Another Thursday night

Last Thursday was a lot of fun. I went out to downtown San Jose with Jenn and Reba. We had intended to go to The Gl?. However, we got distracted and ended up at Zoë. I was surprised how big Zoë is on the inside. I remember the old place at that location being about 1/3 of that size. It has three dance floors, and open patio and a sizeable lounge area. There was aso billards, but this isn’t the kind of place I’d come to play billards. Later, we ended up at the Agenda. We had a good time. (Just a note: the DJ sucked that night.) Later, Nick and his buddy showed up, plus some more of Jenn’s friends. Cuz of all the dancing, Jenn’s back was a bit sore at the end of the evening. Other than that, I believe we all had a great time.

Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State

Napoleon Dynamite is a good film. It’s actually funny. It has a lot of sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. I’m not going into details because surprise is important to how much you enjoy the film. Also, the film’s quirky style is funny on its own. In many of the scenes, the characters would walk onto the scene and land right on their mark, then convincingly recite their lines, then walk off the scene. Funny stuff. This one will appear in my DVD collection.

Garden State is a depressed romantic comedy. It has some sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. But the movie’s pace is slow, and is almost (but not quite) tedious. The joke payoffs weren’t enjoyable enough to justify the pace. Additionally, when the big horrific character reveal occurred, I found myself not really caring. However, the acting is good, but then again, how hard is it really to look constantly annoyed? Anyways, the movie could have been more enjoyable if it had a big punch. More detail about the father (and less emphasis on the best friend) would’ve helped. It was a mildly entertaining film. Not DVD collection worth.

AT&T Long Distance Fraud Policy of Shame

I do not have any long distance company on my home phone. I can get long distance coverage for free (in the months I don’t use it), but I do not want it. I came to this conclusion last year when I finally understood long distance carrier policies regarding fraud, such as the one from AT&T Long Distance. AT&T Long Distance holds the account holder responsible for fraudulent charges on their account. In other words, if someone steals your information and starts using your account from a remote location, AT&T expects YOU to pay the bill, regardless. So, to avoid this problem, I simply do not have long distance on my home phone. Guess what! I get FREE long distance from my Sprint PCS phone anyway. So, why take the risk?
Some telemarketers have suggested that I need a long distance carrier for emergencies. In the extremely odd event I can’t use my cell phone in an emergency, I can always just dial one of the 10-10 numbers (like 10-10-220 [collect] or 10-10-345 [direct]).
In the 21st century, landline long distance from the home is a completely unnecessary risk, especially with ridiculous fraud policies by the long distance carriers.

San Diego

My g/f and I were finally able to finalize plans for a mini-trip to San Diego next month. It will be great to get away with her, somewhere, anywhere. We get to spend quality time during each week, but it's just nice being able to get away on a trip. We will prolly hit up some points of interest. Sea World is on the list; Gaslamp district and Old Town too, for some chill times. yippie!
I miss San Diego. I used to end up there (one way or another) once every few months. I haven't been back in over 5 years.

Last Thursday

Last Thursday was a lot of fun. Miriam was her ol' self again, at least for one night. Miriam, a friend (I'll call Nick) and I met up with another friend (code name Enga). We started out by getting to Music In The Park (San Jose, CA) just in time to see Three Days Grace?s full set. They played the favorites, plus. It was a quick set though...ended after just 30 minutes. It was free, so no complaints. :)
We had dinner on the patio of a near by restaurant. We had a great time eating, dining and chatting. After dinner, we walked around to try to find a club or two. We couldn't find the one we were looking for, and our back-up choice had just closed down. :( As we are walking around the closed club, I hear music pumping from somewhere down the street. So, I start to follow it and we end up at this one ghetto place. It had just opened that week. Even though Enga, Nick and Miriam are all in flip-flops, they let us in (with $5.00 cover). It was pretty damn empty.
Didn?t matter to us. I was DD, so I was just drinking cokes. Everyone else was just drinking. We played some pool. We did some dancing. Nick and Enga did some makin? out. When the club closed, I drove Miriam to her place and dropped her off. Nick went home with Enga. ::wink wink:: ::nudge nudge::
Goodnight. :)

PLEEAASSE!

I guess it's a temp receptionist paging people right now here at work. She's all, "Joe Blow, PLLLLEEEAASSE call the operator. THANK YOU. Again, Joe Blow, pleease call the operator. Thank you." Twice now...two different people. lol PLLEEEAAASSE!

looking thangs over

The battery to my Treo 600 crapped out. It would be nice if PalmOne made the Treos with a detechable battery. It's such a great product in functionality, but it misses some of the phonelike details. My phone is still under warranty, so it's not going to cost me anything to get a replacement. Yah, me. But what happens next year if the next phone's battery goes bad? hmm
I still love my Treo 600. Just now, I'm going to love my new one. lol

Proof that Girls are Evil

The secret is out! LOL

Friend's broken back. :(

Jenn and I are pretty good friends. (Jenn is not her real name. With rare exception, I will not use real names for people I know. For example, I simply refer to my girlfriend as g/f.) Jenn and I were actually introduced through another friend. He has a company that does work for the company I work at, and also the company Jenn used to work at. One day, he suggested I meet up with her. I already have my g/f, so I made it clear to him that we’d meet to be friends only, and that’s just what we became. She’s a lot of fun to hang out with. Once in awhile, we go clubbin’. She works in downtown Palo Alto these days, so sometimes we just have lunch in some of its fine restaurants.
It sucks that she recently broke her back by falling onto a curb. She’s been a homebody since, with little exception. Hopefully she heals up quick. It’s been about two months already. She's back to work and all, and seems better, but still in pain. :( So, I’m sending her healing thoughts now. Today’s blog entry is dedicated to her. Best wishes, girl!

Where I live, who I know, where I work

I was using the Internet for meeting people and dating all the way back in 1998. Yeah, I did cybersex, phonesex, and real sex all based around the Internet. It’s ironic that I now shun using the Internet for that purpose now that it is very popular. Maybe that’s not so iconic. Maybe what’s more ironic is that the Internet in some way enabled just about every aspect of my life. I met my best friend Dave through I job that I got by posting my resume on the Internet. I met a close friend Ronie on the Internet. I met my best friend Miriam through Ronie. Most of the girls I’ve ever had slept with were from the Internet. All but one of my girlfriends has been from the Internet, and there is an Internet connection to that one other g/f too. My current job is from posting my resume on the Internet. The house where I live was found through a posting on the Internet. I thoroughly researched cars on the Internet before buying mine; the purchase itself was at a local dealership. Where I live, who I know, where I work…all from the Internet.

My Life - Part 3: Teething

As an infant, I realized that my father didn’t have a fingernail on his right index finger. I found this out because he would use that finger to feel around in my mouth in an attempt to discover if my teeth had started appearing. When I was older, he told me that his finger was lopped off in an accident when he was a kid. Even though the tip of his finger was reattached, the fingernail was lost. Of course, the missing fingernail gave his finger the appearance that the tip was never reattached.
So, my dad would stick that index finger in my mouth to feel for teeth. I really didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, being and infant and all. I still remember the rough and ridgy feeling of his short index finger rubber against my gums, tongue and the roof of my mouth. Yuk. So this one day, my parents were over me. My mother was telling my day, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stick your finger in his mouth. He’s gonna bite cha,” or something along those lines. Yes, even as an infant I understood the meaning of her words. He sticks his finger in my mouth. I waited for the right moment to finally use my new teeth. For a split-second, hesitated out of conscience. Suddenly I bit as hard as I could! He howled in pain and he yanked his finger away. I remember enjoying my deed, and actually feeling a little proud at my plot’s success. My mom was I-told-you-so’ing as he went to nurse his finger.

I, Robot

It's been a long time since I've read I, Robot. In fact, I was in school. The stories didn't much interest me. Although I admired Isaac Asimov (the writer) for is contributions to literature and science (fiction), I always felt his writing style was too dry.
It's been a couple days since I've seen the movie I, Robot. It uses the original book as a setting, but not as the source of the story. This movie is good, so I'm not sure what movie the critics had been watching. It's not great, for sure. It does have one big plot hole. The movie implies the events were happening everywhere, yet only shows the events as they unfold in Chicago. Beyond that one problem, the story was pretty clean, blending action well with plot, storytelling and character development. Basically, this is an action movie with some intelligence.
Recommended.