Used to Live Here

I lived in Menlo Park for two years. Santa Cruz Avenue is quaint, cute, and friendly, with lots of mom-and-pop shops. Kepler’s on El Camino is the best bookstore on the Peninsula and nearby Feldman’s is good for hours of browsing.

It’s just a nice little town with a relaxed feel.

See more progress on: Menlo Park

Injured beyond repair

I was in an accident a while ago that renders me unable to bite my nails anymore. I’ll live and I’d rather have given up this habit voluntarily, but I might as well mark it ‘done’.

I’m only marking it ‘not worth it’, because the injury was severe, painful, nearly deadly, and I’m not going to be 100% ever again. A hospital stay, some surgery, and a long rehabilitation process makes this one not quite worth the effort. At least I don’t gnaw my nails off anymore, though.

See more progress on: stop biting my nails

Not Worth It

Hybrids are pretty nifty, I’m sure. They are, however, quite expensive in comparison with non-hybrids. A Toyota Corolla gets 41 miles to the gallon, while a Prius gets 55. The difference in price is more than $7,000. Fuel savings per year in the Prius over the Corolla amounts to $322. At this rate, the difference in price takes almost 22 years to pay back with fuel savings.

Perhaps it’s all about the symbolic statement. But, if I want to go 25 miles an hour down the road and spend a bunch of money to do it, I can get a machine that will get people to lust after me wantonly for about 15% of the price of that hybrid.

See more progress on: own a hybrid car

Podcast!

I found a podcast a while ago that I’ve been listening to. It’s at ChinesePod.com. Twelve minutes a pop, easy to listen to three or four times.

Now to figure out how to read and write, but speaking will help me impress when I’m at the Chinese restaurants.

See more progress on: learn to read and write Chinese

Spectacular picture

I saw this flick three times over opening weekend, buying a total of seven tickets for myself and friends. It was, quite simply, amazing. Three of the people in our Friday night group had never seen the Firefly DVDs. After having seen Serenity, they all insisted they were going to Netflix the series immediately.

I plan to see it two or three more times next weekend, as well. It needs to make $80 million in order for Universal to greenlight more Firefly/Serenity movies. I have to do my part to help Serenity keep flying.

There’s no place I can be,
since I found Serenity.
But, you can’t take the sky from me.

See more progress on: See “Serenity” on Sept. 30th

Tickets are mine

Woo! I have tickets. Opening night. Friday. 10:30 pm. I can’t wait.

See more progress on: See “Serenity” on Sept. 30th

Great little company

I worked for a digital music startup in 1999 – 2001, which was full of really amazing people. I worked 80 – 100 hours a week for low pay for most of it, but it’s still the greatest thing I’ve ever worked on.

See more progress on: work for a startup

Fox sucks

The most original vision of science fiction in a long time never had a chance when it was on TV. I didn’t even know about it until I rented it on Netflix a year or so ago. Immediately afterwards, I bought the DVD set. Firefly is a beautifully done show from Joss Whedon that I can watch over and over. I love it.

And I’m looking forward to Serenity – which opens on September 30. If only I could go to opening night with Inara on my arm.

See more progress on: watch Firefly

Can't Wait

I own the series on DVD. I am definitely going on opening day. If my goofy friend can force me to see the “plug-in art” Star Wars prequels on opening day, I can drag him to see Serenity on September 30.

I almost never go to the movies. I’m looking forward to this one, though.

See more progress on: See “Serenity” on Sept. 30th