December 2004 Archives

It's been raining here all week which means snow, snow and more snow in Tahoe. I don't know if it's any kind of record, but there has been more than 8 (EIGHT) feet of snow in the last couple of days. There's been so much snow that both the I80 and the I50 leading from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe have been shut down. That's great news for people already up there, but not so great for us folks stuck down in the flatlands.

Anyway, I was hoping the roads would clear up and I could get up there on New Year's Day. So yesterday I went and dropped my rusty skis off at Marmot Mountain Sports to get a desperately needed tune-up. The ski tech said they'd be ready by noon today. Great. Couldn't ask for more than that. Except it would have been nice for him to let me know that while the skis might be done, the shop would be closed, which it was when I went to pick them up this afternoon. Details, details. For all I know my skis are all sharpened and waxed and ready to roll. I could go up anyway and rent a pair of skis, but I think I'll wait until Monday or Tuesday

Sorry to those few people who comment on my site regularly, but in the interest of stopping spam comment that have mine and many of of friends sites, I've set up Typekey registration for comments. It's really no big deal. If you want to comment, register. If not, then don't. I just can't have hundreds of comments from someone hocking free online poker wasting any more of my time.

Natural disasters are part of life on earth. I've been through my fair share with all the earthquakes in California, but I've never encountered anything like the images that I've seen on TV the last few days.

I've traveled through a good chunk of the hardest hit areas in Southeast Asia. I was in Thailand for Christmas and New Years exactly ten years ago. I stayed for 2 weeks on the hard hit island of Penang in Malaysia. I spent 2 months in Sumatra back in 95. For 3 weeks I stayed on Island called Nias off the east coast that was really badly hit. Last I heard their hadn't been any contact with the island. Nias is a surfing mecca and like much of the world, it's shoreline is heavily populated. There would have been no warning. Just a massive wall of water crashing down and evaporating lives.

It's frightening to even consider. Just take a moment a think about how you would feel if a massive wave exploded into your living room, taking with it everything you own, some of your loved ones, and your pets.

Well, it's bad enough that the tsunami hit these heavily populated areas. The devastation is horrendous. But it hit during the highest tourist season of the year. That easily could have been me, naked, with a broken pelvis, clinging to life on a fucking tree while I watched people I was just having breakfast with swept out to sea. It must have been hell for everyone who was unlucky enough to be on the Indian Ocean rim. My heart goes out to all, locals and visitors, who were affected by this tragedy.

I have a hard time getting over the Leonardo DiCaprio's boyish looks. He's a fine actor, underated, definintely. However his look turns everything he does into a cartoon. He's brilliant in something lighthearted like Catch Me If You Can, but it's hard to take him seriously in a dramatic role like The Gangs of New York, Titantic or The Man in the Iron Mask.

The same could easily be said of Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, that is, until the end of the movie when DiCaprio transforms himself into a Hughes. The scene where Hughes testifies before the Senate is magnificent. If you could give an Academy Award for just one scene, surely DiCaprio would get it.

The film itself, while self-indulgent at times, is an homage not just the iconic Howard Hughes, but to the era. The music, the clothing, the style. It was all spectacularly recreated and beautifully filmed. It's a long movie, so grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy.

I'm not a Limey Bastard, I'm a Tasmanian Bastard

Jude Law's cameo as Errol Flynn was great. He was on screen for only a few minutes, but he was perfect. His was only one of a number of standout performances from the always fantastic Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn to Kate Beckinsale's stunning Ava Gardner. There was another strong effort from the reliable John C. Reilly as Hughes' right hand man Noah Dietrich.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
342 AM PST TUE DEC 28 2004

HEAVY SNOW TO FALL IN THE SIERRA AND MUCH OF EASTERN CALIFORNIA LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY

.TWO LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE REGION
OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. THE FIRST IS CURRENTLY OFF THE CALIFORNIA
COAST AND WILL MOVE INLAND TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL
BRING PERIODS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW TO THE SIERRA TODAY AND
TONIGHT.

A MORE SIGNIFICANT SYSTEM DROPPING DOWN FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL
MOVE INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRODUCING HEAVY SNOW
AND STRONG WINDS OVER THE SIERRA AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA. AN UPPER
LEVEL TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION RESULTING IN PERIODS OF SNOW
CONTINUING THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

CAZ072-NVZ002-282330-
GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA-
342 AM PST TUE DEC 28 2004

[MORE]

I went shopping in the city last night with my buddy Brian and his wife Becky. First stop, Macy's.

Macy's has teamed up with the SF SPCA to put together some awesome window displays that look like classic train cars. Inside were crtters available for adoption. How could you not want to take one of these little guys home? (lots of pictures on the links above if you want to check them out)

Ok, well it wasn't really my first Christmas. I did celebrate it one year when I lived in Australia, but it wasn't same since it was in the middle of the summer and I had to hang out with my girlfriend's yobbo family. This time it was different. I had almost a complete gentile experience. And it was fun.

About a month ago Jen and I went tree shopping. We went to the tree lot at Long's drugs, then to Target and back to Long's where We picked out a lovely 5 1/2 foot noble fir. We carried it back to my car and put it the back where the tree kindly shed a good chunk of pine needles leaving a major mess but also a nice fresh smell.

We dragged the tree out of the car, up the stairs and into the apartment. We trimmed the tree with lights and ornaments (Can you believe I'm 34 and have never done this before?). It was beautiful. (I'll have a picture up tomorrow).

Then I started shopping. I would buy Hanukah presents for my family and Jewish friends and stick them under the tree. It looked great. I kept them under there as long as I could before I had to box them up and ship them out or deliver them in person.

Last night I came over to Jen's for dinner. We didn't have turkey or ham or anything major, just a nice little dinner. The Elvis was sining Christmas Carols on the stereo. After dinner we exchanged gifts. It was very simple, but good clean fun and it's easy to understand why people like it so much.

Cat log, day 752 and counting...

DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.

DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair...must try this on their bed.

DAY 762 - Slept all day so that I could annoy my captors with sleep depriving, incessant pleas for food at ungodly hours of the night.

DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan ......

DAY 768 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo." What sick minds could invent such a liquid? My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth.

DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the foul odor of the glass tubes they call "beer." More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and may be snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The Bird on the other hand has got to be an informant. He has mastered their frightful tongue (something akin to mole speak) and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured.

But I can wait, it is only a matter of time.

I found this in an old email when I was hunting down internet jokes to send my cousin Michelle in Israel who's been stricken with cancer. If you have any good jokes lying around, please send them to her c/o her friend Abby at Kibbutz Ketura. Abby's email is aies11-abby [at] ketura.ardom.co.il. Thanks. I appreciate it and so will she.

Now I know where to go to find free online poker. I don't need 54 unsolcited comments on my blog anymore. Enough already.

These people will find anything to complain about.

SAVE MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For my part, I will be shopping at Macy's as much as possible.

Here is the pile of stuff that I took out of my storage shed.

All of this stuff, including 26 12 gallon plastic crates, a stereo, a few milk crates, a dozen bags, a microwave, my HP printer, framed posters and photos, kitchen stuff and office supplies, and tons of other loose things were jammed into a 5x5x10 box in Alameda for the last 28 months.

Last night I started to tackle the mess. Now it looks like this.

A little better, no?

I'm a horrible packrat, so it was great fun going through all these boxes and re-discovering my things. Most of the remaining crates that you see are full of books. I only have one bookcase at the moment so they will have to remain crated up until I decide what to do about furniture.

This morning when I came into the office there were 50 emails in my inbox, which is about 38 more than normal. What caused the increase? Comment spam on my blog. It's getting worse. It's out of control and there's no way for me to stop it, which is fucking annoying.

These new batch of comments, which are coming at rate of about 1 every 5 minutes this mornning are obviously computer generated. They all have email addresses like

medpqrs@adf3408dee3cebb3da27a1c0dc309b6a6.com

What are you supposed to do with that?

I can stop it from getting on my site, which is good, but to do so I have to keep this setup where I have to approve every comment (including my own) that goes on the site, which kills some of the spontaneous interactivity of blogging, but I have no choice. Meanwhile, for every "spomment" that comes in, I have an email to delete and an unapproved comment to blast into bits. It's becoming a daily ritual, again, fucking annoying.

I've been trying to get MT-Blacklist up and running but to no avail. It requires some plug-in to be placed on the server and since my blog has been piggybacking on a friend of a friend's server from the days when I set it up in Samoa. It's definitely time to get my own host. Anyone have any recommendations?

* * *

It really beggars the question, who are they trying to target? If there is a single blogger out there who would ever click on a link from a comment spam let alone spend any money there, I want to know who he is. I also want to know where he is, so I can hunt him down and strangle him.

Third and final part of the move was going to be the trickiest. I had to move my queen size bed, one bookcase and a sectional sofa that Jennifer had bequeathed to me. I could have rented a truck, but I didn't really want to deal with moving it myself so I hired movers. I went with a respectable outfit, Starving Students.

I made all the arrangements on the phone. It was going to be 75 bucks and hour. Even with the so-called California mandated double drive time, it shouldn't take more than 2 hours to get my stuff from Jen's apartment in Walnut Creek, drive 30 minutes to Alameda and move everything up three floors to my new place. These guys are used to moving entire houses filled with furniture, so this job should be a cakewalk for them.

When I arranged the move, they gave me a window between 8-10 when the movers would show up. I wanted it closer to 8 so I could get it out of the way and go to work. They didn't show up until 9:20. By that time I had Jennifer's cats locked in the bathroom and mine squirreled away in my car.

The second part of the three (really four) part move was to get Jennifer's bed (full) from her parents house in Danville over to her apartment in Walnut Creek since I was going to be taking my bed (queen) to my new place in Alameda. The only really mystery here was to find out if the mattress would fit in the back of my Subaru.

When we drove down to Danville after work it the fog had rolled in over the mountains from the bay and it was socked in so thick we couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of us which made navigating to their house up winding roads in the foothills a real treat. We grabbed the bed out of the storage in the back and jammed into my car. It just barely fit which was a good thing because the mattress was slightly longer than the back of my car so it stuck out about a foot, but since it was squeezed in there so tight, it wasn't going anywhere. With the help of Jennifer's mom, an knot tying expert, we tied down the tailgate just in case and hit the curvy backroads up to Walnut Creek.

We just went slow and took it easy and it turned out to be a piece of cake. It was far easier than the first day of moving. I even found a gas station (Rotten Robbie's) where I filled my tank for less than 2 bucks a gallon, something that hasn't happened for at least 6 months.

Alameda actually has it's own Electric company, Alameda Power & Telecom, so I don't have to deal with Pacific Gas & Electric. They offer cable broadband service to most of the island, but not my part of the island yet. Figures.

So I have to go with dreaded Comcast with their notoriously over-priced poor service. I found some deals online that will save me some money in the first few months, but when the full price kicks in, it's going to be painful. I also got a free cable modem, with a mail-in rebate. We'll see how long that takes to fulfill. My experience with mail-in rebates (with everyone other than Canon) has been less than stellar.

Anyway, the cable people are coming tomorrow to hook up the TV and I should have broadband service in 8-10 business days, which means, if all goes well, some time next year.

My sister Marni, her husband Paris and my nephew Mateo just before they left the hospital for home.

Today was moving day, at least the first part of a multi-phased move that will (hopefully) return harmony to my divergent life by bringing together all my things in one place for the first time in over two years. The first step was to move most of the small things out my old place to my new place, the easy part, and emptying my storage facility, the hard part.

When I was going into the Peace Corps, I, unlike many of colleagues, had a huge dilemma, what to do with all my stuff. Most of my Peace Corps friends came straight out of college or lived at home so they didn't need to pack stuff up, throw stuff out or do anything other than leave everything they owned in situ.

On the other hand, I had a lot of stuff. Well, that's not really true. I didn't have a lot of stuff. I had a lot of books. And I didn't want to get rid of them. I had spent most of the last 15 years collecting them and there was no good reason, other than they take up tons of space and are absurdly heavy, to give them up.

So I did what so many other Americans who are overburdened with stuff do, I found a storage place, and I stuck just about everything I owned in there. Not everything. I gave a few things away. I sold my vacuum cleaner, my G3 Mac, and one bookcase (big mistake). And I placed some things with my friends. Erin got my desk. Michael got my TV. Jennifer got my bed, my computer and a few bookcases. Everything else, except the fragile things and the gear I needed for Samoa, was jammed into a 5x5 shed at Alameda Point Storage, ironically only 200 yards or so from my new apartment.

Alameda Point Storage was not the most convenient place in the world. But it was the cheapest. Since I was going away for 27 months (or so I thought at the time), I had to find the best deal to keep my things, otherwise, I would have gone broke preserving my stuff. When I first moved my things in there, the space ran 27 bucks a months. It was a sweet deal, even if the storage sheds were not exactly clean and even if, the sea air might mildew a few things. It was all I could afford (even with my mom helping out).

I bought 25 12-gallon hard plastic crates and filled them with books, sweaters, bric-a-brac and all manner of things that I couldn't bear to part with. There were 4 stacks 8 crates high, all the way to the ceiling. Inside I put my stereo, my microwave, my printer, my clothes hamper, my tent, my sleeping bag, my cooking stuff, my flatware, my plates, my bowls, my shoes, my old cameras, just tons and tons of stuff, until I could barely get the door closed. It was jammed full of crap and going to be jammed full of crap for at least 27 months.

Not everything always goes as planned. The first unplanned event was that wile I was in Samoa, Alameda Point Storage decided to raise there rates for a 5x5 shed from 27 and change to 38 and change. I wrote them a letter to complain, but I never knew if they got it. They certainly didn't respond by lowering my rate back to the original 27 bucks. I figured they didn't get the letter.

I also left the Peace Corps after a year. Ironically, this month marks the exact time that I would have been exiting Samoa if I had stayed on for the entire stint. I did visit the shed once before, back in November, when I came up to San Francisco for my sister's wedding. I was looking for a pair of sunglasses, and, big surprise here, I couldn't find them in the mess of stuff.

Anyway, I returned to Alameda Point Storage to clean out my shed today. I unlocked the medal door and rolled up as far as it could go and started removing dust covered bags a other loose items until the door would roll all the way up. It took five trips and several hours with my trusty Subaru Outback but I managed to move literally a ton of stuff out of the shed and into my third floor apartment via the ancient elevator that services my building.

It was so gratifying not only to free my stuff of the bonds of storage, but not ever again to have to see this listing on my credit card statement:

Alameda Point Storage Alameda Ca $38.06

I went into the office to terminate my contract and after I washed my hands (they were filthy) I sat across the desk from the manager and watched as flipped through the papers in my file, which included, amongst other things, the unanswered letter that I had written them from Samoa. Bastards.

Mateo is my dad's first grandson. He hasn't forgotten how to hold a baby. Of course, he does have his own 9-year old twins.

After six months of living with a friend, I finally have my own apartment. It's in Alameda, a little island maybe 100 feet off the coast of Oakland, but an island nonetheless.

The apartment is far from perfect, but it's large, much closer to work and it's all mine. When I started looking, there were three main things that I was looking for. First was that the place had to be good for the cats. Ideally they would be able to go outside, run around, and be safe. Well, they can't go outside here, but they can hang on my third floor balcony. A compromise. Second was that I wanted to able to walk to a commercial area with restaurants, markets and shops. I didn't really get that. There is a commercial street about a half mile away and Alameda, unlike most of the rest of the Bay Area, doesn't have a massive parking shortage, so this isn't such a big deal. Lastly, I wanted a gas stove. I love to cook. Gas is so much more preferable for so many reasons. This place has an all electric kitchen. C'est la vie. I will deal with it.

Basically, I decided to give up my search for the perfect place after having a heart break over a near perfect place in Rockridge, one of the nicest sections of Oakland. I happened upon this smallish remodeled cottage for rent. It was only a block from upscale College Avenue, with all its trendy restaurants, and within walking distance of BART. The cats could have roamed freely. It had granite countertops in the kitchen and all the appliances (including a gas stove) were so new, they weren't even in the apartment when I went to look at it. I was the first to put in application. I thought I would get it, but after two weeks of being strung along with poor communication, the place was given to someone else.

So instead of perfect, I have acceptable. Instead of a gas stove, I have a fitness center, a spa, a pool, a reserved covered parking space, a laundry facility and mallard ducks that swim in the manmade canals that run around the place. Instead of walking to dinner, I can walk down the street and watch the sun set over San Francisco. Instead of a cramped space that can barely fit all my stuff, I have more room than I need, more than I've ever had. I can handle this for a year while I decompress and settle into a normal life.

New Address:

341 Tideway Drive #308
Alameda, CA 94501

Many more pictures to come.

I finally saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. It was in theaters when I was living in Vail and I didn't get a chance to see it. Hard to believe anyone would think it was anti-semitic.

Just after 4pm yesterday afternoon at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, Mateo A. Cintron Deshong arrived (well ahead of schedule and possibly under budget) making Marni and Paris (my sister and her husband) the happiest people in the Bay Area.

I'm thrilled for them. It's very exciting. My parents are now grandparents for the first time. My brother and I are uncles. Most importantly, my sister is now a mother.

That's my sister who for the longest time continually told me that she didn't want to have kids despite my protests that she would make a great mother. That's my sister who used to teach preschool in inner-city Oakland. She's an incredibly nurturing and grounded person. Matteo is very lucky to have her as a mom.

Hopefully I'll get to see Marni, Paris and Mateo today. I've got my digital camera with me so pictures will be forthcoming.

Today, George Bush handed out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three men, Tommy Franks, Paul Bremer and George Tenent. In the New York Times article, Bush is quoted as saying the three man "made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty". That's Tommy Franks who was in charge when Osama bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora. Paul Bremer, who handed over sovereignty to the Iraqi people a few days early so he could dash to his waiting helicopter and leave behind the smoldering mesh of his occupation. George Tenet who was in charge of the CIA during the biggest intelligence failure America has seen since Pearl Harbor. Presidential Medal of Freedom, my ass.

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas. The massive center honoring his life sits in the small central California town. But the public library named after him along with the only 2 others in Salinas will be shutting it's doors as part of a budget crisis that will also reduce the police force, downsize the fire department and mothball all public recreation programs. Salinas will become the largest city in the country with no public library.

It's a sad day for democracy when public libraries are closing their doors. But the combination of changes in Salinas, at the same time reducing protective services and shutting down public recreation and leisure, is a recipe for disaster. I think it's safe to predict that something horrible is going to happen in Salinas in the not too distant future.

My cousin Bradley is working to get ahead of the curve of America's aging population. He's started a business, Senior Transitions, that helps seniors locate ideal communities to sunset their lives. It's a great idea not just because he can make money, but he can make money while helping people have better lives.

Here's the blurb from the site:

Senior Transitions is dedicated to helping seniors find communities that will meet their growing needs as they age. From Independent Living to Continuing Care, we can access some of the best residential facilities across the country. Let us help you ease the transition from your home into a senior community.

My sister's water broke last night and it looks like I might be an uncle before the night is out. Pretty damn exciting!

When a penny can't buy you anything and there is a move afoot to get rid of them altogether, why do gas stations still list their prices in tenths of cent? It's asinine.

And the thing is, as stupid as it seems, people are fooled by it. People will tell me that the just filled their tank for $2.09 when it was really $2.099.

Why does this matter? It doesn't really. I mean it doesn't really to you and me where tenths of a cents are a meaningless annoyance. But it means lots of money for people selling hundreds of millions of gallons of gas to Americans.

I don't begrudge petroleum companies their profits, as long as they are being fair about what they sell, which they are not, but that's another story. Just tell me who wouldn't buy gas if it was listed at $2.10 a gallon instead of $2.09 and 9/10? It's just plain marketing stupidity and it should be done away with.

Absolutely not, if you ask me, but my guess is that most Americans wouldn't agree with me.

I had an epiphany about this while I was sitting in a huge international food court at lunch yesterday. You could get food from almost any cuisine in the world. It was incredibly convenient, but the quality was sub-par (even while the quantity was more than sufficient).

It comes down to what you value. If you value convenience or quantity over quality then America is the best place for you. But if you value quality, style, or substance, then you'd have to look elsewhere.

What is it about a little rainfall that makes Californians forget how to drive?

Until this weekend, I hadn't bought a new computer game in years. When I worked for Electronic Arts, I had every game every made at my fingertips. I think the only game I bought when I was working there was Quake III, but I had to have it because we played together online after work all the time.

Anyway, the original Half-Life was such a sweet game (Game of the Year back in 1998) that when I saw Half-Life 2 for 40 bucks at Best Buy, I snapped it up. I've been waiting for this one for a long time. It was supposed to come out a few years ago, but has been delayed for various reasons. Now that's its here (and on sale) I had to have to it.

Well, if game play is the only measure, HL2 was certainly worth the wait. The graphics are beautiful. The environment is rich. The storyline in compelling. Everything about the game is fantastic. Except the setup. And first impressions are everything, right?

Electronic entertainment companies have been burned so badly by piracy that they are taking whatever measures necessary to ensure that their games are not duped and resold. If you buy a game from Valve, which means Half Life 2, then you have to deal with Steam.

Steam is the engine that is used to verify and run the game. In a word, it sucks. The first problem is that you have to be online to verify the game. I installed it, but I couldn't play until I managed to get online. This was such a disappointment. Long gone are the days of bringing home a game, opening the box, installing and playing in a matter of minutes. HL2 has 5 disks. Which means it took forever to install. That's okay because that means more game for me.

However, I don't (or didn't) have an account on my notebook at home, so I had to get an account (Netscape) and register online. Only a minor pain. Then I had to install Steam. Then I had to verify the game and download god knows how many files which took hours. There's a message on the website:

Product Authentication Delay When Installing Half-Life 2
Some consumers may experience delays in authenticating Half-Life 2 during the installation process. This is due to the high volume of consumers who have purchased Half-Life 2 and are installing the game, which is causing high traffic on the Steam authentication servers. Please inform any Half-Life 2 customers that encounter this situation to keep trying, as this is a temporary delay.

That's helpful. I don't know when they put that message up on their site (it's undated), but the game has been out for a few weeks so depending on your definition of temporary this is either not a big deal or a big deal. I tend to think the latter.

Anyway, then and only then could I play, but only when I was online. I can't play the fucking game unless I'm attached to the Net. I try to start the game and get this infuriating message that says, "The operation cannot be completed when Steam is in offline mode." Well, fuck you, too. There's a way to do it and I talked for a long time with a nice young lady in tech support (an Indian, big surprise) who told me what to do, but, alas, it did not work.

There's no information about it on the so-called Half Life 2 Knowledge Base

Now, I'm pissed because I can't take the game back. The stores won't accept it because once the game has been installed once, you cannot install it on another machine. Which also means that I can't sell it. That's seriously fucked up. That's always one of the things that I can tell myself before I buy a game. I'll buy it, but if it sucks, I'll turn around and throw it up on eBay. That is no longer an option.

I honestly don't know what to do about this. I can write a letter to complaints@vugames.com, but what's the point of adding another email to huge digital pile that must be amassing on their servers? At some point I'm sure I'll be able to figure out how to play offline but what a enormous fucking hassle this has turned into.

If you haven't already seen it, do yourself a favor and rent The Station Agent.

Peter Dinklage gives a slick performance in the title role as a man who moves to take up residence in a small town station house left to him by a co-worker (a short but sweet performance by Paul Benjamin) who passed away.

There's really nothing to this movie other than a small assemblage of psycological damaged characters who rotate around each other in the samll town of Newfoundland, New Jersey. But the film is beautifully shot and it deals with subjects that are rare in American cinema these days, most notably, reality.

It's charming. The music is great. Rent it.

Anyone who follows college football even in the slightest should be aware of the fiasco that is the BCS or Bowl Championship Series. The idea behind the "series" was noble, to put an end to these competing polls that so often divided the national championship. The plan was to take all these polls, throw in some computerized data and come up with a scoring system that would pit the top two teams in a one of the top tier bowl games. It was last ditch attempt to prove that NCAA Division 1-A football did not need a playoff and it has failed miserably.

Every year there is some sort of a problem. Last season there was a clear number one team, LSU. But there were several teams with one loss, Oklahoma and USC included. Oklahoma would up in the BCS championship game even though they were beaten soundly by Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game. Oklahoma got the bid and USC was left out in the cold.

This year USC can get some measure of revenge as they will face Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl to see who's number one. Both teams are undefeated. So it should be a true measure of the top team in the land, right? Wrong.

Auburn is also undefeated. So is Utah. And, well, Boise State. The latter two will never be considered for the title because they play in inferior conferences. But what about Auburn? They've been stacking up wins in the SEC, arguably the toughest conference in America. How did they get left out? Well, USC was ranked number one in the preseason poll. Oklahoma was ranked right behind them. Auburn? Auburn was 17th. They spent the entire season battling up the rankings because the pundits, coaches and writers in this case, didn't think they were that good.

Therein lies one of the many flaws of the BCS system and Tiger fans, just like Trojan fans last year, have a good reason to be upset. The only way this controversy is ever going to end is to have a playoff system.

There's no reason why Div 1-A can't do it. Every other division on college football has a playoff. Who wouldn't like see to USC, Oklahoma, Utah, Boise State, Cal, Texas and few other top teams battle it out on the field to see who really was the best team? Finally we would get to see if these mid-major teams were series contenders and we would finally lay to rest this fallacy of national championship that has gone on in college football for so long.

The games could be played in the bowl stadiums. They could even have the bowl names. They final game could rotate like it does now. It would take three weeks, but we'd really have a champion and it would be great to watch.

The calm:

Well maybe not, but that's the title of a TISM song that has been flashified. You should have a listen. Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me is a great song and emblematic of the witty insouciance, clever lyrics and catchy beats that form most TISM songs.

TISM (which stands for "This is Serious, Mum" in case you weren't in the know) is a small band from Melbourne, Australia whom I saw a few times when I did a year abroad back, wow, in 1993. Was it really that long ago?

I saw them live twice, at the Big Day Out at the Melbourne Fairgrounds a few weeks after I arrived and didn't know shit about anything and then again in November at the Pushover concert at the Olympic Park. I don't remember these dates because I have some great memory. Everyone who knows me, knows that my memory ain't worth shit. The band has a page that lists every single one of their live dates. Ever. The venues read likes a map of my pub crawling, music greedy year. The Punter's Club. The Evelyn. The Metro. The Esplanade (God, I loved the Espy). The Prince of Wales. And on and on. One of the best things about Melbourne was its simple accessibility.

TISM is an "unknown" band. What I mean by that is they always come on stage in costume, play under pseudonyms and no one really knows who they are. When I saw them at the Pushover they were dressed in back from head to toe including balaclavas (what we Yanks call ski masks) over their heads. They each had a huge green fluorescent number from 1-7 attached to their backs with a metal frame so that number hung over their heads and bobbed around during their dance bits.

At one point, the lead singer Ron Hitler-Barassi jumped into the crowd and his mask was pulled off revealing someone with short brownish hair who looked more like an accountant than rock star. He's probably both although he jokes about maintaining his anonymity for the sake of his constituents.

If you want to read more about TISM, there's a great interview entitled Return of the Pop Vigilantes.

Even if you're not interested in the music, you should have a look at
Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me for the elegant animation. Thanks, Brian, for sending it my way.

There are some movies that you see all the time on TV, like Heaven Can Wait, for example. There are others that come out in the theaters and then disappear from the collective consciousness. The Verdict falls into this category.

I saw The Verdict when it came out. I was 12 or so. I saw it at the Mann Regent in Westwood, land of movie theaters. Even at that age, I was impressed. Paul Newman should have won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Actor for his tortured performance as Frank Galvin in The Verdict. Instead it went to Henry Fonda for On Golden Pond. When Newman won the award for The Color of Money it widely believed it was a "career award" to make up for that other slights, and well deserved too.

At the insistence of my friend Anita, I finally watched the DVD on Monday. All that I really remembered about the film was this image of Newman in a bar backlit against a pane of windows. The movie didn't disappoint. It's a little dated (can you imagine a lawyer without a cell phone and does anyone remember Eastern airlines?), but on balance it still stands up as one of the classics of legal cinema with weighty performances not only by Newman but also by James Mason and Jack Warden. Paul Newman is such an enormous talent.

Not a few days after I paid for a credit report I got word from my friend Ursula that starting today, people in western states can get a free credit report from any one of the 3 major reporting agencies. All you have to do is go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com and sign up. I did.

This time I went through Equifax. No surprise here, but there are some major discrepancies between the two reports. I didn't get my FICO score from Equifax (that's not included in the "free", I guess) but according to them, I have no delinquent accounts, which is correct, but I also have a few open accounts that I wasn't aware of and apparently I was formerly known as Andrew M. Heck, which is news to me. They also have B Dalton listed as one of two former jobs. I worked for the bookseller more than 15 years ago when I was in college. Amazing.

After I was laid off from the Electronic Arts back in 2001 (right after 9/11), I didn't have much faith in the company (can you imagine?), so I sold my stock options and put most of it into our main competitor, Activision. The stock market didn't do much in the year I lived in Samoa, but it's been coming around and I'm finally starting to see some benefits.

While EA stock has been more or less stagnant over the last year, ATVI has killed.

The news out today can only mean bigger and better things for Activision which continues to pump out quality games like Call of Duty, Doom 3 and Spiderman to bang up against gaming behemoth Electronic Arts.