Personal

Boyk finds it amusing that I keep referring to my glasses as “specs,” so I think I’ll keep it that way. I’ve been wearing my new specs for a total of maybe a few hours thus far. First was yesterday, driving from Costco to home. Then, today, from home to T-Rex. Then from T-Rex to the PFA, where I watched Alfie with them on, and then just now, driving from the PFA to home. My first impressions are that they…

Apparently seeing the world through my own two naked eyes are over — here’s to the new eyeglassed me! That’s right, after constantly being amazed that Becky could see things at a distance when I couldn’t (and spending many hours in front of a computer screen), I gave in and finally had a proper eye exam at the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry. (I probably haven’t had an optometrist examine me since at least high school if not…

There’s cops blocking both ends of my street. Apparently, there’s a robbery suspect running around the neighborhood. I’ve never seen so many cops here before. Whoa. I got this email from a neighbor: “As I write this the cops are staked out on [street name redacted] and surrounding streets looking for the suspect in a strong-arm robbery. Believed to be BM with white pants. If you see anything call 911.” Update from said neighbor (1:28 pm): “Hi All–The cops apprehended…

Masood Farivar, a current Dow Jones reporter and former Harvard student and mujahedeen has a book deal about his Afghanistan days: “Confessions of a Mullah Warrior.” He’s the only person I’ve ever met online or in person that has the same family name as me, but who isn’t directly related to me. Congratulations, Masood!

My cousin Nena is visiting California for about 10 days and took this photo of me at my desk a couple days ago. The Flickr version has notes, detailing what’s on my desk right now. That is all. Carry on.

So Becky and I saw Sicko last night and it makes us (seriously) want to move to France. Our lack of EU citizenship, of course, makes this rather tricky. A little digging around the Internets turned up this, which is hopeful: A letter addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the press outlet designating the journalist as a permanent correspondent and specifying his duties and his salary. A minimum of €1,000 per month is required. The applicant must also…

Canoe.ca New Pornographers battle Internet leaks on their own terms July 30 2007 “Personally, I don’t have a huge problem with leaks, I’m of the belief that if people get your record for free but they come to your show and buy a T-shirt or whatever, well, it’s the same difference. You’re not really losing much money. It’s better than them not taking the record for free and not coming to your show,” [New Pornographers singer/guitarist/songwriter Carl] Newman says during…

Today: Tallinn Saturday-Sunday: Ida-Viru County to attend a mini Haamer family reunion. Veljo, his son Kris, and Veljo’s brother Hanno and I are heading east to visit Veljo’s Dad, who lives on a farm somewhere out near Lake Peipsi. Monday: Quick morning trip to Tartu, back in Tallinn by the early afternoon. Tuesday: Two interviews in the morning, fly to Berlin in the afternoon Wednesday: Berlin Thursday: Early morning flight to Amsterdam, day trip to Rotterdam for a story, fly…

Me and seven of my most intrepid friends went camping this weekend at Big Trees. Our stuff got tossed around by a bear cub that we dubbed Floyd — he put minor slashes in my tent and broke one of the poles while we were away hiking around Lake Alpine on Saturday. An inconvenience to be sure, but everything turned out ok. In other news, here’s what I’m reading these days: Taco truck sales divide Salinas Latinos (SJ Merc, June…

Me and some friends are headed to the Sierras to go camping this weekend. Then I’m back working in Oakland early this next week, then I’m off to Europe (mostly Estonia) July 5-31.