Yes, as you’ve noticed, I’m back. Can’t promise I’ll post daily, but I’ll try to. The last six months were just hectic between the holidays and moving to Michigan and settling down, starting a new job, getting cats, etc, etc, etc. Now summer is rolling in, and I’m finally feeling settled.
I’m really late to this party, but the past week I’ve discovered the pure joy of TeamViewer, a free application that lets you remote control any PC or Mac from any other PC or Mac (or even an iPhone), and it works perfectly and easily. Case in point, the other morning I was in bed, surfing on my MacBook Pro. I had been doing some remote maintenance on my dad’s laptop in Seattle on my desktop PC in the living room earlier. Instead of getting out of bed, or even just logging off from the living room desktop, I used TeamViewer to remote to my desktop from my laptop, and used the already open TeamViewer on my desktop to remote to my dad’s laptop 2,500 miles away. I remote controlled a computer over a remote controlled computer! That’s how good it is.
Over the past week, I’ve used TeamViewer to perform maintenance on my parents’ computers, as well as my sister’s laptop. Prior to this, I’d either have to talk them through their problems over the phone, or waste a day of holiday vacation spent being the family IT guy. Now, I can do it from the comfort of my bed. It’s brilliant.
The screen above is me accessing my MacBook Pro over my desktop. It’s awesome.
If you’ve wondered where I’ve been the past few days, the answer is Michigan. Actually, flew out Thursday and back Friday, but going cross-country twice in less than 36 hours has a way of really screwing your body up, so I spent all of Saturday in bed. It’s Sunday and I’m still exhausted. I had a 20 hour day on Friday, beginning with breakfast and a drive around Ann Arbor to a 5 hour flight back to San Francisco that got me in bed around midnight Pacific. Now I have a big decision to make.
Anyway, proof I was there.
I love magazines, which is a big problem because I don’t like to throw them away. My room is filled with stacks of them. I like having them around no matter how old they are, because they’re time capsules. There’s nothing I like better than cracking open a Time or a Newsweek from a year ago or 20 years ago. It’s like getting a synopsis of the major news of the day, as well as the cultural and popular trends. You can even learn a lot from the ads. (My favorite are magazines from the 70s; there’s a ridiculously silly amount of faux wood paneling on every consumer product out there). For a history major like me, magazines are a treasure.
My favorite magazine is The Economist, which is a fantastic read if you’re interested about, well, anything, from global events, politics, business, and science. It’s smartly written and brilliant, and at the very least you owe it to yourself to get the annual Holiday issue. Next up is The Atlantic, probably the most prestigious American magazine around; it’s founders were guys (and gals) with names like Emerson, Longfellow, and Stowe. It published Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson. And while the current stable of writers such as James Fallows and Robert D. Kaplan aren’t quite Mark Twain, they remain insightful and intelligent. The Atlantic is something you should read if you’re interested in the idea that is America. And then there was my guilty pleasure: Entertainment Weekly. I’d been a fan of EW since it’s debut in 1990. In the pre-Internet age, it was the way that a kid in the Northwest corner of the country could keep up with the latest movies, music, and books on a weekly basis. It was such a revelation when it appeared; here was the equivalent of Time or Newsweek, but for popular culture. Over the ensuing decade, it became a constant companion anywhere I went. And I was so proud and gobsmacked the day I found out that one of my compatriots from The Daily was on staff by reading her byline.
And then I canceled my EW subscription on Saturday.
It’s sad to say, but the magazine doesn’t speak to me anymore. It’s not because Aintitcool and Televisionwithoutpity and MSNBC all feed my constant fix for information about movies and television. I’m a purist. I like print. I like paper. I like being able to roll up with a magazine anywhere, in any position, whether it’s dangling upside down on the couch or sitting on the porcelain throne or in those “please stow all electronic items at this time” moments during takeoffs and landings. And you already know I love throwing magazines into a stack in my room, in case the Big One should hit San Francisco and, centuries from now, when the archeologists finally get around to digging up the remains of my place they can discover a treasure trove of magazines. The reason I killed my EW subscription is the fact that the magazine is no longer interested in me, probably because I’m not a teenage girl. How many times can the editors shove a Twilight cover or mention on the cover? What’s with all the pages devoted to “Where can I buy that scarf that Leighton Meester wore in that episode of Gossip Girl?” Why is there so much more focus on gossip and celebrity? Screw that. In its race to appeal to the People demographic, EW left behind longtime fans like me. If we wanted People, we’d buy that stupid, vapid, empty calorie magazine.
Of course, the problem is that I’m such a longtime fan. As in, I’ve been reading since 1990, which means I’ve got to be more than 25 and probably (*gasp*) over 30. I’ve never understood the lavish devotion to the “tween” set uber alles. They don’t make money. Guess who bought a luxury sedan, a 50-inch plasma, a high-end PC, and a second iPhone in the past two years? Probably not them.
So I’ll stick with The Economist and The Atlantic. And you know what’s really great about The Economist? Here’s a magazine that not only refuses to dumb down its content, but it’s practically the only magazine in the industry whose advertising revenue grew last year. And they not only grew, but they grew by a sizzling 25-percent. In the meantime, every other magazine is dying or desperately trying not to die; Time, Inc., which publishes EW, has laid off hundreds in the past year. Here’s a hint, EW: There’s a lot of money to be had in catering to people who like to be well informed.
Month three of the blog arrives. This is post #70, so averaging slightly more than one per day. I’m happy with it.
This is also a big week, though I can’t explain exactly why right now. I am leaving on a jet plane for a couple of days, though.
Also got my scanner dusted off and working again. My Dell is really turning into the digital hub of my life. Busy scanning documents now, not to mention shredding sensitive ones. (I’ve got a Fellowes shredder for that!) I love Canon’s LiDE line; excellent image quality, USB-powered, and very portable. I remember back in 2003 I could slip it into my old LiDE into a messenger bag along with my old Pismo G3 PowerBook and scan documents and books at the UW libraries. Very handy. Though one complaint I have is that the CanoScan software needs serious updating in terms of its visual look. It looks like a Windows 3.1 app.
Said goodbye to a friend today. Rannie passed away from cancer on Sunday, at an age far too young. I had known her since her very first days at Linn PR more than a decade ago, and it’s not hyperbole to say she was the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful person I’ve ever met in this industry. You could tell just by the sheer number of people who stood in the hallway because the chapel was overflowing. I’ll consider myself a fortunate man if half so many people show up for my memorial service. Lots of familiar faces, some I’ve known since my very first days in this industry.
I also was able to hang out with a dear friend, Victoria, who flew up from Orange County for the service. I picked her up at the airport, which wasn’t easy considering the sudden shut down of the Bay Bridge the night before due to structural failure. Naturally, that resulted in havoc on the highway. Then it was off to breakfast at The Pork Store on Haight (delicious Eggs Benedict), then the rest of the morning and early afternoon spent at the wonderful California Academy of Sciences. The digital planetarium is absolutely fantastic, and there was a different presentation from what we had experienced last September, when EA held a Spore party at the place weeks before its grand opening. Back then, only the lobby and the planetarium were accessible. This time we got to check out the penguins getting fed, go atop the “living roof”, explore the tropical rain forest in the terrarium, and then check out the aquarium, which includes an American swampland exhibit complete with albino alligator.
Under the Sea
After that, it was off to the Legion of Honor to take in the views on an absolutely idyllic October day before we went to the memorial service. Then, I drove V back to the airport, once again dodging the traffic nightmare.
So I’m exhausted, physically and emotionally. And I’m both happy and sad.
The president is in town tonight for a fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis; his first trip to San Francisco since the election. I’d love to go for even a chance to glimpse him, but Union Square is going to be a zoo, assuming you can even get that close. Maybe I could hang out on the probable motorcade route? I saw Clinton a couple of times when he was in office, even got to shake his hand at a 1996 election rally at Pike Place Market. Man, I thought the Secret Service was going to snap, because somehow the president got between a concrete balcony and the crowd that was rushing forward toward him. Things got really tight back there, and there was almost no place for the president and his bodyguards to back up. The second time was when he made a visit to Shoreline Community College, which was next door to my house; I saw him in his limo and gave him a big thumbs up, and he gave one right back. It was awesome! I haven’t had a chance to see Obama in person, yet. I’d love to.
I love a good pen, and right now my favorite has to be the Uni-ball Gel Grip in Blue. It’s everything a good pen should be. For one, it’s not a ballpoint, the worst type of pen available. God, ballpoints suck, mainly because their “ink” is a viscous sludge that clots way too easily. Give me a decent rollerball any day; they use liquid ink. The difference in my penmanship between a ballpoint and a rollerball is like comparing a child learning his letters to a statesmen. A rollerball flows so naturally, elegantly, and effortlessly over the page, leaving a uniform, solid, and pleasing line in its wake. A ballpoint fades in and out depending on the dryness of the ink, and since you have to press so hard to even get the ink to flow it looks forced.
I used to be a huge fan of Pilot’s rollerballs, but I have to give it Valve for turning me onto the Uni-ball Gel Grip. In all of Valve’s conference rooms there are office supplies in case you need them, and the company has boxes of Uni-ball Gel Grips with blue ink everywhere. One swipe with the pen and I was an instant convert. The pen fits perfectly into your hand thanks to the gel grip, and the ink glides onto the page with confidence. I was so impressed that I grabbed a few extra pens more than needed. Sorry, Valve, but you can afford it. Thankfully, I’ve now discovered I can buy a box of my own from Amazon. The only downside is that the pens drain a bit fast, but that’s why you buy them in packs of 12!
Okay, that’s my weird aside for the day. Plus, I wanted to test Microsoft’s Writer software for blogs. Not bad!
I pulled a muscle in my left foot while running yesterday morning, so now I’m hopelessly grounded at home. Trying to walk around on it is an experience that varies between uncomfortable to excruciating, and the only real remedy is to keep weight off of it and let it heal. Unfortunately, this is going to put a dent in my running regimen. It’s frustrating because I was slowly developing a runner’s physique; six weeks of daily walking/running for 3-4 miles a day has gotten my legs conditioned, so now it’s all about building endurance and stamina. The progress in the past week has been remarkable. Hopefully I won’t lose too much progress, but it depends on how long I’m laid up.
At least there’s plenty of football today.
September has come and gone and this blog is now a month old. My goal is to keep this blog viable and kicking, and thus far I’m up to 39 or so posts, so I’m average slightly more than 1 post per day. Now I just have to keep it up.