Month: February 2010

Scene One

I walk into the elevator lobby. The guy there before me has already pushed the up button; since I’m going to the basement, I push the down button.

We wait.

An elevator arrives; the up light lights up. The other man gets on.

He looks at me, leans out, holds the door open. “You going up?” he asks.

I look at him, blankly. I point at the still-lit down button, directly in his line of sight. “Uh… no. I’m… I’m going… down. That’s why I pushed… the down… button.” My voice drips with snark.

He lets the door close, shaking his head.

Scene Two

Hours later, I’m ready for a break. I leave the basement, go out in the sun; I want to take a walk and get some fresh air.

I approach the intersection and the lanes of the one-way street are clear, except for a lone white SUV approaching in the far lane.

The SUV slows. The SUV stops. Inside, I see the driver, an older woman, wave me across.

I double-check and the lady has no stop sign. There is no other traffic. In my head, I calculate that if she hadn’t stopped, she would be well on her way and I would already be half way across by now. Why did she stop?

I wait.

I feel anger at her, though I’m not sure of the reason, or even if it’s reasonable for me to feel this way.

She waits.

Finally, she rolls down her window and waves me across again.

I look around. Still no traffic – wait, a car approaches from the other intersecting street. The driver of that car sees me and the lady’s standoff and appears confused.

All three wait.

Finally, the late-arriving car pulls out and around the front end of the SUV, which was slightly blocking him.

I still have not moved from the sidewalk where I stand.

The lady rolls forward and looks out the window at me. “Why didn’t you cross?”

“Why didn’t you just go?” I ask her in return.

“Because if someone is crossing the street, the law says I have to let them cross.”

My anger returns at what I see as her lecturing me. “I’m not sure that’s true.”

She’s still there, in front of me. There is still no other traffic. “Were you going to cross?”

“I’m waiting for someone,” I say, and I think, I’m waiting for you to leave.

“Oh. OK.” She pulls away.

I immediately cross behind her, hoping she will see me.

I don’t know why that made me mad. Or perhaps I started out mad.

Scene Three

Back at work, I wheel an empty cart out to the elevator bank. I use my key on the freight elevator and wait for it to arrive.

A lady, dressed in a professional outfit, in contrast to my jeans and t-shirt, walks out of the training room. “Are you going to one?” she asks. Just then, another non-freight elevator arrives, and she walks into it. She turns towards me, holds the door open. “Do you want to take this elevator?”

My anger returns, unreasonably annoyed. “No I am waiting for the freight elevator because I need to get this cart to the loading dock and I can’t get there from those elevators.”

“OK,” she says. “Fine. Sorry.”

Epilogue

Is it just me? Was I in a bad mood? What the Hell was going on?

It’s probably just me.

first, I saw that Michael Lopp, writing as Rands, posted a long, thoughtful essay on the hierarchy of information, and about how the data points available to us are getting shorter and shorter (going from long newspaper articles to short, 140-character tweets), and how those of us who love Twitter are taking the small data points and creating a narrative, a story, from those tiny bits:

“Those frustrated with Twitter are frustrated because they have a belief that a story needs a beginning, middle, and end. And that it should have all of those parts before it’s presented to them. What the hell am I supposed to learn from a tweet? The point of Twitter isn’t knowledge or understanding, it’s merely connective information tissue. It’s small bits of information carefully selected by those you’ve chosen to follow and its value isn’t in what they send, it’s how it fits into the story in your head. There are great stories to be found on Twitter, but you have to do the work.”

And then I saw Google’s Super Bowl ad, and it demonstrated the point perfectly:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

The small pieces of information we get from Google aren’t the story; it’s what we do with the information.

Brilliant.

I guess my favorite non-Portland-Oregon city had something to celebrate this past weekend.

Does this look insane, or what?

And this is the edited-for-polite-company video.

Is it just me, or does it give me a tiny sliver of hope that this Saturday Night Live skit is based in the idea that Americans who watch SNL will recognize who the current White House Chief of Staff is, and his reputation?

Or did the writers of the skit just figure that people would laugh because of all the cursing?

(I fall into the first category, myself.)

Yesterday, while a significant number of people were watching the American football championship game lovingly called the Super Bowl, I spent the day listening, instead, to a different form of passive entertainment: I listened to a group of geeks play Dungeons & Dragons in a podcast from Wizards of the Coast, makers of Dungeons & Dragons.

The geeks are Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik of the webcomic Penny Arcade, Scott Kurtz of the webcomic PvP, and Wil “Just a geek” Wheaton.

Last year, they, along with Chris Perkins from Wizards of the Coast as Dungeon Master, played several sessions of 4th Edition D&D and recorded it for posterity.

This is only interesting to those who like D&D enough to be entertained by others playing, but for my own part, I was vastly entertained. Mr. Perkins is a lively and animated Dungeon Master, and the rest of the players are all creative, quick-witted and share an amazing camaraderie. Wil Wheaton, of course, has skills as both a D&D player and an actor and writer. I spent the afternoon with my iPhone playing the podcasts while I cleaned the house, and went shopping, and generally goofed off. And I spent much of the time smiling or even laughing aloud at their antics. It was vastly entertaining.

The one quibble I have, listening to the game mechanics for 4th Edition D&D, is that it doesn’t really feel like D&D to me. All classes have a seemingly vast array of special powers and magical-seeming abilities, and everyone gets “healing surges” and ways to shake off damage and keep fighting. It feels more like a comic book; the characters feel more like superheroes or video game characters than the gritty ordinary folks I remember from old pulp fiction and my early days of D&D.

The other downside is that Wizards of the Coast has not made it easy to get all the episodes of Series 2 and 3, at least that I could find with my Google-fu. And they don’t seem to be in iTunes anymore, either. For my friends’ sake, I have compiled the various links below. I’m not trying to infringe anyones’ copyright or intellectual property; these links go to the official versions of the files. If anyone from Wizards of the Coast asks, I will remove these links. Until that happens, feel free to click on these links and choose the option that saves the linked file, and then enjoy them.

When I get around to finding Series 4, I will update this page. Yes, I’m aware of what happens in Series 4 even though I haven’t listened to it yet; don’t post a comment here and spoil it for anyone else still unspoiled. As Mr. Wheaton says, “Don’t be a dick.”

Note: All episodes of Series 1 can be found on the page for Series 2, Episode 1.

Series 2

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 3
4. Episode 4
5. Episode 5
6. Episode 6
7. Episode 7
8. Episode 8

Series 3

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 3
4. Episode 4
5. Episode 5
6. Episode 6
7. Episode 7
8. Episode 8

One of my favorite places in Portland: the window seats at Maya’s Taqueria at SW 10th and Morrison.

The Central Library is a block away, the MAX train stop across the street, Powell’s City of Books just down the street. For years and years, I’ve sat in this window, enjoying a tasty Mexican meal (their verde chicken is tops) and watched people go by.

I remember the very first time I was here. I was an employee at Powell’s, back in the early 90s, and Clyde and Peggy asked me if I wanted Mexican for lunch. We walked in, and I was a bit intimidated by the long counter, blocked off with plexiglass, and the giant menuboard of choices. Red sauces or green sauces? I couldn’t decide. “I assume the red one is the spicy one?” I asked.

Clyde laughed, “That’s not always the case. You gotta ask.”

Turns out the green sauces is the spicy one at Maya’s. That was also the first time I ever ate a burrito with a fork.

I love this spot. Day or night, dry or rain, workday or weekend, so many people.

I’m still trying to find my writing mojo.

But these guys have totally got Wes Anderson’s number. Presenting Spider-Man, as directed by Wes Anderson.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5KfHEoZDKI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1]

While I try to think of something interesting to talk about, please enjoy this musical video of a song that’s stuck in my head in much the same way the video’s fashions are stuck in the 1980s.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_50-gOeBilc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

You’re welcome!

Imagine having to live this day, today, over and over again, Phil Connors-style, as a fan of LOST.¹

Getting to see the opening episode of the final season, but never getting any more answers to the questions of the show…

Yeah. That’d suck.

A quote from the last episode of the penultimate season, I think, sets up what we’re going to see as the series concludes. When li’l Sawyer was shown, in flashback, first writing the letter to “Mr. Sawyer” that he would carry with him all his life, an older man (an uncle?) said to him:

“I know you’re angry at the man that did this to your mommy and daddy, and, Hell, you got every right to be. But you’ve got to move on. Ain’t nothin’ you can do to change that.

“What’s done, is done.”

Is that true? Or does Sawyer (and the others that were touched by Jacob) get a do-over?

¹ Thanks to Ken for planting that idea in my head.

Me, yesterday, talking to a friend¹ about President Obama’s debate with the Republican House Caucus at the Republican’s retreat on Friday: “Here’s how you can tell President Obama was doing well – Fox ‘News’ cut away from his debate, cut him off in mid-sentence, even, so they could then ‘analyze’ what was going on, live! MSNBC and CNN carried the whole thing, uninterrupted.”

Terry gave me an odd look. I know my friend isn’t into politics as I am, but my sense is that he’s generally an Obama supporter, so I worried if I had offended him somehow. “So… wow… what you’re saying, then, is that… Fox is a Republican network?”

My turn to be surprised. I thought this was common knowledge. Apparently not. “Yes. Oh, my, yes. I could give you lots and lots of evidence of that! Fox News is a partisan network and only gives the Republican side of things, consistently.”

Terry said, “So that’s why you watch MSNBC or CNN; they’re not as conservative?”

“Well,” I said, “all corporations are conservative and pro-business. You’ll remember that I don’t get broadcast or cable TV; that’s not where I get my news. But I’m pretty informed.” I smiled.

“Yes you are!” Terry agreed.

I do not judge Terry for not knowing this. He’s got other things to thing about; his family, his job, his friends and entertainments.

But it’s important for me to remember that not everyone knows the things I take for granted. Republicans can obstruct laws with a minority as small as 40 Senators, for example. The Supreme Court is narrowly conservative and has been issuing many 5-4 decisions that may be disastrous for our democracy. And, of course, Fox ‘News’ is anything but fair and balanced.

How much louder do the Democratic leadership need to shout the message until folks like Terry get the message: Fox ‘News’ is not a news outlet one can trust?

And if Terry is reading this, here’s the video of President Obama at the Republican retreat:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1-jasxb7NY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

¹ Hi, Terry!