Written Tuesday, September 15:
I did it! I popped the proverbial cork in my cervix, nourished a healthy nesting ground for a welcome parasite and said, “go to town, little dude”. I couldn’t wait to get to the drugstore after my last entry. Good thing I biked there – it helped with the anxious shakes. I had a $10 off coupon to go towards a $20 purchase so I took an unnecessarily long time shopping. Continue reading
Written Monday, September 14th:
28th day of my cycle. The day I’ve been waiting for. “It” is not here yet, but it could come at any moment. Like waiting for someone you don’t like to show up at your door, knowing they’ll stick around for a week and make your life miserable. The only way to try to prevent their arrival is to have lots and lots of sex, relax, and hope for the best. Not bad, I guess. Continue reading
There is was. My first earthquake. It seemed pretty small, considering at first I wondered if I was just having a dizzy spell. Then, all of my colleagues started getting up and talking excitedly. I hope it’s not forewarning of a bigger one to come. Although, I have to admit I am curious. Apparently, this map can tell me how it felt.
I’m a bit tardy in posting this due to the holiday, but as it’s important to discuss it and will remain important to remember for years to come, I’m bringing it up again, even though some may unfortunately already feel it’s old news.
Apparently, someone within the Twin Cities local government felt it was within their rights to threateningly enter the homes of innocent people against whom they have no evidence of wrongdoing and proceed to terrorize said people at gunpoint and apparently a judge agreed with them.
Make no mistake, they were indeed terrorizing them. Speaking as someone who has been harassed by a group of police officers, I can tell you without hyperbole that it is terrifying to be forced to listen to the taunting jeers of those with unquestionable authority, especially when they’re armed. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if they forced their way into my home (where I generally hope to feel safe) dressed in riot gear, refused to show a warrant, handcuffed me while I stared speechless at the barrel of a semi-automatic weapon, and forced me to lie on the ground while they referred to each other as the “terminator” or the “exterminator”.
This is NOT a Republican issue and please do not do yourself the disservice of assuming it is. The point is that “democratically” elected officials have the power to do this and we do not believe we have the power to stop them. This is not the behavior of the governing body of a true democracy. This is the behavior of a state in which the government and the people are separate.
Please also do not make the mistake of thinking that this will not happen to you because you are law abiding. Again, there was no evidence against these people. Maybe you assume you will not be the victim of this kind of abuse because you do not put yourself in the position these people did by planning to exercise their rights to assemble and speak freely? Then I ask, are you willing to give up those rights? What happens when you do find yourself faced with a situation in which you feel you need to speak out?
These immoral raids only serve as a reminder that you’re safe, as long as you remain complacent.
The text links in the article I’ve copied below won’t work so check out the original article from Salon.com for more details. Videos are embedded. Continue reading
Saturday night while heading back home on El Camino, we heard a squad car coming up behind us so I pulled over and it zipped past swiftly. I commented on how fast it was going because normally they don’t seem to be going terribly fast when I’ve had to pull over in the past. A couple of blocks up ahead it became clearer why. Continue reading
I recently saw a primary care physician (PCP) here in CA, even though I had seen my MN PCP back in September, because I was hoping she could prescribe me meds while I wait for a psychiatry appointment. Although that didn’t work out, I left her office with instructions to make three additional medical visits. Continue reading
Here is yet another attempt to keep friends and family updated on our activities without resorting to boring discussions about the weather (“It’s 10 below in MN? Wow, would you believe it got up to 66 here today?”) or work (“So Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo, eh? What would you call them then, Microhoo?”).
Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area I have: Continue reading
Today it was announced that Microsoft is offering to buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion. I am not a financial analyst or highly trained in business, but when I read, “With Microsoft paying a full price for a broken business where there’s not accelerating organic growth, I can’t make that work at all. I don’t see what they get out of it. The strategy behind the deal was wrong.” (Jon Fisher) the first thing that comes to mind is that Microsoft is simply not concerned about purchasing a successful business. They are interested in removing potential competition.
Then I read that “the Justice Department said it is ‘interested’ in reviewing antitrust issues” and realized that I don’t need to be an expert to question the motivations of a monster corporation that’s been scrutinized in the past. (I originally read about antitrust issues in this article, but upon reloading the page I noticed that sentence had mysteriously disappeared. Is that part now deemed unimportant?)
What kind of changes would MS make with their newly acquired toy?
Continue reading
Since Dave had a long weekend and we didn’t plan far enough in advance to take a flight anywhere, we decided to go to Santa Cruz last week, Martin Luther King Jr Day, to commemorate the civil rights movement properly. We celebrated our right as an inter-racial couple to drive through the mountains to the ocean and enjoy a nice seafood dinner. Apparently, the powers-that-be wanted us to work for it.
Our journey started out with a near-empty tank of gas and an overwhelming confidence that we’d make it to the Costco in Santa Cruz, for the cheapest gas around, before it ran dry. Continue reading
After reading the TechCrunch article about Mark Zuckerberg’s 60 Minutes interview in which he said “Beacon makes Facebook less commercial”, I wondered “what is this Beacon and why haven’t I heard of it before?”
I did some checking and decided that while not keeping up with my RSS reader will most definitely keep me in the dark, I shouldn’t have to rely on it to find out Facebook is stalking me on the internet and posting my seemingly private information on their newsfeed. I’ve read that despite the privacy issue Facebook created, they haven’t lost many of their users. Could this possibly be because, like me, there are others out there who didn’t know a thing about it?
True, I’m not rushing out to delete my Facebook account, but I did spend a fair amount of time reading up on the issue and making sure I was opted out in any way I could. If you’d like to do the same, there’s are step-by-step instructions I found on WikiHow.
Strike one, Facebook. Hopefully there are enough internet watchdogs out there to keep you in line ’cause I don’t think I’ll be letting you get up to strike three.
A little bit of wisdom 