sure there are studies upon studies about the demographic for coupons. It seems in recent years we've been getting away from them (as well as horrible Green Stamps). Newspapers don't seem to have those pages upon pages of coupons they used to have. Obviously they still must serve some purpose, reach some demographic that has too much time on their hands. I wonder how much this is an American phenomenon.

But that's a tax on my patronage. I end up supporting them through paying higher prices; underwriting their coupons. That's true of all marketing. (Don't get me started on Comcast's commercials on Comast cable that I already pay for!)

Economics seems to be usurping sociology; applying metrics and more scientific rigor to a sloppy science; although that usually just means the ability to lie with statistics instead of being obvious in necessarily anecdotal observations with built in biases. But it would be fun to see how a economist would look at the difference between coupons, discount "clubs" (like Costco, Safeway club, B & N), and full retail.

Coupons seem desperate. Targeted at people who are unemployed or retired (and have more time than money). Is that who builds your brand? I think it cheapens it. I feel embarrassed to use coupons. But I love a deal. Guess I'm as big a sucker as the next fellow.

Salad Days

Quiet days at the jewel box. Meetings, and meetings about meetings expand to fill the vacuum. Meanwhile my work is invisible. No displays or fixtures, but the subtle back office analysis and pulling the levers that make the machine run smooth.

Our best meeting yesterday was about leadership, although that word wasn't used. It was a good lesson. And not an easy one.

Koko Sign Language: 4 Words

If there was any doubt before, there is none now. I will burn in hell.

I made this.

I was surfing the web looking for naked chicks in gorilla masks (in itself a long story and yet another hot ticket to hades) when I thought I saw this. Actually it had more innocent words. It was more of a google dyslexia. It seemed so obvious (and funny). I did a search but couldn't find anything like it.

So I made this one to spread out upon the world. Please send to your friends. I'm curious if it'll fly.

And if you know any good naked chicks in gorilla masks pics, send them my way.

See you in hell!

No Comment

Rejected Valentines Day Card

Horsing Around

No, not my picture. Alas, I found this and am stealing the thunder.

1,000

Today my 1,000th visitor to Happy Now cartoons.

It's hard to determine how many are new, lost, accidental vs. hardcore rabid fans, although I suspect more the former than the latter.

I've been using Google analytics and FeedBurner to monitor traffic. As noted before, my intentional misspelling of Halloween (haloween) delivered many hits. Others found me by searching (40%) for lowrider, nectar, happy, popskull (a Civil War term for crude alcohol made in the field of war), boo, etc. followed.

I suspect they are disappointed with the results of said search.

7.8% are direct traffic. I assume this means it's intentional.

The number one referring site (51%)? Why, this one, of course...

Why haven't YOU linked to Happy Now?

Book Report

Cod, by Mark Kurlansky. Fascinating book about America's first great economy, the politics of ecology, and the hard life of the fisherman. Very well written and researched. Far more interesting than I ever expected.

Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. Another very well written book, very well researched. Clears up a lot of the bunk that surrounds the Bard.

Napoleon's Buttons, by Penny Le Courteur & Jay Burreson. Not as well written or researched, but fascinating book about 17 molecules that changed human history (eg. ascorbic acid, nylon, cellulose, oleic acid, the pill...).

I am Legend, by Richard Matheson. Disappointing except, perhaps, as a period piece (written in the 50's). Pretty dumb zombie tome. Doesn't seem to have a center. Reminded me of the much better mystery writer Jim Thompson 50's books which had an almost unintentional psychological core (The Getaway, The Grifters, etc.)

Currently reading a couple mysteries which aren't as great. I like Thomas Cook (Peril). He, also, has a psychological core that is played out in action, drama, and suspense.

Reading anything good lately?

Mouse Burgers

Which is more disturbing:
A) A hamburger shaped like a mouse head
B) That Mickey is cooking his own head
C) That Disney doesn't find anything wrong about this.

I guess it could've been worse. I guess they passed on Daisy Biscuits and Goofy Wieners...

THREE DAYS OFF! That's the most time I've had since Early October. Nice! Catching up on chores (laundry, dishes, house cleaning), errands (lots of groceries), and movies (The Kingdom [very good], Aeon Flux [not so good], 3:10 from Yuma [sorta good]). OK, I had to go into work for an hour or so to take care of some business...

Also added an album to my cartoon blog (which took more work than it should to copy all the titles). I downloaded a demo of Painter, which has great brushes, but I didn't like the way the layers work. So I went back to Photoshop and tweaked my brushes some more...

Like going to the gym four times a day

Last of the stuff going out, went out today. Last four days have been like working out four times a day. I've been doing a lot of heavy lifting. Yesterday I had to be at work at 3 am for the trucks. I couldn't figure out the Owl schedule for the busses, so I walked.

But it's all over now. Pulled in $150k+ and kept several people employed through the holidays. Sure hope they don't stick me with it next year, but they probably will.

Non-Fiction

Been reading Napoleon's Buttons, a fascinating review of 13 important (to history) molecules. I was up til 3 am reading, thinking, "Is it to late to go back to school and become a chemistry major?" Such are thoughts at 3 a.m....

It's not the best writing (remember I read Omnivoure's Dilemma and Places In Between recently...). And, frankly, it is a bit over my head (like Jupiter is a tad over my head). Double carbon bonds? I thought that was an investment...

Still, I highly recommend this book. I googled and amazon.com (what's that verb?) the book and found a whole group of science non-fiction that looks interesting to me. I like it when they include the history and people involved (the chapter on "The Pill" was amazing!). Got me thinking about non-fiction...

I've noticed since working in the book box biz that non-fiction is not just growing, but has some of the best writing. I'm not much of a biography reader (I read one about Disney and one about Keats and that's about it, except for the excellent Bill Bryson Shakespeare, which I just read a month ago).

Indeed, I've been rather disappointed by fiction lately. It's rare that I find a satisfying fiction that's well written. So far, the opposite is true in non-fiction.

Or maybe I'm justing getting old and jaded.

Happy New Year!

I've been under the weather the past couple days. Meanwhile, getting past the holidays. Trying to hire as many of our seasonals as I can (although I had to let Robin go; not my choice!). I'm taking my "New Years" comp day this week.

Time Off For Good Behavior

Well, the holidays are finally over. Catching up on sleep. Still need to stock the fridge, run some errands... But I get Friday off! Yeah! Two days off this week!

Free Candy

Yikes! The heat is out again. Also the hot water and the buildings electricity. Probably a fuse somewhere...

Busiest day of the year at the jewel box yesterday. Looooooong lines (some people must like that) yet not that many "lists." People are trying to get ideas. Very easy to make suggestions and help them along.

Poor Robin had a line at his register pretty much non-stop. We worked different shifts but today we both work early.

Our little calendar store, in a new and beautiful location, isn't doing as well this year as last. Not sure why. Maybe because it's so close to our store this year and we're competing with ourselves...

Started to read, "Eat, Pray, Love" but it was too much estrogen for me. So I'm reading good testosterone dripping, "I am Legend." It's not very good but it has its moments (last man on earth fighting vampires). It actually kind of reads as a psychological metaphor (as all good pulp fiction does) for someone stuck in a rut... I wonder if the movie picked up on that (probably not).

The picture is from that great series Demotivation from despair.com. Here's another one that made me laugh out loud:

100!!

Today is the one-hundredth post of Happy Now? cartoons. You'd think I'd have run out of ideas (some will say I did) but you'd also think the drawing would be better by now... The only thing seems to be that I am faster. Really, more efficient as I've done this enough that I know what order to do things in and what mistakes to avoid (since I've already made them over and over and over...).

There are a couple times it's seemed a burden, but mostly I look forward to drawing them; to coming up with an idea.

Meanwhile, the bookstore business is busy. Much of it is fun, some of it is disheartening (some people feel the holidays are a time for them to be waited upon, maybe even a passive-aggressive selfishness; "I deserve to have someone pick up after me, it's the holidays!"). The schedule is a wreck. Part of that is our attrition rate, some of that is I didn't hire enough people. Probably will cost me my job.

Mostly it's exhausting. Hard to find time to sit down for a minute let alone eat something. Last night I got off at 1 am and took the Owl home. That's the bus that "follows" the train route (the night before I was the only one on the train!). However, the bus took an unexpected turn and I ended up in the Haight at 1:30 in the morning. I walked home, taking the shortest route, but I got a little lost.

I've lived in this neighborhood for almost 20 years, but late at night, on the uphill side where the streets weave around the hill, I didn't recognize where I was. That was an odd feeling.

The air was brisk and felt good (I was pretty heated up by 10 hours of work work work) and the moon poked out of the clouds from time to time, and the city shimmered from the hill side.

It was so good to see a block I recognized, to step up the curb to my block, my front door; home.

Busy Holiday

Ug. Busy Thursday? Well, not crazy busy; just understaffed. And the daily schedule was awful. I spent a crazy hour quickly redoing the schedule and trying to call in people (no one came). Two no-call no-shows. And everyone scheduled for a meal break at 6 pm! Yikes! OK, very hectic but the crew really worked to make it all work out. Turned out 6 was our busiest hour, too.

I rang and rang and rang on the registers. No time for any more phone calls... So tomorrow is my day off, but I'll go in and try to do some hiring.

Raining tonight. Good solid rain, too.

Newbie

Our newest employee, ROBIN! He started in Paperchase today (Black Friday, appropriately).

Keep smiling, son!

Just Say Maybe

Had our holiday meeting last night. A very long day for me (8 am to midnight). Then I had to be in early again today (and tomorrow). More hiring (and firing). Tomorrow; paperwork and training.

I'm forcing my new Training Supervisor to start training new staff tomorrow instead of her replacement (our new Operations Supervisor). The two people I rely on most for hiring and the are already busy and green... But they are both good eggs and both been around so it'll work out.

Meanwhile I keep making the mistake of saying, "No." Our new policy is "Just say yes," but we aren't given any specifics. Yesterday I goofed and refused a return without a receipt because she didn't have ID either. That's always been the policy but now we just say yes (never mind the pregnant woman being refused water in the cafe! What a blunder that was! At least I didn't make that decision, I only had to deal with her psycho-macho husband...).

I still kick people out just about everyday. I think three in one day is my dubious record. Mostly sleepers and stinky people. And I seem to tell a half dozen people a day to put their shoes back on. What's up with that?

Hiring... Again (still)

I'm in the trudge; the working just about everyday. I'm way behind, especially in hiring. Hiring takes a lot of time and scheduling. And since a percentage of new hires quit or just don't show up, we are obligated by law to handle those cases within 72 hours. My Operations Supervisor being on vacation, and not having a Training Supervisor has made me a busy boy. I don't have a team of staff to help with these sometimes delicate situations.

So we've hired over 30 people in the past couple months. Some of them really, really good people. And we've promoted a couple people, too, but that just means my new Operations Supervisor and new Training Supervisor are, well, new. It's going to take some time to get them up to speed. And I'll pick up the slack.

Training is the hardest since it's the least priority and, ultimately, the most important. Several people who were hired while I was on vacation back in September never even got orientation (where are the bathrooms, how do you get into the building when the mall is closed, how do I ask for days off, when do we get paid). Several of them just never came back to work. That's a big waste of time.

It has been said people don't quit companies, they quit managers.

Yellow Curry Yukon Gold

We've been a curry kick lately. I picked up some exotic curry paste at my local green grocery (which also sell exotic asian ingrediants; thank you San Francisco!) and some coconut milk and yukon gold potatoes (those from Bristol Farms). The potatoes made the dish. Incredible texture just melts in your mouth.

Last night I stopped short in my rounds at the store. We've begun selling fuzzy Jesus and Mary coin banks. They have that fake velvet in bright colors. Best part; the names. Coin Box Mary and Coin Box Jesus. We decided Coin Box Marry would be great names for a punk band and a photo of the fuzzy Mary for the album cover.

Well, at last a day off. It's been more than two weeks and I was feeling a bit run down. Never mind that I was having trouble recognizing new hires (we've had about 30 in the last month). Luckily few confrontations with con artist, bums, thieves, and crazy ladies (although I did run into two crazy ladies; one on my way to work, and one on the way home). Still, a lot of work to do.

I had over a dozen hits on my cartoon website for "Holloween" my intentional misspelling ("Ho Ho Holoween") but I now realize I never used the word Halloween anywhere. Could have had a lot more hits... Of course if I drew better and wrote funnier cartoons, that would help, too...

I've been looking for other cartoon blogs and the ONLY only I like is Basic Instructions (there's a link on happynowcartoons.com). I've laughed out loud at some of his cartoons.

Well off to the market to buy some provisions. Something to go with the Red curry and the Green curry... And maybe some vegetables, too, but certainly some Yukon Gold.

50

It's NaNoWriMo time again! 50,000 words in November. So far I've got 96.

Meanwhile, cartoon #50 went up on Happy Now? this morning. I entered a Halloween cartoon contest and got a spike off of that. About 50 hits from newbies. They haven't announced a winner yet... (www.chewingpencils.com).

Today is day 12 without a day off. We had several trick or treaters last night at the store. Good to get some kids into the store. I had a couple costumes (sorry, no pix) but lent them out. They looked a little bit cuter on the cafe girls...

Overnight

A twelve hour day... or should I say night? 7 pm to 7 am. Had our Ripple TV's installed, and bossman and I put up some replacement slatwall. Came home and slept until afternoon, which now feels like morning.

Wasn't so much tired, as a bit disoriented. Hard to focus. Guess that's what tired looks like when you get older. Or maybe it's just getting older...

Weird coming home at 7 am and it's still dark out. People going to work, night crews on my train going home. City that never sleeps (but do we really have to check?).

Sunday Muse

I'm in "no days off" mode at work, now. Lots of hiring, which means going through resumes and applications, phone calls and emails, interviews, paperwork, orientation, and, now, training. I'm not sure what the big rush is, but I've hired about a dozen people so far. Maybe more. And that's only about half needed.

Got my Leopard OS X upgrade. Not a radical change, but some very nice features. I like Spaces the best so far. That lets me have several virtual desktops that I can switch back and forth. MUCH less clutter as I have a "space" for Photoshop, a space for my web browser, etc. It really keeps things neat and organized and is easy to use.

There is also Time Machine, the supercool backup program I hope I never have to use.

I'm somewhat amazed that I've been able to deliver a cartoon a day for my cartoon blog. I'm not way ahead, as I hoped to be. Rather I often am only starting to come up with an idea the day it is published. I've started spending more time cleaning up the drawings (my philosophy is no unneeded lines, no unneeded distractions/details).

There are an amazing amount of decisions to make in a "simple" cartoon. I've gotten stumped trying to come up with a headline. (Interestingly, the intentional misspelling, "Ho Ho Holloween," led to several Google search hits from people who can't spell Halloween. (I guess this blog message will now fit that criteria as well...!)

This week I also have an overnight shift so we can get our TV's installed. Borders is moving into a more technology friendly phase and this will be part of it.

I guess I haven't written yet on the Sony Reader. This is the future of books, magazines, catalogs... the future of print. It's still bleeding edge technology (and expensive! $300 for the current version. But the idea is right on. Being able to converge not just books but topical ephemeral content (think carry around your RSS feeds) as well as reference materials and, soon I'm sure, the ability to share "documents" in the same way we share music (you can download wifi music at Starbucks, for instance), in a very readable format.

No, it's not the death of books. That medium is too high resolution, too brilliant access (think how you scan a newspaper or magazine). 1,000 year old technology that's still the best option. But, soon, another good option for many uses, will be in our pockets.

Adios, Krystal!

Krystal's last day at our Borders, maybe at any Borders. Seven year vet, came aboard as Training Supervisor, got promoted to Merch Manager, then stepped down to become training supervisor again. Awesome young lady who will go far (actually, she's moving to Portland, OR). Smart, funny, lots of energy, and a ton of wisdom, not to mention a great people person with a great personality.

Good luck, Krystal! It's been a pleasure working with you.

Pop

Nice visit with dad last week. He brought his laptop but I ended up not starting some computer project that required days to fix. Instead it all went very smoothly.

My social time is very thin right now as I'm working just about every day. Indeed, laundry and groceries feel like a luxury I can ill afford, time-wise. Someone at work mentioned the World Series, and I realized I had no idea who was playing this year. Not that I'm any baseball fan, but to be so out of the loop was a bit of a shock.

Vote For ME!

Last weekend I went to a gallery at the Presidio to see the watercolor paintings on display. I can't recommend it but something interesting did happen there.

I say I can't recommend it because I found most of the work not to my taste. It seemed mostly very tight, detailed work, and for watercolor, I like a little left to the imagination. Some were even photorealistic, for crying out loud. I suppose this was to the tastes of the organizers of the show. Maybe if you're a watercolor painter you get tired of boats in a harbor, or snow capped mountains.

What was the most interesting was that we were handed ballots. Rate your three favorite paintings. I knew as soon as I was handed my golf pencil, my experience was being manipulated, but that seemed interesting to me at the time.

I probably wouldn't have looked at all the paintings as closely as I did if I didn't have to vote. Certainly I wouldn't have gone back two and three times to make my final judgement, which I did. I probably wouldn't have walked away with three paintings coloring my experience so vividly either.

On the other hand I find it rather presumptuous and intrusive for my attention to be harnessed to such a critical viewing. True, the voting was optional (although it wasn't presented that way; what were they going to do, shoot me if I didn't turn in a ballot?). Most of the paintings I didn't think were very interesting or done in a particularly fresh way. I wouldn't be thrilled to have any of them in my house, even my Top Three.

And there it is; "MY" Top Three. The judgement is mine, and I feel a stronger connection to these Top Three than I otherwise would if I didn't have to vote. They are the albatross around my neck. I do "own" them now, even if it's just in some psychic manner.

By the way, the picture above is from the show, but not one of my Top Three. Indeed, I think it looks much better small than it did up close and personal.

Monday Pie

Late nights for the rest of the week. At least it's a steady schedule and I can sleep in.

Made a nice yellow curry for lunch today. Too good. No leftovers by the time I got home tonight. But there was still some pie! I splurged last week and bought three (on sale) pies: lemon meringue, chocolate, and coconut. Chocolate went in a day. The lemon is holding out a bit longer... Coconut is still in the freezer. Something to look forward to.

A collection agency called today. Apparently I still have a small ($27) unpaid bill from my trip to the hospital a few months ago. Some ER charge, although no one can tell me what it's for. That's the third separate bill I've had to pay. I really have no idea if I really actually have to pay it except they say that I do. Seems like they can charge whatever they want.

Meanwhile, I've received my ancillary merchandise from Happy Now Cartoons! Pins, magnets, shirts, cups, clocks, and a messenger bag. They are all way cool (although the URL on the pins and magnets are way to small to read). Robin took a black shirt and I have to say it came out very nice. I'll have to get a picture of him in it to post here.

City of Ocelots

Wednesday my buddy and I had a long lunch in the Mission at Usulutan (means "city of the ocelots" in Nahuatl, an Aztec dialect), a Salvadorean restaurant. VERY unassuming. VERY good food. Papusas, tamales, stuff-I-don't-know-what-it's-called... Quite a bargain too.

Usulutan
2990 24th Street

9 am - 10 am everyday

"Good Grief, Charlie Brown!"

Interesting review of Schultz by Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes).

I was a huge fan back when I was a kid. Even wrote a fan letter (I also wrote Dick Van Dyke, but never got an answer). I recieved (and I think I still have) a mimeograph letter that was very much appreciated. I'm sure my letter was quite inane.

It's easy to discount the influence of Peanuts, but, as Watterson points out, Schultz was a pioneer in many ways.

Blood Curse

OK, this is a new one. I guess that's what makes my job interesting.

Last night an upset customer threw a vile of blood on the floor by the front door. Little shards of glass and splatters of blood in a five foot radius. I cleaned it up and called the police (I asked, they had been to the mall four times already that night; lots of calls everyday, mostly shoplifting). The astute officer figured it was probably a "curse" since this pudgy boy-man (we had it all on video) had put Charmed and a few other occult items on hold (with his phone number! Idiot!).

The police took a copy of the video, the remains of the vile, the threatening note ("...You have been forewarned!") we found in one of our books, and, of course, his phone number.

Happy Halloween.

Se, Jie (Lust, Caution)

Ang Lee's remarkable (albeit long and somewhat challenging) film takes place in WW II Shanghai. GORGEOUS first time actress, Wei Tang, pulls off one of the most complex, deep acting roles I can remember. And that, in a way, is the subject of this complex film; Acting. Especially, the actress. The role of woman in society, and as a lover.

I can't recommend this film for everyone. It evokes Anais Nin, D.H. Lawrence, even Shakespeare, and a european sensibility that we haven't seen in a couple decades since Fellini. On the surface, it's a disappointing story, meaning it's not a "happy ending." But it is so satisfying on the character level, the story within the story.


A few remarkable scenes (both visually and dramatically), wonderful sets and costumes, and some rather graphic sex scenes, this isn't a movie for everyone. But something that will last as a masterpiece for decades and slowly build an audience like La Dolce Vita or La Strada or Bicycle Thief or Woman in the Dunes or Sons and Lovers.

Omnivore's Dilemma

Finally finished this amazing book. Quite a tour de force; three books in one, each deep and rich covering a wide spectrum of ideas about food. From industrial corn (including chemistry, economics, history, botany, sociology, and health implications), to organic (yet somehow industrial) farming, to hunting and gathering. Each part with a personal experience, philosophy, and a meal. Really, an amazing book. I even read the long acknowledgments at the end; so many people had a hand in this epic polemic.

I can't recommend this for everybody. Indeed, I think it would be hard to say who this is for; yet it has been a bestseller. It is well written, in some places poetic. And somehow manages to be all things to all people.

Is it personal narrative? Polemic? History? Science? Social science? Botany? Cookbook??

Ultimately it is seductive, rich, and satisfying. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

I seem to be on a non-fiction jag lately. Feeling the need for a good thriller; a page turner... Perhaps a Thomas Cook mystery...

Rainy Night

It was raining last night when I got off work. Enough to pull the hood out of my jacket. Nice!

I see the Unitarians are advertising in the MUNI stations. I took a picture of the ad, but it came out blurry (like a Unitarian's faith!). Just kidding...

Lots of hiring at the store. Not sure why we're hiring so much, I don't have the payroll for the ones we have now. So tomorrow, my day off, I'm hanging out at the job fair at the Metreon. Maybe I'll get some cartoon ideas...

Well, I'm stuck on my Happy Now Cartoons blog. Not ideas, mind you, but in how to attract more readers. I know. You say, "Well just draw better and be funnier!" I'm trying, friend, I'm trying.

I've made it as easy as I can figure for people to find me, subscribe, and even share with others. I suppose it's time to be patient and wait for my star to shine. I've ordered a bunch of my own products from Cafe Press to help get the word out (pins and magnets and such) and put together a little calendar that's available for free to download from the website. It's a single page year-at-a-glance calendar. Took me longer to find a free template online than to put them together!

YouthSpeaks!

Back to work. Lots of paperwork, lots of LOOKING for missing paperwork. Schedule is a wreck. Spent an hour just cleaning it up for next week.

But feeling pretty mellow. Vacation seemed to have done me good.

Working on a quick flyer for Robin. He's working for YouthSpeaks now, organizing events around the bay area for teen performance poets.

Vacation Over... Or Is It...?

Back to work today, only to find the schedule had been changed (no one bothered to call or email me) and I'm not scheduled back until Tuesday.

But chaos that ensued I stuck around for five hours to go through my email and catch up on what all was going on.

I have to say, though, that I felt very mellow. Wow. I guess this vacation thing works!

When I came, climbing out of the Muni station into the Castro Street Fair, I heard a great cover of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Come to find out the very talented singer was wearing a cocktail dress and beau-font wig the size of a shetland pony. That, the Blue Angels, and Jane Goodall blessing the animals.

Gotta love this city!

Where You From?

OK, I haven't figured out all the analytics for Happy Now yet (I'm not sure the email subscribe works, and I get different numbers of hits, etc.), but here is an interesting graph of WHERE you all are visiting from.

Moving Day

Did a little research and found out www.happynow.com was (is still) available... for $4,500! The snake-oil tone of their "offer" (you can read it by going to www.happynow.com) and that $400 is the lowest offer even considered makes me run for my rubber-checkbook. Instead I found I could register www.happynowcartoons.com for $10, which I did. So my cartoon blog is "moving" again.

Actually it's not moving at all, only the address. It's like changing the mailbox but keeping the house. So lots of updating (it takes about 3 days for all the internet crap to be in sync) and changing the copyright notice, etc. So, finally, I am in the hole $10 (no income yet).

It may not look like it, but I am getting better at drawing these silly things. And I appreciate all the comments people have left! THANKS!

Meanwhile, the Blue Angels are in town, tearing up the neighborhood. Fleet Week and Castro Street Fair this weekend. Love this city!

Movie Star

Came across this old screen grab from and even older movie, Van Nuys Boulevard. It was a rip-off of American Graffiti. I think I got $20 for the day as an extra. Film at some amusement park (I forget) in the L.A. area. That's me in the middle with all the hair.

Sir Blog a Lot

"Opened" my new Cafe Press Store. It's all dropped shipped. I just get a piece of the action. Pretty easy to set up, really. I love the clock (but then I have a thing for clocks).

Messed around with the blog all day. Found some grammatical errors, added a favicon (that little icon in the address bar) and fooled around with some images (changed the copyright to the URL, which could be useful if the graphic gets separated from the site).

My site stats show my I have someone visiting the site from Canada, as well as a Swedish blog bot trolling my blog. Not sure what it all means.

1,000,000 Projects

Vacation started with a couple cool down days; not much done; relax.

Now, I'm cleaning house and some house-related projeccts (fix the magnet in the fridge door, hang a clock, cull books and junk...).

My cartoon blog is looking pretty good. Maybe not quite what I wanted re colors, but everything else seems to work. Had to get in under the hood and edit some XML and CSS, which I'm new at. Lots of experimentation.

But a few mellow, contemplative days... And my feet don't hurt!

Rumi is 800 today

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (مولانا جلال الدین محمد رومی, ) was born 800 years ago today. He is one of the most widely read poets in America today, and I like him, too. His brand of Sufism (which eventually became the "whirling dervishes") was an ecstatic passion for God and mankind; he wrote intimate love poems to God (or are they ecstatic worship poems to a lover?). Why is he so popular after 800 years? Universal truth.

Who is the luckiest in this whole orchestra? The reed.

Its mouth touches your lips to learn music.

All reeds, sugarcane especially, think only
of this chance. They sway in the canebreaks,
free in the many ways they dance.

Without you the instruments would die.

One sits close beside you. Another takes a long kiss.

The tambourine begs, Touch my skin so I can be myself.
Let me feel you enter each limb bone by bone,
so that what died last night can be whole today.

Why live some soberer way and feel you ebbing out?
I won't do it.

Either give me enough wine or leave me alone,
now that I know how it is
to be with you in constant conversation.

Happy Birthday 605!

Yesterday was our one year anniversary of opening the new store. We had cake and for some silly reason Melanyo decided, for a price, to smash her own face into some.

Busy day, but I'm on vacation now.




Earlier this week, when I was sick with the flu (but at work anyway) I took time off for a cup of split pea soup and then rested under the sunny dome in this comfy chair. Next thing I knew I was asleep... Luckily no one came to wake me up (especially someone I'd kicked out of our store for sleeping!).

Never Mind...

Guess it's working after all...

Opps...

I got mixed up on which blog I was tweaking and I may have broken all the subscriber links... If you want to continue to get bla bla bla for some demented reason, you may need to resubscribe.

Sorry about that.

Happy Now?

OK, This is my first tee shirt idea. Hell, if "Life is Good," can work, then "Happy Now?" could, too.

Weird night at work. Someone stuffed our sex books with a glossy flyer with an AIDS patient on their death bed. Back of the card a bunch of Christian crap. And some advise like buy your own needles before going to the doctors or a hospital...

Then a notorious con artist who has been abusing our special order guarantee came in to claim five free books. I told him we wouldn't do any special orders for him because he was abusing the system. He put up a huff, but it was already past my quitting time and I didn't really care.

Tomorrow is my last day at work before an eight day vacation. My longest vacation since I started at Borders almost five years ago. No real plans except to visit pop...

Sugarcandy Mountain

Sugarcandy Mountain Cartoon Blog
It took me quite a while to find a site name that was appropriate. Most of the ones I wanted were taken (Heavens, Cloud9, BigRockCandyMountain, etc.). I used Wikipedia to help me find something approriate (there were lots of names for heaven that were difficult to spell, or too obscure).

Anyone guess what the reference is to Sugarcandy Mountain?

Anyhow, the new home of my cartoon blog. The .mac account was too difficult to get to consistently work for all the types of subscriptions I was able to test. AND I can use Feedburner to track the site use (10 subscribers so far!).

I've been sick the last couple days. Nasty cold. Can't not go to work; too much to do with vacation starting Saturday. I was really dragging my butt yesterday and when I got home I slept, on and off, for over twelve hours.

Calendar Kiosk

Well, it's open. I've done a lot of heavy labor this week and feel it. But the store (with a great location under the dome!) is open for business.

Sick iPod

Robin's iPod is not recharging. So far I haven't had much success in getting it back into shape.

Today, the calendar store opens. I've put in two days of labor on this. Meaning two days of physical labor. My knees, feet, back all are sore. The space is really nice. Much better than last year. And a much better location, right under the dome! Alas, I forgot to take pictures of it empty. This morning I'm up early so I can go in and hang the sign and continue getting things set up.

Meanwhile I finally got a vacation coming up. Hopefully this one won't be cancelled.

Laundry Day

Robin and I did five loads of laundry, played a few games of Bejewelled. Nice to have that out of the way for a while.

A rare Monday off. Of course my head has no idea what day it is. Big week ahead. Lots of interviews for new hires tomorrow (13 so far scheduled) and Wednesday we receive (at five a.m.!) our calendar kiosk fixtures. We open on Saturday. Jeesh!

Saturday night the president of Borders, George Jones, "dropped" in for a visit. Of course we were waiting all week (hence my vacation was cancelled) and then all day. Lots of stress with the new managers throwing their weight around. I was probably grumpier than my usual grumpy self, too. Shoplifters are now taunting us as they walk out. They know we can't lay a hand on them.

Meanwhile, the one I did arrest back in March pleaded guilty (turns out he's been convicted five times already for theft) and got time served, which I have no idea how long. Of course the police still have our books...

My Cartoon Blog

OK, finally I'm launching my cartoon blog. Only one cartoon so far, but more ready for those busy days when I can barely read my email. Still some bugs to work out, but it should be working as far as RSS feeds.

Click on My Cartoon Blog to visit. Please leave a comment!

Mac n Cheese

OK. Some time to chill out a bit this week. Transference? Projection? Seems I'm angry. Maybe even at myself.

So today, my day off, I paid some bills, did the dishes (including juicer that Robin used a week ago that was moldy and infested with fruit flies!), went to the post office and Walgreens (Robin wanted Febreeze. Don't ask.) and made macaroni and cheese. I mean the real deal. Roux (OK, took me two tries to get the roux right), melting the sharp cheddar, mixing in some chillis, and baking with parmesan breadcrumbs on top. Came out nice. I was thinking of taking a picture, but we ate it instead.

No More

This past week I've had to deal with a few bad eggs at work. Misbehaving people who have the audacity to argue with me. The man who refused to put on his shoes in the cafe. The sleeping (snoring) woman in the cafe. They guy laying on the floor with magazines and food spread out around him. They either demand an explanation as to why their behavior is not allowed (while continuing to lay on the floor, or sit with their shoes off) or either deny they are sleeping or complain that I was rude (to wake them I suppose).

Tonight was a topper. A simple confrontation. A well dressed man was sleeping in the store. I woke him by asking him if he was OK. He said yes and I told him, "You can't sleep in the store," and walked away.

Ten minutes later I get a page for the manager. It was him and his friend waiting at the front of the store. He was disappointed to see I was the manager on duty. He wanted my name and my bosses name, which I gave him.

"I'm going to see that you get fired," he said.

He went on to complain that I had been rude. I apologized. He said it was my tone and asked his friend if my tone had been rude. His friend reluctantly agreed with him. Meanwhile I was seething. This big jerk had just threatened me. Get me fired?! My face was tingling with blood pressure like Jiffy Pop, but I held my tongue. He asked if I was going to apologize. I told him I already had, turned, and walked away.

I should have told him to leave and never come back. That's not really Borders policy. Our policy is to take it up the ass and say, "Thank you sir! May I have another?" But I'm too old to take this shit. No more.

Farsang

About 3 am (my sleep is really messed up this week) I finally finished this book. It's not a difficult read, it's just that I'm so tired my eyes wander down the spaces between the words like the author's trip across Afghanistan.

This is one of the NY Times top ten books of 2006. At first I was disappointed in the writing style. It wasn't spectacular at all. Indeed, there are some awkward sentences. But this is a haunting book. It gets under your skin.

I don't recall ever reading a travel narrative before. Now I see the appeal. Very much takes you to a place you've never been to before. Walking across Afghanistan, dealing with the post-Taliban chaos (2002), the mountain passes, the cold and hunger, the crushing isolation and implosion of cultures (not to mention land mines, wolves, and dysentery) makes working in my shirt sleeves, kicking out sleepers, and microwave burritos for lunch, a walk in the park.

What Rory has accomplished in his writing is to get out of the way of his own adventure. He lets us in by staying out. It's a detached point of view, but very effective. I both couldn't wait for the next farsang* to the next mud village, but also to finally get to Kabul, home to Scotland, to safety; home.

*Farsang: Persian word; the distance a man could walk in a day. Same as the French word, Journeé, or ancient English, Journey.

Long day...

13 hour day at work; open to close. Inventory last night so most people were scheduled late, or very late (overnight). That left a skeleton crew to work the day (and Monday, too). Lots of schedule confusion. People showing up 12 hours early, people calling in that they can't work the hours we scheduled them... None-the-less, things seemed to be going pretty smoothly when I left last night.

Meanwhile, lots of management team changes, both official and rumored. A year ago I was the most junior manager. Now I'm the most senior (other than the GM).

Thursday

Working out a bunch of technical challenges with the new blog and site. So far I've solved them all; mostly through trial and error, error, error. Meanwhile, I haven't been doing much on the creative side. Just placeholders until I get set up. I think I'm rather avoiding it.

I've been sleeping poorly for the past few days (up til 3 am reading) but seem to be back on the clock today. Good thing, I'm working late.

Had our meeting yesterday with the Regional Manager for our calendar store. Should be better this year. We're going to be getting games and bargain books (!?) as well this year.

My vacation next month may get cancelled. We're having another "big" visit and the calendar store will be getting set up. That and one (or more) of our management team is leaving... which puts more weight on me.

Bleary Eyed

About a week ago I went to the Apple store and got a new Mac Mini. I'm very happy with you, but been spending a lot of time getting it set up for what I want it to do. Mostly I want to some web pages and graphics, and work with video (mostly edit).

I'm working on two new blogs and a new website. Should be ready for preview in a about a week. Lots of learning new stuff (which I love) and experimenting with different options (tedious).

So I've been staring at the computer monitor too much. Got out today to take Robin to Costco to get contact lenses. Only took him about an hour to figure out how to put one in. Beautiful day.

Wedded Bliss

Here's the insurance claim from my little bathroom floor episode a few weeks ago:

Hospital Services (Xray, etc.): $451
Ambulance (3 blocks, one way... had to walk home in my bathrobe and slippers): $885
Doctor: $4,226.
-------------------
TOTAL: $5,562 -$100 deductable.

I got a photocopy warning me about "bearing down" when I pee, and a couple holes in my arm that hurt for two weeks. One for input (hydration) and one for output (blood).

Well, I guess "peace of mind" is worth $100.

Some people are married to their mortgage; working because they have to pay off the house. But I guess we can also be married to our health insurance.

Copywrong

A young lady with acne, wearing a black hood, asked me today in the bookstore if we had a photocopy machine. Incredulous that she intended to photo copy a book of ours I told her no, but there was one next door at Walgreens.

"Can I borrow this book to take to Walgreens, then?" she asked.

"Our books are for sale," I replied and quickly left. A customer overhearing us laughed.

This kind of thing happens all the time. That's why we're not allowed to carry guns.

Missin' Mac Mini

About a week ago I bought a refurbished Mac Mini from Apple. Very nice little beast. I called it Speedy and loaded it with movies and pictures.

Tuesday Apple announced a new line of Mac Minis. Faster, newer software. So today I sent back Speedy. Even though it's only been about a week, I miss my little speedy friend.

So now I'm going to try to wait until the new operating system comes out to get my mini. Rumor is October. Until then it's Fat Mac with its four hard drives and overweight and odd assortment of hardware attachments (jog shuttle, EyeTV, ADB adapter, NTSC output card...).

If it gets too bad I'll go out to the ocean and watch the sun set over the waves and pretend it's my screensaver.

The Christian McBride Situation

Thursday night free ticket to see the Christian McBride Situation at Yoshi's in Oakland. I wasn't expecting much but it was a wonderful show.
Yoshi's is a nice little supper club with great sound. Sushi, etc. The tempura had the lightest batter imaginable and was delicious.

So this was an ad-hoc improv group; McBride on bass, Dave Ellis on sax, DJ Jahi Sundance on turntable (!), and Patrice Rushen on keyboards (who stole the show in my opinion). No drums. They have not rehearsed; 100% improvised.

It went from very dissonant avant garde to funk to straight ahead jazz. Quite entertaining. I was sitting straight up in my seeat the whole show.

I'm not saying it was the best show (although it was very good) but more that I was in the right place to experience it. I was overwhelmed by beauty.

Cafe Attitude

Family get-together a couple nights ago. Vegan outing. First Naan-N Curry, which was a funny, busy, and very spicey Indian restaurant in the inner Sunset. Too spicey. We couldn't finish half the vinadaloo.

It's the kind of place where you order at the coutner, get your plates and silverware from the pantry yourself, and the chairs looked like they'd been thrown out by a methadone clinic. The kitchen is right in the middle of everything and the Naan (bread) was fresh and yummy.

BUT...


Then we went to Cafe Gratitude for dessert. What a creepy, sanctamonious, and unduly expensive place that turned out to be.

All raw vegan (you don't want to know what Irish Moss is). You feel like it's run by a cult. There are quotes from the bible on the bill, bizare paintings on the wall from the game they are pushing (River of Abundance). The dishes are all Affirmations. A slice of pie might be I AM AFFLUENT, and they'll serve it saying, "You are affluent." My $7 slice of pie was one inch wide at the most. I wasn't feeling THAT affluent anymore. Coffee was cold, about 2/3 full, and I never was offered sweetner or creamer (or a refill).

The conversation was fun and we enjoyed ourselves. Maybe it wasn't the right place to laugh about how Mozart uses rape as a part of courtship in Don Giovani. This place is Politically Correct.

I guess if you're a raw food vegan there aren't many places you can go to party. But maybe if you're a raw food vegan you don't have the energy or balls to party anyway. I guess their target demographic are the chronically sick, and the self-righteous parnoid delusionals.

I tried to do some research online. I figured the "staff" were proabably unpaid cult members (their job abllication askes, "How do you feel about sacred commerce?") and the owner had a fleet of Rolls Royces, but I couldn't find out much. I think he originally made a fortune with a clothing line (Flax?).


Supposedly they ask you what you are grateful for before you leave. They smartly neglected us. I'm grateful I never have to go there again.

Harry Potter Spoiler Alert!

If you love HP, then don't read any further. The spoiler is that HP is trash. Junk. Crap. It's not just bad, the way Dan Brown books are bad; fluffy, empty, ultimately disapointing. It's bad for your brain. Does the hero solve his problems? No. It's magic. And time travel. Deus ex machina. Terrible stuff to teach kids. A gateway drug to a disapointing life.

"But at least it gets kids to read," one hears. That's like saying at least burglary gets people out of the house and exercising climbing up your fire escape and carrying off your TV set. Or that at least the Hitler got people together on issues. Or that hitting your hand with a hammer is good for you because at least it feels good when you stop.

And true to type, these are the people who didn't plan ahead, didn't reserve a copy, and expect to get the first one on sale. We had several lined up at 6 am just to get a paper braclet for a place in line at midnight tonight. Nevermind the phone calls, the last minute wishful thinking types who want to reserve a copy.

"Try magic," I'm tempted to say. Truth is we have more copies than we need. It looks like a small turnout for our boutique book box. The mall management has been playing good cop/bad cop with us about what we can and can not do for our Grand Ball.

MAS asked me if I thought he died in the end of this one. I said I hope he dies at the beginning. Or better yet, suffers a long painful death all the way through.

Today I did get to help several people looking for good books. I helped a man find books for his wife who liked Time Travelers Wife and My Life as a Geisha. I found some good books for him. He's a lucky man.

Nazimova!

Camille is a 1921 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino and Alla Nazimova. It is one of numerous screen adaptations of La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils.

Saturday at the sold-out Silent Film festival at the Castro (live music), Camille.
Flamboyant acting, flamboyant sets. Fun night at the movies.

Dog-centric Universe

These yummy looking cookies are actually for dogs. They also do custom birthday cakes at this local pet shop.

Do dogs get 7 birthdays a year? And if so, how do you figure that out? Maybe a special dog-centric calendar is in order... Probably have to get the dog-pope involved.

Busy Fourth

OK. I was wrong. I predicted today would be slow. That people would sleep in, and if the weather was nice (and it was very very nice) they would head to the beaches, parks, well, just about anywhere outside.

But the store was really busy. I had scheduled a small crew (we have to pay time and a half today) but I picked the best ones and, it ended up, worked 'em like dogs.

Temporal Frames

Went to the Asian Art Museum Saturday with Claudia and saw three great exhibits.

Tezuka, the father of modern manga. Incredible to see his original artwork and learn a little more about him.

Yoshitoshi, a 19th century "manga" artist (that's his picture above). Very interesting development of his style during the time when Japan was starting to relate with the outside world.

Story Scrolls; a small collection of scrolls used to illustrate live storytelling. Some of this is the most detailed work I've ever seen.

But it took the development of the "temporal frame," which Tezuka quickly mastered, to marry art and story.

Blue Moon

Tomorrow is a blue moon. We currently call a second full moon in a month a Blue Moon, but that is a mistake.

From what I can tell it's originally related to the other dead metaphor, the moon being made of green cheese. Green meant new, not the color per se. The pale white moon at certain times of the year looks like freshly made cheese. Later, when the moon is high in the sky and "aged" it is compared to "Bleu" cheese; cheese that has aged (and grown mold). Tells us more about the busy cheese-makers than the moon...

Then it later meant the third full moon in a quarter with four full moons. This meaning was lost (used in old Farmer's Almanacs) until Sky and Telescope magazine misinterpreted the meaning for a quiz in their magazine in the 1940's. They later (decades) retracted this mistake but it was too late. Popular culture, especially music, had endorsed this new meaning.

Harvest, Hunters, and Blood moon refer to the full moons late in the year which rise around sunset and are visible most of the night, giving farmers and hunters light for their nocturnal activities.

Black moon is a month (only February) without any full moon.

911

Got up this morning around 2 am to go to the bathroom. Next thing I know I'm in an ambulance on the way to the emergency room.

Passed out mid-pee. Robin heard me crash, couldn't wake me up, threw water on me, beat my chest, called 911.

They did cat scan, EKG, blood sugar, chest xray, and put an IV in my arm. I was still pulling tape off me this morning.

All clear. Just felt weak as a kitten. They cut me loose and we walked home (2 blocks) in my bathrobe and slippers a couple hours later. I don't remember much of it, actually, but eventually I felt better. Feel almost 100% today. VERY hungry and thirsty today. (Had a big dinner last night so that wasn't it.)

Dr. said it's not any of the major causes. No heart attack, stroke, tumor, diabetes... Not drugs nor booze, either, of course. More a "cascade" of different causes caused a big drop in blood pressure... Nurse said not to "bear down" when I pee (I don't think I bear down when I pee).

Robin was there the whole time which made me feel better and saved me from having to repeat what happened (since I was exhausted and also didn't know some of it).

Hidden Order

I'm reading a great book, Hidden Order, by David Friedman, son of Milton Friedman. He also has a PhD in physics. It is well written and covering a lot of ground explaining basic economics. So far (I'm on chapter two) I would say it is hardcore economics. Meaning that, for me, it has been some radical paradigm shifts in understanding everything, which is what I love about economics (and physics and statistics and poetry).

Table of Contents
Sample chapter: THE ECONOMICS OF CRIME

It's been out since 1996 so you should be able to find it in your library if you are interested (although the original hardcover edition has several errors). He also has an interesting blog: daviddfriedman.blogspot.com

Subtitle is Economics of Everyday Life.

Here's a joke from it:

Two economist are walking past a Porsche dealership.
"I want that," says one.
"Obviously not," replies the other.

Healthy Again (mostly)

After a 36 hour nap I started feeling better. I think I was just tuckered out. Didn't eat for two days either. Sweated it out of me. Lots of liquids.

So lots of TV (when I was able to take it) and plenty of rest. Did some dishes today. Helped Robin ruin a scalloped potato mix (he didn't bother measuring the amount of water in his soup).

Maker Faire was on CBS Sunday Morning today. That was cool.

Meanwhile my sleep cycle is all messed up. I'm up all night and sleeping during the day. Ug. That won't last long. Back to work tomorrow...

Sickie

Wednesday Robin and I did six loads of laundry together. It would've been more but there weren't any other empty washers available. Lots and lots of quarters. Lots. But good to have a lot of clean clothes now!

Last night I started to cry. Not emotional cry but tears rolling down my face. I've got some kind of cold. And my first whole weekend off in many many months. I'll probably spend it mostly in bed.

Confrontations

Probably the most troubling part of my job is protecting customers and staff from crazy people.

I was counting drawers in the cash office when I heard over the walkie talkie that someone was yelling and threatening and swearing at the front of the store. It took a few seconds to realize no one else was going to do anything about it. I called mall security and ran up to the front of the store.

An agitated young man was screaming and swearing near the door. No one was within twenty feet of him. He was creating quite a scene.

My trainiing in parenting has taught me that when dealing with bad behavior one needs to be susinct. I pointed to the door and said, "Out." He was already moving when I pointed. Then the broken record technique; "Out. Out. Out. And don't come back."

He left, still yelling, still agitated. But then came back in and I called 911 from the phone by the door. "Out," I repeated but the magic was gone and he stood at the front yelling and carrying on about all sorts of perceived injustices and personal trespasses. He was quite threatening and I was looking for something I could use to protect myself but noting was at hand. I felt pretty vulnerble and no one was backing me up.

Finally the mall security showed up while I was talking to the 911 operator. At first they didn't quite grasp the situation and assumed his complaints were serious and real, but they finally escorted him from the building (he promised he'd be waiting for us when we left).

Maybe I can get my Palm some kind of Tazer add-on.

Holiday

I'm covering shifts this week while others take time off. I'm mostly closing the store and last night was unusually busy. I think we might've been the only thing to do besides drink or dinner or movies. It was cold out and there were lots of people in town. We almost doubled the expected sales.

Long lines, messy store, running out of cafe food... Interestingly I think many people thrive on this kind of chaos. I asked a lot of our staff (short lunches; late lunches) and we ran around working to keep our nose above water. I took the train home; my dogs were tired.

Should be busy again today, although the sun is out now...

GGB Opening Day, May 27, 1937

Phone Home

Trevor, Nora, and Tino

Yesterday was graduation day, but what was remakable was how much we used cel phones. I think every individual had and used their cel phone.

When I got to Trevor's house, no one answered the door. I wondered if I had the wrong time or rendevous point. I'd have to go home and check my email, but then I remembered I had a cel phone with me and called him, leaving a message. Turns out he was shaving and didn't hear the front door...

Then coordinating two families (Trevor's and his girl friend Nora's) and fellow travelers, and sub-groups of car loads, and sub-sub groups of drivers and passengers, meeting up, breaking up into other groups, meeting up again, breaking up again, and meeting up again was only possible because of the phones.

I've never used my cel phone so much. At one point I turned it off as I was missing the graduation ceremony and it was getting to be too much. Janet, who is mostly blind, uses her phone a lot. She even called Trevor to see what silverware she could use at his house to eat dinner with (she's Seventh Day Adventist and observes the Sabbath; no mass transportation, no restaraunts, etc., and stayed home while we all went out to celebrate). She called me nine times between the time I dropped them off at graduation and the time I hooked up with them there. I couldn't figure out how to block her calls. She was trying to give me directions to where they were sitting but, being mostly blind, didn't know where she and Tino were or see any landmarks, etc.

"We're at the bottom." Only a few thousand people to look through.

But being blind (and partially deaf) with a big fat tumor in her head, I can see how a phone would be a very useful crutch. Very helpful, especially if you feel isolated.

My phone use yesterday:

• In lieu of ringing the doorbell
• To hook up with Elliot and then later Tino and Janet at the graduation
• To let Robin know what time we would pick him up for dinner
• To see if Trevor was home after the graduation where we hung out and waited for those going to Burlingame before dinner
• To let Robin know we were outside in the car waiting for him to go to dinner

I also used my camera phone and played Bejewelled while I was waiting.

Really came in very useful. I hate it.

Graduation Day

My cousin's son, Trevor, graduated today from SFSU. Lots of crazy relatives running late and calling each other on each of our various cel phones throughout. Afterwards we took the kids (Trevor and his girl friend and relatives) to dinner and had lots of laughs.

Robin performing at the Giants game!

Alarming

Last night after I was in bed asleep the phone rang. The alarm company called to say the bookstore alarm was going off; they had called the police; and how long would it take me to get there?

I got dressed and of course the car battery was dead. Luckily my backup battery (thank you Costco!) worked like a champ. I drove down to the store and plenty of parking. I tried to get the Westfield security to let me into the building and to meet me at the store, but after three tries and a language barrier I found another way in.

No one (police or Westfield security or master criminals) were at the store when I finally got up there. The doors were locked. I called the alarm company who were very non-committal about the status.

"Wouldn't the motion sensor alarms go off if someone was in the store?"

"You would think so."

"If someone rattled the door from the outside would it set off the alarm?"

"Sometimes if they're cleaning the mall floors it sets it off. We get that all the time."

Thanks. That's helpful. I decided not to search the store, locked up and went home, alas, not back to sleep, but to watch Law and Order for a couple hours. Luckily I'm working late tonight.

Makers Faire

Me on a mowercycle...

Yesterday, the first Saturday I've had off in 8 months, I went to the Makers Faire down at the San Mateo fairgrounds. It was wonderful.

There is a series of magazines; Make, Create, etc., that are about repurposing and hacking and making funky stuff. I thought the robitics would be the most interesting but it was the craft pavillion that was the most exciting (although Circuside performance was pretty damn fun, too).The Craft Mafia (San Francisco, New Orleans, and Sacramento chapters) were well represented. There is a new punk/funk movement in the crafts world! Very fresh and imaginative.

This is a picture of an old Ninendo game consol, only it's all made of yarn.

Sooooo many interesting things! Of course the flame throwers and catapults and fighting robots were cool, too.

Great music, too. A punk mariachi band which was even more fun than that sounds like.

More pics on my web album ------>

More "BIG" visits

So the V.P. who visited our store a couple weeks ago liked what he saw and is sending the sale V.P.'s to check us out. Trouble is, what he liked was how much we went outside the lines of what the Sales V.P.'s had dictated. Uniformity has its place but it doesn't make sense not to chase your demographic. But it puts us, and especially our district manager, in a tight spot.

So... we are busy getting the store right. To me, the lack of alpha integrity is the worst thing about our store right now. The store looks great, but is rotten on the shelf. Good luck finding a book. Nevermind that we are totally backed up in the back room and new books that came out ten days ago are M.I.A.

Meanwhile, I've been hiring which means phone messages and interviews and adjusting schedules to get training and paperwork and interviews done. My boss had a simple idea that I pre-interview people over the phone so I'm not wasting time with people who have terrible availability or weird exptectations ($18 an hour?!). That's a great idea!

One problem with interviewing people is that I tend to like everyone. Meanwhile, the manager who does the second interview doesn't like anyone. Kind of a stalemate.

Snakehead

Pretty little playground in the Mission. Wonder how many kids are too frightened to go here...

IHOP

Lunch at IHOP in Novato (I think) with my friend Kathy. I haven't seen Kathy in a long time (long story) and it was good to see her and hear that her mosaic biz is going well.

http://www.kathyjosephmosaics.com/

Meanwhile she let me know what she thought of my career, social life, and parenting skills. Hard to take, but she's right, as usual (damn her).

I had scrambled eggs, corn meal pancakes, and humble pie.

Lazy Days

My days off and I'm mostly vegetating. Doing a few chores around the house and reading Wikipedia and blogs and not much else.

Busy Busy Busy

Storytime with Miss Kelsey, a barrista who is going to clown college, started last Saturday.

Working six days a week lately. And still busy with extracurricular activities. We've finally got our health insurance sorted out and will be visiting the doctors, dentists, and opticians shortly.

MUNI is free due to the Dali-Freeway Meltdown so I'm taking a break from walking. At least during non-rush hour times. My feet appreciate it.

Palm

Last week I got a new Palm. I did this after missing an appointment. So far it's very different from my old one and I'm still learning all it can do, including taking pictures. Mostly I use it as a to do list. Get that stuff off my mind and prioritized. But I also use it for notes. My poor little note pad I carry around is a wreck.

Took this picture with my Palm. It's my desk at work. Believe it or not many of us share this desk although it's mostly mine and I keep it rather neat.

Believe it or not.

"Weatherproof"

Turns out "Weatherproff" is just the brand name of my jacket. Sponges wish they could soak up liquid like my jacket does.

Rainy day in the city again. Not much sleep this weekend. It's Robin's 19th birthday and he's out with his buddies. So a quiet night at home to dry out.

Crusty

It's not just the little guys abandoning Market Street.

Our "big visit" is over and it's back to the salt mines today.

I'm working on an idea for another blog. Stay tuned.

Signs

More interesting signs along Market Street.

"Love will solve all your problems. / Love will only let you down."


"HAPPINESS IS HAVN' A DUMP"

Kiva

Today, on my way home (it was my day off but I was at work all afternoon getting ready for our V.I.P. visit tomorrow) I was thinking about volunteering. Some young nut whipped by me on a bicycle and I thought that was something I would have done, too, when I was young. (These handicap curbs are going to handicap someone run down by a bicycalist).

So I was thinking of something to make up for the nasty things I did when I was young (like riding my bicycle on the sidewalk, or hitting old indian women in the face with a snowball, or that time I burned down the Great Library of Alexandria.

It happend that I got an email from my old bloodbank. I've donated gallons to them, but do they even send me an xmas card? Screw them. I'm keeping my A- in jars in the back of the fridge.

But then I happend on a PBS show about Kiva, a micro loan organization. I'm interested in micro loans -- where $100 can change someones life in the third world -- and this seemed even better because you can pick, on your computer, which business it goes to and track the progress.

What's more, it's a LOAN. You get your money back (without interest)! Very, very low default rate and a secondary level of "loan officers" who make sure it's not a con and manage the loan.

I donated, er, I mean loaned $50 each to these two. I like that they're in retail (poor fools) and that their shelves look well organized; faced and flushed.


Leata Setu

Village Store Fagalii Uta , Samoa


Noorullah Faiz Qalb

Grocery Shop Kabul, Afghanistan

Maybe they could sell some books... (but no bicycles!).

Must Sale

Two sides of the same sign. I guess it's clear enough what's going on. It seems to have correct spelling. And it certainly attracted my attention.

In case you were wondering, it's an asian ceramic store that's moving/closing.

The Mint

This, too, is on my way to work. As is the Old Mint (photos to follow).


I beleive this nearby enterprise is independent from the U.S. Mint.

Trinity Ugliness

From the news (an ugly group of buildings on Market Street with some Christian connection. Besides the Trinity name they have doves and triangles in their logos, too):

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors unanimously approved plans to demolish a converted Market Street hotel containing rent-controlled apartments and to replace it with hundreds of new dwellings.

Residents of the apartments at Eighth and Market streets cheered in the gallery after the supervisors' vote Tuesday, because the plan guarantees 360 replacement apartments for the tenants that will be rent-controlled for life.

Those dwellings, which should be constructed by the fall of 2010, are part of a larger plan to build up to 1,900 units there.
"Today I am reminded that protecting the most vulnerable among us, and doing the right the thing for those who are in need, is also good for the whole," said Supervisor Chris Daly, who helped broker the agreement with property owner Angelo Sangiacomo.

The plan also calls for 230 other units that will be rented at below the market rates for poorer households.
The vote puts the developer of the site, Sangiacomo's Trinity Properties, on the fast track for construction in a city known for its drawn-out project approval.

"It has been a long time in the making ... and it's gratifying to see the product of all of that would be a unanimous vote," said Walt Schmidt, chief financial officer for Trinity Properties. The developer filed the first building permit for the site with the city on Monday.

Sangiacomo, 82, is often called the father of rent control because rent increases on his properties in the 1970s helped inspire a public response to protect tenants.

Ken Werner, who has lived in an apartment at Trinity Plaza the past 14 years and works at a single-room-occupancy hotel in the city, said the vote relieved him, calling it a victory for renters in the city.

Nice (Cheap) Cuts

I've been getting my hair cut here for years. $16 (+$4 tip). But this last time when I leaned my head forward so she could get the back of my neck I noticed someone had dumped a bunch of gray hair in my lap! Not that I'm so vain, but that wasn't so Nice... (O.K., I guess I am so vain.)

Porn for Women

This book came in yesterday, just in time for Mothers Day. A lady came in and asked if we had porn for women. I only had to give her a slight variation of the Johnny Carson look to have her in stiches. Turns out she meant Porn for Women.

We got four copies; sold out before noon.

Yeah, it's sexist and pretty lightweight. Silly. But kudos for the great title and cover!

Crazy Drunk Tourist Paradigm

I walked past this building for months without noticing how interesting it is. Then, last week and dinner at Lori's with Stefan, I walked down the other side of market.

I usually stay on one side of Market Street. To me, it seems safer. Less traffic, less people standing around. Originally, though, it was because there are fewer streets to cross... And let's face it. Cars are a bigger danger than panhandlers.

I assume all cars, busses, taxis are driven by Crazy Drunk Tourists. I've seen them go the wrong way on one way streets. Run red lights. Drive over the curb. Make illegal and dangerous U-turns in the middle of the street. That, and jaywalking crazy drunk tourists coiuld send anyone up a curb.

Don't get me started on Stupid Stoned Maniac bicyclists...

Recyling

San Francisco is a Green city and we recycle everything. Including pigeons, it appears.

It's Tops!

Nice little diner. I've had breakfast here a couple times.

The hotcakes are good, but I wouldn't say awesome (try the lemon buckwheat cakes at Squat and Gobble).


Unstuck in time.

On a sadder note I just read that Kurt Vonnegut died. He was my favorite author when I was about Robin's age. I don't remember the circumstances but dad took me to see Slaughterhouse 5 and we walked in late. We were really unstuck in time. As I recall we stayed and watched the beginning of the next showing. For this movie that was fine.

When I read a short story of his once I had the strongest sense of deja vu I've ever had. I thought I had dreamed it before. Turned out I had read it before.

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse.

Westfield at Night

After work, around midnight, I took this picture.

The lower building on the right is the older part. We're in the new side; the building on the left. On the inside it's all one big fat mall.

I backed up against a newspaper rack to get everything in and while I was doing this a man stumbled over between the racks and relieved himself. My immediate reaction was to want to kick him in the ass. I didn't. Also didn't take a picture of said actions.

Day off today, although I have a telephone conference this morning. My big toe is all blistered and swollen so nice to get off my feet for a couple days and refill the fridge.

Threshold Guardian

Yesterday afternoon I found out I had to be in Oakland this morning for an Unemployment Claim Appeal Hearing.

Ug.

I closed last night and got home around midnight so not much sleep (and I'm not even in Italy!). I hadn't been to this part of Oakland before so I gave up some valuable sleep time and got there over an hour early.

The hearing started about 15 minutes late and I doubt it lasted 30 minutes. I got to answer about 5 questions. Two of them about the spelling of my name.

It was pretty uneventful as everyone seemed to be telling the truth. Drama (and comedy) requires fibbing or at least misunderstanding.

BUT, after the hearing I sat down with our lawyer for the better part of an hour and asked lots of questions about what we should be doing to be sure we don't get the co. in trouble.

Fascinating! I learned a lot, totally worth all the aggravation.

Which brings up an interesting series of situations. Several times in the past couple weeks "special" projects have popped up and I've had to work on days off or at hours I would normally be deep asleep.

I hated them all. Beforehand. Yet, everyone of them turned out to be fun, interesting, and worthwhile.

But I sure did whine about them beforehand.

In the book, The Writer's Journey, he talks about story following the Hero's Journey. Right at the start you have Refusal of The Call, and Threshold Guardian. These are the monsters that stand at the gate that we don't want to go through in the first place.

Inertia, in other terms. (I'm reading a book about the science of failure; chemistry and physics.)

A true adventure is one we don't want to take.

P.S. Oakland Civic Center is lovely!

No Popcorn

These movie theatres look like they left in a hurry.

Maybe between reels.

Probably a Rocky sequal.

Trouble

Yesterday when I got home from our Easter at work (we were closed
because the mall was closed) Robin told me the fridge was not
working. Sure enough not only was it not working but it was moldy. It
hadn't been working for many days!

I was too pooped to work on it then but after a nap I took a look
(which included banging on the sides). After pulling moldy sausages
and a couple cartons of milks (now cottage cheese) I noticed that the
freezer was still working fine. A little investigation (what's the
easiest, cheapest possible solution beyond whacking) and I discovered
the dial for the fridge was in defrost mode. Easy peasy fix.

But it makes me think about trouble-shooting. Being able to fix
stuff. It involves being outside the emotional catastrophe and
"looking." I think this is what made me good at fixing computers. I'm
able to "see" abstractly what might be the problem. And, like I said
above, what is the easiest, cheapest option to try first (as opposed
to car repair shops; replace the most expensive part first philosophy).

I had to design and build a latch/lock for our music cage at work.
It's more complex than it looks and now that the solution is done it
seem obvious, but it was a corker. Two sliding doors that don't line
up. They needed to be held together when locked but be easy to slide
when unlocked. It took 7 trips to Ace Hardware, and a couple
missteps, but an elegant solution was eventually found.

Of course, sometimes things just seem to fix themselves, too.

Car Car

Nevermind that this is potentially dangerous. It's ugly. Almost as ugly as our Hearts of San Francisco (Large "heart shaped" statues that are painted by different artists). The fact that it's a vehicle with another vehicle painted on it just makes it weirdly ugly.

Odd Business

The weird thing in this shot is not the Odd Fellows building, but the Payday Loan business. The average rate is 400% a year. 1000% is not unheard of.

They are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a part of town I won't wear my iPod (in part so I can hear if anyone is coming up behind me). I've walked by here and seen lines out the door.

Again, a tax on the mathmatically challenged (whom, ironically, are very good a multiplying).

It's Greek to Me

I don't think I've ever seen this place open, but it looks like it could; it's full of stuff. Leather stuff. Biltrite stuff. Findings stuff. I suppose it's all N. Dermitzakis' stuff.

It's Easter and although the mall is closed, we've got a crew (including yours truly) going in to work. It'll be a good chance for me to get caught up on some paperwork. It's just getting up so early (4:30 am) that's a cracker. Meanwhile, I'll at least drive to work. I'm sure to find a place to park and I have my backup battery now in case the new one dies (again).

Grooves

This store has been around as long as I remember. I have to say, though, that I'm not really sure what they sell. Records, you suppose? Whatever, they seem to be doing well.

Street Face

Too much time on my hands I guess. Result? New blog interface and picture of me in front of one of the nicest looking buildings on my stroll up Market Street, the SF Furniture Mart (not open to the public).

I was once a juror on a case where a fat man bumped a tiny asian woman out of their small elevator with his stomach. Supposedly she was knocked to the ground. Half the people on the elevator, including the anachronistic elevator operator, said nothing happened. The other half said he had done it intentially. Two weeks of my life I'll never get back.

Anyway, this is my "no eye contact" street face on a cold foggy day. If you look close you can see my tell-tale white ear buds.

Also, please note that I've added an Web Album link on the right side with all those pictures you've enjoyed at my expense.

Brooks Hall

Dedicated April 11, 1958.

The convention center of its day, I saw U2 here about 20 years ago (terrible concert) and my first MacWorld Conference (excellent!). Rumor is they store the books from the old library (now the Asian Art Museum) that won't fit in the new library in the catacombs of Brooks Hall.

This is the back end. Can't say the front is that much better, but I actually sort of like its plain austere look.