Asma and I arrived in SF Saturday morning. We missed our first flight but managed to get on the next one on standby.
This area rocks. We've had a lot of good food and done a lot of walking. We've also taken tons of pictures. The scenery and weather is amazing. The weather can be confusing, though.
Our first order of business after checking in to the hotel was to meet someone to see an apartment. We walked through a very sketchy area and thought we were going the wrong way, so we turned around only to realize we were going the right way. So we scrapped the apartment but managed to find Taqueria El Castillito. Amazing food. So that turned out to be a succesful outing.
Right now I'm on the Caltrain, on my way to Redwood City to meet Raymond. We're going to prep in our temporary office for a meeting with an angel investor. It's the second one for this guy. First time I'm ever participating in something like this. I'm nervous.
I also stood in front of Facebook's main office (wow!). Stanford is amazing. Berkeley has its pros and cons.
Commuting around here might actually be fun. All seats on Caltrain and BART have enough space to work on your laptop. And the scenery [again] is nice. Metro's has mayb 25% of their seats as being laptop friendly, and half those are handicap-preferred.
In conclusion, we feel good about the move for sure.
We left for Springfield on Friday morning. Saturday we watched Hasan graduate, and we ate a good amount. Sunday we came home on the most turbulent flight either of us have been on.
We snapped a lot of good pictures: I looked or acted goofy in most of them, and my stomach jutted out.
The pilot on Sunday had a perfect landing despite the plane still moving around from the wind. Pilots are awesome.
Mishti got even fatter, presumably from lack of running around.
If I keep not sleeping at a decent time and waking up early, I'll have a third encounter with a fever in…three to ten days? Just in time for either Springfield or San Francisco. Fun.
Even with all the work and late nights while doing TCC, I never got fevers. Just burn-out. Waking up early is really tough. Thankfully, Asma did shift her wake-up time from 5 to 6 a few weeks ago.
Thankfully, Asma is also quitting Census. Tomorrow is her last day. Too bad it didn't work out overall, because her co-workers are good people.
We went to Asma's former manager's wedding on Saturday, and gave her co-worker Matt and his girlfriend Heather a ride there. (Matt and Heather are pretty fun, btw.)
Overall, it was good. I caved and ate a pulled barbecue beef sandwich – wasn't worth it. The sauce and the texture was nice, but the meat itself didn't do much for me. So reset my vegetarianism to May 4th. I'm really aiming to just give up meat now, but if I'm just able to cut my consumption to hardly any, that's better than not cutting it down at all.
And what's with the electric slide and other retarded dances? These line dances… are they just for white folks? I don't get it.
walking
We walked around with Mona yesterday in-between Adams Morgan and Cleveland Park. Beautiful weather.
First, we were in the cheering section of the Avon breast cancer walk, waiting to intercept Sarah. She covered 40 miles in two days. Amazing.
Second, we went to 2 Amy's for their weekly donuts. Yum. We also went there for the first time Friday night. Possibly best pizza I've ever had. They're great.
Third, we were going to go to the zoo, but felt pretty exhausted after Chipotle. We'll go soon. I haven't been there ever (that I can remember); definitely not since I moved here.
camera
We're getting a Canon XTi! It's arriving today! I'm working from home today and keeping my ear open for the UPS guy person. We're ultra-excited about this. Haven't had good pictures in years. We missed out on Mishti's baby months, sigh. It's a really big purchase for us, especially with the move, but we've been waiting too long. We probably should've skipped out on a couple of things, including the Wii.
Hopefully we'll be okay with the move.
Nine Inch Nails
It's lame of me to say this, not knowing him personally, but I'm so proud of Trent. All this output from him, licensing his music for free distribution, being communicative with fans, working with Saul, and just general awesomeness has got me admiring him. I thought he was an amazing musician before, but now I'm really inspired by everything he's doing. Fighting off depression and addiction and being free of record labels has really helped him step out into the world.
His music isn't nearly as intricate as The Fragile. In fact, I used to think With Teeth was pretty bad because of that, and wasn't really sure if he'd ever be able to get his skills back. But the relative simplicity of all the songs nowadays (apparently because Rick Rubin told him he had to keep it simple) is definitely part of the reason he's ridiculously prolific now.
And it's not just prolific, but his songs are pretty good in general (his touch with production hasn't diminished: it'll still be better than 99% of anything that will ever come out probably). He still goes back to that style of his musically/lyrically, but he's also experimenting. And the songs aren't so depressing anymore. They're getting to be more thoughtful in a non-selfish way.
I'm even appreciating With Teeth more now. I knew the album had a lot to do with recovery, but the lyrics were pretty awful at many points (production-wise, it's pretty good). A few weeks ago, Asma and I spent a night watching nin videos on YouTube and watched ‘Only’, among other things: the song used to make us cringe. A little bit later we watched ‘Down In It’ and the lines
just then, a tiny little dot caught my eye, it was just about too small to see, but I watched it way too long, it was pulling me down
jumped out at us like it was the first time we'd ever heard them, because they were so similar to some lines from ‘Only’:
well the tiniest little dot caught my eye and it turned out to be a scab, and i had this funny feeling, like I just knew it's something bad
It all clicked at that point. ‘Only’ was a joke – he was poking fun at his old self. Knowing that, the sort of lameness that we thought it was went away and we started liking it on the whole. It wasn't a direct response to ‘Down In It’, but the video was like the antithesis of all other videos he's done: clean, sterile, fairly calm, and not in some weird place. The only chaotic thing was himself, except it was confined to this:
ANYWAY, what I'm getting at is that Trent gets us excited. He released an album entirely for free online, during the night. And we should be getting the ultra-mega-fantastic edition of Ghosts today. And maybe he'll release another album, probably while he's taking a dump during his tour.
So far, that's four albums released in three years. Two just within a span of a few weeks. Yay.
1. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is such a good documentary/movie. I nearly cried. All animal lovers should see it. Or maybe everyone. Some people won't get it.
2. I [or we?] got a Wii today! Finally. Months of waiting and passing up chances are gone. If you've got early Sunday morning free and happen to see it advertised in your weekly Sunday Target ad thinger, there's a good chance you'll get one. We are hooked.
Actually, this move has been anticipated for months (possibly even years, if I count the potentials that The CulturalConnect might've lived up to). Asma, up until recently, was fighting the idea, so I never pushed it or anything. The plan initially was that, once our [Raymond and I] startup takes off and we get funding, only then would we move. But all that uncertainty meant we couldn't plan long-term or even short-term.
Then just a few days ago, Asma was like "Let's move to San Francisco". And ever since then there's been a flurry of excitement in the house. We're now super excited about the future and possibilities. All the ideas we have on what we want to do seem like they can happen there.
At the very least, it'll be great weather and food, and new experiences. DC is nice, and on pretty days the city really is pleasant to walk around, and there are scenic things in the area. But outside of that, we've never really found any sort activities to take part in. At least I haven't. My head's been in the work sand.
So that's that for the moment. We're expecting to be out of here by end of July. That gives us a lot of time to clear the junk we've accumulated and maybe fix up all the damage around here. The next apartment we get will be baby-proof.
The startup seems to be going well, more so on the funding side. I've been bogged down with AARP work that it's usually hard for me to do other things during the week. But I'm excited, and things are starting to come together a bit. I might be able to start building and testing basic functionality by next weekend.
I wonder if I can say now what exactly we're doing? Maybe not.
Be nice to the chickens
Also, I'm basically a vegetarian now, and have not eaten meat in the last three weeks (minus tuna salad one day).
The trigger was when we were at Soul Vegetarian before we went to see Saul Williams perform on April 7th. Asma was looking through a PETA pamphlet in the restaurant and read to me how male chicklets were discarded (i.e. crushed/killed) and that their beaks were cut off.
Not that I wasn't aware of the horrible conditions that mass-produced farm animals have to endure, but to hear about what happens to these innocent little babies is just obscene. That was the line totally crossed.
This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop eating meat completely. What it does mean is that I won't eat meat unless I know the source. So if it takes five years to find farmers that aren't cruel, that's how long I'm going to abstain from meat. I also need to be more wary of dairy and eggs (but I think we're doing pretty good on that end).
This meat ‘industry’ (as if animals are a commodity like steel and nothing more) is disgusting. I don't get why people are allowed to do this.
But that's enough of that. Be aware of what you eat, don't lie to yourself. If you're ok with it, so be it. That's all.
I would never seriously consider getting a government job. Ever. I've been in a state bureaucracy, and I'm hearing certain things that only confirm what I've thought of a federal job. It's not like it's a surprise at all.
Did anyone think the government had positions like Apprentice and Journeyman? That's amazing. How many places have apprenticeships that take years, anyway?
So whether or not I make it big as a tech entrepreneur, I will seriously consider going to the government for something like this. But if I could somehow become a typeface designer's apparentice and get to work with old technology (i.e. engraving, print press, etc.)… that would be happy times.
…it takes a radically different kind of mind to be a lawyer. I almost want to quit forming a company so that I don't need to read forms for incorporation. But having to fully understand and enforce any of that wording in law is unreal.
So tired. Bunnies are grounded. Mishti is unspeakably adorable with her blanky.
So Nine Inch Nails just released Ghosts, out of the blue. And Asma and I hesistantly decided to go for the $300 Ultra Deluxe [they couldn't think of a classier name?] edition. It isn't a bad choice maybe, given that we love Trent, and it's signed, and the packaging is going to be amazing, and we get tons of stuff, and some nice prints, and an autograph. And it's limited to 2500.
The response was apparently unexpected, because the servers just slowed to the most terrible hault known on the internet in recent years – they would've been better off shutting the servers down completely. We spent nearly two hours Sunday night trying to order the damn thing, and when that didn't work, we tried first thing in the morning (5 AM). The servers worked better, but there were still glitches in the ordering process, so we ended up submitting two orders.
So maybe they'll correct it. If not, that's also fine. The spectacular collector set is sold out and will probably fetch a nice amount on eBay if we happen to get two.
Starbuck's skinny latte drinks are disgusting. One thousand percent disgusting. Totally artificial and devoid of any goodness. I took one sip and tossed it.
Why are people willing to drink shit to shave off 200 or 300 calories? Walk a couple of miles. Damn.
I really think YouTube is the best thing to happen to the internet. I can't get over how videos I thought I'd never see again are floating around out there. It's equally as good as finding things I'd never think of.
Like StSanders.
Mohammed introduced me to a string of parodies that take the wind out of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Carlos Santana, and several other big names. All were put together by Santeri Ojala.
But just as I was getting into it, that very same day, YouTube shut down his account and took down all his videos. And this was after most of his videos had tens of thousands of views. I managed to snag a video through KeepVid.com before the big comedown (lol):
One of the fun things about all his ‘compositions’ is his [sometimes] subtle allusions to other aural things (songs, sound logos) – they're blended in so well that you don't always catch it the first time. I'm stumped with something, though: can anyone tell me what part of the Metallica video is from (0:19 to 0:21)? It's killing me not remembering where I've heard that.
One of the commenters says that Yngwie Malmsteen is to blame for all this. Bastard.
I emailed Santeri about obtaining the videos or whether he'd be coming back. He hinted at MySpace. I am now happy.
Hello, and happy into the new year. The trip to Illinois was ok. My parents can be ridiculously annoying. And we didn't to hang out with Hasan much outside of the house, which sucked. We were in Chicago on our last night there and hung out with Carly and Ryan. It was so, so cold – I can't remember DC ever being like that. But it was fun. Chicago is so much better than DC.
Asma started her job Monday at the Census Bureau. I'm proud of her. And it looks like she's found a group of like-minded individuals. If she gets a briefcase she will be the most professional mouse on the planet.
I've also decided to start leaving for work when she does, which will be 6:15 everyday once she gets fully into it. It should be easy to shift my day three hours earlier without any transition period.
(Side note: this post was started Monday. I developed a fever Monday night, and I've been a bit exhausted and sick as a result. I've been going to bed earlier these days, so I get the same amount of sleep as usual. The past few days have been extremely long, though. A couple of days already, we've been out of the apartment for at least 12 hours. Maybe that's it?)
We also started doing physical therapy a few weeks ago after seeing a competent orthopedist [who didn't just tell me that these knee pains happen]. The general issue for both of us is an imbalance due to some opposing/supporting muscles being weak.
For me, a lot of it had to do with my left leg being up slightly more than my right. Immediately after my first session with the therapist, my right knee inflammation from walking down stairs disappeared. (He essentially pulled my leg out of the socket. It doesn't hurt like it sounds.) Also, that nagging left that I got nearly a year ago from doing squats (which got severely reduced during a run, prior to the onset of the right knee inflammation) was probably the result of the imbalance, because the left knee pain was reduced even more.
I'm still not recovered, unfortunately. I've got a new sort of pain, which I've actually had on and off since running: shin splints in my right leg. Trying to recount how my pains have changed over the months is too confusing, but I will say that now, my shin splints radiate to my knee, which they didn't use to do. Maybe I'll need to try new shoes? I don't look forward to spending another $100 (this would be my third pair in six months if I do buy a new pair), but compared to therapy and injury prevention, it's necessary and worth it.
The upside is that I'm doing supporting exercises, and I think I'm going to do pilates regularly since a lot of my exercises are pilates-style. Also other types of cross-training. We'll be back on the road to ultra-marathons soon. Running is fun.
The furs and feathers are doing well. Penelope is slowly warming up to me. I hope that in a month or two he'll be playful outside of the cage. He seems so happy if he's by himself, but he has to be bored a lot of the times. We're going to find him a friend once he's more tame and comfortable with us.
Also, Raymond and I are teaming up again. We're hoping to do something big on social platforms in the coming months. Hush-hush for now. But we do have an app made: Campus Books. And a new one in the works. I hope this venture works out. I'm enjoying being able to actually use my expertise and creativity, and have ownership of a vision/product. There shouldn't be a TCC-style staleness about it, either. So that'll be refreshing. Refreshing is opposite of stale. Hmm.
But until the roads are open for me to leave, It's going to be a busy busy few weeks, especially the next two. AARP is going to fully lunch its site on Feb. 20, and the sky is starting to fall as a result.
