Muhahahaha!

Okay, I’ve finally finished my recent round of mad scientisting… and we have:

Constructed of PVC, fires standard issue nerf rounds (the velcro ones seem to work best), this baby is charged via schwin bicycle pump, triggered by a PVC ball valve, and has a pressure gauge.. (the system can handle about 20 psi at the moment).

more pics here…

There’s no official range… but I can nearly hit my boss’s office from my cube across the floor.  Woohoo!  Firing videos to follow.

Music for everyone.

I got the idea from a comment I made for someone else, but I’ve decided that if I ran the world, everyone would get:

1) Afternoon nap time.
2) Water purifier that could be exchanged every year.
3) A music album of their choice on their 7th, 16th, and 23rd birthdays.  If they couldn’t choose one, one will be chosen for them at random (or maybe by some psycological-musical test).

San Francisco

So my company decided to send me to San Francisco for “The AJAX Experience“, which was all well and good, but too geeky to talk much about now (though I will mention that I am finally part of the iPod masses with my shiny new Shuffle).  (If you’re wondering, AJAX is Asynchronously Javascript And XML… e.g. the spiffy new interactive stuff you see on the web now a days ala google maps.

The days before and after the conference were exploration days, and I got to wander the city a bit (mostly on my now pained feet).  I hit most of the touristy stuff (Fisherman’s Wharf, The Legion of Honor, Chinatown, Japantown, The Golden Gate, Union Square), so the next time I go, I’ll need to hit the less touristy stuff, like Haite and the Mission district.

I get in on Tuesday night and take the BART to my hotel (yay mass transit!)

The first day was the Wharf, Chinatown, and Coit Tower.  I spend a good portion of my day walking, and acclimating to walking up hill… very… slowly… up hill.  By the time I get to the Wharf, I’m very glad to find a place to sit.  I realize that on my way over, I have passed up Lombard street, and I backtrack (again up hill).  After walking up the side of the most “crooked road” in the country, I decide that for my first California culinary treat, I’m going to get me some In-N-Out Burger!  One Cheeseburger combo, Animal Style!  After a nice lunch, I walk along the Wharf a bit, and stop to be amused by the street performer who pretends to be a bush and scares passers by.  Odd how ppl don’t notice a bush in the middle of the sidewalk…

Now that I’m rested and well fed… off to my next destination, Coit Tower.  This again requires me to go up Lombard Street, though in the opposite direction.  As Jessica put’s it, I’ve gone uphill on Lombard Street both ways!  Coit Tower itself is rather standard and kinda ugly… but it affords a beautiful view of the city!  I head down through Chinatown to finish off the day (and I’m almost tempted to drop $1200 on a new camera, but think better of it).  Unfortunately, fate does not have this planned for me, because a coworker calls and decided I should accompany him for his lunch.  So another hike back to Fisherman’s and now my feet are dead.  So after a bowl of (rather good, yet expensive) Clam Chowder, we wait for a cable car.  As we wait, the line has to suffer to what must have been the worst street performing juggling act ever… On the cable car I go (wheeee) and we’re back to the hotel for the conference!

One educational conference later, I meet up with Khoi to grab some sushi!  My favorite was their “Sammy Roll” (salmon outside, California inside, curry sauce drizzle).  We also order a “couch” which turns out to be a flaming conch. We stared at so long, the the shell started burning up

On to Saturday.  A short morning walk to Japantown (which was closed in the morning, and when thing finally did open, I find that it’s all more expensive than Japan itself!) Now that I’m good and tired from a nice walk, I take the MUNI 38 to see “The Thinker“, followed by a walk along the pacific coast (beautiful walk).  I wander into the neighborhood of Seaside, where I now want a house overlooking the pacific.

Later I’m wander along Baker Beach.  There are the usual families, some fishermen, a nice day at the beach for all.  As I reach the far end of the beach, I notice that suddenly the sunbathers (all male) are wearing speedos or something.  Then see a guy cavorting around nude in the distance… and realize that they sunbather were not actually wearing speedos…
turns out Baker Beach is partial a nude beach!  And nary a woman in sight 🙁  So of course I walked away from the beach as quickly as possible in uncomfortable denial of what I had seen.

I get to cross “walking across the Golden Gate Bridge” off my list of
things to do!  It seems the Saturday I was wandering around was
“Bridging the Bay” day for the Girl Scouts of the bay area (or possibly
of all of California).  One even fit me into her good deed for the day
by taking my picture for me on the bridge (queue the: awwwww).  About
3/4 of the way, I was ready to ask a troop of them to carry me the rest
of the way… but nary a Girl Scout in sight by that point.  It wasn’t
so much the bridge walk (only 1.7 miles), but rather the 5 or so mile
hike that proceeded it (on not so comfortable shoes no less).  I decide not to walk back and barrel on ahead (and thankfully downhill) to Saulsalito (small touristy town across the bay from SF).  From here I take a ferry back to the city.  On the way I get to inform a new resident of San Francisco that you can indeed walk across the Golden Gate!  I guess people just don’t get around to doing that sort of thing if they actually live in the city?  A little more wandering at night (and a meal at a fancy Vietnamese restaurant), and I call it a night.

Anyway, it’s picture time!

Pictures

I’m especially proud of this one, since I’ve stayed up til 4am to finish it (though it’s still not quite right):

San Franciso Panorama

Good night everyone!

Kingdom of Heaven

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy
of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. Holiness
is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend
themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here [points to head]
and here
[points to heart], and by what you decide to do eveyday, will make you a good man… or not.

-Hospitaller from Kingdom of Heaven