I met a real fungi today...

Hidden on the forest floor I saw a celebrity of sorts today;
Amanita Muscaria

The first I've seen in real life... these are the iconic mushroom...

...known for their psychotropic properties, and deadly if taken in excess (however much "excess" is was not specified in my reading)... these are Alice's caterpillar's mushroom, these are the mushrooms on hippie patches and stoner black light posters... these are the mushrooms fairies have their portraits painted on...

I suppose I was a bit of a science nerd when I found them and squeaked "ooh! Amanatia"
But gosh darn they are pretty poison...

The Fashion Machine

This is a painting by fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo...

...it's nice to never take your work too seriously

Real Men eat pancakes...

I stole this from my friend's Facebook page. He took the picture on his trip to the Phillipines...

I love Tony Bennett

Adieu 2008

The final day of 2008, sighs outside my door. A grey fog that whispers "stay inside today" "do your work over the internet". I consent although New Years Eve in San Francisco calls later in the day.

...Good bye to things we should let go. Hello good fortune, hello new complications, hello new jobs and new people, hello new attitudes and new opportunities...
...and most likely hello more winter fog!

I must say as grey and dismal as it seems, I am still grateful that it is not snow and that the temperature remains above freezing. I love living by the bay.

Christmas Slugs

This year it struck me that in our house there are hardly any photos of Christmas since Kelly and I stopped being adorable little kids. The reason is good though. On Christmas we have a rigorous schedule to keep up with. The family opens stockings, followed by breakfast, presents, brunch, an afternoon snack, then we generally take time to enjoy new books and toys, soon after that we commence lounging, followed promptly by a late afternoon linner (it's like brunch, but on the other side of afternoon), and then a much needed rest.... Basically the whole family stays inside in pajamas the whole day... it's pretty awesome. So here's the One Christmas photo from 2008;

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
--Susan Cooper
Happy Solstice Everybody!  

Tour Guide

Flash back to a couple of weeks ago, you may recall Andrew (the AngryAussie) who I showed around my city... well here is the other video he made with me there.

I don't think it fully conveys the kitch overload that the Rainforest Cafe has... yes, this is my random life. Love it.

Shaking Packages

One of my favorite pastimes from Christmas drives my mother crazy.  I love shaking packages.  I love trying to figure out what is inside the box.  The actual gift is only half as great as the what-ifs beforehand.  

   There are certain techniques that have been developed through the years.  You do have to take into consideration what was on your wish list, things you need (or that others think you need), and things that the gift giver probably secretly wants for themselves.  With that in mind you then consider the weight of the package and its dimensions.  Sometimes a very large package with little weight is either a small gift in disguise or possibly a bulky gift that has little weight, like a down comforter.  You also have to beware of weighted packages that try to throw you off the trail... I think I begin to give away too many tricks here... 

Now small packages are usually jewelry or gift cards, they're pretty easy.  I suppose in a different income bracket small packages could contain car keys, but really that's just not going to happen for most of us. 

Books are generally easy as well, they're a rectangular or square package with three sides that dip in and one that is solid... generally books look like books... the fun with books is guessing witch one is inside.

The medium size packages are the most challenging.  Sometimes you can feel out the shape of the object, which is great "um... scissors?  an umbrella?  an oddly shaped game?".  Soft packages are usually socks, frequently given by someone who really wanted socks but didn't ask for them... heavy medium size packages are difficult, there is a whole cadre of procedure that goes on with those involving sound, smell, weight, and wish analysis... yet again trade secrets.  

Now that I don't have the opportunity to spend much time with my family in advance of Christmas I'm afraid package shaking needs to be crammed into one or two days of possibility, which is a bit disappointing.  Right now I'm nearing completion with gift creation...so here I am sending my family an electronic package shake...so family if you don't want any clues you should stop right now...

Kelly; (I know this is super easy)

Dad; 

Mom;

Shaggy;

Adam:

John:(no it's not a girl in ripped jeans)

Tag of the day

SF Grafitti

This old ad along with fresh grafitti caught my eye while walking along Columbus street

a rant about rain.

Why is it when weather happens everybody looses their mind? In Cincinnati every year it would snow and panic would ensue as though it had never snowed before "ahh run in circles, haul out the massive amounts of salt, where is the ice scraper? Do we have an ice scraper? It's the end of the world!!!"

Here in Berkeley it rained today and everybody lost their freakin mind!
It rains here, all the time, all winter, every year. Somehow today everyone seemed to forget to use their eyeballs and pay attention to everyone else around them.

I had one vehicle stop in the middle of a three lane street, no notice, no emergency lights, nothing... just to let their passengers out in the middle of the road while ten feet from a green light, making all of us behind him stop and wait for the next cycle. About two blocks later I was following a different vehicle, we turned right on a green light and (I am not exaggerating) within ten feet of the corner that car stopped, stranding me in the crosswalk with pedestrians walking around me (illegally I might add) and another car behind me holding up cars behind him. I had to load my car in the rain about thirty feet from the door because three (THREE!) cars decided to park in the "5min at all times" zone directly in front of my theater... (in wet shoes but that is of corse my own stupidity...) So I got my car loaded with a full trunk plus backseat worth of costumes and I drove to the end of the street where there is a crosswalk and a stop sign, but instead of using the crosswalk pedestrians were just meandering a good distance into the road, laughing and stopping wherever. I was getting a bit peeved at this point and reflexively yelled "Use the %$^%*$ Crosswalk!" a woman looked up and with great astonishment realized that there were cars in front of her.

Now why is it that because it's a Little wet, everybody decides that the rules do not apply to their special ass?
GRRR!