Advogato blog for mjs

15 Jan 2003

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 08:30:46 GMT

My new home

I have a new web log now at subtlesweetness.com . Fans of this diary (who still bother to check it ever, since I haven't posted, like, forever, may be interested.

15 Jan 2003

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 08:30:26 GMT

My new home

I have a new web log now at subtlesweetness.com . Fans of this diary (who still bother to check it ever, since I haven't posted, like, forever, may be interested.

7 Nov 2001

Wed, 7 Nov 2001 11:11:59 GMT

literature

Nothing stands still. Everything changes. I will inherit no house, and no house that I build will now pass to my children. That way of life has gone. I have lost my twenties, and what I have been looking for since I left home hasn't come to me. I have only been waiting. I will wait for the rest of my life. - V.S. Naipaul

I wonder if Steph reads my diary. She is often encouraging me to read hers. I think she would appreciate this quote.

7 Nov 2001

Wed, 7 Nov 2001 08:22:59 GMT

forbidden words for 2002

gravitas
indie
snarky
consolidation
reality tv
punk
street theater
nanotech
progressive
human intelligence
blog
trans-anything
anything-monkey
issue
tony
rave
poly-anything
culture jamming

31 Oct 2001

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 09:53:16 GMT

kids in the hall

M: I don't have a couch and I don't have a wife, OK?
W: Then where do you sit... and who do you sit with?
M: I stand. Alone.
W: How brave!

I think that about says it all.

21 Oct 2001

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 09:00:06 GMT

life

I went out to 1015 Folsom with my roommates and some people from Apple to see internationally renowned trance DJ Paul van Dyk spin. I'm not sure if we actually heard him but what we did hear was cool. It was really fucking packed in there, but the music was fun to dance to and there were cool lasers and lights and smoke and stuff. Might have been better with chemical assistance.

Afterwards we were accosted by a random crazy guy on the way home. I am not sure if he was trying to mug us or what. But Nick was on the ball and called a taxi.

Then we went to Lucky 13 and had some beers and played some songs on the jukebox.

An entertaining evening overall.

19 Oct 2001

Fri, 19 Oct 2001 07:50:44 GMT

out of context snatches of conversation

Steph: I thought you were going out to buy chicken.
Me: I was. But I decided to get pizza and cigarrettes instead.
Nick: Is that the pizza?
Steph: No, it's a guitar cable.
Me: I'm going to step out and get cancer now.

life

Last night I went to an indie rock (the phrase begs to not be capitalized) show at the Gream American Music Hall with Nick and Schnitz. Acts playing were Magic Magicians, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and Quasi. The first act was lame two person drums and guitar only noodling, with scream-whined vocals. I never got the impression that this was a band, just two guys fucking around. Ted Leo & Co. rocked out on a few of the songs, which I approve of, but on others there was an overwhelming sense of preciousness and self-importance, and I can't stand the way Ted Leo sings.

Quasi were quite good. What is it with these ex-husband/ex-wife two-person acts these days? That's some fucked up shit. Anyway, the drumming was phenomenal, and the keyboard playing was pretty rad. The singing was pretty nondescript to me, though, and when the keyboard player guy picked up his guitar, he apparently lost all ability to create cool funky and melodic soundscapes, and reverted to shapeless indie-generic noodling. Some of those songs were saved by the drumming though.

Oh yeah, there were a lot of cute girls there.

All in all it wasn't bad for a night of three bands I'd never heard of before.

the culinary arts

Recent dishes I've made include orchiette with a sauce of forest-picked porcini, shallots and port wine, and tuna casserole (spiral noodles, tuna, mayonnaise and peas). Mood swingy eating habits.

I also watched the Iron Chef mango battle just now (Iron Chef Italian vs. a Mexican chef) and it rocked. Amazing dishes on both sides.

personal hacking

I've been working hard on reviewing the upcoming GNOME Human Interface Guidelines. Along the way I read many other HIGs including the classic Macintosh HiG and the new Aqua HIG. Quite a learning experience. I am getting more and more interested in interface design, and I hope someday I can have a job that mixes in more of that with programming.

work hacking

There were plans afoot for me to work on an interesting new open source technology at work. But it looks like we may manage to convince Apple to adopt the best existing open source product for this purpose instead, and help with it's development. I probably shouldn't say more until things are more firmly decided. Apple is definitely getting less dfearful of the LGPL and to some extent even the GPL.

The proprietary bits bug me, but Apple is doing way more to bring a great UI to Un*x, and to bring Un*x and free software to the masses, than many pure free software companies.

Still, it disturbs me how many people are just utter Apple fanboys, including people who work here. I'm pretty indifferent to the whole thing.

14 Oct 2001

Sun, 14 Oct 2001 02:58:35 GMT

life

Good day today so far. I got up early and ran some errands, and then I made myself spanish-style fried potatos with aioli and eggs sunny side up for lunch.

Then Steph and I went up to the Marin Headlands - there are some really breathtaking views of the Bay, the Golden Gat Bridge, the Ocean, and San Francisco from there. Wow! It was warm and sunny and we pumped Kruder & Dorfmeister on the way there. For dinner I'm making myself gnocchi in tomato vodka cream sauce. It's coming out pretty good - the alchohol in the vodka burns off and what remains does not have much flavor in itself, but it makes the tomatos sweeter and brighter. Search for a recipe on google some time. Goes best with gnocchi, or tube or shell pasta.

I think later on I'll hit the gym and maybe go to a club or go see Iron Monkey. I'm feeling pretty good today.

hacking

I'll probably have to pitch in and fix the Nautilus performance issues for 1.0.5. That's hard to balance with gnome-vfs hacking, oaf hacking, reviewing the HIG and may day job....

Oh well.

8 Oct 2001

Mon, 8 Oct 2001 07:13:26 GMT

I never realized Britney was so deep.

6 Oct 2001

Sat, 6 Oct 2001 09:30:26 GMT

I think I am going to set up my own personal diary site sometime soon. It seems like everyone is doing it, especially people I know, so I guess I will succumb to peer pressure.

Also, I feel like I have a lot of stuff I want to write down that doesn't fit right (to me) on advogato.

Of course, to get into the whole DIY spirit I decided I should write my own weblog software. I haven't yet decided whether I'm crazy enough to do it in Guile.