LEAFLOOSE (mobile)

Dude, That Is So Sic!

2007-06-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was at this confab/seminar/sales show yesterday and one of the
presenters would, from time to time, throw in phrases I thought
grammatically passable but unusually casual. As I heard them, they
might read: "This is one of our more performin' systems!" or "IBM p6 is
really performin' when paired with this BI front-end!" Oh, OK. Kind of
like "bitchin'" or "smokin'" as polished up for the corporate set.

No. It's a "whole nother" word, and I hope you're hearing it here
first: performant.

Say It With Beans

2007-04-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Little E in Space Cadet Gear for Birthday Party

2007-04-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

Virginia Tech Media Aftermath

2007-04-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Shouldn't manifestos by murderers be passed directly on to researchers, do not pass go, do not collect $200?

Seriously: Do not collect your two hundred dollars while you wallpaper the airwaves with psychopathic-false-martyr home videos. I don't think I'm talking about censorship... but perhaps I am. Allowing the sensationalism of a news item to decide coverage amount is like relying on markets for morality, and this feels like a place for some supply-side control. I strongly believe that the world would be a better place -- and the future less bloody -- if big media would stop delivering shocked viewers to their advertisers while implicitly promising the front page to the next whackjob.

Guns N' Huh?

2006-12-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

If you thought it was impossible to simultaneously sweep unregistered guns off the street AND get a bunch of inner city youth turned on to mid-period post-metal Sunset Strip butt rock fronted by a famous bigot... think again. Proudly presenting the most demographically stunted promotional crimefighting mash-up of the century!

John Forms the Beast on Grill, 42 lbs.

2006-11-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Kendall Foils the Grill Up

2006-11-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

BL 2006: Weber Ranch Eats a Standard Kettle

2006-11-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

2006-10-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patching in Folsom

2006-10-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

2006-10-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Saw Sufjan Stevens at Zellerbach last night. Ambitious and epic and childlike all at once. Huge band: eight strings, three horns, 20+ voice choir, drums, Sufjan and two other utility players all cycling between piano, guitar, banjo, bass, celeste and vocals. There must've been near 40 people up there. Opener was good, too, My Brightest Diamond, sort of a PJ Harvey/Björk/Jeff Buckley operatic singer-songwriter based trio plus strings. Great show.

Sky and Fighter Planes

2006-10-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Stoked

2006-09-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Breakthrough run on Sunday: broke the 50 minute threshold on 10K at the Whole Foods race yesterday. And Little E raced, running in the 4 year olds 100m! Super fun.

(Prep notes for self: solid three weeks of training -- typically 5 tempo and a 7 easy, one speed on treadmill, 2x bike, 3x strength -- only easy 5 week of race, but kept up bike intervals and strength all the way to Friday; speed workout limited but hard; ate light the week of; big the day before and gu'd 15 mins. before start (Cola Clif shot.))

OK, enough nerdin' out. Great weekend. Visited friends in Mountain View for dinner Saturday, the race Sunday, beautiful weather all around.

...And Not the Good Kind of Attention

2006-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

I hit the newstand downstairs, indoor and tiny, trying to find a skate magazine.

Slightly arrogant Marina girl is reading a Vogue; Islamocapitalist woman of unknown country of origin working the register beneath a promotional cigarette plexgilas arch.

I start in the sports section. Nothing. I go to hobbies, motorcycles, guns, pretty much by rotating my body, but now and then sidestepping along the perimeter of the store. Nope. OK, how about lifestyle stuff, music and fashion? Rolling Stone, Q, Mazim, FHM. Suddenly, I find myself in the no man's land between the magazines where cover models have their mouths closed, and the magazines where they have their mouths open.

"Hey," I call across to the cashier, who is wearing what might be described as a demi-Burkha, "do you have Transworld?"

"I don't know. Is that new?" she says, gesturing toward the adult section. Oh, boy. Marina chick scans the room and scowlsl.

"No. Well, do you have Thrasher?"

Cashier gives me The Big Eyes and says "Oh, no, we don't carry THAT." Marina girl looks at me sideways and leaves.

Uh, sorry.

Santa Barbara, Day 2

2006-09-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Friday, we followed our newly adopted morning routine: oatmeal, hardboiled eggs, cantaloupe, bagels and croissants at the motel, then over to Coffee Bean across the street for some real caffeination. For the purpose of getting O to nap, we drove from Arroyo Burro -- a northerly beach -- down to Butterfly Beach at the south end and back to Arroyo Burro. We set up on the beach, played in the waves, E and I jogged from one end to the other, and we ate some lunch from the snack bar.

Back at the motel for O's nap, E and I swam in the pool, then it was time for dinner. Actually, we got over to State Street an hour ahead of our reservations at Palazzio, so we stopped in Chicken Little, a children's clothing and toy shop, and K bought a birthday present for a friend. Next door to Chicken Little was a nicely stocked Copeland's boardshop, and E had been encouraging me to get my birthday skateboard while we were in Santa Barbara... so I wheeled O and his stroller in and picked out an Almost deck, Independent trucks, and some wheels and bearings and the guy behind the counter had me hooked up in no time.

The skate-posing began immediately upon arrival at the restaurant, where I asked the hostess to stash my skate. I hate to but have to admit that I actually felt slightly cool. Heh.

Santa Barbara, Day 1

2006-08-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

We're on vacation. Pulled into our motel off outer State street last night and settled in. Today we had breakfast in the lobby, then headed out for some coffee - more, better - at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf across the street and took a walk around a park.

Returned for O's morning nap during which E and I swam. I haven't seen her swim since her two weeks of daily lessons this summer. She's been a great swim student, now able to jump in fearlessly and kick and paddle for short stretches!

At noon we met Saji and Nina downtown, jockeying for a table at the crowded and yummy Natural Cafe. After lunch, we went to Telegraph Brewing Co. where old friend Brian gave us the grand tour and we sampled his growing list of beers, now three: his flagship Caifornia ale, a wheat beer, and the stock porter. I was particularly taken by the stock porter - not my usual go-to type of beer, but this has a huge flavor of coffee and wood (this is an oak barrel-aged beer, or part of it is anyway) while maintaining a nice, light drinkability, not viscous or thick in the least. Very fascinating and delightful.

O is on his second nap now. Maybe I'll squeeze in a second swim before our planned picnic dinner with Saji and Nina...

"33": End of an Era

2006-07-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Rolling Rock stops production next week, having been bought, and now shut down, by Budweiser. Though I eventually lost my taste for it's crazy corn flavor, it was my go-to beer for several years of my youth...

2006-07-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad updater, so here's a quick rundown for personal record if nothing else:

Reading "Moneyball", extremely delightful in its romanticizing take on statistical analysis. Ironically -- perhaps defeatingly -- the purpose of said statistical analysis is to deromanticize baseball. Whatever. I like it a lot.

Been on a good running kick.

Thinking about getting one of these.

Recently: Little E turned four, we vacationed in SoCal during the week of 4th of July, and K and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. We've been uncharacteristically out and about a bit (Thanks, Mom!) including a movie and a fine dinner. (For current and former Berkeleyans, it's true: Westminster House somehow now hosts a snazzy restaurant. It's good. If they re-do the lighting and start springing for large, dramatic floral arrangements, it'll be great.)

Confusing pop records of the moment:

Angels & Airwaves, "We Don't Need to Whisper" featuring Tom Delonge of Blink 182. (Epic Neo-U2 or Bombastic, Overproduced Mall Rock?)

The Streets, "A Hard Way to Make an Easy Living" (Sophisticated Garage or Flat-Tired Cockney Fetishization?)

We may never know. Over and out.

New Rule

2006-06-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Just back from a run during which my elbow lost an argument with (what I thought was) a cardboard sign. Mr. Cardboard Sign was a bit sharper and much more, uh, metaler than expected.

Mama called the doctor, and the doctor said, "No more monkeys running among tourists in tight spaces along Fisherman's Wharf. You're better off in the street."

Smells Like The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain

2006-06-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

From headbanging, to shushing crowds, to clock costumes... there's much to be learned by watching this.

I'll have the RAINBOW OMELET, with a side of SILVER LINING, and a glass of LEMONADE, please

2006-05-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

Or, how I had a really great weekend, a break in the storm:
One birthday dinner.
Two barbecues. Delightful.
Two long runs, 14m and 8m. Delightful in their endorphinal way.
Saw my parents and my brother and his wife. Good.
Plenty of time outdoors and a trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium. Very fun.
Three day weekend + extra day off. (Just enough to actually unwind from work completely.) Sweet.
Good stuff.

Bread:Circuses::Wheat Thins:PSP

2006-05-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Peeps at the Easter Fair!

2006-04-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Unclench It

2006-03-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

For all you control freaks out there, let me recommend having your little brother pick you up on his sportbike, split lanes through downtown San Francisco, get out on the Bay Bridge, a bit more splitting onto 80, and then finally a bit of merciful open road. As a passenger, you'll get no handles, no brakes... not even a little pretend steering wheel!

That'll show ya.

Supercraft Bonus

2006-03-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

Bob Denver/Gilligan cell phone with flower buttons.

My Calves Hate Me

2006-03-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

I did the the Emerald Across the Bay 12k Sunday. I ran it cold, having been invited by a friend on Tuesday night and signing up just in time. It felt good to go in with no stress, no heart monitor, no training schedule. One of my goals -- ultimately more important to me than speed or strength -- has been to be able to run 5 miles fast at the drop of a hat, or in this case 7.5. And so I have arrived, and even kept my 10k pace from last year. Though I will never be a great runner, I feel I am becoming a mature runner. Here's to treadmilling when it's cold, interval training when it feels like you're too busy, and having at least one clean pair of Injinjis in the sock drawer...

Supercraft Sunday

2006-03-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Soup can, egg carton and aluminum foil castle.

Henry Lincoln: Holy Brain, Holy Grail

2006-02-28T11:18:00.000-08:00

Having read both Da Vinci and HBHG, I gotta hand it to Henry Lincoln for not going in on the lawsuit. The former is a pulpy but reasonably written pop phenomenon. The latter is like: "According to one tradition, a king with dark hair travelled this road during the 10th Century. A second folktale refers to a black-haired warrior on the same continent. Could it be that the warrior and king were one and the same...?" Yawn.

It's not that Brown didn't borrow from them. But considering their craft, they ought to be grateful for all the copies of their book he's selling for them, and let the movie do the same...

Keith Fu

2006-02-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Fantastic video of Keith Richards attempting to put his Telecaster through a stage rusher...

2006-01-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

My Daughter's Note to Santa

2006-01-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

The Year In Review, Part II

2006-01-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

Work life was pretty good this year. I'm lucky to get a bit of satisfaction and even pleasure out of my job, and that for now one income keeps the lights on at home. The end of 2005 held increased creature comforts when a company move put me into a posher office in the same complex as a Peet's Coffee and Club One. Though I was sad to leave the Chinatown Y, the access to this gym is incredible: about 90 seconds from work by way of elevators and a catwalk - I can get there without even going down to street level.

2005 resolutions #1-3 and 7 dealt with fitness. With those as my guide, I did a 10k and otherwise learned to be a runner to the point that I enjoy it. Marathons and half-marathons will come another year.

These resolutions did their trick: got me going. It feels right that this year I'll just keep on, and knock one or two more off.

The Year in Review, Part I

2006-01-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Resolutions and musings: out with the old ones and in with the new. As said last year, my resolutions were pie-in-the-sky, and I fell short of most. But they were also signposts and guided my way significantly. The biggest deal this year - and perhaps why some resolutions went to the wayside - was family. That is, my family got bigger when our son was born in August. I have to pause at #4: "Travel overseas with 2.5 year old daughter." Well, no, but instead we had another child, and drove to Southern California and back with a three year old AND a three month old. Not too shabby.

Having a second child is different and the same at once. The biggest difference is that there's less anxiety, more sheer work. The impact seems tempered by our already having made room in our lives for children. I think my daughter had to wait for us to make room, and made some of her own in the meantime. There was more adjusting to and around one another the first time out.

Yet much of it is familiar. Diapers and night feedings are back, back with a vengeance and still it feels comfortable and even comforting; I suppose I feel a bit like a professional parent.

The studio is in a panic

2005-11-20T07:10:00.000-08:00

So the studio thought it might be a good idea to have a giant lizard play whack-a-mole with ten Japanese school girls wearing pork chops on their heads. And now the studio is in a panic.

The O and The E

2005-11-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

BARTdropping

2005-10-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

"I really like your dad's car. I really like it when he talks to it.
That makes him seem totally insane."

What Not to Wear

2005-10-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Sun dress, sun hat, water sandals, smock dress, two pairs of pants, and
a turtleneck. All at once.

The Girls

2005-10-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ponies

2005-10-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Ehren with the twins and Little E

2005-10-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Facepainting

2005-10-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

High Hill Ranch, Placerville

2005-10-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

2005-10-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

This was only a drill. No mice were hurt in the making of this photo series. Thank you.

Part III: Deck Stacked

2005-10-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Part II: Assembly

2005-10-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

How to Catch a Mouse, Part I: Materials

2005-10-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

Because Nothing Says "Inconvenient" Like A Burnt Member

2005-10-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

What the SF Chinatown Y lacks in plumbing, it more than makes up for with frank talk about anatomy.

Coming Home

2005-10-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

The ceremony Saturday night was beautiful. They were married by a Hindu swami with fruit, smoke, flame, rice, scents, a coconut, garlands and flowers on a low platform covered with rich cloth and pillows; the backdrop to this was fading daylight, rain, brick, headlights and narrow streets seen through paned glass. All this gravity, ritual, and devotion tucked into the corner of an 18th century New England inn. Gorgeous.

As is usual at weddings these days, my state was as emotional as can be, and I welled joyful tears at least half a dozen times. For all their obvious tradition and even artifice, I find weddings increasingly raw and ballsy. Hope marching into battle against statistics. Promises made beyond our innate ability to carry them through, but somehow made in good faith just the same. And then the community stuff, the village gathered to cast a vote of confidence, to give a blessing. On one level, these are clichés; on another, God help you if don't stack the deck every way you can. It's brave and it's real and what can I say - I believe in love.

Later - rusty as hell and wielding a couple of rented acoustics - Shyam and I got up and did some old songs of ours. And I did a couple alone, Saji and I did a Ryan Adams song, then we all sang "Beautiful Day."

After another great late night, we were up early Sunday for good-byes over breakfast. Car, plane, terminal, plane, van shuttle, car, BART train, and car and I found myself home about midnight.

Reference Anemone

2005-10-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

(See October 7.)

Leafloose: The Making of Leafloose

2005-10-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

(Courtesy of P. Bitterolf and his Tréo.)

The Blushing Groom

2005-10-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

After Party

2005-10-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Windows & Scenes, Hanover

2005-10-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Marriage is Achieved

2005-10-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

West Lebanon

2005-10-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

I write from the lobby of a large, charming, funky and nice lodge in West Lebanon, NH. Three hours on the red eye for my past day's sleep has me so far not too much worse for wear. Calls home tell me K hasn't gone off the deep end flying solo with the children - there's still time.

Tonight's lovely welcome dinner in Woodstock (just back over into Vermont) was a perfect mix of catching up with old friends and getting to know new family. Good wine and absolutely great food. (Vermont is a bit like Petaluma and Sonoma in that it seems to have the same enlightened rural vibe as well as a foodie streak. Artisanal foods abound.)

It is POURING outside.

Stowe, VT

2005-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Stowe smells heavily of bacon. In a good way. Here's where we met a woman in her eighties from Texas in the Old Depot deli. She was part of a leaf peeping tour. Around her neck she wore a lanyard, and at the end of the lanyard was a nametag: Anemone.

"Anemone! I love your name."
"My mother named me after a beautiful flower and you're the first person who has ever said it correctly the first time."
"Well, that's because I know what an anemone is!"
"Can you save me a place?"
"Sure. We're leaving anyway. We have to get back to Ben & Jerry's."
"Oh, do you people work there?"
"No, we're from California."
"Oh, I love California! I visited my daughter in California last year."
"Oh, yeah? Where does she live?"
Silence.
"Northern California? L.A.?"
More silence.
"Where did you fly in?"
"..."
"OK, you're like me, you just go where you're told, right?"
"Yes, that's right!"
Some good laughs, and then off to the ice cream tour.

Where Ben & Jerry's Flavors Rest In Peace

2005-10-07T12:38:00.001-07:00

Highway 89, Vermont

2005-10-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Nina and Saji, JFK

2005-10-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

Man, it's early.

Deep, San Jose

2005-10-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Shyam's Wedding

2005-10-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Waiting with my luggage for a train into the city. After work, I'll make a couple connections: flying out of San Jose tonight with Mundeep, then meeting up Saji and Nina at JFK in the morning, from where we'll all fly to Vermont.

It's strange and cool to look back on all the years I've known Shyam and to get to see him in his new habitat. The Jenny Thing certainly is in diaspora now with none living closer than 90 miles of another. (That's me and Ehren; we see each other every month or so.) Folsom, San Diego, New Hampshire with Missouri on deck... I'm the last Bay Arean standing, for now anyway.

Still, my fondness for the boys is surely deeper than our salad days, which, in addition to notable camaraderie, were filled with at least one giant ego, miniature senses of self, and much artistic angst farming. The good parts now stand in well-lighted silhouette. And so, something worthwhile is transformed into something priceless and lifechanging.

Plus, if we were still in close quarters, surely we'd have killed one another by now. So, you know, there's that.

Megan's Mug

2005-10-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Look at This Joker Rocking a Crewcut

2005-10-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Look at This Joker

2005-10-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

My Morning

2005-10-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

2005-10-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

what do you choose about yourself?
influence vs. control
(a lot vs. a little?)

2005-10-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sidekick II: Becoming Paris Hilton

2005-10-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

My first note on this thing. As a... sheeyit, 9 year (!!!) user of Palm Graffitti, I'm not yet sure about the thumb keyboard... Well, better on ellipses! Sticky shift and alt are rad. Is it somehow less creative, less organic?

Who am I kidding. still writing what I'm thinking, and thinking the same old hooha... :)