Personal

This past weekend, my grandparents moved out of their home in the Berkeley Hills of nearly half a century. As many of you know, that house is very near and dear to my heart. As I told them, if they were selling it (they’re not), I would sell everything that I owned to be able to keep that house in our family. On Monday evening, I took a tour of the house, in its empty and soon-to-be-rented state, and went…

After being inspired by my buddy Alan Wiig‘s razor, I wanted to go old-school. (Not as old-school as I went once in 2002, but old-school nonetheless.) A few weeks ago, I acquired one of these, a Merkur Classic Razor. I’ve decided to completely ditch my crappy and expensive Mach 3 in favor of the Merkur. I like the metallic and heavier body that it has versus the Mach 3, and I like its double-edged awesomeness. It cuts better, it’s easier…

I got my passport back! I had to get extra pages added to my U.S. passport. The website says it can take up to six weeks, but I got mine back in under two. Sweet! Today, I went to the Asian Art Museum and met Ala Ebtekar, a Berkeley-born Iranian hip-hop visual artist. We chatted a bit and he told me to Rose Market in Mountain View to get some real-deal koobideh as well as other staples like bastani (Persian…

I’ve posted the instructions on MacUser.

I just read the latest by the Frugal Traveler, signed up for CouchSurfing, and finally descended on the site of Adam Katz, an Oaklander who is currently making his way from Zanzibar back to San Francisco. He’s currently living in Dahab, Egypt, on the Gulf of Aquaba. Damn, I need to get out there. Way out there. ALSO SEE: Thoughts on Wanderlust; December 12, 2005

I have been informed by the powers at 901 Mission St. that my review of Once In A Lifetime will run in the Datebook section of The San Francisco Chronicle on June 26. On a semi-related note, I’m still trying to watch the World Cup on my Mac.

Becky and I went to Vancouver the week after Memorial Day weekend. I won’t bore you with the details, but here are some of the highlights. – We departed Oakland on May 26, 2006. – We saw my old friend Katie Saxon and her master’s recital at the University of Oregon in Eugene. May 27, 2006 : – Then, en route to Sasquatch (in George, WA), we stopped in Portland. We tried to have lunch at the Montage Bistro, but…

c. 1980s JVC Stereo Receiver and Magnavox CD Player – $40 Toyota Car Radio Tape Player – $20 50 percent blog-reader discount applies.

Please buy my iBook, so I can afford a MacBook. I’ll even throw in a blog-reader discount, if you mention that you saw it here. Update: That was fast. It’s been sold.