RIP

- mildy annoying: colleagues and business partners sometimes refer to me as steven or stephan

- for halloween, a group decorated their cubes as san francisco landmarks: union square, ghiradeli square (sp), pac bell park, wharf. there was a chinatown, but the person dressed in a kimono with white paint. jesus. seriously. this was the funniest thing EVER.

- I think this is going to be the last post for a long while, effectively RIP. thanks to all.

Pay it Forward


so last night as i was driving home at night, this guy "softly" rear ends me as i was stopped at a light. i got out of the car to make sure he was ok and to assess damage. it turned out to be a medium sized scuff.

he was a mexican man, maybe early 30's. he apologized and told me he was tired from working a late shift at a restaraunt in san jose and that he was just getting home (it was 1:30am). he genuinely looked tired and apologetic. i asked for his insurance, but after he pulled it out, i took a quick look at my bumper again and realized it would be ok.

I decided to just let him go. even though my bumper is scratched in other places from asshole SF street parkers and that this could have fixed the whole bumper, i decided to just tell him to be careful and get some rest.

there was one time last winter where i "gently" rear ended someone at 5 mph on octavia. it was raining, dark, and traffic was crawling. i was tired and closed my eyes for a sec and tapped someone. he got out of the car in the rain, walked back to inspect his car, and waived me off.

random thoughts:

people who drive into our parking lot with their music loud are annoying. really, there's no point to it. its not overly bothersome to those living on the first floor (like me), but its slightly annoying. i fall into this category, too.

i've weighed my options and if i go overseas next year, i'll go in the fall. no point in being hasty and leaving early, plus i'll miss most of the deadlines for summer internships/positions anyway.

i was able to get to the next level in climbing over the past two weeks. i think my healthy eating is definitely revealing itself. its hard for me to drink soda now or eat out like i used to. give me organic vegetables, fruit, and deck of card sized pieces of meat and i'm good. also, running 6-8 miles each week helps too.

reading legacy of ashes and i've discovered that the CIA was built by ego driven and incompetant fools. so many agents were dropped behind enemy lines in china, korea, poland, germany, ukraine and totured/killed and hundreds of millions of dollars (unadjusted for today's inflation) were wasted. absolutely zero useful intelligence was gathered in the korean war. and i'm only on the 1950's.

im growing more tolerable of my boss. i think its because she's been a little softer since she's been in a serious relationship.

we hired a new analyst and also have an intern here this summer. geez, they're so young. i overheard them talking about making lots of money. im glad that i've come to the realization that doing something satisfying is more important (not that i'm doing anything satisfying here). but doing something satisfying and making a decent amount is good, too. just one more damn year of collecting my paycheck from these people and i'm out.

i'd like to join a dinner cooking co-op.

They switched out starbucks for peet's in the breakroom. i wonder what the impetus was.

re-visiting rain dogs. such a good album

i havent felt this anxious in a few years, since i interviewed for this job. im having a hard time sleeping, i check the admissions website everyday, unable to really focus on my climbing, trying to keep my mind off of it through consumption of food, alcohol, and material products. they have the initial document review period of 4-5 weeks, which ends this Friday, and then i 'm told whether an interview is necessary. ugh...

Sweet Tired Birds
Originally uploaded by evenstephen.

these two birds have just recently moved into our garage. they have been quietly building their nest for the past two weeks. they also crap on people's cars. you know, its weird, i am beginning to develop a very strange relationship with these birds. I mostly only see them when i get back to my place at night, and they are sound asleep (as this picture is demonstrating). They're surprisingly very heavy sleepers, since my car doesn’t wake them up when i pull in. In a way, i think i'm actually starting to care about their well-being. i cant explain it, but there’s a sense of quiet reassurance when i get back to the garage and see that they're sleeping and it makes me happy that they're getting their "home" ready for new family members. i think people generally have an easier time forming bonds with birds (remember that whole controversy of the co-op on the UES that evicted the hawks? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4082491.stm) . this may be a very weird analogy, but i almost relate them to young parents who are busy saving money in hopes of buying a house for their young family. i see these birds as really having a meaningful relationship with each other; searching for mud and sticks and feathers, finding a nice and good secure spot, and resting together after a hard days work. it puts a smile on my face when i see them and think about how, in a way, my parents did the same for me and my brother - going to a strange place and having to dig deep and pull it together for us. even though they crap on people's cars, i don’t think anyone in my garage minds. we all hope everything turns out well. now a bee hive, that would be a different story...