SnapShots

I found a new blog toy called SnapShots. These are little preview windows that open up on hyperlinks. Check out some of these examples to see what I'm talking about: here's my YouTube video from Iceland, another great YouTube video, my favorite blog, my Botswana photos, one of my favorite movies, and my coordinates.

Outside Lands Music Fest in San Francisco

This weekend I went up to San Francisco to see Radiohead at the Outside Lands Music Fest. It was awesome! I flew up Thursday, crashed at the hotel, then went to work Friday morning at the new Google offices. The space was pretty cool; great views of the bay bridge, a big cafeteria, and tons of empty nooks to crash in. I grabbed a window office, plugged in, and got to work. By late afternoon I had to get to Golden Gate Park, so I crammed on a bus with about a million people and headed out. The fest wasn't too packed until Beck started up. Then it was tons of people and drifting clouds of smoke. A nice vibe, but a little claustrophobic. Mid way through Beck, I joined the stampede to grab a spot by the main stage. I managed to get fairly close for the show. Radiohead played for almost two hours! They had an amazing light show on stage, but just hearing there music live for the first time was a great experience. After the show was another cramped ride back to the City and a hurried morning flight back to LA, but it was well worth it. The rest of the weekend was sleep, though I did get some nice surfing in on Sunday. Now it's back to Monday wishing I had more time in the City.

My July...

Alright, I haven’t written in forever and need to catch up. So for the 4th of July I went to Santa Barbara and the next week I went to SeaWorld. The week after, I saw Coldplay at the Forum (good show, crap venue) and went to my niece’s birthday party. It was an all day Chuck-E-Cheese extravaganza, so the kids had a great time. As for me, I was sick as hell and creeped out by the evil robots. Still, it was nice seeing my niece, meeting my brother’s new girlfriend, and riding around in his new BMW 335. On the 24th, I spent the entire day stuck in a bus on I-5 for a team event in Del Mar. Not fun. However, some nice meals at Gulfstream, Katsuya, and Katana more than made up for it. Last week was insane! I had a client dinner on Monday, spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night going out, then did the company picnic in Long Beach on Friday. Saturday was great though; nothing but beach. I went to Huntington, did some BBQ and body boarding, then ended the day surfing on some nice long sets. This week, I’ve just been taking it easy and getting back in the gym. I killed my iPod in the ocean a couple weeks back, so I swapped it out at the Apple store and am now ready to hit the waves this weekend.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. In the more general sense though, I’ve been a bit stressed lately. My contract with Google ends in September (has it been a year already?), so I have a lot of uncertainty about whether I can convert to a staff position. Once I get a bit more settled in my career though, I can start looking for a house. Fingers crossed!

Why SeaWorld rocks

1) Free beer. Yes, that's right, FREE BEER! SeaWorld is owned by Anheuser-Busch, so they have a beer garden, the Budweiser clydesdales, and lots of free beer. Not just Bud, but lots of delicious microbrews. Did I mention it was free?

2) You can touch things. Cool things, like dolphins, stingrays, and starfish, not to mention the petting zoo. It's so cool when a stingray sucks up a smelly sardine from your open palm (their skin feels like wet jello).

3) It's for adults too. This ties into the beer thing. SeaWorld is great for BOTH kids and adults. The park has activities and exhibits that appeal to a diverse demographic, like the animal performances, game arcade, and feeding the dolphins.

4) SeaWorld is educational. Besides being amazingly fun, you can actually learn stuff if you want to.

Reading, Concerts, Sailing, etc.

Time to catch up a bit. I'll start with my long neglected reading list. I recently finished Birds of America by Lorrie Moore. It's a collection of short stories with an overarching melancholy that's tempered by bursts of dark, but poignant humor. Not the best, not the worst, but a worthy read.

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Next up was Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. The basic premise is that experience allows you to make insightful choices based on thin slices of information. Also, our judgement can be derailed by racial or gender bias, information overload, stress, and marketing. One thing that was particularly interesting was the application of these ideas to personal relationships. We can misconstrue our biases for positive qualities in others and end up with brain dead, but attract partners (or presidents). Also, what we say we're attracted to and what we're actually attracted to are completely different things. Trying to qualify attributes that are purely qualitative is simply an exercise is self-justification, so beware of your biases.

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Two books that were pure crap were The Last Lecture and The Power of Now. The Last Lecture was simply pompous and self-congratulatory. Just because you're facing mortality (we all die someday) doesn't mean you have all the answers. Lame. The Power of Now is essentially cognitive behavioral therapy dressed up in new age jargon and pumped out through the Oprah machine. CBT generally has a positive view within the psychiatric community and is an effective tool for a number of issues, so why the new age window dressing? Double lame.

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On to my last book: When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris. This book rocked! It's insanely funny and David's flaws and eccentricities gives me renewed appreciation for the quirks that make us human. Highly, highly recommended. Buy this book now.

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Outside of my books, I've just been enjoying life these past few weeks. Last weekend I saw Combichrist at the Avalon. It was a solid show; rough, sweaty, and loud. For the 4th, I took a trip to Santa Barbara and went on a sailing cruise. I've never been on a real sailboat before, so it was an interesting experience. I liked the silence of the sails as we cut through the waves, but I still prefer flying over the ocean in an over-powered jet ski, jumping the white capped waves or blasting full throttle on the rare days when the ocean is flat and still as plane of glass. After the cruise, I spent a bit of time on the beach. However, the nearby fires were raining down ash, so I called it a day and heading back to LA. Saturday was BBQ and today I went surfing in Santa Monica, grabbed some lunch, then went hiking in Griffith Park. All in all, life = good.