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What it says.
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April 30, 2007
2007 Wired Rave Awards
Once again, I had a great time at the Rave Awards. Once again, I became as unto a ridiculously drunk person.
Bonus Six Apart / Typepad/ Voxery trivia: I saw the esteemed Mr. Anil Dash there (Look! There's Anil Dash), but could not talk to him due to loud Girltalkery. And I believe I saw a glimpse of the Trotts, but I'm not positive about that one as I didn't say hello and then never saw them again.
April 28, 2007
April 26, 2007
I'm oddly proud of this
I think it's because I was in such shitty shape late last year; worst of my life. When I started out, running a mile was a huge deal. It's interesting to see that my average distance is only 3.7 miles with an average pace of 9:32.
That seems short and slow to me now, but I remember when a 1.7 mile trip around the panhandle took me 20 minutes and a lot of cursing.
Last weekend I ran more than ten miles, with more than 600 feet of climbing, and my pace was still faster than my overall average. I feel like I've come a long way.
Originally posted on mat.vox.com
Steal Your Face Right off of your Head
It's interesting how different the culture is in different parts of the country.
I used to have a Grateful Dead sticker in the back window of my truck. I put it there my senior year in high school in Alabama, and immediately began getting pulled over. I suspected the sticker, but didn't know for sure.
But then one day one of my parents (I forget which one) was driving my car, and got pulled over. The cop, realizing it was a kid's car, more or less told my mom or dad that he had pulled him/her over because of the Dead sticker.
..........
One thing I miss about Alabama, and to a lesser extent a lot of the South, was the way that different people from different cliques would hang out together. My friends saw nothing wrong with listening to The Grateful Dead and the Dead Kennedys. Goths, deadheads, punks, skaters, and any other kind of outsider, all ran together, largely because we were all different and all aware of it. And there just weren't enough weirdos for us to divide ourselves up into camps.
In Atlanta, things were different. By and large, the deadheads didn't talk to the punks, who didn't talk to the skins who didn't talk to the goths who didn't talk to the ravers who didn't talk to the mods and on and on and so it goes. I think, to a real extent, growing up like that made me more accepting of different styles of music, and more broadly, different lifestyles. It was Us against Them: they told us so. I was just a kid with shaggy hair who didn't play football and didn't like the music on the radio. I never really thought of myself as opting out; I felt like I was forced out.
..........
I have digressed. But my point being: the act of putting a Grateful Dead sticker on my car--there were also Jane's, REM, Pixies, and other circa 1990 mainstay band stickers on there--made me an outsider, and suspect. It was oficially discouraged. Different is bad, you dumb fuck, and don't you forget it.
And so the other day, when we walked over to check out a housefire in our neighborhood, I noticed for the first time that all the firetrucks from our station have a certain familiar logo on them. These are city vehicles.
I wasn't born here in San Francisco. I miss my family; they are so very far away. I seldom listen to the Grateful Dead anymore (not out of animosity, I would if they recorded something new and it was good. I just get tired of listening to the same stuff over and over). But this made me really happy. When I see things like this, here in the city that I love, I feel like I'm at home. Finally, at home.
I used to have a Grateful Dead sticker in the back window of my truck. I put it there my senior year in high school in Alabama, and immediately began getting pulled over. I suspected the sticker, but didn't know for sure.
But then one day one of my parents (I forget which one) was driving my car, and got pulled over. The cop, realizing it was a kid's car, more or less told my mom or dad that he had pulled him/her over because of the Dead sticker.
One thing I miss about Alabama, and to a lesser extent a lot of the South, was the way that different people from different cliques would hang out together. My friends saw nothing wrong with listening to The Grateful Dead and the Dead Kennedys. Goths, deadheads, punks, skaters, and any other kind of outsider, all ran together, largely because we were all different and all aware of it. And there just weren't enough weirdos for us to divide ourselves up into camps.
In Atlanta, things were different. By and large, the deadheads didn't talk to the punks, who didn't talk to the skins who didn't talk to the goths who didn't talk to the ravers who didn't talk to the mods and on and on and so it goes. I think, to a real extent, growing up like that made me more accepting of different styles of music, and more broadly, different lifestyles. It was Us against Them: they told us so. I was just a kid with shaggy hair who didn't play football and didn't like the music on the radio. I never really thought of myself as opting out; I felt like I was forced out.
I have digressed. But my point being: the act of putting a Grateful Dead sticker on my car--there were also Jane's, REM, Pixies, and other circa 1990 mainstay band stickers on there--made me an outsider, and suspect. It was oficially discouraged. Different is bad, you dumb fuck, and don't you forget it.
And so the other day, when we walked over to check out a housefire in our neighborhood, I noticed for the first time that all the firetrucks from our station have a certain familiar logo on them. These are city vehicles.
I wasn't born here in San Francisco. I miss my family; they are so very far away. I seldom listen to the Grateful Dead anymore (not out of animosity, I would if they recorded something new and it was good. I just get tired of listening to the same stuff over and over). But this made me really happy. When I see things like this, here in the city that I love, I feel like I'm at home. Finally, at home.
April 25, 2007
April 24, 2007
April 23, 2007
April 20, 2007
April 19, 2007
April 18, 2007
April 17, 2007
April 13, 2007
April 11, 2007
April 10, 2007
THIS JUST IN: BLOGGERS THINK I AM AWESOME
It's day two of the blogger Code of Conduct debate. My two cents? I shared them over at Anil's, but essentially I think it's a problem more with blogs having enough reach now that they've become mainstream. I will say this twice because it bears repeating: It's a problem with society, not blogs.
But this bit of bullshit from today's Chronicle is really just too much:
How in the world can you make a generalization like that? Did you survey each and every blog on the Interwebs? Talk to all the bloggers? Impressive; that must have been time-consuming. Horseshit.Although bloggers are usually benign, some engage in vitriolic attacks, protected by a cloak of online anonymity. The more provocative the comments, the more attention they get.
And what about that Hed? "Bloggers disinclined toward suggestion of Net civility." Was there some sort of vote that nobody told me about? Have I been disenfranchised?
Here's a fun thing to do: When you read an article about bloggers, swap out the word "blogger" with the word "people." If the result is a wide swath of humanity being painted with the same brush, it's a safe bet that the article is too general.
There are millions of fucking bloggers. Some are nice. Some are rude. Some are from Philadelphia.
And as many bloggers are there are, there are even more commenters, who are, by and large, what's being discussed.
It's easy to be a big man behind a keyboard, or in the comfort of your car, over the phone, via email, or in a variety of other situations where you can be reasonably assured you won't get punched in the nose. The bad behavior is a symptom of society, not blogs.
April 09, 2007
On Vox: Taxes: 2007 edition
Yes, I am still doing taxes. Tax prep is, bar none, the worst thing about being a freelancer. Every year, I swear I'll have them finished before April. And every year, I fail. In the next week, I have:
- Three product reviews due.
- A sidebar, that requires pretty extensive research, due
- An event to cover
- Dinner plans on Wednesday for a possible story
- A 4500 word magazine cover story to fact-check
- Research and order products for three magazine reviews
- Swim at 6 am tomorrow morning in the Bay
- Tickets to see Lightning Bolt at 12 Galaxies on Tuesday
- A 10K run at the Presidio on Wednesday evening
- A 30 mile bike ride on Thursday
- Another 10K on Friday
- A sprint triathlon at Treasure Island on Saturday
- And, of course, taxes.
Originally posted on mat.vox.com
