Weekend with sprinkles
I find it easier to remember than to forget. Is it always so?
Ralph Ellison said that all novels are about minorities. The minority of the individual. I think that's how I feel about my life.
Totally unexpected, a weekend for small reunions. Spent morning/early afternoon with old roommate Scott on Saturday. Had dim sum in the International District and caught a flick. Missed the movie we wanted to see so settled for the next one showing, Kiss of the Dragon, which turned out to be horrible. I'd seen everything else at Pacific Place. Poor Scott. Fortunately, he's a good person to see a bad movie with, as we spent the whole time cracking ourselves up over the painful dialogue and filler scenes.
Then, a surprise visit from Aunt Wan-Li and Uncle Tom and cousin Julius this weekend. So spent some time showing them the city this weekend, though they were very capable tourists, covering a lot of the city with a few tours. They hit probably ever major sight and probably know more about the city than I do. I certainly ate well, probably too well, in their company.
Audrey called and while my relatives were out on the underground tour I jumped out to watch The Score with her. A much better movie than KOTD, though it plays more like acting class than a seamless film. Everything around the three actors, the other supporting cast, the scenery, the storyline, seems to be secondary to watching the three of them act. I would have liked to see Marlon Brando play his character as flamboyantly gay, as he was rumored to want to do. I'm glad the camera stayed above the waist, though, as the other rumors about him....well, we'll just leave those alone. I reviewed both of those films, if you're curious.
The only negative of all these unexpected social calls this weekend was that I didn't get out on my bike except for a few hill repeats Saturday late afternoon. Will have to figure out some way to get out and put in a long ride this week somewhere around the business trip to L.A. Marathon bike riding is not an easy hobby to fit into a regular work week. Thankfully, today was a rainy day. I actually quite enjoy this type of weather--real rain sprinkling down in a steady rhythm. Days like this, I like to curl up on the sofa and read, listen to some music, write.
Airline frequent flier programs are so overrated. I have almost 200K miles on United and I tried in vain to book a flight, any flight, this weekend. Those miles are worthless unless you happen to have some amazingly flexible schedule and can just leave anyday over a huge window of time. The only benefit of mileage programs is that you get to board those metallic sardine cans before everyone else so you can suffer a little longer. I should cancel my darn Mileage Plus credit card, it's worthless.
Suddenly, I can't print in IE. The error message?
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 539
Char: 2
Error: Invalid argument
Code: 0
Res: res://C:\WINNT\system32\shdoclc.dll/preview.dlg
Gee, thanks a lot. When computer programs screw up like this and serve up such cryptic error messages, usually I just uninstall and reinstall the application.
Lance showed great leadership the other day in the team time trial, choosing to wait for two of his teammates after their fall, and choosing to take nearly 1 km turns at the front of the pace line instead of just rotating through like everyone else. But today's stage has put him 35 minutes back of the leader, though none of the folks in today's massive breakaway is expected to be a GC contender. I think it will take him until Friday or Saturday in the Pyrenees to regain the jersey. He's going to have to work hard this year...it's much more competitive than last year, which is great for cycling.
I hung up my newly cramed Crouching Tiger posters today, and I also hung up the prints I purchased in Spain from the Musee Thyssen Bornemisza. Gives the room a bit of a new feel. I raked my arm across the edge of a frame while working and didn't realize until later I'd opened up a gash on my arm and now I have a streak of blood across my sheets. Damn. On a positive note, I like the way the art looks hanging up on my walls.
I realized today, I'm one of those types of folks who has a definite streak of mainstream taste in him. Most movies put out are junk, but damn it I can't keep myself away from a darkened theater.
Visiting our homepage today, I realized one of the weaknesses of Amazon's recommendations technology. Because I bought a travel guide for my trip to Spain, I've been recommended travel guides to other countries by that same publisher. Of course, it's not likely I'll travel to France and Italy anytime soon. Taking recommendations to the next level will require lots of work. I still never feel like any website out there truly takes into account all my diverse tastes. There are plenty of sites that can take three or four of my purchases and recommend a cluster of related products, but none that will take into account all my tastes.
I guess that's because I'm a minority of one.
[Note: Of course, at Amazon you can refine your recommendations by excluding items from the recommendations technology or changing your ratings, which is a step above most other sites. Those curious to try a site which is trying to take recommendations to the next level can try Media Unbound, which attempts to not pigeonhole you as an R.E.M. lover but to further distinguish among people who like one type of R.E.M. album but not another. Unfortunately, after completing a long but interesting demo, I was recommended a lot of songs off albums I already own. Still, it creates custom playlists which serve as useful radio stations when I'm doing long hours on the computer.]
Ralph Ellison said that all novels are about minorities. The minority of the individual. I think that's how I feel about my life.
Totally unexpected, a weekend for small reunions. Spent morning/early afternoon with old roommate Scott on Saturday. Had dim sum in the International District and caught a flick. Missed the movie we wanted to see so settled for the next one showing, Kiss of the Dragon, which turned out to be horrible. I'd seen everything else at Pacific Place. Poor Scott. Fortunately, he's a good person to see a bad movie with, as we spent the whole time cracking ourselves up over the painful dialogue and filler scenes.
Then, a surprise visit from Aunt Wan-Li and Uncle Tom and cousin Julius this weekend. So spent some time showing them the city this weekend, though they were very capable tourists, covering a lot of the city with a few tours. They hit probably ever major sight and probably know more about the city than I do. I certainly ate well, probably too well, in their company.
Audrey called and while my relatives were out on the underground tour I jumped out to watch The Score with her. A much better movie than KOTD, though it plays more like acting class than a seamless film. Everything around the three actors, the other supporting cast, the scenery, the storyline, seems to be secondary to watching the three of them act. I would have liked to see Marlon Brando play his character as flamboyantly gay, as he was rumored to want to do. I'm glad the camera stayed above the waist, though, as the other rumors about him....well, we'll just leave those alone. I reviewed both of those films, if you're curious.
The only negative of all these unexpected social calls this weekend was that I didn't get out on my bike except for a few hill repeats Saturday late afternoon. Will have to figure out some way to get out and put in a long ride this week somewhere around the business trip to L.A. Marathon bike riding is not an easy hobby to fit into a regular work week. Thankfully, today was a rainy day. I actually quite enjoy this type of weather--real rain sprinkling down in a steady rhythm. Days like this, I like to curl up on the sofa and read, listen to some music, write.
Airline frequent flier programs are so overrated. I have almost 200K miles on United and I tried in vain to book a flight, any flight, this weekend. Those miles are worthless unless you happen to have some amazingly flexible schedule and can just leave anyday over a huge window of time. The only benefit of mileage programs is that you get to board those metallic sardine cans before everyone else so you can suffer a little longer. I should cancel my darn Mileage Plus credit card, it's worthless.
Suddenly, I can't print in IE. The error message?
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 539
Char: 2
Error: Invalid argument
Code: 0
Res: res://C:\WINNT\system32\shdoclc.dll/preview.dlg
Gee, thanks a lot. When computer programs screw up like this and serve up such cryptic error messages, usually I just uninstall and reinstall the application.
Lance showed great leadership the other day in the team time trial, choosing to wait for two of his teammates after their fall, and choosing to take nearly 1 km turns at the front of the pace line instead of just rotating through like everyone else. But today's stage has put him 35 minutes back of the leader, though none of the folks in today's massive breakaway is expected to be a GC contender. I think it will take him until Friday or Saturday in the Pyrenees to regain the jersey. He's going to have to work hard this year...it's much more competitive than last year, which is great for cycling.
I hung up my newly cramed Crouching Tiger posters today, and I also hung up the prints I purchased in Spain from the Musee Thyssen Bornemisza. Gives the room a bit of a new feel. I raked my arm across the edge of a frame while working and didn't realize until later I'd opened up a gash on my arm and now I have a streak of blood across my sheets. Damn. On a positive note, I like the way the art looks hanging up on my walls.
I realized today, I'm one of those types of folks who has a definite streak of mainstream taste in him. Most movies put out are junk, but damn it I can't keep myself away from a darkened theater.
Visiting our homepage today, I realized one of the weaknesses of Amazon's recommendations technology. Because I bought a travel guide for my trip to Spain, I've been recommended travel guides to other countries by that same publisher. Of course, it's not likely I'll travel to France and Italy anytime soon. Taking recommendations to the next level will require lots of work. I still never feel like any website out there truly takes into account all my diverse tastes. There are plenty of sites that can take three or four of my purchases and recommend a cluster of related products, but none that will take into account all my tastes.
I guess that's because I'm a minority of one.
[Note: Of course, at Amazon you can refine your recommendations by excluding items from the recommendations technology or changing your ratings, which is a step above most other sites. Those curious to try a site which is trying to take recommendations to the next level can try Media Unbound, which attempts to not pigeonhole you as an R.E.M. lover but to further distinguish among people who like one type of R.E.M. album but not another. Unfortunately, after completing a long but interesting demo, I was recommended a lot of songs off albums I already own. Still, it creates custom playlists which serve as useful radio stations when I'm doing long hours on the computer.]