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Saturday, June 30th, 2007I have simply to say that the iPhone rocks! I picked one up today and although the learning curve is steeper with this thing than I usually like, but it’s hands down the best phone, browser, and media device I have ever used!
Posted from my iPhone.
Update: Now that I’ve had my iPhone for about 24 hours I’m still very impressed (particularly with the Safari browser experience), but I find myself wishing they had already released the API. A few select features are missing and those could be met (for me at least) by adding an SSH client, Adium, and MP3 ringtone support. Still – big concerns given how impressed I am with the rest of the device and it’s high level of integration of features and ease of use for switching between them.
Don’t like gay marriages?
Monday, June 25th, 2007Don’t like gay marriages? Then don’t get one!
I saw that quote on a bumper sticker while driving in to work this morning and it started me thinking about being gay and what it means to me on pride weekend: not that much. Last year Brien and I celebrated pride with a Silence of the Lambs marathon, and this year in similar suit I managed to avoid pride in a far more solitary fashion by spending time with Scot and Brien then playing Civilization 4 (and conquering the world) much of the weekend.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m gay and “proud” of it, but to me the gay pride celebrations that occur world wide every June have nothing to do with pride, and instead focus on making it into a homosexual freakshow of sorts. I’ve ‘been gay’ (or at least been old enough to know it) for more than 15 years now, and the older I get the more I realize that my sexual orientation is pretty much meaningless. Sure I’m gay, I date men, am emotionally attracted to men, and find (some) men’s bodies highly sexually attractive, but to sum up my entire being as nothing more than a primitive urge to breed (although a slightly misguided one from an evolutionary standpoint) seems to trivialize all of my other qualities that I value like my intelligence, vision of the future of humanity, wit, charm, outlook, adaptability, and all sorts of other qualities that seem far more important than merely being gay.
Being gay or straight is such a small fraction of what makes a person who they are – it’s not even something you have a choice about – it makes that throwing a parade about being gay is almost offensive. Why not have a red hair parade, a left handed celebration, a jubilee for the tall, a gala for the short? Heck, let’s ditch the gay pride parade in favor of things that people have a choice about – something you can be proud for: a parade for computer programmers, a festival for lovers of the color teal, or a cavalcade for Scrabble lovers world wide.
Now don’t get me wrong – I realize that throughout history gays have been downtrodden and outright persecuted against , but so have almost every social group at one point or another; regardless of if the groups difference is a chosen one or not. Women, black people, Hispanic people, Jewish people, the Gypsies, all sorts of people who didn’t choose their lot in life have suffered from society in recent times. We as species need to become more open and embracing of every living being regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other minor differences, but part of being open and embracing of someone different is to treat them the same as you would treat yourself – no differently. Just because someone is different does not mean we need to celebrate that difference and throw a parade for that difference, just be aware of the difference and move on to the goal of uniting humanity through progress and technology before we wipe ourselves out and become just another historical blip in the cosmic history book.
We’re here, we’re queer, who cares!
Busy weekend
Sunday, June 17th, 2007In the last two days I’ve gotten a nice auxiliary input installed into my car, taken Skype to the vet (which unfortunately will result in a follow up visit and some minor surgery on Tuesday), had an automatic shutoff value on a gas pump fail and spray almost a gallon of gas all over me and my car, thrown my back out sneezing from allergies, and celebrated not one but two birthdays – Brien and Dom (its a little creepy that they share the same birthday.
How’s that for one lightspeed run-on sentence?
Update: I managed to get roughly 14 hours of sleep starting Sunday late afternoon and ending Monday morning at my usual time. It made all the difference and helped my back out quite a bit. Big week at work here I come!
Biking with the best of them for Mothers Day
Monday, May 14th, 2007This last weekend brought me home to Walla Walla for Mothers day. It’s always nice to see her, and after the tragic death of a close friend of hers several years ago on Mothers day I try to be with her on that weekend to help support her. After gliding down in the A6 (sweltering in the heat of Eastern Washington as a result of my broken AC – I toyed with naming this post ‘Gliding through the heat’) on Friday night I got to spend the weekend with them and some old friends.
Saturday morning the Wheatland Wheelers held their annual ride to memorialize Ann Weatherill up Mill Creek to Kooskooskie near Walla Walla to drink a toast to Anne’s memory. It’s good to see that my former teacher, and my moms best friend is remembered well by her community.
The above shot I got on the way back from the ride of my mom. I was pacing her in my car and ended up being not quite happy with the composition (the light upper left corner is the doorframe of my car – cropping it out fails to help the rest of the composition sadly), but while driving a car and trying desperately not to hit a tree, biker, or drive into a ditch while taking photos is surprisingly tricky. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone unless you are in a very remote location like we were – it could be quite dangerous. I took some other shots at the mid-point of the ride that can be viewed here.
I’m glad to be back from Walla Walla – I’m such a homebody that I really do appreciate being home no matter where I’ve gone, or how long I was gone. I was a bit stressed out last week with packing and keeping up with work, but now that it’s all behind me I’m ready for one heck of a week. The ride home had a few surprises as well which added to my relief at getting home, but I won’t go into those here and now.
Happy Mothers day Mom!
“Back bikers line” by sparktography
“Mom rolling shot on bike” by sparktography
Of changing names and ritual
Saturday, April 14th, 2007One of my friends has just taken a very big step in his life: he has chosen his name. For him the reason is religious, and he has picked his Hebrew name as a part of his personal spiritual path. Having chosen myself to pick a name that suits my personality I have an inkling of what a significant milestone in his life this must be for him. Changing your name is more than just changing a label, it’s putting a stake in the ground and expressing to the world who you really are.
Welcome Akiva Raanan Martin, may your life’s experiences (including both a chosen name, and soon to be married man) be full of friends and fortune.
A fun day: family and technology
Friday, March 23rd, 2007My cousin Heather was in town this evening with one of her friends so we went out to hit the town. Her 23rd birthday is tomorrow so I took her out for some Sushi and a birthday drink at Blue C. It was good to see her, and a good start to a family-tastic weekend: tomorrow morning I’m headed up to Abbotsford to see my Grandpa, Uncle, Aunts, and other cousins. Sadly Grandpa has not been doing as well, so I think it will be good for the family to get to hang out with him for a while.
In technology news I’ve been on one heck of a spending spree – I need to stop! In two days I’ve purchased both a GPS unit for my car, and one of the new Apple TV’s. The GPS unit is cool (and might help keep me from getting lost), and makes up for one of the two missing features in the A6. The other missing feature is rain sensor wipers and I doubt if there is a way to hack that in after market.
In a way I’m looking forward to the drive tomorrow as it will be my first long haul in the A6 (now affectionately named the PimpMobile (in honor of Bender)), and a great chance to play with the GPS unit. I already asked it to calculate the route up to Abbotsford and it is a different one than I’m familiar with. Looking at the details in Google Earth it actually looks to be a faster and shorter way there so I think I’ll give it a go.
The Apple TV is great so far. Exceptional and simple out of box experience (like all Apple products in recent years), and the initial setup was a breeze. I plugged it in to the wall and to HDMI and I was off. After selecting my 802.11n network, entering the WPA password, and selecting the computer I wanted to sync with it was ready to use. Total time from plugging it in to me watching an episode of the Colbert Report: 2 minutes.
The best form of retail therapy
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007Am I really getting that old? I finally had my fill of sporty cars and decided that I should trade my GLI in for something a little more comfortable for the commute. University Audi was kind enough to hook me up with a simply stunning used Audi A6 with all the goodies:
Sadly thanks to the rain this morning it’s already filthy and I haven’t even had it for a full day yet! Light coat of mud aside I’m really happy with it – it’s big, comfy, and exuding leather and wood from every nook and cranny. It’s certainly a different experience to drive than my GLI was – it glides along rather than hugging the road and screaming like a bat out of hell.
Next thing you know I’ll start wearing starched shirts and buy a house just so I can yell at kids to get off my lawn!
Now that’s clean
Sunday, March 4th, 2007After my week it’s been nice to relax a bit this weekend. Yesterday that relaxation was aided by my friends Sylwia and Jen who came over to help me clean. I have to say: I’m impressed. They did the deepest clean my condo has ever seen.
Little things like pulling the knobs off my oven to clean them, and cleaning the underside of the toilet bowl. The place practically sparkles! If anyone needs a referral for two rocking cleaners let me know!
Aside from living in a newly vibrant place I’m pleased to announce that I have nothing on my agenda today. Once I get all showered and ready for it I’m planning on doing practically nothing. I may go out and shoot, I may just play video games all day – it’s all open ended and wonderfully low pressure. Just what a boy needs after a week of stresses at work.
Sunday brunch
Sunday, February 25th, 2007
My friend Alissa (pictured above – another shot is here) has a crepes brunch at her house today. It was simply delightful! I got to meet a lot of her friends, as well as hang out with my old recruiting buddy Ron for a while. Everyone brought a crepes topping and we all talked, took photos, and played Settlers of Catan for about four hours.
After the brunch I had Mike and company over for some video games, bad movies, and pizza – all in all a very satisfying end to my weekend. We played some Crackdown and watched the worst movie in history: Mazes and Monsters.
Speaking of Crackdown it’s a fantastic – if not short – game. I beat the final boss today and discovered it’s twist of an evening. I kind of wish they had delayed the launch slightly and added more content – but that can’t be helped. It was well worth the money I spent on it to get a week of fun running around on the rooftops causing chaos.
“Sultry Alissa 02” by sparktography
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