April 2006
All entries and daily links from April 2006.
The Power of Fire
Friday, April 28, 2006 at 9:04pm 1 comments
Though it might be the center of the gay universe, I often feel I don't really belong in the Castro. Either because I don't like to dance, spend all night out partying, or because I often don't feel I'm cute enough or fashionable enough, etc...
Sometimes though, I'm reminded how special and valuable this place is, and how easy it is to take the everyday for granted.
Last night a tragic car accident reminded me how much I really care about this place, when a car sped through Market Street and collided with another in a cascade that led to an entire string of cars parked along Castro Street to catch fire.
There was an erie and sorrowful feeling around the Castro this morning because despite the heroic efforts from those nearby, including a good friend and a homeless man I've often ignored, one life was lost.
I don't even know who he was but I still feel hurt by what happened. I sometimes wonder if I have any right to feeling bad when I'm not directly involved in a situation (perhaps I dont?) and I don't know how many times I've looked down on this homeless guy, reportedly name Dane, who tried to save a life despite how shitty he's been treated by me and everyone else.
It's Raining in Baltimore
Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 8:04pm 3 comments
For my birthday last weekend, I stopped in the used record shop near my flat on Market, with just the vaguest of hopes they'd have what I wanted in the used DVD bin.
They did, and while it's not the most extravagant gifts I could have got myself, I found a used copy of Homicide: Life on the Street's third season. And only for $40 too!
The show was never a hit or a ratings success. For the most part it flew under the radar while TV critics raved about it and TV guide kept raving about it. An entirely different set of critics saw it as brutally violent and wanted it cancelled even though as it focused around a the work lives of a Baltimore Police homicide unit, it followed the fallout and repercussions of violence, not the acts themselves.
In fact, the first time the show portrayed a shooting was near the end of the third season and the victims were three of the main characters. It was gut wrenching to watch the first time around and to wait over the next several weeks to find out if they would make it or not.
I'm only on the second disk, and I'm very tempted to skip ahead.
Three Decades of Jamison
Sunday, April 23, 2006 at 10:04am 10 comments
Today is my 30th birthday. It's already 10:30 in the morning and I still don't know what I'm going to do with the day, if anything.
Earthquake Damage
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 11:04am 2 comments
I was already awake this morning, coughing from a cold, so I went downtown to meet friends for the predawn centennial commemoration of the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire which destroyed San Francisco.
After the wreath laying and a few speeches we left to find breakfast. Walking away a speaker got to the podium and said something like, "So you've all been to 72hours.org web site and are ready for the big one..." and one of my friends responded "in your dreams we have."
Over breakfast we did talk about being ready for "the big one", but for all the information we're being bombarded with about "being ready" as someone who doesn't own a home or office building I can seismically retrofit, I feel more helpless in an earthquake than ever.
I've lived my entire life in California, growing up with earthquakes. I lived in the South Bay during the '89 Loma Prietta earthquake and there is not a lot I can do as an individual when the double-decked freeways and bridges collapse. The Emperor Norton Bay Bridge has still not been replaced and last year the Governor just added to the delay by stopping construction to see if it could be redesigned cheeper.
There are a number of schools in San Francisco which are except from earthquake safety standards because of their age and historic building status, and while 72hours.org has a section for home safety, but there's no section for public buildings that are not earthquake safe.
I'll certainly be there trying to help dig trapped school children out of the rubble if the worst comes to pass, but I feel like a burden is being put on me instead of the public officials who should be doing more themselves.
Operation: Turtle Rescue
Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 3:04pm 1 comments
Yesterday my roommate and I had to rescue a turtle.
He owns a nearby apartment building (a victorian which had been converted to four stdios) and when one of his tenants moved out he left behind his turtle, a red eared slider about 7-8 inches long and way to big for the tupperware bucket he's been living in.
The apartment needs a lot of work and they'd already started replacing the sheet rock and pulling up the flooring when we went for him yesterday. We didn't know how long it had been since he was last fed, the week before when we stopped by there was a pair of goldfish and they were still there because the basking shelf had been arranged in such a way he didn't even have any free swimming space and they could easily get away.
When I put him in a small container to transport him yesterday and then put the fish in with him it only took a minute before he started going after them. He seems a lot happier now, but it's only temporary till we can find him a good home.
Anyone interested in a turtle?
Movable Type Plug-ins
Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 2:04pm 2 comments
In the beginning there was Movable Type (MT) and it was good.
OK, we could go back to blogger, or even HTML, but I started blogging with MT, so that's where this story begins...
Each release of MT was better than before, in it's early 2.x's MT got plug-ins as well, but then came the dark when everything seemed to center around comment spam and how to fight it. It felt to me like the only plug-ins being written were new ways to combat comment spam.
MT 3.2 fixed that with a whole new spam fighting system, which at first let a lot through before I got it all tweaked and I think this must be the case with our developer community as well because it seems cool plug-ins are coming back into fashion.
A few weeks ago I added the latest from my Flickr photostream with the FlickrPhotos plug-in and today I just noticed NaughtyWordChars which fixes the characters that get mucked up when you copy and paste from Microsoft Word to MT (not that I use Word, but I think both Edu and Laurel do).
I've been hoping for something like Better Word Limit for a few years, but I can't remember why it was I wanted it now. I think it was something I'd worked around and I've also been playing with MediaManager which I have yet to actually put to good use.
All glory to Movable Type! Which oddly enough is the one product of ours I haven't really worked on, but which I use the most.
Fighting it Off
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 7:04pm
Last year I was sick a lot. Most of winter I had a cold, the flu and strep not once, but twice. Even when I wasn't sick I was tired.
So far this winter has been a lot better, I've been tired a lot and had a little touch of something here and there, but nothing to keep me in bed days on end. The last week though, I've just been tired all the time and a few days ago the sniffling and coughing started. I'm sure the near constant rain and getting rained on while cycling the last couple weekends hasn't been helping.
I'm still hoping to make it through the season for once without getting really, really sick.
Here Comes the Rain Again
Friday, April 7, 2006 at 4:04pm 1 comments
I was really enjoying our brief reprieve from the near constant rain. Yesterday morning I walked to work, meandering a little to walk up Octavia Boulevard and through Civic Center to enjoy the sunlight.
Now the sun is gone again. The latest storm began a few minutes ago with a downpoor I could hear and almost feel as it hit roof of my office.
This latest storm is expected to last through the weekend and threatens to cancel a 42 mile training ride to Fairfax I'm leading. Cycling in the rain is no fun, but the winter has changed the standards I had for what I'll ride in. This might be very wet, but I'm still committed to riding every mile from here to LA and it takes training to get there.
I've also set a goal of raising $12,000 this year, which will fund critical AIDS services in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California. Please support the fight against AIDS by supporting me with a donation.
(Satellite photo from Weather Underground)
Another Rainy Day
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 8:04am 2 comments
It's raining again. So strong this morning I want to just stay home, warm and dry, than even walk the two blocks to Castro Station.
We've had a month of near solid rain. It's been a real problem training for AIDS/LifeCycle when I can't spend my weekends out on my bike. We've had a lot of rides canceled, and it's put a damper on my fundraising as well.
This past saturday we got a break in the rain and my ride got to happen, but on the way back from Tiburon the weather caught up with us and I suffered a wet and windy ride down Camino Alto (a hill in Marin County) which left me shivering and put a chill in me for the rest of the day.
Rain is predicted all the way through saturday, possibly canceling my ride yet again and I'm starting to worry about not being in ready for the ride in June.
