Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Would you rather be a table or a chair?
How the hell did we ever live without the intertubes? I mean, seriously - someone has created a Swedish Furniture Name Generator, praise be.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Just like childhood, but with booze.
This weekend was an exercise in just screwing around, and it was excellent. On Friday we ordered pizza and watched a movie, which was a mainstay activity in the Brennan household when I was a Genevievette. If only we had thrown some Cherry Coke and a screeching fight with my brother into the mix, I would have thought I was 8 again.
Then, on Saturday, we went to a surprise party in the park. Leslie's roommates and friends got her to Speedway Meadow via a scavenger hunt, and there was cake and balloons and kickball. PLUS almost everyone there had ridden their bikes, and lots of friends stopped by, and people older than me had to remind me to put on sunblock.
After a shower and a harrowing bout of hair-detangling (remember, remember how awful it was when your mom came at you with a comb?), we went to Meg and Ed's to play pretend with their friends. They hosted a murder mystery dinner, where you dress up like a character and the "attorney" reads the will and everyone tries to figure out who killed the millionaire. I was the dead guy's sister, and with each glass of wine I forgot more and more about who I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to know, until I pretty much was just Lucille Bluth (Halloween '07) again. Once we got past the initial awkwardness of having to be nasty to people we didn't really know, it was a wicked good time.
Here is me and my in-game baby daddy, being all rich and cool:
Mike's cowboy getup was a product of necessity, as our friend Niklas was a last-minute addition to the party and did not have a character. Despite being deeply Swedish and wearing women's flared jeans, we managed to make him into long-lost Uncle Biff, who talked in a terrifying "Texas" accent and helped Mike's character navigate the subtleties of lying to me. It went very well.
On Sunday Niklas and I reclaimed his missing bag from Fly Bar (contents: his camera, wallet, toothbrush, and passport) and went to our new local farmer's market to get some tomatoes and pretty flowers of an indeterminate variety. After sending Niklas back to the deepest depths of the peninsula - lions and tigers and Los Gatos oh my - and despite the fog, we went for a bike ride to the beach with Dumbro, then ate free Indian food in the park. Dumbro came back to our house for a few hours to shoot the shit, and Mike and I wrapped up the weekend on the couch with some West Wing and Friday Night Lights. Seriously, what more could you ask for?
(Perhaps not ending a sentence with a preposition, but if that was your response, you should probably go have a glass of wine or a joint or something now.)
Then, on Saturday, we went to a surprise party in the park. Leslie's roommates and friends got her to Speedway Meadow via a scavenger hunt, and there was cake and balloons and kickball. PLUS almost everyone there had ridden their bikes, and lots of friends stopped by, and people older than me had to remind me to put on sunblock.
After a shower and a harrowing bout of hair-detangling (remember, remember how awful it was when your mom came at you with a comb?), we went to Meg and Ed's to play pretend with their friends. They hosted a murder mystery dinner, where you dress up like a character and the "attorney" reads the will and everyone tries to figure out who killed the millionaire. I was the dead guy's sister, and with each glass of wine I forgot more and more about who I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to know, until I pretty much was just Lucille Bluth (Halloween '07) again. Once we got past the initial awkwardness of having to be nasty to people we didn't really know, it was a wicked good time.Here is me and my in-game baby daddy, being all rich and cool:
Mike's cowboy getup was a product of necessity, as our friend Niklas was a last-minute addition to the party and did not have a character. Despite being deeply Swedish and wearing women's flared jeans, we managed to make him into long-lost Uncle Biff, who talked in a terrifying "Texas" accent and helped Mike's character navigate the subtleties of lying to me. It went very well.On Sunday Niklas and I reclaimed his missing bag from Fly Bar (contents: his camera, wallet, toothbrush, and passport) and went to our new local farmer's market to get some tomatoes and pretty flowers of an indeterminate variety. After sending Niklas back to the deepest depths of the peninsula - lions and tigers and Los Gatos oh my - and despite the fog, we went for a bike ride to the beach with Dumbro, then ate free Indian food in the park. Dumbro came back to our house for a few hours to shoot the shit, and Mike and I wrapped up the weekend on the couch with some West Wing and Friday Night Lights. Seriously, what more could you ask for?
(Perhaps not ending a sentence with a preposition, but if that was your response, you should probably go have a glass of wine or a joint or something now.)
Non Ministrari sed Ministrare
Everyone likes to think that what they do all day makes a difference in people's lives. Teachers and doctors and the corner store guy who sells you a Vitamin Water when you are parched all know the positive effect they've had on you. Those of us who work on the intertubes, not so much.
Enter Alerts, which allow me to track how people are using - and then blogging or twittering about - the product for whose benefit I spend all day harassing publishers. (If you think that was some tortured writing, you should see the crappy blogs that talk smack on my baby.)
That's why I'm always so pleased to see examples of people using GBS for good. Today's example:
In case you can't read the full title, it says, "Bloodborne Body Odor and Halitosis: Uniting Sufferers and Experts."
Yes, my friends, I am a force for good in this world.
Enter Alerts, which allow me to track how people are using - and then blogging or twittering about - the product for whose benefit I spend all day harassing publishers. (If you think that was some tortured writing, you should see the crappy blogs that talk smack on my baby.)
That's why I'm always so pleased to see examples of people using GBS for good. Today's example:
In case you can't read the full title, it says, "Bloodborne Body Odor and Halitosis: Uniting Sufferers and Experts."Yes, my friends, I am a force for good in this world.
The future is now
My dad just got a cell phone. This is HIGHLY unanticipated - the man barely uses the regular-type phone.
Speaking of Pa Brennan, SF-ers, he'll be in town this weekend, so prepare for some serious beer drinking.
Speaking of Pa Brennan, SF-ers, he'll be in town this weekend, so prepare for some serious beer drinking.
Cool
We just tested out cuil.com in a team meeting, and did a search for The Tipping Point that returned a seriously NSFW image. May the gods of search engines bestow some lady parts upon you, as well - ideally on a gigantic VC screen, with 20 people on the call.
It was an excellent way to put some spice into our morning.
It was an excellent way to put some spice into our morning.
Friday, July 25, 2008
GP, the way to be
For those who were concerned (all of you, I'm sure), Mike did NOT get arrested yesterday, which was nice. He did, however, watch his coworkers get arrested for blocking the entrance to a Kimberly Clark facility in LA.
KC, in case you are not aware, is a company that engages in profligate assholery.
So check out Mike's article.
KC, in case you are not aware, is a company that engages in profligate assholery.So check out Mike's article.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Why all the texi are yellow?
Wow, thank you Go Fug Yourself, for linking to this gem. I know nothing about Bai Ling, I feel like maybe I've seen her in a movie once, but I sure as hell am in love with her blog.
Sometimes I wish I could get into people's mind and sing them a lalaby........
Sometimes I wish I could get into people's mind and sing them a lalaby........
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Welcome to my Wednesday night
I just:
- drank several glasses of wine
- made a vinaigrette and had it with some lovely butter lettuce
- talked on the phone to my boyfriend, who is on a last-minute road trip that may or may not end with him getting arrested
- made crepes
- roasted two huge gorgeous Chioggia beets
- washed a baking pan that had raccoon paw prints in it
- go watch darts?
Yeah, I didn't write this.
But I signed off on it - well, all but the title. My 15 minutes, folks!
UPDATE: Jesus holy god, I should not have put out an Alert on that blog post - I am seeing my name alllllllll over the intertubes. No one has insulted me or my family yet, but I feel like that is probably coming.
UPDATE: Jesus holy god, I should not have put out an Alert on that blog post - I am seeing my name alllllllll over the intertubes. No one has insulted me or my family yet, but I feel like that is probably coming.
Wait wait don't tell me!
Peter Sagal is speaking on campus today, on "The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)". YES!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Maps for your feet
GMaps just launched walking directions. There are some bugs, but it's still pretty neat!
If by "power" you mean "hard-drinking"
The former Attorney General of Texas (our friend Tiff's aunt) apparently referred to Mike and I as a power couple.
Yup.
Yup.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Perfect Weekend
Friday morning, Mike and I woke up at the ass crack of dawn and drove up to Pomo Canyon on the Sonoma coast to snag some no-reservations campsites. We managed to get four beauties, set into a hillside redwood grove. We spent the rest of the day working from a coffee shop in Bodega Bay, where we took advantage of free wireless and tasty caffeinated beverages.
We rendezvoused back at the campground with Mike D and went for a walk up to the top of canyon. It was classic California - golden hills, fog out by the ocean, etc. Here is Mike G being a tiny speck in the vast expanse..jpg)
We met up with Caitlin, Amy and Meesh back at the campsite to build ourselves a roaring fire and throw together ridiculous dinner that included caprese salad, guacamole, hummus (guess whose!), corn, and pesto pasta with veggies. Also in attendance were the essential ingredients of camping: beer and smores. We played "Will it Burn: Food Edition", and proposed a round of "Will it Burn: Human Edition" that no one was drunk enough to actually play. Caitlin sort of played Edward Winey Hands, Meesh thought she was a flame in a tree for a little while, G set a hobo (pie) on fire, and a park ranger came and yelled at us. It was everything a party round the fire should be.
Saturday morning the ladies left, and the Mikes and me (screw grammar, yay alliteration) went on a hike to the coast. Here they are scrambling up a Big Rock.
It wasn't a super intense hike - maybe 10 miles or so - but it was a damn fine way to spend the day. By mid-afternoon most of the second wave had arrived, and we all played frisbee, croquet and Extreme Bocce, which involved throwing all the balls at once in a homicidal manner. Mike has perfect croquet form.
Then we got drunk and loud and full of food. One thing you have to know about the 13 people that were on this trip: at least 75% (including me) have serious difficulty controlling the volume of their voices. We all dealt with this in different ways. Leslie kept yelling and then shushing herself ("Raccoons!!! shhhh, raccoons"), some people got really drunk and unconscious, and some people just did not give a shit. Aside from our neighbors hating us, though, it was a pretty fantastic evening. Once again we had a ridiculous family-dinner style spread, with two kinds of curry (!), grilled veggies, and lots and lots of meat (steak, sausage, kangaroo?).
Beer and whiskey were drunk, laps were sat on, marshmallows were flung, tents were stumbled into. And then, in the morning, we all got to wake up to this.
Eh, eh? We had a long lazy breakfast, and hung out a bit as everyone packed up.
Then G, Damian and I went on a great bike ride up and down the Sonoma coast. It was gorgeous, if an ass-kicker, and I feel a bit more ready for the Marin Century now. On the way home we stopped at Wildflour Bakery for their amazing bread, and then had some oysters and caught some tunes at Scrambly's restaurant.
In summary, this weekend was like a genetically modified baby: the repository of my hopes, the fruition of my dreams, the kicking and screaming essence of perfection.
Yeah!
We rendezvoused back at the campground with Mike D and went for a walk up to the top of canyon. It was classic California - golden hills, fog out by the ocean, etc. Here is Mike G being a tiny speck in the vast expanse.
.jpg)
We met up with Caitlin, Amy and Meesh back at the campsite to build ourselves a roaring fire and throw together ridiculous dinner that included caprese salad, guacamole, hummus (guess whose!), corn, and pesto pasta with veggies. Also in attendance were the essential ingredients of camping: beer and smores. We played "Will it Burn: Food Edition", and proposed a round of "Will it Burn: Human Edition" that no one was drunk enough to actually play. Caitlin sort of played Edward Winey Hands, Meesh thought she was a flame in a tree for a little while, G set a hobo (pie) on fire, and a park ranger came and yelled at us. It was everything a party round the fire should be.Saturday morning the ladies left, and the Mikes and me (screw grammar, yay alliteration) went on a hike to the coast. Here they are scrambling up a Big Rock.
It wasn't a super intense hike - maybe 10 miles or so - but it was a damn fine way to spend the day. By mid-afternoon most of the second wave had arrived, and we all played frisbee, croquet and Extreme Bocce, which involved throwing all the balls at once in a homicidal manner. Mike has perfect croquet form.
Then we got drunk and loud and full of food. One thing you have to know about the 13 people that were on this trip: at least 75% (including me) have serious difficulty controlling the volume of their voices. We all dealt with this in different ways. Leslie kept yelling and then shushing herself ("Raccoons!!! shhhh, raccoons"), some people got really drunk and unconscious, and some people just did not give a shit. Aside from our neighbors hating us, though, it was a pretty fantastic evening. Once again we had a ridiculous family-dinner style spread, with two kinds of curry (!), grilled veggies, and lots and lots of meat (steak, sausage, kangaroo?).Beer and whiskey were drunk, laps were sat on, marshmallows were flung, tents were stumbled into. And then, in the morning, we all got to wake up to this.
Eh, eh? We had a long lazy breakfast, and hung out a bit as everyone packed up.
Then G, Damian and I went on a great bike ride up and down the Sonoma coast. It was gorgeous, if an ass-kicker, and I feel a bit more ready for the Marin Century now. On the way home we stopped at Wildflour Bakery for their amazing bread, and then had some oysters and caught some tunes at Scrambly's restaurant.In summary, this weekend was like a genetically modified baby: the repository of my hopes, the fruition of my dreams, the kicking and screaming essence of perfection.
Yeah!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Greenpeace 4 Life
From Project Hotseat's Flickr account, here's a photo of Mike from last week's Global Warming Story Tour kickoff. Adorable! And also, you know, tough and effective and stuff.
And here's my other favorite, from a basketball tournament in North Carolina.
There is a reason that Mike really loves his job.
And here's my other favorite, from a basketball tournament in North Carolina.
There is a reason that Mike really loves his job.
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