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The mysteries of life are pretty endless. Questions such as: Where did we come from? Who is this God guy anyways? Is KFC still using actual chicken for their "food"? and Why do bad things happen to good people? are some of the more popular ones to pop in the mind at a moment's notice. I have recently had two others as well.       Why did that Devil Pigeon try and eat my pretzel? You see, as I was showing some girls from Colorado around SF two weeks ago, we naturally went up to Pier 39. Being that we were there, I had to get my most popular tourist food in the whole world: the salted soft pretzel. It is sad that these are three bucks now, since they're kinda crappy, but with enough mustard, they're still good enough. Anyways, I'm walking along and out of nowhere this damned pigeon comes flying across the pier and attempts to get my pretzel. Little bastard. What was he thinking? That was my damned pretzel and now his filthy mange has been all over my food. Do I throw it away? No, you can't really do that with a soft pretzel. Instead, I ripped off everything that seemed to come in contact with the winged rat and ate the rest. My pretzel. My pretzel! My... ah crap, it's a bird. It just doesn't understand, but still I've never seen one so emboldeneded.       The other thing that blows my mind is the drinking fountain at my gym. Not the low one for the handicap folks, but the high one for the ogres among us. There are days it is trickle and days it is a torrent. I never know what to expect and honestly, I feel really self-conscious in sticking my ass out in to the aisle to use the short one. I make do, but really, what's up with this thing? Is it dependent on the alignment of stars in order to quench my thirst? I just don't know, but it's all food for thought. Yes, even the pigeon. Mmmm, fresh-baked pigeon thoughts. So wrong, but so tasty.

Tonight is that last night for Kate Dumbleton to tend bar at her fine establishment, Cafe Royale. I can't honestly say how long she's been the owner of the place, but it's been at least a few years, predating my move to SF. I do know that she took what used to be a dark, Loiny bar and has since changed it to be a light, inviting spot that's a focal point of art and social meetings in the area.       I mention all this because she decided to sell the cafe a few months ago and move to Chicago to pursue other things in her life. I wish her the best because she's certainly wished me the best. You see, in addition to just providing a place to get a glass of wine, beer, or a cocktail, along with tasty vittles, Kate has been a great supporter of the artistic community in San Francisco. She was gracious [crazy?] enough to let me shoot scenes for two of my films at Royale (taste and Dying in your Sleep) and others I know have had similar kindness and support from her. While there are times I'm not in to the art installations that are there, the fact she has them really says something. Other places in the area can barely make the effort to have a functioning bathroom.       So, it is because of all of this and what a super girl she is that I am sad to see her go. But, as I said, it's her last night at the bar, so if you're free, make the effort to stop by and thank her for all that she's done. I'm sure she'll brush it off with her normal self-effacing cynicism, but hopefully it will be enough to lure her back to the area someday. Lord knows we need folks like her in the area.       I just hope that the new owners can keep it going. I'll really miss it if this one spot goes down hill.

I didn't catch it when it came out, but I've finally just gotten around to watching The Deep End. Honestly, it's a well-acted film, but it seems like they've left out huge chunks of the book that gave the characters their motivations for what they do. I didn't get it and got rather bored with it overall, especially since I know Lake Tahoe, having been a Northern Californian native. So, not even the scenery really saved it for me.       Other than the over-stripped plot and development, there was another big mystery: why were two non-Americans playing what seemed to be American roles? First you've got Tilda Swinton. She's a fine actress, but here, watching her try to force her mouth in to English pronunciations was painful at times. Why couldn't she have just been English? It wouldn't have changed anything at all really. Then you've got Goran Višnjić (see, I even used the correcct diacritical marks, aren't I slick? No? Well, okay...) While it's never really said exactly where his character is from, it seems that they went a great distance to have him downplay his Croatian accent. Once again, why couldn't he just be a Croat? It wouldn't have changed anything at all really.       Someday, they might start paying attention to these things when shooting or casting. I admit that I am generally perplexed by this and still point to my why no Russian, Russian Bond Girls bit. I suppose it's the rest of the world getting back at America for how many lousy accents we've tried to pull off in films. Or, it could just be that the movie industry is full of people who hear a name, any name and they want that name. Who cares if it's Tom Cruise as Superman? It's Tom Cruise! It's Superman! How could that ever be a bomb...

It's recently come to my attention that they're planning on smashing up a couple of glaciers down in Pascua Lama, Chile for the benefit of extracting precious minerals such as gold and silver. This is a "lovely" process wherein they put a big giant hole in the earth and proceed to contaminate the soil, water, and everything near the spot because of the process. It's one of the more foul ways of getting materials out of the earth, but also one of the most lucrative. A lovely example of this in the United States is the Berkeley Pit which is a "scenic" toxic lake in Butte, Montana. You can read more about the process here.       This falls under the category of one of those things we need to stop and stop now. As it turns out, down in the Pascua Lama soon-to-be mine, those glaciers are not only nice to have, but rather crucial for a good number of people to get their water supply from. You can read about it on Wikipedia here a bit more and the fact that the open encyclopedia has put a lock on edits would show that there is a good deal of dispute around the project.       It's still up to the Chilean government whether to let it proceed or not and it's up to a lot of world support to stop it. There was an email I received asking me to sign and forward on, but I've never thought of these to be an effective means of communication or action. I think that they mainly just harvest your email for future crapness. So, about the only thing I can recommend is to email the president of Chile. There is an English version as well, but I'm guessing you'll be better received if you write en Espanol. As a side note, I didn't even know that they voted in a new president this year and it happened to be their first women president. Man, this Internet thing is great!

We all love the Google Maps. If you don't then it means you probably haven't tried them. Try 'em. They're nifty, especially when you start using the Satellite view and fly around the world with it.       The only thing that sucks about Google Maps is the API. For those who don't know, an API is an interface that is provided for an application so that someone else can plug in to it and make use of it. Without them, there would be little fun in the computer lands. Anyways, back to my point, in that as I was working on a new site for Old First Concerts I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to integrate the Google Maps in to their Directions section?" The answer to which is of course it would. But there's one mighty big rub in all of this. The API is twisty and the documentation sucks. It sucks big.       I could understand if Google wanted to keep this to themselves, but by creating an API, they are sharing it with the rest of us, and should give us the ability to actually make use of it. So, in standard fashion, I looked around to see how others had dealt with this smarky documentation and in particular, I turned to Yelp who have quite nicely integrated the Google Maps in to their site. In looking at the code though, they essentially wrote their own front end to the damn thing. Yes, it's true that their setup is a little fancier and that what they did is definitely a good use of an API, but the fact of the matter is that to make a simple map for one location on a site, Google Maps are a mess.       Ultimately what would be great would be to have a nice cut and paste, basic layout for an example that actually works and looks like a normal Google Map (unlike their example which is über weak.) I guess is that since they're providing it for free, this is what you've got to deal with. Yay...

Over on Belden Place I've been working with the backend code a little bit to try and optimize the thing better. I also reworked the photos section to be a tad bit more user friendly. Afterall, we can always use friendlier users.              Thursday saw the launch of Old First Concerts. While their old site had been around for some time and was actually PageRanked quite well, it ironically only had five pages. This represents about a month or more of work to get everything to pull from a database and have an admin section. I'd have to say that I'm pretty happy with it overall, but naturally there will still be a few tweaks and a ticketing system to go in to place.              I'm still trying to find the right time to go to my local Whole Foods so that I'm not surrounded by wankers on cellphones, but at the same time I get a good selection of produce. It's a careful balance and I'm sure to find it soon.              Lastly, this heat effin' sucks. Anyone who lives in San Francisco and says they love the heat is full of crap. If they really loved the heat, they'd live in the Sacramento Valley where I grew up and this time of year is about 95-110F until the beginning of September. I hate the heat. This is why I am proud to be in SF.

Here is part two and it picks up where Part One left off about three months ago. That was just merely an intro to this wacky world of dating we have invented. This article is more an introduction to etiquette. I say introduction because really, like all of us in this meaty, smelly stew of the dating world, I will always have more to learn. But, here are some pointers I've picked up from friends or learning it the hard way on my own.       The old adage of "less is more" could not be more true when attempting conversation online. Try to write as little as possible when chatting with people you are just meeting. They don't know you. They can't see the wink or smirk you're making when you're joking. While I don't much like the use of them, a well-placed emoticon can be very useful. In truth though, you gotta keep some sense of mystery. You can't blather about yourself because inevitably you'll let loose some of your issues and while we all have them, no one likes to hear about them from someone they're just getting to know. This is odd of course, since it could save a lot of time down the road, but still, the game just isn't played that way. But really, wait until an face to face meeting to really chat.       As for checking your profile or listing on whatever site you're on, don't do it so much. These sites like to let others know when you've logged on and while we're all excited about the prospect of how many people there are, seeing that someone is always "Online Now!" can be sorta frightening. I would even say that once a day is too much, unless of course you're getting barraged by emails from the opposite (or same depending on yer flava) sex. Ideally, it seems that according to what I've found and what friends of mine have seen, every other day is a good rate. It sends out the message to others that you're around and looking, but your not an obsessive compulsive maniac, although when it comes to the Net, it seems to breed that in even the most stalwart of us.       Don't cast too large a net and what I mean by this is, don't join multiple sites. Someone is bound to see that because they're on multiple sites as well and honestly, it doesn't seem to do any good. A girl friend of mine and I compared notes on both genders between two of the larger dating sites to find that there were several people who had done this. Really, there are only a few sites. People get around and just think about how depressing it would be to find out that after you joined another site, you're going to find the same group you've gotten tired of on the old site. Stick with one of the bigger sites and stay there. If you don't find anyone there after a couple of months, the whole online dating thing might not be for you.       The last art of all this is balancing patience. You need to be okay with waiting for someone, but at the same time, not waiting too long. If someone doesn't get back to you in two or three days, they're probably not interested. If you've contacted someone and written back and forth a bit, then they just vanish, don't worry about calling the police. They've either had an ex come back in to the lives or were being skeezy by chatting up multiple people at once. Some folks may be in to that, but I just can't do it. It's too confusing.       Oh yeah, one last thing is that unless you want to deal with the vapid barrage of dates and ridiculousness of how it goes, DO NOT join within a month leading up to Valentine's Day. Between all the New Year's Resolutions and the lonely hearts at that time you'll probably see a lot of activity, but it will mostly be for naught since it's just this circus without any substance. I equate it to flying a kite in a hurricane: there's a whole lot of wind, just not the kind you need or really want and occasionally there's a farm animal in it.

Well, actually, it's pretty much the same Borat that Sacha Baron Cohen has been doing on "Da Ali G show" in the US (and originally in the UK) for some time, but now, he's coming at you in a feature film version. Why will this be funny? Simple. Cohen is a genius.       Thankfully, while it's not official, here is the Borat Trailer to make everyone tense with anticipation for Borat hitting our shores. I'm also guessing that based on the plot of the film, this Borat Prank last year has something to do with it. Man, I sorta hope, sorta don't that someday I'll be big enough for Cohen to take me on. On another note, can I put any more effin' links in an article. Yes, yes I can.              Update: You can also see go to YouTube to see the Borat Trailer. It's higher resolution and there are some different edits, such as the sun bathing scene. Take a look.

So, my RAZR V3 crapped out on me some time ago. It just wouldn't hold a charge long enough to be worth anything to me and after trying new batteries and chargers, I realized I was going to be better off just getting a new phone. Down to the T-Mobile Store I went!       Choosing a new phone is like choosing a new puppy at the Dog Pound. If you like technology as I do, figuring out which one of all the new, gleaming gadgets to choose is a hard thing to do. Of course, I gotta get a quad band phone for traveling to Europe, which limits the choices right away. That being what is was, I ended up with the T-Mobile SDA. It's a cool phone. It runs Windows Mobile 5.0 and you can browse for WiFi spots with it to get on the Net. The screen is great. It takes MiniSD ram cards that can store anything. It has an MP3 player on it that doesn't have a 100 song limit like anything that Crapple does with their iTunes. In a nutshell, it has features through the roof and down the block.       This was my big problem with it actually. After having a RAZR which is really just a stylish phone and not much more, getting all this other stuff was a bit tragic. While being able to get on the Net so easily was great, it also kinda sucked, since you only have the standard 10 key pad to enter info in which and lemme tell you, that's not the most enjoyable thing to enjoy web addresses with. The phone is also too bulky. It's not when you take in to account everything it does, but at the same time, for being in a phone format, it is simply too thick. The other thing that drove me nuts was how low on the phone the keypad was. I have huge hands (not alluding to anything here, just a fact) and the keypad being as low as it was, made it hard to use. The action on the keys was really good though and for someone with smaller hands, it would probably work great.       So, my final word, is, nice phone, just a little too much of this and that. I'd recommend for most folks who need this kind of functionality to get the Blackberry 8700g or the T-Mobile MDA. For me and my current needs, I picked up a Samsung t809. So far, I really like the phone, but have had some trouble getting it connected to my computer and the DRM (Digital Rights Management) crap for MP3 ringtones makes my head want to explode. Thankfully there are easy workarounds for the later which just goes to show how stupid DRM is. My phone, my music, what the hell?

There was the kitchen side table at Crate and Barrel I had been looking at for awhile. The only catch of course was that it was $400 and that was just too much. Well, it suddenly went on sale for $250, then I managed to get a friend who had a discount to get it and it worked out to $200. A pretty good deal.       I just received the table on Saturday and when I was looking over the box, I noticed that it had been shipped from Slovenia, specifically a company called Liko Vrhnika in Slovenia. "Well that's mighty groovy. My own piece of Slovenia for my home." You see, Hudins just aren't in Croatia. They're also in Slovenia to a great degree and while the location of this company in Vrhnika is in the more western part of Slovenia away from the Hudins i nthe East, I'm still down with it. Slavs making furniture that I can buy in US. That's cool.       What was more than a little amuzing was the fact that when I started to put this thing together, I got to a point where I was stumped. Where two holes were supposed to be on the legs, there were no holes. They were started from the other side, but it's like I got a piece of furniture that was made at the end of the day on Friday, just before closing, when the beer was calling. It wasn't a tremendous deal as I was able to drill out the holes that needed to be there, but for someone less handy, it wouldn't have been so cool. I gotta say that I'm let down a little by my Slav brothers, but I'll get over it in time and enjoy my less than full-holed Slovenian kitchen side table.