Ha! Early Wednesday morning (1:02am) the time and date will be 01-02-03-04-05-06. A truly momentous moment to watch out t for!

What does it take to become a luger? I mean, there's certainly some skill involved... you need to run really fast, and stay stiff and straight and know when to adjust the steering and brakes, but how long does it really take to get good at it? To qualify for the olympics? And for that matter, what about a member of a bobsled team? Especially the guys who just run then jump in the middle and sit there, heads down?

I'm sure there's something involved, but if I had a bit of savings and could pay for a trainer and take a year or so off work to hang out in Park City, for example, could I become a bobsledder? How many contenders for the US olympic bobsled/luge/skeleton teams are there? I may have to investigate this....

This is amazing - it's an alarm clock which launches an annoyingly loud helicopter that flies around the room until you get out of bed and catch it - thus forcing you to get up as well as expend energy that wakes you up.

[link here]

Wow... I didn't actually witness this statement, but Patagonia has finally picked up "Drawing the Line", our film about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and as a result, somewhere along the line, Jimmy Carter watched it and procralimed it "...a good film!". Clearly the narration has something to do with it.

The Following are posts from May, 2001 that were archived on the old system...

Small local papers are loads of fun. Without them, we'd have nothing important to read about. This article even has a photo! (thx AF)

I ordered a new battery from Dell for my laptop today. Among the littany of questions concerning my intentions for the use of this battery (I intend to use it to power my laptop), was this:

"Q4. Will the product(s) be used in connection with weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear applications, missile technology, or chemical or biological weapons purposes?" Yes/No

Umm.... no.

Sunday, November 18, 2001

So this is what was making all that racket today and yesterday...

In addition to causing incredibly loud and violent banging, this machine pulled an enormous boulder out of a hole in the middle of the street. It is now sitting in front of my house like a trophy. As a bonus today, here's tonight's sunset from Ocean Beach. Click the little picture for a big one!

Sunday, November 18, 2001

I watched the Leonids from the top of Mt. Tam last night till around 3am. We sat in the amphitheatre which looks east right into the path of the meteors. It wasn't quite as outrageous and had been predicted, but still far more meteors than I've ever seen, one after another, really quite fantastic! I was falling asleap toward the end though, and my back is killing me from lying on the rocks.

Saturday, November 17, 2001

The entire neighborhood is literally shaking to pieces due to the antics of a construction crew in the street. It feels like a strong earthquake every few seconds.

Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Eeee gads, what a Monday... one of the more brain damaging in recent memory... no matter, had a fantastic time in LA this weekend with Brian and Dave, along with all the old friends I caught up with, namely Bill, Dave H, and Jason...
As always, we took a ton of photos. Here are a few of the best (click a photo for the larger version):

Brian and I relaxing at LAX in the luxurious Thrifty rent-a-car limo-van. No, I don't know what Brian is doing with his hand.
Dave ponders his position, cruising out of LAX.
Me, driving somewhere in Los Angeles.
Dave and the Glockmaster.
Brian's rearview mirror shot on Sunset across the street from the Cat n' Fiddle in Hollywood.
LA Palms.
Side mirror shot of Dave and Brian, somewhere in South-central, near the Watts Towers. (coolest photo of the trip!)
Brian tries to photograph an airplane flying over our heads just outside LAX, but it was a bit too fast.
Sunset at the Getty.
Brian ponders the sunset.
Dave ponders the sunset.
Nick ponders the sunset.
Dusk over century city.

Many more photos here. Oh yes, and there are some rather amusing videos too!

A long video cruising through Beverly Hills
The Cameron Diaz Debate (ask Dave or Brian why this is funny)
And the best video - the classical classic ride through West Hollywood.

Thursday, November 08, 2001

Messing around with my camera the other night managed to yield a pretty cool picture of the sky:

Of course, the moon wasn't actually full, it just wound up looking that way. If I had a tripod it would probably have come out better. So... Brian and Dave and I are off to LA tommorow, should be a hell of a good time, many photos to be taken of course, and hopfully much commentary. Until then, ciao!

Tuesday, November 06, 2001

I have been playing with this "transparent" map of NYC for a while today - it's very cool.

Monday, November 05, 2001

Ah, finally got those halloween photos developed. I had forgotten what it was like to have to wait for development. Anyways, as evident by the classic costanzo grimace to the right, we had a pretty good time. Click on Ralph for the rest of the photos! (I was the bee, again).

Saturday, November 03, 2001

Today's Rant ::

Why is it that when you call someone's cell phone and get their voice mail, you must "press one to leave a message"... does anyone do any of the other options? ... what are the other options? Why the hell can't I just start speaking at the end of the message? Bloody damn annoying.

Saturday, November 03, 2001

Eee gads... I survived the day. What a friggin' faliure of a day. I did almost nothing. Well I read two magazines. And I went out and had some lunch. That's it. I finally cured the problem by calling a few people. Dear god, I must avoid this trap again. I think it's related to the collapse of my exercise regimen. Must get back to the gym on Tuesday.

Friday, November 02, 2001

That was a slightly rough week, as may be obvious in my tone of late. Anyhows, today may be a good day to sneak out early and start the weekend off right!

Thursday, November 01, 2001

Oh yes, halloween was a riot last night. I forgot my camera, so I bought a disposable one. Should have some more amusing photos in a day or two.

Thursday, November 01, 2001

The other day I missed the train to Mountin View, so I had to sit around and wait for the next one... A bit bored, I decided to write an ill mannered, and oddly toned review of the N-judah on my laptop, which of course ran out of batteries in a short while:

Regarding the recently completed extension to Caltrain, Muni is forced to cross a number of intersections, wherin, the light does not automatically turn green for the train. Rather, the train is often forced to wait still, only meters from it's platform, waiting for traffic.

Is not the purpose of public transportation to provide improvements upon and alternatives to the smog belching automobile? What a disgrace is it then, that a train must be forced to do away with it's efficiency for such a petty reason as an intersection, wherin, were things configured in favor of the train, the automobiles would be delayed mere seconds.

My journey today was pilfered of 5 vital minutes due to these innane and unnessary haltations. I was thus unable to catch the 1:30 Caltrain and was forced to wait for the 2pm train, costing precious plenty in productivity.

I am shocked and disturbed that the otherwise talented engineers and planneers of the muni extension have overlooked this vital issue. I pray that I see the day that San Francisco truely lives up to it's potential as a car-optional city.

And another thing:

Why in the name of god does the N-judah stop twice at UCSF medical center, at two stops whose gap spans less than 30 yards? Is this not a waste of energy, materials, and time? Not to mention a source of confusion and frustration for the passengers and potential passengers choosing to embark and disembark at UCSF? I call for the destructon of one of these stops, and the instalation of an arrowed sign guiding people toward the remaining stop.

And my final, and most important point:

When not halted by mysterious delays, the N-Judah is among the most rapid and delightful modes of transit in our fair city, that is until it reaches Judah street and is forced into an insane and debilitating dance with stop-signs a-plenty, one after another they halt the train's progress. The light-rail vehicle's efficiency is defiled to that of a low-grade bus. Not only is progress thwarted by a plethora of red octagons, the train must halt at platforms, in many cases no less than two blocks apart! It is idiotic to design a light rail vehicle to stop any more often than 5 city blocks, lest it be in the most densly populated zone. I call upon the leaders of this city to remove all stop signs on Judah street, and replace them with lights, that are capable of senseing the oncomming N-train and reverting to a green position to usher the train trough. IN addition, the number of stops must be reduced by no less than a factor of 3. It is only through these actions that our city will progress.

Thank you very much, and good day.

Sunday, October 28, 2001

'Zare' did not serve freshly squezed orange juice this morning. Or maybe they just had some particularily un-flavorful oranges delived today. Either way, I was mildly disapointed as I've come to expect only the sweetest, yet tart, fresh juice from Zare. The eggs were up to the usual standards though.

Saturday night... yowsers, and epic night of debauchery precisely as it should have been. Photos a-plenty. I was the bee. I decided to retire plaid-man this year, but Dave didn't have a costume, so he inherited it... and did a mighty fine job I might add. Would up at a party in the neighborhood that rivaled anything I've seen in quite some time. Got back at 5:30 in the morning... well, actually 4:30 because daylight-savings kicked in...or kincked off...which is it? Anyway, 5:30 sound's more dramatic, and impressive.

Highlights of the evening were Thomas frightening the girls away with his 'pimp-daddy' get-up, the beloved angel of death, and a riotous giant-jenga game.

Friday, October 26, 2001

hi world (from esther using nick's blog cause he SHOULD 'sign out' but. . . i guess it is his computer.) critical mass rules & thanks for scoring me the sweet bike. goodbye

Friday, October 26, 2001

Tonight is Haloween critical mass. Drat! I forgot my camera. Would most likely make some nice videos. Oh well. Recruited Dan, Esther and Jason, so it should be a grand old time.

Thursday, October 25, 2001

Esther and the dawg have come down from Portland to pay a visit. Just going out to the pub quiz now.

Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Here it is! The site of the stalking, in vivid color, taken the morning after the incident, with annotations:

Note Jeff checking for tracks. It looked a lot less frightening in the daylight, especially with countless joggers and bikers cruising by, unaware of the near death experience that took place only hours earlier. Here's a picture of the tunnel we had to go through in the dark, pursued closer than we thought. Click for larger image:

More photos from the trip here.

Saturday, October 20, 2001

Wow wow wow... I just had a truely extraordinay, terrifying yet fascinating, totally once in a lifetime (hopefully) experience. I'm in Boulder Colorado right now, and it's 4:30am. Jeff and I went for a walk around 2am into the hills outside Boulder, a harmless adventure into the peaceful Rocky Mountain Foothills, on a paved bike path, never ranging more than 2 miles from downtown Boulder... Jeff, what then happened?

JEFF :: we walked up the canyon trail till it turned from paved into cinders...not really too far and there we climbed a bit up a slopy rck to sit and enjoy the silouette view of the rocks aqainst the sky...totally out of the blue nick says "look at that!" in a wispered voice...and this feline shadow tail outstretched behind it goes runing down the trail we were just on not 15 feet from where we were sitting. Was that? Yes it was! Jeezo a real cougar just went trotting down our trail towards where we had come from. Christo, I'm not going back that way. What the fuck. That was a real cougar. "Hey do you hear that?" "Something is coming down the slope behind us."

NICK :: I spun around, and there was a big ol' shadow of a cat staring down at us just like you picture it ought to from a movie or something. I figured it was a *second* lion, not the same one, but upon reconsideration, we realized that swarthy rascal had run past us, then came stalking behind us, and was ready to pounce on one of our heads. I yelled "Get Down!!!" and we jumped from our perches and ran down to the trail (a very wide an heavily used pathway). Then I grabed Jeff, said "don't run, back off slow!!!" and we turned to face the lion, who had jumped down after us, and was standing, curiously looking at us, not more than 12 feet away.

Everything happened really fast then, and I can't remember it all that clearly...I remember screaming at him/her and flashing my jacket so as to appear larger. At some point, we kicked gravel in his direction and he ran back up the embankment, and we slowly made our way back toward a tunnel under the highway, not knowing where the lion was.

JEFF :: I can't even remember how closely the lion was following us...I heeded Nicks words and backed slowly into the tunnel always looking back for the shadow of what ever was following us. As we entered the tunnel I fekt we had to be exceptionally careful in exiting the tunnel as what ever lion had passed in front of us before would be waiting just outside the tunnel to leap down and snuff its prey. We. exited the tunnel slowly without hinderance and slowly reclimbed the slope back up to the paved path always looking behind. Was it my mind playing tricks? The shadows on the edges of the tunnel seemed to be moving. We exited the tunnel entirely and started down the trail. There behind usm now separating from the tunnels shadows was the mountain lion. Trotting along that bastard right behind us.

NICK :: then it got realy wierd. We couldn't belive he was still behind us. I never think twice when I see a deer, or even an Elk, but this animal, althought we figure he/she was only around 80-100 lbs, and thus weighed less than half of each of us, was clearly, and aggresively stalking us. Half of me wasn't scared at all, thinking, "what's up kitty, you want a candy bar" and half of me was in utter panic, realizing that despite my significant weight advantage, this creature wanted to take a bite out of me. So we screamed at the top of our lungs, and slowly backed down the trail. Every step we took backwards, that damn lion took two forwards!!! Then the lion bolted towards us along the trail, and off to our right, coming less than 6 or 7 feet ftom us, between the trail and the highway, and simply stood there grimacing at us. We waved out arms, screaming at it. (I'm thinking: 'what the hell do you possibly want with us!!!???') and we tried again to advance down the trail. The lion jumped in front if us, blocking our path and let out the classic Mountain Lion hiss you see in all the movies.

I was close to a loss as to what to do, thinking seriously that we were in for a physical encounter. Suddenly it seemed logical to crouch quickly, grab a handful of gravel and hurl it at that cat's face. We both did so and the lion jumped away about 10 feet. Just then, by luck, along came a car. The glaring headlights sent the cat running, and as I watched it run away, I looked at Jeff and said "Let's Run Now!!!"

We took off so fast, I'm nursing blisters right now. We probably only ran a few hundred yards, then slowed down, and vigilantly walked back into town, without a further incident.

We're still awake talking about it (obviously). Wow, is all I have to say. As we were walking back into town, there was a life sized bronze couger perched on a pedestal on Pearl St. waiting for us. I had immediate flashbacks and hat to pat it on the head to keep it from moving. Oh man, I hope I don't have bad nightmares tonight.

Friday, October 19, 2001

Well, the webcam hasn't been much of a success because my computer has only been on at night, hence the splotches of light. Anyhows, decent week around here. I'm going to Boulder Colorado today. (Do I travel too much?). This is my first time in Colorado, so I'm very excited. Going to do some climbing and possibly some biking with Jefe.... oughtta be good!

Saturday, October 13, 2001

I was a little bored this afternoon, so I set up the 646 webcam. You can now spy on my neighbors in the backyard 24 hours a day.

Thursday, October 11, 2001

Hundreds of smiling people dressed in flourescent yellow were stationed at street corners in downtown SF this morning for no othere reason than to bid people good morning. I liked it! I think it was a high school that organized the event, but I can't find any news on it.

Tuesday, October 09, 2001

Heaps and heaps of photos... no documentation though. (sorry) I'll sort out the bast later:

Walking around Prague
Vienna
The Wedding in Morbisch
London
Bonus photos of switzerland and Greenland from airplanes.

Friday, October 05, 2001

This is Greenland. From the plane on Tuesday. Never have I seen a more wild and totally amazing landscape. Click the image for a bigger one.

I was playing with my camera on the planes, took a lot of photos from Greenland. Also landing in Zurich. Here's a little video.

Thursday, October 04, 2001

Lazy me, lazy me. Despite the inevetiable satisfaction that I know comes from regularily writing this blog, I have continued to be lazy lazy lazy... well, back safe in SF, after one last wild night in London.

Ok, to avoid laziness... and since I have no pictures yet, here's the most surprising and obscure place I've been in the past week: Sopron, Hungary. Yep, Hungary. Travis' wedding took place in a little town in Austria called Morbisch, they day after the wedding, I borrowed someone's bike, intent on riding to the nearby Hungarian border.

Talk about the decline of the iron curtain. The formerly fortified border was a breeze. I rode past the Austrians without them looking up from the table, and the Hungarian authorities only looked at the outside of my passport, never even opening it. (though I kinda wanted a stamp). Anyhows, suddenly I'm biking through Hungary. I came upon a crossroads and a map on a post. The map showed a city called Sopron about 6 miles down the highway, so I figued I"d check it out. I cruised along the highway, without too much traffic hassel, and passed numerous vineyards, handsome country homes, and a forbiddin prison with barbed wire.

Sopron itself was pretty empty, it being a Sunday I suppose, but it was a truely fascinating change from Austria. Old an run-down, with numerous Onion-Dome churches and a big click tower on the main square. Since my camera had run out of batteries, I wandered around looking for a shop that sold disposable cameras, but couldn't find anythin gopen. I rode around for about 30 minutes on the alternatingly cobblestone and dirt roads, then decided to return to Austria.

On the way back, I found a bike path through the woords which was well marked and followed the highway all the way back to the border. It went past a lot of vineyards, and some ponds in which people were fishing. The only bad thing was swarms and swarms of gnats that kept hittin me in the face as I cruised through the woods... next time in Europe I'm going to arrange a long bike trip of some sort!

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

A week of hard labor so far. I had an action packed weekend though, and while biking, cam across this guy fishing from a huge rock, and getting periodically blasted by waves. I'm not sure we was aware of the tide slowly closing the gap behind him. No matter, he seemed quite at home out there. Click the photo for a massive blow-up.

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

Well, I was hoping to have some sailing pictures up from this weekend, but that seems to have failed. No matter, they weren't the best photos. I am trying to pick up yet another 'extracurricular' activity, that being sailing. Hopefully, I'll have many chances to do it! Anyhows, Thomas and I went sailing with a guy from Alameda, and despite the 90 minutes it took to get out to the bay in absolutely no wind, it was fantastic!

Also, I discovered a remarkable new money saving secret! The coin pictured above costs 80 cents, but is a good for a one dollar fare on Muni. You can only buy them (as far as I know) at the little kiosk on Market street where all the tourists line up for the cable-car. If you don't ride the bus very often, this is the ideal substitute for a monthly pass.

Monday, August 13, 2001

A mosaic Katydid was among the surpises on the stairwell to the Subway station under the Museum of Natural History in New York. The heat was phenomenal with temps over 100 in Manhattan, which feels like 150 with the humidity and general New York stuffiness, but I hada great couple of days waltzing about with Mark, Hal, John Jr., Frances, Derk, Matt, My uncle John and a host of folks I met while out and about.

Went to the Guggenheim as well, which totally rocked, as I've never been there before. There was a huge Frank Geary exhibit detailing just about everything about the guy.

Then, I went to Philly to see my good friend Aaron marry Elisa. Quite the event, much rejoicing, dancing, Jewish tradition etc... We were up half the night two nights in a row hanging out meeting all sorts of cool new people. Here's a bunch of photos. While in Philly I had a cheesesteak at Pats.

Wednesday, August 08, 2001

I'm off to New York tonight... strange place, New York, a place of very big egos, which always somehow makes me feel as though I need to prove myself to some unseen force there. Perhaps I've been in San Francisco too long, gotten too mellow, man. Anyways, time for a dose of the east coast. Going to Philadelphia as well, which is the principle purpose of the trip, seeing as Aaron is getting married on Sunday. Yee Haw! Photos and stories to come...

Saturday, August 04, 2001

Brian has arrived. The 4 of us are having a roomate dinner tonight, very cute, we might even start hugging eachother. In other news, some nutcase threatened me with a knife last night! Buck, Merideth, Alex and I were walking in the Richmond around 1am and some crazed guy came running at us screaming largely unintelligably and then started lunging about with a knife. We took off running and he ran off about half a block. We had cars parked nearby, so we got in and called 911, which incidentally kept me on hold for over 5 minutes until I could report the incident. The cops called me later to say that they had caught someone. So, that's good news! Rather frightening incident, I must say...

Friday, August 03, 2001

Another tragic week with no golf. Not that I was ever a big golfer, and not that I am a big golfer now. Those two times I've glfed this year had gotten me to enjoy it though....perhaps next week. Brian from the UK gets in tommorow. He will be the new 646 roomate, so that should be exciting!

These are consolidated posts from the Old system

Sunday, April 29, 2001

Another wild Saturday night >> Having planned to bike early on Sunday I figured I'd take it easy last night. Well, as usual one drink leads to 4, then next thing you know, I'm waiting in line to see Prince at the Fillmore at 2am. Amazing. We got really caught up in the madness, and I won't admit what we paid for tickets, but for a once in a lifetime event, it was worth it! Prince didn't show up till 3am, and played till 5am...It was pretty damn cool - needless to say I crashed like a rock after that... yet I did manage to bike as scheduled...I'm going to take a nap now.

Thursday, April 26, 2001

So anyhows: This is the new set-up, so far! Congratulations if you've found this page without my telling you about it! And sorry about the whitespace, it'll be filled up soon enough. You know, I do most of my posting on Monkeyfarts. But I figure this one will have a more personal bent to it...will it be as amusing? Who knows....

Thursday, April 26, 2001

Have Mercy! Welcome to the new site... much fun awaits us all.

Today is Tom's birthday! Happy Birthday Tom!