I think I could watch this all day long.

So today I get a friend request on Facebook from someone named Ben Brentano. Given, Brentano is not a common name, so it got my interest and I fired off a note to Ben.

Guess I’m way more excited about it than he is.

“I was shocked to find how robust a predictor of social isolation commuting is,” Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, told me. (Putnam wrote the best-seller “Bowling Alone,” about the disintegration of American civic life.) “There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes of commuting results in ten per cent fewer social connections. Commuting is connected to social isolation, which causes unhappiness.”

If given a number of choices for transport, I will happily choose Bus/Train over Car. Driving easily costs me 3-4x more than a monthly pass — especially as gas prices continue to rise. And I don’t have anyone to speak to, except the steering wheel. But if I had the luxury of a short walk to the office? I guess I can only dream about that.

More info…
- pdxdnb.com
- Alix Perez @ Myspace
- Bassbin Recordings
- Shogun Audio

Update: Alix won’t be playing tonight, there was an issue with his booking agency (i.e. blunder) – my friends Noah and James will be playing in his place.

Brief 2 second pause while my foggy noggin catches up, “What the hell just happ.. OW! Thumb!”, I quickly grab my thumb with my right hand and hold it above my head. Still wet and naked I shout for Martha, who comes in with first aid items at the ready. I take a look at my thumb and thick, dark red blood is oozing out. Lovely. Martha bandages me up, and I continue on with my morning.

I am also excited, because my boss was kind enough to let me work from the road. You see, we are essentially playing the roles of parents for Em and Mags (their parents are working in L.A. at the moment) while we’re here – Martha has been carting them around to school and various extra-curricular activities since Monday – but while they are in school, it’s work time. This will be a good example of what life could be like once we have our own kids.

90% of my own job could be done from home, or any place. The only thing that keeps me physically tied to my work is talking with customers on the phone. Which, really, isn’t much of a reason to be there. I could call customers using Skype, just as I could anyone. From home, or a coffee shop, or an island in the south pacific. Then, the only reason I’d need to go any place, is either to perform local work on our servers, or for ‘face time’.

This is nothing new. I read recently that Best Buy has completely ditched the 40-hour work week model, in favor for a model where people are paid for the work they perform. That’s a step in the right direction. I can just imagine now that people’s stress levels would drop under such a program. No more rush hour traffic, no more 8-5 workdays, no more working for the weekend. Free time, like work time, is whenever you make it. It’s a fucking revolution!

Not all jobs can break free of location and time. Labour, for example, is something that you can’t do from home. That’s probably not going to change until robots are more perfected for human labour work. Even today, in assembly lines where robots build cars, they still need human oversight. That will change though.

Can you imagine? What if more companies adopted the technology available and people could work from home? Pollution from cars could see a decrease. Internet adoption would increase. Higher-speed Internet connections would see the light of day in a more timely way. Wireless would become more ubiquitous. The definition of ‘large’ companies would change. Hell, the definition of everything would change. Technology == Freedom.

The really nice thing about the movie is that it turned out even better than I expected. Earlier in the day we were going over all the details to make sure we had everything covered (Potatoes? Check. Stuffing? Check.) but realized that we had forgotten about a movie. I figured we had two options: 1. I could buy a movie off the iTunes Store and we could watch it on the TV via my iPod, or 2. I could see if any video stores might be open. I decided on the former, because it was much less hassle, and the weather outside was downright shitty. So right before we sat down to eat I popped downstairs and bought Cars from the iTunes Store and let it download. It was a little expensive, $14.99, but I had to bite the bullet. An hour later, we slowly made our way down the stairs, I plugged in the iPod dock to the TV, and then we sat down and enjoyed the movie. I was worried that the quality might suck, or that it might skip or pause as the iPod raced to buffer more movie data, but it was flawless. I might go so far as saying that the quality was better than DVD, but also my DVD player is hooked up using composite video, and the iPod dock uses s-video, so that’s an unfair comparison.

Later that night I read on Wii Fanboy that GameStop and EB Games stores were quietly stocking up on Wiis (or is that Wii-i?) for the black friday sales rush and would also be opening early (7 AM). I figured, if I got out of bed by 6:15, I could make it to the GameStop over off 102nd by 7 AM and get in line, if there was one. Was I confident I was going to get a Wii though? Not really. But I wasn’t thinking about it at that point, I was thinking about how cool it would be to get a Wii! I also failed to account for how crazy people can be on black friday, because I’ve always avoided shopping on that day.

The next morning at 6:15 the alarm on my cell phone wakes me up, and I slowly crawl out of bed. It was cold, I was tired, but my desire for a Wii was strong. I put some clothes on, fed the cats, and set out on my way to Gateway. The drive there went fine, it takes about 30 minutes from our house, but as I turned onto 102nd off Sandy boulevard I realized that I failed to account for the Circuit City across the street. As I drove closer, I could see the chaos that had enveloped the big store. Then it hit me: People who couldn’t get a Wii at Circuit City would just be directed to GameStop. That was a bit of an “Ah Fuck!” moment. I turned right into the shopping area’s parking lot, then left around the corner of the building, and there it was: a line of at-least 30 people. Damn!

I didn’t let that stop me though, I just kept driving. I maneuvered out of the parking lot and back onto Halsey, in the direction of I-84. I got onto the highway and put the pedal down. If I had any chance of making it to the GameStop at the mall, this was it. A quick 10 minutes later I exited at Lloyd Center. It was still quite early, just about 7 AM, but the mall was indeed open. I found a parking spot and made my way inside towards GameStop. Generally, I hate going to the mall, but this was an exception. It was incredibly surprising how many people were there. I mean, really! If I wasn’t wearing a watch I wouldn’t have been able to tell you if it was 7 AM or 3 PM, there were just that many people in there. I got up to the GameStop, and was pleased to see that there were only 4 other people waiting. My chance at getting a Wii was even closer!

The 5 of us stood there and made some small talk as we waited patiently for a GameStop employee to materialize. Finally around 7:15 a red-haired girl wearing a GameStop polo appeared and unlocked the store. She asked us what we were all waiting for and the guy at the head of the line said “Nintendo Wiis!”, to which she replied “Oh, we only have one.” ONLY HAVE ONE?! Christ. The other 3 people in line immediately took off towards the EB Games downstairs, but I hung around for a few more minutes hopeful that she would find that they had more. But no, nothing. I left, feeling defeated. But really, what store does NOT have stock of an obviously hot-selling item on black friday?! That’s a little ridiculous.

Beyond that, my weekend has been very lazy and uneventful. Martha and I are currently sitting in the living room in front of a nice warm fire drinking coffee. I wish I could do this everyday.

Going to see Borat tonight with some of my good friends. Should be pants pissing hi-larious. I haven’t watched Da Ali G Show in a couple years, since we don’t have extended cable, so I’m excited. I hear Sacha Baron Cohen signed a $42.5M deal to do a Bruno movie too.

Our neighbors are migrating to Florida for a couple months, so they offered to trade us their weekly CSA share for feeding their cat. What a sweet deal! Check out the farm — I’m trying to convince Martha that we should sign up. I mean, locally grown veggies, farmed by a nice family out in North Plains? I think I’m getting verklempt.

I added some links, notably two are blogs for wee little ones — Elsa is my old boss Scott’s daughter, and she’s frickin adorable, and Dashiell is our friends Ally & Colin’s son (who looks exactly like his father). Prepare to be overcome with cuteness.

Oh, and my workbench made it onto the Make Magazine blog!

But today I successfully sold the Futon to three young college guys for $25. Not too shabby, and I bet they’re happy. I’m just glad to have it out of the garage.

Since January they have been living apart, with Grandpa at home with the cat. He makes a trip up to the hospital to visit twice a day, and while at home is usually puttering around keeping himself busy. A few years ago he had his own brush with death. It was Christmas time and their neighborhood had become flooded because of a drainage pump failing. He was being quite ornery about it and decided to get a motel room to get some sleep, leaving my Grandma at home. You see, while they’re both very sweet, they’re both very stubborn too. Unfortunately for him, once at the motel he started having difficulty breathing. He was rushed off to the hospital, and then the next day rushed up to Eugene for heart surgery. He spent Christmas alone in Eugene, after a quadruple bypass. And while a heart attack is never a good thing, this one in a small way was. He had a new vitality that we thought had left him years ago, when it was really just eating too many nights out at the Chinese place up the street.

A little about Foxy. She’s kind of a ‘fraidy cat, and like most cats she digs routine. She also doesn’t go outside. She was adopted by my Grandparents a few years ago when they moved from their old house to the trailer they live at now. At first she didn’t take too well to her new surroundings and hid under the cabinets. But after a week she came out and things got better. She was most loved by my Grandma. This, and while he’ll never admit it, was met with jealousy by my Grandfather. He was a bit of a rascal, pretending to shoo her away, or he’d complain. I recall a few phone conversations with my Dad where he’d tell me that there had been a fight and my Grandpa demanded that it was either “him or the cat”. Talk about both at once hi-larious and upsetting. Can you imagine two 80 year olds arguing over a cat’s attention?

Since Grandma has been in extended care, and I suspect probably before that, Grandpa has taken more to Foxy. I mean, she is very cute and funny, but I think also a part of it is that Foxy is a symbol of my Grandma. Without her at home, Foxy is there in her place. Of course, you can’t argue with a cat, but you can show it affection, scoop it’s litter, and say goodnight.

A couple of weeks ago Grandpa had some work done on his house. In all the commotion, Foxy was scared and ended up running out the front door. This was not good. For one, because my Grandpa can’t run after a cat. He has severe arthritis in his knees so he’s usually taking it easy. But also, I doubt he noticed she got out. He’s hard of hearing and was probably trying to pay attention to the people doing the work.

So last week when we visited, the topic of Foxy was met with sadness. He was upset and that of course made us upset. Nobody likes to see someone in their family be sad, especially not your Grandpa! For him, it’s one thing that his wife is in extended care, but it’s another when his best friend has gone missing. So before we got back on the road, Martha suggested we make signs for the neighborhood. I made up a quick “Lost Cat” sign, made copies at the grocery store, and we passed them out in his neighborhood. People were really nice, and even though nobody had seen her, everyone we spoke with promised to keep an eye out. There’s not really a whole lot more we could have asked for. She didn’t have a collar, we didn’t have a picture, and it had been a week since she ran off. Before we left my Grandpa insisted that we take all of Foxy’s stuff with us home for our cats. That was depressing, because the last thing we want to do is admit that she’s gone for good, but I think having her stuff around just made him more sad. We took some litter, food, and a kitty bed filled with toys and packed them in the car. Then we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Today at work I was neck deep in work with deadlines looming large, but stopped for a moment when Martha called sounding very excited. I asked “What’s up?” and she said “FOXY’S HOME!”. I think we both got a little teary-eyed. It turns out someone in the neighborhood saw a sign, had found Foxy and returned her home safe. Talk about your happy endings. I can’t describe how good that made me feel. It meant that my Grandpa was no longer home alone, which means a lot to us and to my parents. We might not get down there to visit as often as we’d like, but knowing that he has some company, even if it is just a chubby cat named Foxy, makes everyone feel a lot better.

Since this last visit we’ve been talking about going down more often, especially as Grandma and Grandpa get even older. Even if it’s going to see two stubborn but lovable grandparents, I’m really looking forward to seeing Foxy next time we’re in Reedsport.

But now, there are new restrictions on carry-on items. Things that before seemed incredibly innocuous, like bottled water, are now forbidden. In fact, everything that is left with the TSA at the security gate is thrown away — something that seems ridiculously wasteful and unsustainable. But people are coping and things haven’t come to a complete stop, yet.

This leaves me to worry about more attempts by such individuals, because I have family and friends who will be flying soon. In fact, my in-laws are flying home to Pennsylvania tonight, and a good friend of ours is flying (or she may have already departed) back to Edinburgh, then her parents who live in Cardiff are flying to the states to visit my in-laws. A little confusing yes, but the important part is that they’re flying and, in at least one of the cases, flying from the UK to the US. However, I’m sure that with all of the increased security the chances at this moment for any in-flight shenanigans are incredibly low.

But that all leaves me to wonder, why can’t our governments do a better job of providing thorough airport security pro-actively? And why can’t they do it in a way that doesn’t so abruptly affect the passengers? I refuse to believe that there’s not advanced screening machinery available. We know that there are machines that can detect traces of explosives, and there are definitely machines that can analyze materials for trace elements, for example, a machine that can detect chemical signatures in solvents such as water or sports drinks. But why do they adopt blanket proposals for banned items instead of introducing, ahead of time, technology into the industry that can detect and prevent these things from being carried onto planes?

I can think of two reasons, time and money. The time it takes to screen each passengers’ toothpaste/perfume/drink/etc, then for them to return those items to their luggage. Then also, the cost of the screening technology, and the cost of the time to train personnel to use it, and the cost of the time to operate it. It goes on, but you get the idea.

But, and this is a big but, I think people would be willing to sacrifice on the cost of their plane ticket, to have those things in place. It’s much less stressful and upsetting to a person to be able to carry on their personal effects, than to have to, in a brief moment, throw those things into the trash. Happy travelers will travel more often, and the more often people fly, the better off the airlines are.

So, maybe I’m being too simplistic in my analysis, but it seems to me that for the sake of the economy, introducing advanced screening technology into the gate security equation at the cost of a surcharge on tickets is almost worthwhile. Just an interesting thought.

Until a couple days ago, when he started coughing. At first we weren’t sure if it was coughing or sneezing, because he does have allergies. (I know weird, a cat with allergies?) But in the past 48 hours it became worse, so Martha ran him off to Dove Lewis this morning.

When he was first diagnosed last year, at still a really young age (1.5 years), the doctor didn’t give him much time. He said if he had to guess, which as a Doctor is always awkward and something you try to avoid but never can, he would give him about 2 years. But, he also added that one of his cats was diagnosed with heart disease at a young age and lived over 10 years, so we remained optimistic.

Nola was very cute after Martha left this morning with Garfield. She’s so used to hanging out with her buddy that she was being very vocal about it. I tried to reassure her that he’d be home soon, but you know cats, they can’t understand english.

Unfortunately it’s bad news though. They took an X-Ray and there’s fluid in his lungs, which is a sign that he is in heart failure. They’re giving him diuretics to drain the fluid and are going to prescribe them for him as well, so we can include them in his daily medicine routine. But now begins the very sad and painful process of saying goodbye. :(

On the Geek front, I discovered a very useful site today called Code Snippets, which is full of useful tidbits ranging from shell commands to ruby, php and javascript scraps. Definitely one for the bookmarks.

Also, I’m going to be switching up the layout soon and moving things around a little. The URL is going to change to just http://fourone.org — no more /chris. So for the two of you who read this, keep your eyes peeled.

This morning when I got to work I checked the local news to see what’s going on, and on the front page they were running a story on an Oregon soldier who was killed yesterday. I took a quick glance at the picture and the synopsis and realized that I knew this person, in fact they grew up two houses down from me with I was a kid.

MOSUL, Iraq — Jeremy Loveless of Gresham was shot and killed in Iraq on Memorial Day. Loveless, a field medic in the army, was exiting his vehicle when he was shot in the chest. Jeremy was a volunteer firefighter for the Estacada Fire Department before joining the military. He wanted to become a paramedic and joined the Army to get the specialized training, according to his friend and fellow firefighter, Steve Fritz of the Estacada Fire Department. Loveless leaves behind his wife, Melissa, of Estacada, and their four-year-old daughter. [via kgw.com]

Talk about a punch in the gut. I can’t believe it. We were never the best of friends, nor got along very often, but that’s just what happens when you’re a kid. I remember him being really nice and funny. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

It’s really awkward for me to think about how I feel about this, because I so barely knew him. I feel sad for his parents and brothers, and his wife and daughter. I can only imagine the grief they must be going through. I also feel hurt and angry that he was killed in such a ridiculous war, one for which the Administration has still not fully explained. Why are good people, like Jeremy, getting killed in Iraq for what appears to be no good reason? That makes me really sad.

I dunno, when we bought our intention was not to sell in 5 years, but to actually live here and raise a family. That puts me in a position where I feel that those short-term investors are the scum of the earth. Every time I see a BMW drive down our street it makes me feel defensive. Not for me, but for my friends who want to be able to buy a house in Portland and not a suburb, and they’re getting so quickly priced out. Just regular honest people who want to find a place to live are being bullied out of their own city by asshats from out of state who are looking to turn old houses around for a quick buck. Makes me very sad.

What’s wrong with this picture? (Other than us 3 looking like huge dorks.)

Got into the office around 11:30. I had planned on being there around 11, but Martha’s parents are in town and her Dad had spotted that the sliding glass door in the kitchen was pulling away from the house. We discovered that one of the screws used to mount it was torqued off, which then obviously was not securing the frame of the doorway. We replaced it with a giant deck screw, and I hope it helps cut down on the draft that comes from that door especially after I re-caulk the edge.

At work I walked around a little before lunch. I was disappointed to see that Kyle wasn’t at work (out sick) which sucks. Not because it was my last day, but because I left a belated birthday present for him under his keyboard and wanted to make sure he got it. Maybe he’ll be in today (Friday).

We departed for VQ around noon. I like that place, it’s a neat building. Plus the food is always really good. If I remember correctly I had the marinated flank steak, which was good. I’m not a fancy eater, I’ll wolf down anything you put in front of me (with the only requirement that it must qualify as food) but when someone else is footing the bill, you gotta treat yourself right.

After lunch I did a small bit of cleanup in my office. I composed my final ‘Goodbye’ email to the company, and also another to my friends. I haven’t cried over losing my job, but I did get a little choked up when writing my goodbye email. I hope that it was received the way I had intended.

While cleaning up I took the ridiculous (7 or 8) number of laptops that were in my office and put them in the server room. I was a little worried because I noticed that one of the marketing PowerBooks was missing. I thought, “Great, they’re going to think I took it.” Fortunately I tracked it down to the person I lent it to.

On my way home I stopped by the bank to deposit my severance and final paycheck. Martha’s mom called me on my cell phone and they were on their way home from going to visit the Kaplans (gotta love little Stella!) I was at the stoplight at 33rd & Killingsworth when Jeanne called and they were at 33rd & Ainsworth. The race was on! I turned up Killingworth headed west and turned right at the park. I got to the Stop sign at Ainsworth, and then saw them pass me. Crap! I took off through the intersection, turned left on Portland Blvd, and headed towards the house. I didn’t see any headlights so I figured the game was up. But once I got in proximity of the house I noticed that they weren’t there! As I pulled into the driveway I saw them turn the corner at 17th.

I gathered my crap and they their groceries and we went inside. It was nice to be home. Martha stopped at the store with her folks and got some groceries, including a pint of my favorite beer! What a lucky bastard I am. I highly recommend buying yourself a pint (you can find it at New Seasons).

So overall it was a pretty good day, I have to say. I’m going to miss the big E, but I’m also looking forward to whatever possibilities might be next. I’m off to register for unemployment.

So between Monday and Tuesday, I wrapped up all my loose ends at work. Technically I don’t even need to be there tomorrow. My boss was cool enough to tell me that if I got my stuff squared away early that I didn’t need to be there everyday this week. Unfortunately I do have go in on Thursday to get my severance, final paycheck and PTO pay-out. I might go in tomorrow too, but only to clean up my desk and then leave early.

Been keeping a watchful eye on craigslist for any leads. I did notice that MetroFi is hiring. This is interesting because MetroFi is one of the front-runners in providing free (or cheap) wi-fi access in the metro area. Along with VeriLAN and Earthlink, I think.

Back to hunting…

Had a meeting with HR at 10 and went over exit paperwork. Stuff like COBRA (which is ridiculously expensive, holy christ) and my separation statement which basically states that I won’t sue the company. Not that I would have any reason to. Then at 11 I had another meeting, this time with my boss and one of my co-workers, talking about transitioning some of my projects onto their plate and basically making sure everything on my side is wrapped up.

I realize now that today was the last Friday that I’ll get to enjoy a donut at work. Not a big deal, but hey I wear my frickin heart on my sleeve, okay? Those little sentimental things add up.

Several people have stopped by my office or stopped me in the hall to offer their empathy and it’s been very nice. It makes it a little harder to leave when you know that people really will miss you (even if it’s just a teeny bit).

I ordered a couple Cisco self-study books to keep me busy during my period off. Ideally after reading them I will take the exam for my CCNA, which is sort of a long time coming. I always used to make fun of certifications (until I got my ACTC) but now I realize that they are valuable. Plus, I get to learn stuff which I always enjoy.

Anyway, wrapping up my last two tasks on my plate and then hoping to go home early today. We’re having guests over for dinner.