This is the sort of building that brings out strong feelings. Speaking for myself, I really like it. It’s great to see such a bold reinterpretation of the three story townhouse. Brooklyn has thousands of these sorts of buildings, 95% of which are probably covered in aluminum siding. This, dubbed the Fishtank Building, can’t help but be noticed.

It’s not really so practical though. I don’t think I would want my apartment on display to the whole street. Anyone who moves in is probably going to end up covering up an entire wall with curtains. That sort of defeats the purpose of the building. I’ve noticed this same problem in construction all over New York. It seems like nearly every new residential building is all glass and steel. That design can provide great views if you’re on a high enough floor, but high or low, you put your apartment on display to the world. Doesn’t anyone want privacy anymore? I can’t think of a new building that uses ordinary double-hung windows. Yeah they restrict your view to the outside but it also keeps people from seeing in.

Today has been a great day for me because it’s been so productive. After about three hours of sleep, this awesome day all started at 7 am with an airport drop-off. The roads were so empty! It was a thing of beauty. Pulling on to El Camino at 7 o’clock and seeing no cars was surreal. I could have parked and disturbed no one. Highway 101 was a breeze too. I easily sustained 90 mph on the drive to SFO. I love an easy trip to the airport.

On the way home I stopped by the office. Yesterday I was having problems with my office computer. The screen would randomly go dark. I planned to back up my important files before the screen died on me. Unfortunately the computer was not cooperating. I couldn’t get it to work for even a few minutes. So I sent a message to the helpdesk and hopefully they can swap out the computer and recover my data on Monday. I also took a few minutes out to call my mom while I was at work. Plus I took the leftover office bagels from the fridge and stole someone’s frozen lasagna.

Oh I did treat myself today too. I have been on this anti-fast food kick since the summer and I’ve been very successful at it. Since today is Thanksgiving I decided I would indulge in some greasy food. I stopped by Jack in the Box and picked up the double cheeseburger, some fries and the bacon cheddar potato wedges. Now this was at 9:30 in the morning so I felt a little weird pulling to the drive-thru, but turns out I wasn’t alone. There were five other guys ahead of me.

This actually brings me to a pet peeve. I had to pull over and park to wait for my food to be cooked. There were two cars to my left with drivers that had food. I don’t understand why these people would eat in their cars. The closest guy left his car running for some reason, but he ate pretty quickly so I guess it was just a snack. The second guy was eating a whole meal. He was eating before I ordered and was still there after I drove away. This isn’t a freak occurrence either. I see this all the time in California but I don’t understand the appeal. First off, you dirty up your car when you eat in it. Second, even if you don’t care about that, it’s not a comfortable place. You can’t spread your food out. Why do it at all? Just wait the 15 minutes until you can drive home. You’ll have a much more comfortable eating experience.

So I took my greasy haul back home to enjoy, and enjoy it I did! Half of it anyway. That first half was so tasty, but by the time I got to the second half I was feeling the effects. At the end I felt all bloated and nasty. I really don’t miss fast food, and this was a good reminder. By the way, in case you’re keeping score, I didn’t violate the “once a week” rule. I skipped my traditional Sunday meal at Taco Bell this week.

There’s so little to watch on Thanksgiving Day though. If you don’t like the parade or football, the day is a disappointment. I watched hours of the History Channel’s food programming. That amounts to seeing “American Eats” and “More American Eats” twice today. *Yawn*

I did however get a ton of computer work done. Today I finally made myself create a personalized version of Windows XP. I had been planning this for months because when I build my new computer, I’ll need to install Windows again. I might as well make it a real good install. That disc is now ready. After I finish working tonight, I’ll break down my old computer and start work on the new one. I hope to be up and running again in the morning. I am a little worried though I didn’t buy a powerful enough power supply. I thought I would have about 80 watts left over, but that was before I picked a video card. I hope this isn’t a problem.

I did have some big plans for Black Friday, so I avoided cooking a proper Thanksgiving meal today. Eating a lot of peas makes me gassy and I didn’t want to be breaking wind while I stood on line outside of Micro Center. My plans have recently changed though. I watched the 6 pm news and they had a story about people already lining up for the sales tomorrow. Then I started reading on the hot deals websites reports of lines already forming around many stores. I decided I needed to scout the situation. My original plan was to line up at 4 am. This week I moved that up to 3 am. Then today I moved my schedule again to 1:30 am, right after I finish work. After hearing those news reports I decided to take a look at the crowds. At 8 pm I drove out to Micro Center, and then to Best Buy and Circuit City just for fun. Micro Center already had 30 people camped outside. Circuit City had about 50 people there already. Best Buy was the winner tonight. The line already wrapped around the building. There were probably 150 people there.

Since I would not make it to Micro Center for at least five more hours, and there was already 30 people waiting, I decided to give up on my Black Friday plans. It was a fun idea but I have to work. I’m not coming away from this empty handed though. Instead of getting that $500 37″ LCD, I ordered a $700 37″ LCD from Newegg. The up front price is almost the same. The Micro Center LCD actually has $150 in rebates, so I would have to pay $650 today anyway. The Newegg TV is a better one too. It comes with a built-in tuner so cable or an antenna can be directly connected to it. Plus the bezel is black instead of silver and the speakers are on the side instead of the bottom. Those are positives for me. One big positive is that I won’t have to struggle to get the thing in my car. I was pretty worried about that ordeal.

I know a $700 TV is pricey for a person who doesn’t really need one. That much money is obviously not the best deal, but it’s not too bad. I did consider just calling off the spending spree entirely. That is the most logical thing. I changed my mind when I realized the money I save isn’t going to change my life. I have already invested the bulk of my savings. A few hundred dollars in the bank won’t do much for me. If instead, I used it to buy 37 inches worth of happiness, then why not?
So since Black Friday is busted for me, I’ll at least get a good night’s sleep. Then I can cook a tasty meal tomorrow. I got a cake to bake too! Finally some good eats.

I was trying to think of why I suddenly felt the urge to spend so much. I’ve come to blame LensCrafters. I know the easy answer is just to say that I’ve been denying myself so long, I’m now “gorging” on shopping. I don’t think that’s it though.

I had about $70 left in my vision reimbursement account, and I found a $75 coupon for LensCrafters. So I decided now was the time to replace my nine year old glasses. With the $145 in savings, I expected I would be paying about $60 to $100 out of pocket, which is a price I can certainly live with. Then reality kicked me in the wallet.

I feel like such a fossil for saying so but I got hit with some major sticker shock at the eye doctor. I remember an eye exam used to cost around $40, and LensCrafters used to do them free when you bought glasses. When did those days end? The eye exam alone was about $140. There go my savings! The glasses ended up costing me nearly $500. Am I so out of touch with reality? How long has it been like this?

I remember when I bought my, now old, glasses nine years ago. Somehow my brother talked me into going to the place he went to; a Cohen’s Fashion Optical in midtown. I wonder if that chain is still around? I paid $600 then but I knew that was an outrageous amount. Since the damage was done I figured I should wear them for a long time, even though they were too tight and cut a groove into the side of my head.

My neighborhood optometrist had the $200 glasses and I guess I expected to go back to those prices. I first went to a local optometrist in Mountain View where they charged me $175 for an exam. I just assumed the price was nuts because it was in an expensive neighborhood. Maybe they aren’t so out of line. I’m still pretty stunned though. Doesn’t the $40 exam exist anymore?

I think this sticker shock embittered me. Here I am spending gobs of money on something I didn’t really want so much. I went for new glasses because I thought the discounts would make it cheap. Now I’m spending like mad to get a shopping fix. If I’m going to have to spend a bunch of money, I damn well better enjoy it. Lousy LensCrafters.

I’m usually a tightwad. In fact I take a sick joy out of self denial. This month though I have given in to the spend thrift ways of my generation. Thanks to a Thanksgiving sale at Costco I finally broke down and bought that awesome camera I’ve been craving for all these months. I ordered it Saturday night and I’m anxiously waiting for it’s delivery.

Well I was anxiously waiting for it until about fifteen minutes ago when I found this bundle online. To be fair this is $15 more than what I paid, but it comes with a 1 GB SD card. I’ll need to buy one of those now. What really got my goat was that Newegg is selling a white V705. Where on Earth did a white V705 come from? I just checked Kodak’s website and they only have black, silver and pink. How can Newegg have a white camera available when Kodak doesn’t even sell them!!! What the hell! I was happy to be getting the silver one, but now all I can think is that it’s not the white one.

Piling more on to this is that the mysterious white camera is at Newegg. I just ordered computer supplies from them last night, and got the shipment confirmation an hour ago. I’ve been buying computer parts for the last several months to replace my current computer. Last night I took the plunge and finished it off by buying RAM and a video card. In the past I always cheaped out on every component. This time is the very first time I bought quality supplies. I realized it has been years since I built a personal, every day system. Lately I’ve been experiencing some phantom computer failures so I decided to take the plunge and buy something good. I haven’t made a total yet, but I bet I’ve reached $1000.

Yet my spending hasn’t even stopped. I bought the RAM and video card using Bill Me Later so I don’t need to pay for them until March. I did that so I could buy a fancy new LCD TV. I had first planned on getting the 32″ screen because this is just a bedroom TV, but I read about serious ghosting problems with the set on a 480 signal source thanks to its ATI Xilleon chipset. So of course I had to bump it up to the 37″ that uses a different chipset.

I’m actually very worried about this purchase. I’m going to head over to MicroCenter around 3 am to get in line. I’m worried though about having to move the TV around by myself. The place is going to be crowded so I don’t think any of the MicroCenter employees can help me bring it out to my car, and I think a TV box is too big to get on a shopping cart. Plus I have to take the TV out of its box in the parking lot so I can fit it in my car. I really wish I could do this by mail order but there are no deals that way.

And to top Black Friday off I wanted to drop by Best Buy to get a $10 copy of an Arrested Development season. I know I should go later in the day, but I kind of wanted to see a bit of the pandemonium at that store. I’ll probably end up parking on the street with that crowd.

I can’t believe I’m spending so much, or that I even want to. Technically I need none of this. I can live without a camera and my 27″ RCA still works, but I just want some shiny new stuff already! Oh yeah and I just mailed off a large portion of my savings to open a brokerage account with Vanguard. I’ll be buying some junk bonds soon. I shouldn’t lump that in with these impulse buys, but still it is a significant amount of money for me to be moving around.

Sometimes you’re right, but it’s still shocking when you’re so incredibly right. Back in May I made the assertion that all this talk about running out of oil was just scare-mongering foolishness. It’s nice to have the good people at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) agree with me. The real report costs $1000, but the press release gives a nice summary of their position.

I think I can sum it up quicker though. We’ve been constantly underestimating our oil supply because we have underestimated our technological innovations to reach more oil. Instead of a trillion barrels of useable oil on the planet, CERA estimates we have three trillion.

That’s not to say this is the end of the debate. Lots of people are invested in the idea of peak oil for either environmental or economic reasons. I’m sure they will argue with CERA and continue to announce the end of the oil age. I didn’t buy the argument at the beginning of the year and I’m not going to buy it now. Time will tell, but I would put my money on oil having a very long future.

The Indians expect to have a man on the moon in 2020. I roll my eyes every time I read that statement. There’s just so many things wrong with this plan. First, it’s so obviously an attempt by the Indians to claim they’re competitive in the space race. Ever since the Chinese put a man into orbit the whole world has assumed it’s the Chinese that will be making the big strides into space. This is a cry for attention from the Indians.

If you’re kind, you can read parallels between this announcement and JFK’s call for a lunar landing. The US was behind the USSR when Kennedy made that speech. The difference is Kennedy was calling for a massive push to get this project done. Billions of dollars were thrown at the problem and the US space industry was rapidly expanded. I have not seen any indication the Indian government shares the desire for a lunar landing. I don’t see them giving the space agency the money to carry out this plan. India has more pressing issues than a space race with China. Plus the leftists in India are a pretty strong power group. They would never agree to spend more money on the moon when they could use it to subsidize domestic industries.

By the way, I find it pretty irritating that every country that puts people into space feels the need to create a new name for that same person. As a child I never understood why Americans were called astronauts and the Russians were cosmonauts. They do the same work! Then the Chinese came up with taikonaut (except officially it’s a yuhangyuan). Now the Indians want their own title. I hope by the time the Indians settle on something like gaganaut, the fatigue of remembering these new words sets in and we just end up calling them all astronauts. Why make life more confusing with more words for the same thing?

The Bay Area sports scene has had an exciting last two weeks. Most recently the 49ers announced they would be leaving San Francisco for the sleepy little town of Santa Clara. The reason for the move isn’t so obviously. Clearly the new stadium deal failed but there’s more to it than that. A lot of it comes down to construction issues and a dash of San Francisco politics. I had the impression the city’s negotiators were responsive to the 49ers owner, John York. The problem actually came from the mayor, Gavin Newsom. His insistence any stadium deal had to be approved in a referendum was going to add millions of dollars to the cost because then the 49ers would have to pay for a media campaign to sell the deal to the public.

This deal I’m talking about would rebuild the stadium at Candlestick Point. This area east of Highway 101 has limited free space, so parking is a huge issue. I’ve heard part of the deal would have the 49ers having to use shuttles to parking lots in south San Francisco. Worse yet they would still need to build the world’s largest parking garage. York doesn’t like that because of the cost, for traffic issues and because no one wants to tailgate in a garage. Plus it remains undecided who was going to pay to rebuild Candlestick’s infrastructure and a new mass transit connection.

Santa Clara seems like an odd choice, but it turns out the 49ers keep their corporate offices there. This city can offer a lot more room to build. The chosen site is currently a parking lot in Great America. The land is owned by Santa Clara, but under the plan the land would be leased to the 49ers to build their stadium. Parking for games and Great America would be made up in the surrounding area. I’m not sure where though. Some buildings will need to be demolished for parking. Maybe those houses along Lake Santa Clara Drive can be.

I’m not a football fan so I can’t say I’m stoked about this deal, but I’m not against it either. The suburbs are an ideal spot for football stadiums because the big open spaces fit well with the culture. Tailgate parties require large parking lots. Plus there are a handful of games played during a season so traffic isn’t as big a deal as with frequent baseball or basketball games. The real nice thing is that Santa Clara isn’t paying for the stadium. At best they’re giving the 49ers a deal on the land lease but there are no out of pocket expenses. I can agree to a deal like that.

San Francisco is obviously upset, particularly since the 49ers want to keep using “San Francisco” in their name. San Francisco politicians are promising to stop them from taking the name with them. In the end though, there’s little they can do about the name or the move. San Francisco isn’t going to find more land for a parking lot and probably won’t cough up more money for construction for the team. It’s not that bad though. I don’t really think of that city as a football town. Politicians have more gain from losing the team and just making a stink, than actually trying to entice the 49ers to stay.

The law is so bogus in this country! Yet again another hot teacher has had sex with an underage student. I’ll get into my own frustrations about this later but first let me explain why it’s a mistake to call this sexual assault. The student is 17 years old. The teacher is 29 and really friggin hot. The odds that this was an unwanted sexual advance are so small, they’re laughable. If you don’t want to have any doubt, go ask the guy. I’m sure he will tell you he wants to hook up with her again. If you want it, it’s not assault.

This brings me to my next point. Eighteen is simply too high for an age of consent. I think it’s confusing to say a 17 year old is too young to make decisions about their sexual activity yet many wouldn’t bat an eyelash if two 17 years olds had sex. Hey if this 17 year old was dating a 14 or 15 year old, no one would be calling for legal action.

I’ll admit this is a gray area. Although I can’t come up with a reasoned argument against it, I hesitate to say we should all be freely banging 14 year olds. That just seems too young somehow. If I had to draw a line in the sand I’d probably agree to do it at 16. I know you’re thinking this would be declaring open season for pervy guys to chase after teen girls, because I had that thought too. When I thought about it some more, I had my doubts that these consent laws really stop guys who would date these teens. I remember during my senior year of high school hearing about a sophomore dating a 30 year old guy. No matter if you lower the age of consent, rape will still be rape and young women will have the same legal protection from sexual predators as they had before.

The situation for a guy is totally different anyway. An older woman pursuing a teenage boy is so rare so it won’t be open season from this perspective. Besides, speaking as a former teenage boy, let me tell you there is nothing wrong with an older woman/younger man hook up. When I was growing up I hoped plenty of times that an older woman would try to seduce me. I understand the worry that young women should be protected from aggressive men, even if it is a pretty sexist argument. This particular case is a no brainer though. The 17 year old probably considered himself the luckiest bastard ever, and rightly so. Putting the teacher in jail is stupid. She didn’t harm this kid. Sleeping with him was poor judgment because as his teacher they have a professional relationship and I recommend she, and future cases, be fired and barred from teaching. Criminal proceedings are not necessary though.

Now I know it’s become cliche to say so, but c’mon. Where were these teachers when I was a kid? McCandless is really pretty, even in the orange prison jumpsuit. I envy that 17 year old. I haven’t had a lot of hot teachers though. My sixth grade teacher was decent but nothing to go nuts over. In high school I remember there was one good looking substitute teacher. She was just out of college and was hoping to get a permanent job at the high school. A lot of the other guys thought she was totally hot, but I say she was overrated. Nice but nothing to go nuts over. Then came college and damn I can’t think of any hot professors or TAs there. Well there was one professor I had my fantasies about but I think that was more of a power thing. She was a pretty stern teacher and I found that to be a surprising turn on. Weird too because she was around 50 and not all that. Wow that’s a sad history. And now there is one less hot teacher in the world too. Damn this crazy law of ours!

I have been complaining about aviation for years. This is one industry that seems to get worse as time goes by. Computer chips get faster and cheaper. Cars get roomier and more efficient. Airlines get more crowded and delayed. I can’t remember ever hearing about a breakthrough or revolution in jet technology. It seems as if we’re stuck traveling the same way as our grandparents did in the 1950s. Except now, instead of a meal, we’re served a snack.

I just yesterday discovered a revolution of sorts in air travel. The jets don’t travel any faster or quieter but it’s way more comfortable than any airline you’ve seen for sale. Behold Eos Airlines! This company uses Boeing 757s designed to carry 220 people, but cuts the number of seats down to 48. This gives Eos 21 square feet per seat to convert into a lounge for your flight. Your seat can fully recline into a flat bed. The high partition wall gives you privacy from your fellow travelers. The stowaway tray table is big enough for two so you can dine with a friend or conduct business on the flight. Plus you get served a proper meal with linen table cloth and flatware.

I’m gushing over this airline because this is how air travel was supposed to evolve. Instead somehow we’ve grown to expect to be treated as cattle when we fly. I don’t know who to blame for this. If aviation technology had kept a brisk pace, jets should be cheaper to run, so fewer people would need to be carried to make a flight profitable. On the other hand, airline unions certainly didn’t help with their demands for fat wages and benefits. For instance why should two pilots who make six-figure salaries be required for every flight when computers are capable of flying and landing the plane? If you want a human backup to the systems, put one guy behind the controls and pay him $50,000 a year. You’ll still get plenty of applicants willing to go to flight school.

If only we could live in a world where Eos is the rule rather than the exception; although that would be a very expensive world. Tickets range from $3000 to $6000 a seat. You do get great service beyond the flight for that cash. Not only do you get the roomy seat, you get pampered in the airline lounge, a car service, concierge service and a guide through security. Flying Eos is now one of my life goals. I’ll never consider myself a success until I can afford a ticket.

I do have something I should be doing right now, but I feel like I need to get my thoughts out there and unburden myself. That’s what this blog is for after all. Last week a friend of mine was badgering me to “do more” with myself and somehow got it into his head I should be working in the State Department. So I obliged and looked at what openings they had. Going into it I assumed State would require master’s degrees at a minimum, probably with ten or more years experience working for various NGOs. In short I assumed I would find nothing. That turned out to be wrong. I found one position as a Foreign Affairs Research Analyst I was technically qualified for.

Now I say technically because there’s a little more to it than the basics. I qualify because I graduated from an accredited university with a history degree. I was instantly suspicious because that was such a general qualification it was nearly meaningless. My suspicion proved correct because there is also a questionnaire that goes along with the application. The questionnaire does a lot to weed people, including myself, out.

On Wednesday I was going to give up but I had a second thought. Maybe I should just try to bullshit myself on this. I don’t expect at all to be called for an interview for this. So really there is no harm in pushing my lack of foreign affairs experience to its very limits. That actually turned out to be pretty difficult. Answering the multiple choice questions was somewhat troubling, but the essay questions were just painful. I still haven’t really written them. I spent today scratching out some general notes so I have an idea of what to write.

Really though I don’t know what else I could have done in my life to be better prepared for this. Let’s say I can send this job description back to myself in college. Now college-me has a goal. I still don’t know what other choices I could have made. Sure I could have done better in school but the job requirement makes no mention of grades. It only cares that I have a bachelor’s degree. A lot of the questions ask about what experience I have with foreign affairs and policy making. Perhaps this position isn’t meant for beginners. That would make sense if a master’s was required. I can’t think of a single job someone fresh out of college could get that would be good preparation for this. Entry level jobs don’t usually have much decision making involved and even fewer require you to know foreign affairs.

My confusion is what’s bothering me. I know I shouldn’t expect this job application to go anywhere. I have no professional experience in writing technical documents, foreign policy analysis or as a liaison. All my experience comes from chatting about politics with my friends. Allow me to pat myself on the back and say I’m also well read. Still that hardly qualifies me to write analyses for the State Department. Yet I can’t help but think they aren’t asking much for whoever fills this position. If State was fighting off candidates with a pointy stick, they would at least limit the job to those with master’s degrees and then those with some years of experience in foreign matters. They did neither so perhaps my application is not so far fetched. I wish I was more certain of the outcome. I hate to put a lot of effort into something that is hopeless, but I don’t want to screw up a chance out of laziness. At least I can commit myself. I will submit my application no later than Monday night, and if by some fluke I get a job offer from this I will take it. I would end up living in Washington DC, which I’m hardly stoked about, but the job is a great opportunity. I would be foolish to choose otherwise.