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Sweeps

John Edward does a psychic reading (or whatever the hell kind of reading he does) on Ricki Lake, who says “I was traumatized by that”, probably more than once. Oh God, spare me…

The promos for February sweeps have started…

Between that and watching John Walker Lindh’s parents tell everyone how much their son loves his country and (earlier) how he’s just a boy (at 20) and not responsible for any of his actions, I’ve almost lost my lunch twice today. And I haven’t even had any lunch yet…

Email and work today. Mark tomorrow. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the latter more than the former…

Our Mayor Is an Idiot

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, quoted in today’s Chronicle:

“You know I do talk to God regularly. I get down on my knees and I pray and I pray — and then God comes to me and says, ‘Yes, Mister Willie?'”

I’m not religious, and therefore I can’t really call this “blasphemous”, but if I were a politician who (a) was widely regarded as extremely arrogant, and (b) derived a large part of my continuing support from African American churches and religious leaders, I think I might have caught myself before making this particular little joke…

Having had some religious indoctrination as a child, I can tell you this is several points more offensive to your average Christian than John Lennon’s “bigger than Jesus” comment from the 1960s. If this were just about anyplace but SF, the death threats would have commenced immediately…

Here, of course, it was the last paragraph of the second section of a running column. Which would probably be appropriate, if it weren’t such a fucking stupid thing to say given Willie’s position…

It never fails to amaze me how often Willie Brown, who basically defines the cliché of a crooked, corrupt machine politician, can show so little political savvy sometimes. He may not have to answer to God, but he could find himself answering to a great many pious little old church ladies (who used to be among his most enthusiastic supporters) soon…

Anyway, great weekend, crappy Monday, and I hope I’m not coming down with a little bug. No snow is expected tonight in SF proper, for those of you who are keeping score. But I did just have a self-inflicted power outage when I made the mistake of turning on the microwave and the space heater at the same time…

TV Truck

So NBC, faced with what seems to be a woefully inadequate new affiliate in one of the largest TV markets in the country, is now considering doing it the old-fashioned way: delivering its programming to certain San Francisco neighborhoods via truck…

I remember summertime when I was a kid. The NBC truck showed up every afternoon about 2:00. It was a glorious sight with that peacock logo and that hypnotic bell playing the NBC jingle. All the kids in the neighborhood would crowd around, hoping they had enough change in their pockets for a “Sanford and Son” or maybe a “Chico and the Man” or two. Sometimes the driver would throw in an “Adam 12” rerun for free…

But then there was that scandal in 1982, when the new driver invited one little boy inside the truck and gave him a “Love Sydney” for free. After that, Greensboro banned door-to-door delivery of network TV programming, athough I think some syndicated shows are still delivered by bicycle in areas with low cable penetration…

it’s nice to see a big, cosmopolitan city like San Francisco return to such simple old-timey pleasures, though…

Randomly Friday

It’s February and I finally have a new calendar, albeit a rather uninspiring one. Last year, I had “Historical Maps of US Cities” at home and “Wallace and Grommit Go to the Movies” at work. This year I waited too late…

No Mark this weekend, which will not be my favorite way to spend a weekend, but will nonetheless allow me to catch up on lots of deferred maintenance, general cleaning, and maybe even some actual creative pursuits. Assuming I have the motivation and attention span to get moving on any of it…

I could spend the weekend crying in my Cheerwine about not winning any of the assorted web journal awards, but that’s not terribly likely simce, well, I just don’t care. I’ll probably just buy a new TV instead…

Congratulations to Becky for 20,000 hits (yes, I was the one), to Rick for a pretty swifty recovery, and to Mark for hiring some help and hating work much less…

My Book

One night about five or six months ago, I was in this used bookstore near 9th and Irving and I saw the most amazing, rare used book on the LA freeway system. It was a tad pricey, and right at that moment, when I was at my most freaked out about the whole hospital thing and my finances and everything else, I couldn’t make myself buy it. I really wanted it and I regretted not buying it for months…

Tonight after dinner with Dan and Jamie, we happened to wander by the very same bookstore. It was going out of business this go-round and everything was a third off. And the damned book was still there. This time, I had money, I felt much better about life, and the book is now in my living room…

It’s a small thing, really, but it feels a little symbolic somehow of my much-improved state of mind since last summer…

The Romance Is Over

The romance is over. This afternoon, I tried everything I could to re-ignite the spark, and I just couldn’t do it. There’s nothing left to spice up anymore. I should just give up..

I’m talking about my long-souring romance with the Bay Area, by the way. I had another of those moments of realization today. I was down in the South Bay and I tried so desperately hard to get lost and see something I hadn’t seen before as I found my way out of wherever I was. And despite my most valiant efforts, I was unable to do so…

Unless you count that ten minutes I couldn’t find my way out of some office park in Santa Clara. And I don’t. That’s just too easy. And unpleasant…

One of the reasons (there were, of course, several others as well) that I left both Charlotte and Greensboro was that I was incapable of getting lost there anymore. Yeah, it sounds strange, but that’s how my mind works. Maybe it’s a thing with us Geography majors. All six of us…

And yeah, the sixth day is the hardest, dammit. But I’m glad I’m getting all this consumerist frenzy out of the way this weekend, since I apparently won’t be leaving the bed next weekend. Not that I have a problem with the idea or anything…

Mmmm. Cryptic.

Many, many things on my mind tonight, but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow, because I spent the whole evening rewiring and making my big new TV fit into a space which was way to small for it. But I did it. And my collection of dirty videos played a very important part…

Yeah, that whole paragraph was suitably vague, and maybe I’ll rewrite it some day. Or not. I’m going to bed now, since I have to be awake again in under seven hours…

Damn, I miss you. And I owe you one (and Jamie too)…

Super Bowl Monday

I got email spam this afternoon inviting me to bet on the Super Bowl. I think even I may have been able to get a successful bet down at this point (20 hours after the game ended), but I still decided to skip it…

I will say, again, that Super Bowl Sunday is a great day to shop, especially in the ‘burbs. There was hardly a soul in Best Buy yesterday. We were also spared the massive traffic jam on the Bay Bridge as we headed back into the city at 6:00…

I guess I could’ve watched it, but I remain convinced that football and baseball are, without question, the two most boring sports in the world, tight and semi-revealing uniforms notwithstanding. How those twenty or so minutes of actual activity or motion can stretch to fill a three-plus-hour time slot is absolutely beyond me…

Pro skateboarding, now there’s a sport I can sink my teeth into. So to speak…

There’s a better journal entry in me this afternoon, but I haven’t really written it yet, so maybe it’ll wind up as a “later still”…

Why is Bravo running lots of “the making of…” movie trailers where “Hill Street Blues” is supposed to be?

Love/Hate

Long, strangely busy week and I’m now in the midst of a new project which may stave off eviction and starvation for another month or so. And no, this is not the “better journal entry” I promised a couple of days ago. I also make no promises that there will be any improvement for several more days. Sorry…

 

Things I love today:

  • Him, with or without a currently functional website.
  • My big new TV.
  • The new Radio Shack signal amplifier which has finally made my cable worth watching on the aforementioned big new TV.
  • Designing websites while listening to KABL on my 1963 clock radio with glow control. High tech meets low tech, y’know?
  • The likelihood that I will soon be revisiting the northwest after a five year absence.

Things I hate today:

  • Moving my car on street cleaning night.
  • My (I assume) medication-induced bloodshot right eyeball.
  • People who, when confronted with the fact that they’re in the wrong lane, decide the proper approach is to come to a grinding halt and hold up everyone behind them until they can move to the correct one.
  • Verio, for fucking over another friend.
  • The fact that my local Simpsons rerun station hasn’t run a pre-1999 meltdown episode in months.

It’s time for bed…

Lucky There’s A…

Two episodes of “Family Guy” in one night. I think it’s a plot to divert attention from the fact that it’s been cancelled. Again. For something like the fourth time…

Having always had the utmost respect for obsessive nerds (you should see some of the Filemaker databases I’ve created), this site gets my highest praise, even though they missed that “Archie, Sabrina, and the Groovie Goulies” vortex. Thanks to Sarah for that link…

OK, I’ve been working ever since I got home from work (what?), and now I’m gonna go watch a movie on my big new TV and rest up for my much-anticipated trip to the land of Mark (and his new site) tomorrow. It’s been 11 days; advance rest may be very much required. So yes, this is the next in a series of half-assed journal entries rather than the long-promised interesting one. Sorry…

I want meat loaf and I want it now…