Radio waves

Has anyone noticed that the radio has been coming in really poorly today? Anyone?

Well, it has. And I've spoken with other people who confirm my observation.

I spoke with a hippie once who said it must be because Mercury was in retrograde. That, in the world of astrology anyways, will make electronics malfunction.

I need to go home and make myself a tin foil helmet now. Sorry, gotta go.

San Francisco Homicide Map

From our friends at www.sfgate.com comes a homicide map fo 2007/2008 in San Francisco.

Enjoy.

Winter Beer Tasting at the Jug Shop

I like beer. Beer is good.

I subscribe to the email newsletter for www.thejugshop.com in San Francisco. They do wine and beer tastings regularly which is great because I think the beverage needs to be paired well with a meal. After all, the beverage is half of getting it right.

They do a great job. Their people are knowledgeable, friendly, and they don't skimp on the pours. They have open my up to some great things.

I met a guy here who wrote a book "Red, White, and Brew" named Brian who I was able to geek out with about the beer. His website is www.beerodyssey.com and you should check it out.

Yelp's Holiday Party

The Yelp holiday party at San Francisco's Exploratorium was off the hook! This was the lighted signage that illuminated the entrance.

They had live bands in the front, a DJ in the back, and two open bars... What more do you want?

Cheer SF? Well, Cheer SF was there too!

Ass Monkey

What an ass-monkey here, in Oakland, shining in all his element. Doesn't he know that you can't take two parking places unless you drive the CL "63"?

Fat Americans - again

Just in time to make us even more fat and lazy, in a promotion between TiVo and Domino's Pizza, broadband subscribers will no longer need to put down the remote control to order their pie.  To add annoying to fattening, the Wall Street Journal reports here that, "When a customer forwards through a commercial for Domino's, TiVo will flash a pop-up advertisement that asks the customer if she would like to order a pizza, then direct her to a Domino's ordering screen."

Yeesh.

Plastic, it's the future

I was listening to NPR this morning and heard some scary facts about our current economic system as a nation. With a savings rate of only 1-2 percent, Americans owe an average of $8000-9000 on their credit cards.   This is all on a country where Nabisco's Easy Cheese needs instructions that read: "For best results, remove cap." - good luck.

Unusually enough though, credit cards seem to be the only product where the terms and conditions can be modified for any reason and at any time by lender.  Raising variable interest rates for sometimes arbitrary reasons.  One of the strangest reasons I've heard yet is raising your rates for becomming past due on some other bank's loan.

Ugly Stairwells

I see Americans waiting for the elevator to go up only one or two floors all the time. Maybe that's why we're so fat. But maybe we take the elevator because the stairways look like THIS. And don't even ask me what this one smelled like.

Let's beautify our stairways. Put some carpet in there. Hang some art on the walls. Wash them once in a while. Get some exercise, save time, save some energy on the electricity bill. Maybe we'll all start taking the stairs instead.

Expense Reports Suck

G.T. Dave's Kombucha

If you haven't had Kombucha, it's worth trying. Some people make bold claims about Kombucha's efficacy in preventing colds and the flu. I'm not completely sold but I think the theory is sound.

Kombucha has supposedly been around for hundreds of years, beginning in either China or Siberia. I gather it is a combination of yeasts and bacteria that transform sweetened tea.

I'm no biochemist but it sounds like the yeast eat the sugars, and produce ethanol and carbon dioxide (which is mostly released). The bacteria eat the alcohol and produce acetic acid, vinegar.
Kombucha ends up being slightly alcoholic (1-2%), slightly acidic (Ph of 4-5), and very slightly carbonated. Wine afficianados might call it "effervescent."

The idea is that these are natural, beneficial components of a healthy gastro intestinal (GI)tract. Replacing or bolstering these results in more efficient metabolization of what we eat, and prevents foreign germs from gaining ground.

There are many products on the market that follow the same reason. Yokult is one, and I've heard of doctors recommended some of these for chemotherapy patients.

After all, we seem to be a host for smaller organisms to team together and prolong their existence. Don't get me started on Toxoplasm, or worse yet, mitochondria.

Christmas Gift Cards

I received this email today and although I haven't checked my facts yet, my family tends to give a bunch of gift cards out during the holidays so I thought I'd post it:

"I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. (On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankruptcy Planning'). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down specialty stores

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)

Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores,more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Lowes to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores

There's probably more--be careful or just avoid gift cards this year all together! "

American Cheese

Ahh, the French may have French toast, French fries, French bread, and my personal favorite (although not a food item) the French kiss. But right here in the US of A, we have the venerable "American cheese."

Apparantly, American cheese is not only the name of the product itself, but it's the name of the first ingredient in "American cheese." This kind of grosses me out but the ingredients list for American cheese is as follows:

"American cheese (milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes) water, dry cream, milkfat, sodium phosphate, salt, citric acid and scorbic acid as a preservative."

So there you have it in case you were wondering what was in American cheese. It's mostly made up of American cheese, water, dry cream and milkfat, with some additives.

The Great Southern California Shakeout

At 10am on November 13th 2008, millions of people in Southern California simulated the response of a very large earthquake.  Being just a matter of time before one actually hits, this move was brilliant in my opinion on the part of our urban planners and leaders.  The official site is www.shakeout.org but what's even more interesting I believe is what's going on at www.aftershock.net.

I don't have the whole story behind it, but it sounds like Aftershock was conceptualized by gamers and  built by everyday people submitting faux accounts of their personal experiences of what WOULD have happened to them, had their been a gigantic earthquake at 10 am on November 13th in Southern California.

Take a browse.  One thing I found was a color coded chart called "Fragile Plenty."  Although I doubt that is is... it looks pretty official and was very well done.  It outlines how in a disaster, there are 6 ways to die: too hot, too cold, hunger, thirst, illness, and injury.  The chart is here.

  

Comcast's 30 Second Skip

I just recently learned that you can program your Comcast DVR remote to skip ahead in 30 second intervalls.  I'm a little upset because this means that I have have unnecessarily wasted hours of my life using the [near worthless] fast forward function.  I would cheer everytime I was able to stop the fast forward on time and not have to go back, and then forward, and then back again...

If you have a Comcast DVR, and you don't do this, you are a fool.

1) Press the “Cable” button at the top of the remote.

2) Press and hold “Setup” until the “Cable” button blinks twice.

3) Type in the code 994. “Cable” will blink twice.

4) Press “Setup” (do not hold it).

5) Type in the code 00173.

6) Press the yellow triangle button with the A inside (near the "My DVR" button).

7) This is now your 30 second skip button.

Enjoy, tell a friend.  

My guess why they didn't include this as a standard feature is to appease their advertisers.  It is a sticky situation for TV right now, since you can watch shows commercial free online (like www.wuzzu.com, www.hulu.com, www.veoh.com), you can download them onto your ipod (www.itunes.com), and you can just skip them with the press of a single finger.

Get your stretch on

Can anyone guess what era this poster came from?

This was in the hotel gym and I found the perm to be quite hypmotysing. I think I looked closely at each scetch. Examining the subtle nuances between how the perm was portraid in each pose was consuming.

These were not done by Michelangelo; however, who knew how lifelike an artist could make a perm look with just a simple outline? It jumps right off the page.

"With a Smooth Filling"

I know this is a horrible picture; it's a phone that happens to have a camera, and not the other way around...

This is a box of chocolate at the check-out line in a bookstore. There were several flavors to chose from but the one's that enticed me the most were these.

"With a Smooth Filling". Not truffle, not almonts, not mint. "With a Smooth Filling". Awesome, what do they have in them? Well, it tasted somewhere in between Jack Nicholson and Magnum P.I.

Smooth.

Japanese characters

Never really noticed it before (and I've traveled through Japan) and it may only be my imagination... but doesn't the symbol for men look like a blockhead running?

I wonder what the radicals are that make it up. Or, maybe 'men' is a radical. I don't know. Apparently, reading Japanese is an incredibly difficult task; even for the Japanese. There are 3 "languages" and all of them can appear in a block of text at any given point.

I once met an American who had been living there for several years and studying the language for about a decade. He could interpret written Japanese but because it's not phonetic, to read it aloud to an audience correctly, he said, would be awkward, arduous, and most likely embarrassing.

Why do fires always start on the side of freeways?

This is the 80 just east of Pinole in Northern California. The photo doesn't do the scene any justice because I could feel the heat through the window as I drove past. This, despite my air conditioning.

There were no FD present yet and there were homes endangered just atop this small hill. I wonder. Is it always careless smokers flicking their butts out the window? I see patches of burnt often just off highways and fail to conceive of an alternative cause.

Yea Kids, Eat Right...

..just don't tell Hostess.

This is the opening scene at a Safeway, an uncomfortable 5 feet from the door. So close, in fact, that cart pushers have to let those exiting exit before they can enter.

Framed on our left is that waskely wabbit, Bugs, telling our kids that eating right is cool, it's fun, and quite frankly that if Bugs is doing it, you should too.

Framed on our left is a plethora of delicious filled and frosted goodies. Twinkies, Cupcakes, pies of all flavors, Ho-Ho's, Suzy Q's, and my personal favorite (I love the premise, although I don't they're fit for human consumption) - Snowballs!

How can you resist the chocolate cake and the marshmallow, dusted in coconut, and dyed hot pink? You can't.

Surfing Fort Point

What an eerie place to surf. The water is cold, there can be 7 knot currents on the outside, and the Golden Gate Bridge puts everything in miniature. Sometimes I feel like a GI Joe out there. Don't forget about the sharks either.

It is unfortunate that the wave isn't very good. It doesn't stand up tall and give you a long line to work with; it tends to have one section and then peter out. It is also extremely crowded. Despite the rocks and the sharks, you're more likely to get run over than anything else.

There's a particularly big rock right in the middle of the take off zone too. You either go behind it and race the section, or in front of it and risk dropping in on someone who is taking their chances behind. Very unfortunate placement.

What this place needs are some reef balls! They would create more of a shoulder, a longer ride, and even out the bottom more near that big rock. Except for the wave itself, the set up is great, relatively sheltered from wind, and you can't beat the view.

You just feel like a Smurf.

Jollibee

Ate breakfast here because nothing else was open near the Moscone Center. For a fast food transplant from the Philippines, it wasn't too horrible.

I opted for the "Sweet Pork Breakfast Plate" which consisted of, well, chunks of sweet pork on one side of the plastic container and scrambled eggs over garlic rice on the other.

The rice was garlic-y, I like it strong, but this would turn most Americans off. I guess "Sweet Pork Breakfast Plate" would do that too. Maybe next time I'll get the "Tender Beef Breakfast Plate" instead.

I don't think there will be a next time soon, but I was watching the Discovery Channel shortly after dining here and watched an apartment building in the Philippines collapse. What was directly across the street from said apartment building?

That's right. A Jollibee.

Grandparents Day?

Whata great holiday - but whoever was put in charge of promoting it should be fired.

Moto Java

This place is a coffee/motorcycle repair shop in San Francisco. I've seen some funny combination stores before and this one is pretty creative. Some of the more notables in memory have included video rental/doughnuts and ice cream/laundry mat to name two.

The products these proprietors make are sometimes do not mesh well with each other but the idea behind is sound - keeping the place open.

Rent is a fixed cost so if people only want to buy sandwiches at lunchtime, what can you sell in the morning and at night? This is where you see creativity shine.

There's nothing wrong with mixing two odd ball products. The only really issue is aesthetics (which is a big issue, I guess). Otherwise, what would be wrong with a Chinese Cuisine/Pet Store?

Umm, I'll take the cash!

Not all choices are as easy as this one. At this Quisno's the mother/daughter in front of me in line took nearly 5 minutes to decide what they were going to eat.

For a few weeks about a year ago I exercised making decisions immediately when asked. E.g. instead of saying, "I don't care," "you choose," or "whatever," when asked about what's for dinner, which way to go, or what movie to watch - I would make the call.

Wrong or right, what I discovered was that how many decisions we make are trivial and yet pondered endlessly. Try it. I'm back to thinking about these trivial choices but now I know that if I had to pick a sandwich immediately, I could.

Shrimp Flavored Cracker

Who wants shrimp flavored cracker? Not everyone raise their hand at once.

XLerator Hand Dryer

Has anyone seen these yet? This was my second contact with an Xlerator and the experience is exhilarating! Wow are my hands dry, and so fast too!

The advantages of blowers are varied and many over paper towels; no trees, no landfill - however, until now they just... took... too... long... to... dry... your... hands. In a crowded restroom like say, an airport, they would be downright frustrating.

www.wikipedia.com has an interesting article on hand dryers and cites studies done that seem to contradict their seemingly obvious superiority over paper towels. One even states that bacteria can be sprayed in a 3 foot radius around them.

Well, I say good riddance to paper towels and apparently, McDonalds has said the same. The McDonalds' WC's that I have visited in the last few years have been exclusively hand dryers. Unfortunately, not the high speed ones yet though.

High speed hand dryers are the future. Dyson of the vacuum empire has even entered the ring. I haven't seem one yet but I'm sure they look very cool. Another manufacturer even boasts an air velocity on 185 mph.

Go green, viva hand dryers, and if Dyson says they're cool, then who am I to blow against the wind.

I'd like some Chicken Terityaki please!

Yet another classic example of Engrish (www.engrish.com), but this time in Waikiki.

This is the signage of a plate of plastic food in a glass display [which is so typical in Japan] - but what makes this case so special is that it's in front of the Japanese Restaurant in the Hilton.

Purchasing a plate of "plastic food" will fetch a few hundred dollars for display - and more precisely, they are made from vinyl. First, a silicone mold is made of the real food, then the vinyl is poured in and baked. They are all meticulously hand painted.

The practice, from what I've read, has been around for nearly a century. Originally, the pieces were made from paraffin wax and Takizo Iwasaki is given credit for creating the idea, back in 1917.

I was thinking, they should have just had Paris proof read the plastic food before they put them out.

This is German Extreme Scootering

A friend of mine in Chicago found this moped and a matching blue jumpsuit and invented the sport of German Extreme Scootering. It involves, though is not limited to, going off curbs and one-handed riding.

Basically, general extreme-ness is exhibited with a hefty dose of mayhem. It looks like fun and I would love to join the ranks; however, I seem to lack some of the necessary requirements. Mostly the following:

1) A scooter
2) A matching jumpsuit
3) Mayhem

I think I could bring the extreme-ness, full force, but without the prerequisites, unfortunately all I am left with is being a wannabe. Viva "GES!"

This is McDonalds.

Granted this is a McDonalds in Hawaii, but this is the first time I've seen something on the menu there that I don't have a clue what it is. This was next to the 'SPAM and Eggs Breakfast' poster, which we all can appreciate, and I'm going to assume haupia is a fruit.

If it were a poster for a Loco Moco, I'd know that was - that is a hamburger patty with fried eggs over rice and smothered in gravy. I had one of those this morning. Truly glutonous but "when in Rome" you should indulge at least once.

In Japan you often get asked if you want the Western breakfast or the Japanese breakfast. So what if smoked fish and a raw egg over rice is not your idea of the best way to jump start the day, you have to try it.

I think it is unfortunate that so many Americans wake up to corn flakes with pasteurized and homogonized milk, white toast, and robusta coffee. Pass the smoked fish please...

"Your Car Warranty Has Expired..."

A very strange thing happened to me yesterday. I got a recorded voice mail on my cell phone telling me that the warranty on my car has expired but that it is not too late to renew it. Bla bla bla.

When I got back to my hotel room (here is the hotel phone in case you were wondering what it looked like) - the same voice mail was waiting for me there! This is Twilight Zone material!

I don't even know the number to the hotel. Only my wife knows where I'm staying, and she'd probably have to look it up. How did they find me? Are they calling everyone in America? What is going on here?

How bizarre!

I'm so thirsty, I need something to dring!

Right next to the mall, on Mission St., in downtown San Francisco lies a classic example of Engrish. If you don't know what exactly Engrish is, please visit www.engrish.com and be prepared to laugh. That means no milk because milk has a propensity to be expelled from the nostrils while laughing.

Why is Mexican food so good?

This place rocks. Just north of Santa Cruz on the 1, we popped in for a burrito refill. What makes a good burrito great?

This time it was the use of cabbage instead of lettuce. Way more crunch factor and more flavor too. I think I'm going to get cabbage on all my burritos from here forth.

Guacamole is very important too. The more crap they add to it the worse it gets. I think the best guac consists of avocados, lime juice, salt and pepper.

The horchata here is amazing too. I think I'm going to start making that stuff at home. Me likey horchata.

Nor Cal Fires

This is how dark the sky has been in Napa and Lake counties lately. The smoke has been so thick that you could look right at the ruddy/gray sun without blinking.

As I drove through the hills, I felt like I was in a horror movie; or, a sci-fi movie rather. The anticipation of my enevitable abduction added an extra thrill to the sinuous mountain road.

That, and the jerk-off in the red pickup truck tailgating me.

My Pontiac is alive, and sometimes it speaks to me.

Someone pointed out that the console in my Pontiac G6 with the V6 has a face. Unfoutunately, now I can't look at the thing the same. It's like those optical illusions with the, "is it a glass, or two people looking at eachother?" Or the, "is it a young girl or a witches face?"

Illusions are facinating.

Aside: the psych test called the Rorschach, you know the one with the inkblots... In order to protect the integrity the images are not only copyrighted but strictly enforced.

The ones you see in the movies and TV are false. Otherwise someone could Tivo LA Law and prefabricate their responses before their exam.

Tourist Crap

Because I live in San Francisco I see tourist crap everywhere I go. But lately, I've been paying more attention to it. I read somewhere that SF brings in roughly $14M each day in tourist revenue. I wonder what percent of that are cheeky T-shirts, mugs with silly phrases on them, and key chains that live for a few years in the junk drawer before they get sent to the dump.

We are all guilty of buying this crap and we wonder how we'll ever recover from our trade deficit with China. Like a proud parent, there must be someone who smiles when they see this stuff, knowing how much it has lined their pockets.

Here is a prime example of tourist crap. Enjoy.

Snapping people snapping people

I'm contemplating starting a photo-essay of people taking pictures. Like a really bad joke, I still warm at the irony. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the camera lens is the tacky curtains (?). I already said my fascination is like a bad joke, lay off.

1600 Pensylvania Ave.

You guys want to protest anything while we're here?

The Secret Life of Baggage Handlers

These are some of the most mysterious people in the airport. Through rain, snow, sleet and hail, they load and unload the cargo bins while you sip Heinekin in your climate controlled cabin.

I've seen them out there plugging away in the most brutal weather and yet have only had my bag lost (well, delayed) once in at least two hundred flights. That's a pretty good record as far as I am concerned.

Let's all give them a round of applause.

Or, why don't you go put on a reflector vest and go help?

Fort Point

At the base of the Golden Gate Bridge lies a left point break. It takes a massive amount of swell for it to break and works best on a low tide. Being in the heart of The City, it also gets unbelievably crowded.

There are rocks, grumpy locals and presumably sharks. A dropping tide can create a 6-8 knot current that can pull you out to sea.

The wave isn't particularly good either. There is a big stupid rock right in the take off zone on the best sets. You either have to take off behind it and risk not making it around. And if you do make it, you come around only to find that someone else didn't think you would and dropped in on you anyway.

Or you take off behind it and risk being that guy.
Nevertheless it is the closest spot to my house, I could walk there, and so that's where I check first.

Here is a mediocre wave at a mediocre spot on another gloomy day in San Francisco. The surfer's name is Chi. Enjoy.

Yoda statue

Yes. This is a bronze statue of yoda.

It is in front of Lucasfilm's studio in the Pesidio of San Francisco so it isn't as if some Star Wars crazed fan dropped $15,000 on it to park between their pink flamingos.

It is; however, about an 13 on a cool factor of 1-10 and there is a tiny voice inside of me trying to get me to leave burnt offerings of some sort.

"Those aren't the droids you're looking for..."

May the force be with you.

The $1200 blender

As we we're poking around the restaurant supply store, we came upon this. Eureka, the $1200 blender. Oh what a fine and mighty margarita you could make. Just think of how smooth the dacquri could be. Have we ever had a blended drink prepared in such a vessel?

What makes it so expensive I began to myself. How much faster could it be than our $40 blender, which is a nice one if I don't mind saying so. Currently I could make a batch of pina colada in about 30 seconds. Surely cutting that down to even 5 seconds wouldn't warrant such a price tag.

Would it last forever? Out shine the life of 30 more mild-mannered blenders of the domestic variety? Can it blend incredibly hard objects? But then, please explain, whey you would want to eat these incredibly hard objects.

I'm at a loss, maybe I'll write a letter to ask them. Then again, maybe some things are better left a mystery...

Airline travel

This is our Southwest plane to DC, well, BWI (Baltimore-Washington International) to be specific. We got our tickets free with frequent flier miles and found something kind of funny. Online our ticket showed Oakland to BWI with one stop - but it didn't tell us where. Nothing at all.

It wasn't until we checked our bags, and asked no less, before we found out we'll be stopping in Kansas City, Missouri. So we're off to "KC MO," as the locals call it, and I'm writing this on the plane. Yes mom, the wireless function is turned off.

We taxied out and oddly paused for a moment in the queue. Someone got on the PA and announced that a passenger had gotten on our flight by mistake! They didn't really want to go with us to KC MO! They instead wanted to go to Las Vegas, no doubt with big plans, big big plans there.

With the natives restless, we taxied back. I heard someone grumble, "what a jerk!" I thought this would be fitting for one of their commercials, "Wanna get away?"

As the wayward passenger ran up the aisle, she declared her sympathy for us and how she wasn't sure how the scanner had let her on. She also stated how despite her mishap, believe it or not, that she was a frequent flier. We all had a good laugh.

It is such a powerful skill knowing how to disarm a crowd. Off we go.

Freeway fire

I snapped this the other day as I drove through the fire and flames on the side of I-80. It looked far more impressive in person and I was amazed at how the heat penetrated the car.

Most people would be quick to blame a careless smoker flicking their butt out the window. The patch of scorched earth was tightly localized and directly adjacent to the highway.

I'd like to think it was probably a common house cat. Everyone knows how mischievous they are; always up to no good.

Airline travel

This is our Southwest plane to DC, well, BWI (Baltimore-Washington International) to be specific. We got our tickets free with frequent flier miles and found something kind of funny. Online our ticket showed Oakland to BWI with one stop - but it didn't tell us where. Nothing at all.

It wasn't until we checked our bags, and asked no less, before we found out we'll be stopping in Kansas City, Missouri. So we're off to "KC MO," as the locals call it, and I'm writing this on the plane. Yes mom, the wireless function is turned off.

We taxied out and oddly paused for a moment in the queue. Someone got on the PA and announced that a passenger had gotton on our flight by mistake! They didn't really want to go with us to KC MO! They instead wanted to go to Las Vegas, no doubt with big plans, big big plans there.

With the natives restless, we taxied back. I heard someone grumble, "what a jerk!" I thought this would be fitting for one of their commercials, "Wanna get away?"

As the disheveled and wayward passanger ran up the aisle, she declared her sympathy for us all and how she wasn't sure how the scanner let her on. She also stated how dispite her mishap, believe it or not, that she was a frequent flier. We all had a laugh.

Off we go.

Homebrewing

The is the air lock on a fermenting batch of Belgian Ale. It allows carbon dioxide to escape without letting germs in with a simple cap floating in water. Works like a charm.

I've been brewing at home for more than 13 years and learned something amazing not too long ago. I've been quite aware of the "German Beer Purity Law" called Reinheitsgebot for many years but it was only recently when someone pointed out the obvious.

My memory was that it only allowed for water, hops, barley and yeast. But put forward in 1487, it actually predates the discovery of yeast! (Note: Germany wasn't a nation-state either)

Yeast may have been first observed in 1680 by Leeuwenhoek (almost 200 years post Reinheitsgabot) but it wasn't until Pasteur in 1857 that it began to be understood (even later, after almost 400 years!)

For hundreds or thousands of years there must have been such a magic to beer. No wonder people are so superstitious.

Gay Marrage

As I drove past city hall this morning, it dawned on me that tomorrow California will begin issuing marriage certificates for same sex partnerships. Pardon me if I'm not using the proper terms here.

On NPR, they were discussing the topic and brought up some very interesting thoughts. It wasn't THAT long ago that love was even a deciding factor in who you marry so "allowing" same sex marriage is quite avant guarde. People used to marry for political and social gain.

This whole thing is going to get played out like a 5 day cricket match in federal court sooner or later but this is the historic begining. Notice the stack of news vans huddled outside waiting to pounce on their first sound bite from the first couple to exit, feeling both vindicated and giddie.

I'm so for gay marriage, I probably sound indifferent, but I'm actually quite excited about everything. Excited in a "finally" kind of way. Like when the Red Sox finally won a World Series.

The Giving Tree

Anytime our landlord thinks someone threw away something that still hold value, he'll hang it from the tree out front. Today we see a black bag with a pair of shoes inside. Garbage day is tomorrow so this is the 11th hour for these shoes.

I like the idea of recycling but to take it this literally is kind of creepy. We tend to think of our garbage can as an absolute final resting place but in reality it is only the beginning of a whole new journey. Good luck shoes, I hope your new owner is better then the last.

Phonebooks in the foyer...

These phonebooks have been sitting here for months - note: two diffrent brands. Does anyone even use these anymore? I haven't touched one in likely 8 years. Although, I think you can still prove Christ's strength by tearing one in half if you're in Orange County...

The beginning