thepetecom.blogspot.com: December 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Yeah, I'm definitely sick. Th...

Yeah, I'm definitely sick. This sucks... at least Leopard is running on my Mac now.

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My Blue Light-Up Ice Cube!

So, sitting in the lobby of the Disney Grand Hotel for hours today, feeling like I'd run a marathon or three, made me very loopy and open to suggestion. I found random people in the lobby fascinating instead of annoying, the Christmas decorations pretty, instead of cliche and those cool blue, light-up martinis everyone was drinking something I'd really like to try. The problem? I don't drink. Luckily, I got my second wind and didn't purchase a martini I really shouldn't drink, but I was still kind of mushy-headed and dropped 5 bucks on the light-up plastic ice-cube you get for free if you buy one of them "Martini Dream" drinks. :) At least, that's what I think the bartender said. I was pretty out of it.

But isn't it preeeeetty??
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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In the lobby of the Disney Gra...

In the lobby of the Disney Grand Hotel again as carolers (none of which are my wife) sing me softly to sleep. Too tired to track her down.

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Directions to Starbucks or recipe for disaster?

So, after hanging out with TheWife for a couple hours as we window

shopped around Downtown Disney in Anaheim, we asked a concierge where

the nearest Starbucks was. He handed us the above card. Turns out it

directed me to take a longer route than I needed to to a Starbucks that

was a chintzy little one in a hotel.

From there, I got directions to another one on the other side of town

that just opened. Got there to discover they don't have wifi--too new.

So I walk another three miles back to Downtown Disney, via another route

in case there's another Starbucks (there wasn't).

Now, I'm back, Downtown-Disney-adjacent, in the Disney Grand Hotel,

after walking just short of 5 miles. I am sitting in a giant comfy

chair and may just fall asleep. Or web surf. Not sure which.
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Back at the Disney Hotel Grand...

Back at the Disney Hotel Grand Hotel after walking 5 miles in vain for a Starbucks with WiFi. Wifi here, but no obvious outlets. May move.:(

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At least now I'm sitting waiti...

At least now I'm sitting waiting for the bus. My shoulder is killing me from lugging my 2 laptops around all afternoon. Yay 5 hrs of sleep!

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Just finished an afternoon win...

Just finished an afternoon window shopping with TheWife at Downtown Disney. Now a 20 minute walk to the Starbucks for coffee and wifi. ^_^

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Merry Xmas Google Ron Paul

I'm not a fan of any of the prospective candidates for the 2008

presidential race (though I always lean toward the person who says the

word "poverty" the most) and I am certainly scared of some of what Ron

Paul says he'll do in office (disband the Board of Ed?) but he sure has

some enthusiastic supporters. Here's a banner I saw hanging from the

405 today just before getting on the 405.

It says "MERRY XMAS GOOGLE RON PAUL"

DIY highway banners. Those Paul supporters are clever! ;) I'm only

being half-sarcastic.

I'm still pretty sure no one but Hillary will win since I'm pretty sure

the elections are fixed (or at the very least broken--HA!). I'm still

going to vote because it's fun! Weeeee!
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Waiting for XO: TheVlogs: 01

OK, so, I meant to start posting these videos much earlier, but at some point decided I should cut them all together into one documentary-style(ish) video. However, I quickly realized that it would be a while before I'll have time to do so.

But why should I let the clips all rot on my hard drive when I can upload them and see if anyone enjoys them? So, here's chapter 1. Shot on Monday, 12/17/7. Alas, I managed to misplace the video my wife shot of me reacting to the FedEx truck blowing me off a week before my XO would actually arrive. I'll post it if/when I find it. Please feel free to comment and tell me these vids are boring or not. ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Cloverfield: Not a Good Idea IMHO

The above picture is something I took from the bus tonight. It's the

poster for the new JJ Abrams (MI III) movie "Cloverfield". I saw the

trailer in front of "Sweeny Todd" the other night and I couldn't help

but think two things about it:

1) It's just "Godzilla" crossed with "Blair Witch Project" and is,

therefore not terribly interesting (to me) or original. Of course,

thanks to the average film-goer's inability to recognize being

manipulated (Bush's second term, anyone?) most people are probably

looking forward to this movie. It's JJ Abrams-produced, so I'm guessing

that like MI: III it'll be over-produced and under-written (read: it'll

be vacuous, pointless fun).

2) The use of the decapitated Statue of Liberty head smacks of serious

RudyGiuliani-ism. It capitalizes on our (literal) post-traumatic stress

disorder that we are still suffering from after 911. Why else would

they take a national landmark like the SoL and behead it the way Muslim

extremists do to their enemies?

Having a strange force (either a giant monster or alien menace) desimate

New York City just encourages viewers to fear anything that is strange

or alien to them--like Islam, or, say, dark skinned folks from other

countries who speak a foreign tongue. In short, it encourages us to be

racist and reactionary.

Am I reading into things? Maybe. However, I heard about a study done

by the US military into torture tactics used against terrorism

suspects. If memory serves, when an officer asked enlisted men if they

thought torturing Iraqis was OK, some responded "If Jack Bauer can do

it, why can't we?"

So, the threat of media encouraging certain types of behavior is real.

I think if this movie was coming out ten years ago I'd have been first

in line to see it. But now? I hope no one will. There's too much fear

in our culture as it is.

And we all remember what FDR said about fear, right?
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Left Hollywood, heading back t...

Left Hollywood, heading back to Westwood--hope to find a USB light or USB/ethernet adapter for my XO at Best Buy.

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Sorry, Tags Don't Work

So, I was using Jerome's Keywords Plugin for WordPress. I switched to Ultimate Tag Warrior when my tags would vanish from posts that I schedule to appear in the future. Now I discover clicking on the tags created by UTW send you to a 404 page. I am THIS close to ditching WordPress all together. I am SO sick of WORDPRESS' SHIT. I've been struggling with this stupid blogging tool SINCE I INSTALLED IT. It's making blogging hard to continue.

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So, I'm installing Leopard on my PowerBook (Leopard is the new version of Mac's OSX operating system) and found further evidence of a theory of mine.

I was a PC person up until 2003 when I bought my first Mac. I loved it and am currently on my third Mac (only one of them died--the other I still use). However, before I was a Mac person I knew Windows machines pretty thoroughly and even built myself one. I've also done the equivalent of building at least one more (by upgrading other people's PCs). So, I could see the trend--and I saw the direction Windows was going in and decided 2003 was a good time to try out a Mac. I did and in the intervening years I've watched OSX become more and more Windows-like.

The longer it's up the slower it runs, the random conflicts with devices (most recently my brand new Netgear wifi router) and now installing Leopard I see that it takes three times as long to install OSX compared to Tiger (the previous version) which took just 30-40 minutes.

What's going on Steve? Each time your market share grows larger your product gets more and more like your competition. Seems like you're missing that whole "diversity" thing--and in a real bad way, too. If you're going to rip off you're opponent, rip off the good stuff, not the bad!
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Friday, December 28, 2007

Spent Some Christmas Cash YAY!

Just left Fry's and am waiting for the Metro 232 bus to LAX where I'll

grab the Culver 6 back to Westwood. Just picked up a VoIP headset

(wired but fold-upable), a 7 outlet surge protector, and a 3 pack of DL

DVD+Rs (just .99!). Fry's is always a great place for good deals and

their service has gotten a lot more friendly (as in: they're kinda

friendly now).
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Wandering around Fry's for the...

Wandering around Fry's for the last 2 hours. My eyes can't focus beyond two feet to the display rack in front of me. O_O

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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz.

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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz.

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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz.

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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz.

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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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Thursday, December 27, 2007

At SFO, In Line at Peet's

This is before TheWife and I sat on our asses for 30 minutes waiting to

board our new flight (after the first was cancelled this morning) 30

minutes later than we should have boarded it. We'll also be leaving 30

minutes late. Then, once in LA we get to find a rental car for a

reasonable price then to home. Update soon!
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LAKOTA NATION SECEDES FROM USA

File this one in the Wishful Thinking category. The Lakota Nation (check out the above to see how big they are) have seceded from the United States of America. Here's a quote from a December 20, 2007 article at TheRawStory.com detailing the Lakota secession from the USA ( http://snipurl.com/1vw5t ):

The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

Pretty crazy, huh? I'm not anti-American in the least, but gee, do I wish the American government would practice what it preaches. So, in my mind, this should have happened a long time ago.

Sadly, this isn't the first time this has happened ( http://snipurl.com/1vw5y ) so, I expect this story will simply fade into the aether in time, assuming the press doesn't cover it. Which would be typical. They don't like to broadcast this kind of extreme.

Still, I think it's interesting and, to a certain degree, appropriate. The US Government has acted inappropriately toward the indigenous population of the Americas (and, some could argue, the rest of the world, too) since 1776.
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Middle of the Night at My Dad's

At my dad's doing a bit of paid blogging (via my Dad's ethernet--no wifi!) before heading back to LA tomorrow. This is what I get for working for a guy in Ireland--his vacation is already over, so I'm up at 2AM writing for him :\

I can't believe I forgot to Utter *completely* on Christmas day. I did take plenty of pictures (with my new camera!) and I'll post the best here and the rest on my Flickr in the coming days. I did Twitter...

OK, now I must seriously crash. All this family stuff wears ya down!

OH, we did see Sweeny Todd--I HIGHLY recommend it, though it's not perfect and very bloody. I'll do a quiview on Friday with any luck and a Pocket Review on my site, too. :)

Happy This Time of Year, everyone!!
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

At Trader Vic's Not Joe's

And here's proof.

Ah, enjoying family, but looking forward to time to myself and a stable

wifi connection. :) And a working sleep mode on my XO would be great.

:D
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At Trader Vic's with family, w...

At Trader Vic's with family, wondering if a werewolf will come in a buy a drink. :P

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I'm connected only via my Side...

I'm connected only via my Sidekick until Thurs nite, so don't expect responses to emails or IMs. Sorry, Dad's place has no wifi :(

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Heading to the Redwood 12 to s...

Heading to the Redwood 12 to see Sweeny Todd. Nothing says Christmas like the Demon Barber!! (I hope...)

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Pressies done, got a Kodak sw...

Pressies done, got a Kodak--sweet! Now it's time to call TheMom and then help with TheChristmasDinner.

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At TheDad's goin' ta bed. Hav...

At TheDad's goin' ta bed. Have a Merry one if you're celebrating.

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On the road to Palo Alto to Th...

On the road to Palo Alto to TheDad's place. Yay! No LA *and* Christmas.

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TheWife and I on the Plane to SFO

Yay! We're leaving Los Angeles!!
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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ThePete.Cam

Here is the latest image automatically snapped from my MacBook's

iSight. Hopefully, it's interesting ^_^
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Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve in Westwood Village

Just about to take the Flyaway bus from Westood down to LAX and was

taken at how slow it is. I think this is my favorite time of the year

in W'wood because there are so few people here.

Quiet for a city ^_^ also, those food stands in the foreground in the

shot above are usually bustling this time of night. No business for

local shops tonight. Even 31 Flavors is closed. They'll be open

tomorrow though--it IS Los Angeles, after all.
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