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Being that it's the holiday season, I've been making more abundant use of the ATMs around town and am still shocked by the abject stupidity some people have when it comes to these things. They'll just stand there, dumbfounded, like the wrong decision on the keypad will open up a hole underneath them, taking them to certain doom. On some level, I would welcome this, but on another, I just wish people stopped making out like these machines are that hard to use.       ATMs have been around about what... nearly 30 years or something? A whole generation has been born since we've had them and yet these button monkeys who can't get their $40 out in less than ten minutes still are among us. A lot of folks seem to fight the machine instead of doing what you really need to do, in that, you have to accept it as the boss. It's going to ask you a few questions. You answer them with the only choices possible and you move on. Pretty simple. Stop over-thinking it!              Since the year will shift before my next writing, have a good 2007 everyone!

I'd often walk along the corner of Hyde and Bush streets to go to Cala Foods (which is a deplorable insult to food I might add) and I'd see this building on the corner. It seems to mostly have medical offices in it and was really non-descript. Actually, I'd go so far as to say it was ugly. At some point in the 1970's or 80's, it seems that someone got the bright idea to cover up the exterior with these sheets of faux marble. This covered up all the old facades as well as well as some great arched windows. In the process it made it look like this off-white block of crap that had been dumped on the corner. I assumed that this was the way the building always had been until they started to rip off the lousy exterior one day.       It was amazing to see all of this great architecture and work suddenly get unearthed. Sure, there were going to be some restoration issues to deal with or remove, but I'd gladly take that over what was there. Now, instead of an ugly cube, in its place is a lovely older building from the early part of the 20th century that brings back character and the real "San Francisco" look to the street. I applaud the owners in their decision and encourage others with similar buildings to do the same.

It's four o'clock in the morning and I'm lightly kept in the hold of a soft sleep. As is typical of this time, the slightest tremor to the still early morning could pull me awake in a groggy, torrid state. So, naturally, Ethel Merman begins to belt out her greatest hits across the street.       Split from a dream I'll never remember, I'm suddenly wide awake taking in "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend". Immediately I begin to curse my neighborhood and its magnetic pull to all the crazies in the City. But slowly, my annoyance dies down as I realize that the guy across the street singing for three blocks to hear, is actually pretty damned good.       Curiousity overcomes any immediate need for sleep and I claw my way out of the covers that fend of this cold December chill. I stumble in to my living room only to nearly kill myself on a pair of shoes I had left by the heater to dry after walking home in the rain the day before. Ironically, they were still wet because I had forgotten to turn the heater on despite the surrounding cold.       Recovering from what will most certainly be a bruise from the edge of my dining table, I make it to the window and there in the doorstep of an apartment building across the street is 'Ethel'. His tune had shifted to 'These are the Days' which I'm told is not an Ethel song, but it is 4AM, so I'll cut him some slack. Gently he rocks back and forth on the step like a summer hammock someone has just left. My thought of summer is obviously telepathetic as he starts to shiver, all the while belting out show tunes.       But, as is usually the case with these characters, he seemed to feel that there were others, like me, looking out their windows to see who was the source for this Fountain of Ethel. And with that, he quickly got up, not breaking a lyric or a note, and walked down the street. As I lost sight of him when he turned the corner on to Larkin, the last few discernable notes from, 'The World is Your Balloon' were bouncing off the cold fronts of the buildings.       With that, the morning was quiet again and I realized that I was still incredibly tired. Back to bed I went to try and cling on to any bits of warmth that were still trapped in the covers.

I love all the things that go on in San Francisco. How this city is constantly changing keeps you on your toes and alive. Getting bored in San Francisco means that you're dead.       Of course, every so often, this change bites you in the ass. Since I'm getting ready for New Year's, I decided to get my dry cleaning done, only to find out that my favorite spot is now closed. This is a real bummer because they were damned cheap. Maybe a little too cheap. Now, instead of getting to pay $1 to have a shirt dry cleaned, I have to go a whole block away and spend $1.75 to have said shirt dry cleaned. I guess this means I'll have to be a lot more careful when eating Indian food in my fancy duds. C'est la vie mon ami.

Don't get me wrong, I loooove Netflix and the ability to not have to interact with my fellow man even more by having my movies sent to my cave. But, I just have to say that the "give a subscription" function sucks. I had to help my mom give one to my aunt for Christmas because she couldn't figure it out. I got in there and I had trouble figuring it out... and I build websites for a living!!!       It's this most convoluted thing where it really seems like you're giving a gift subscription to yourself the whole time. Then when you get to the end, there's no way to delay the email delivery to the person you want to give the gift to, so you just have to wait to send it. Beyond just the general ineptitude with how this was built, I think the marketing folks got way too involved and were trying to make it a system wherein you might not end up giving it, but yet still get charged, sorta how giftcards work because people never get around to spending the. In this instance, it's failed. I almost didn't even want to bother, but it was a last minute thing, so there you have it.              In other news, it's Christmas Day! If you're not Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or one of the other billions of people who aren't Christian, what the hell are you doing here reading this?!! Get out there and have a good day with friends and family. Or just go get drunk or somethin'. I'm not gonna tell you what to do. Just have fun doing it.

If you haven't seen it, L'Auberge Espagnole (also called, The Spanish Apartment or Pot Luck) is a great film that didn't get a lot of play in the US. I was fortunate to see it at the London premiere of the film. This also happened to be my first time in Europe, so naturally it gave me a certain affinity for the film. But really, it's a great film. Yes, there are a good number of subtitles, but if those bother you, I'm going to start writing articles in Croatian, just because.       Now I've finally gotten around to seeing the sequel, Les Poupées Russes (also called The Russian Dolls) which is a damn fine sequel to the first. It gets the same spirit of L'Auberge, but at the same time is really able to propel the story ahead and show a natural progression of their lives. Once again, I'm not sure why it didn't get a lot of play in the US, but I blame the subtitles and the fact that Lindsay Lohan can't read. I don't know why the later other than, just because.

I use the Yelp a bit. You can see a link to my profile there on the left. It's the thing that says, "jebus". Yeah, that's the one. You can see all 132 reviews I've written there, but in short, I'd like to sum up a few of my favorites. Is this a little conceited? Sure, but here we go:       El Farlito       Nan King Road Bistro       Best of the Bay Party       San Francisco       Fenton's Creamery       Yelp       Cav Wine Bar       Bargain Bank       So, you kinda gotta look for my little icon there below the location info when you click on the links, but that's where the business is. Oh yeah, one last great one would be my tales of Ruby Skye. Join and give me some props if you'd like. You can even add me as a friend because we just can't have enough friends.

I was just looking out my window last night and noticed that the blinking Christmas light on top of the Transamerica Building (aka the pointy one) isn't there! It's been there ever since I can remember, which is admittedly not that long, but still, what gives?       It was there last year. There isn't any kind of power crunch right now. Looks like our color level is yellow right now, which in reality is the new blue, so the terrorist threat is minimal. Thanks for that that one, DHS! The FBI couldn't give us colors! No sir. About time to elevate it don't you think? Oh wait, people don't pay attention anymore and the Pubs lost out on Congress, so there's little point. But still...       Anyways, where the hell is Christmas light on the pyramid?!! Without that I don't know when it's Christmastime. It could be Hammertime now for all I know and what the hell do you give for that? Balloon pants and bankruptcy notifications? That's no fun at all.

For your viewing pleasure from a recent trip to Oroville, I got to flex my Canon 30D a bit and see what it could do. Mighty solid camera, but I'm curious if the auto focus issue that I've heard a lot about is true. I did some product photography over the weekend with it and had to manually focus it for all the shots, but that's pretty normal given the tight quarters one is working in.       Oh, don't be worried that the photos don't start with the cute little dog I put here. You'll get to her soon enough if you thumb through them.

Now that my Croatian class at Berkeley is over, I am left to beg the question: How do people do work and school at the same time? More to the point, how do some do full time work and full time school at the same time?       I cut back to a mere 20 hours per week so I could take this class that was every day and required a two hour round trip to get to. This had the net effect of making me pretty damned tired all the time. And fuzzy. And just generally kinda out of it. I know that when the work load increased, my grade decreased and vice versa.       I gotta say that I have nothing but respect for people who are able to pull this off successfully. I guess it's the drive of bettering oneself, one's career, and one's life that keeps them going. That and maybe that there is a light at the end of tunnel in two or four years. I don't get it, but I'm glad I didn't have to the full on craziness. I'll have to see if I take this class next semester. It's going to be a lot of work again, but it might be worth it of course.