You know how sometimes everything is fine, nothing is wrong, and yet at the same time everything is very very frustrating?

Yeah.

Have you heard? One of my favorite actresses passed away yesterday. From IMDB.com:

Katharine Hepburn: 1907-2003
Actress Katharine Hepburn, one of the silver screen's true legends and the actress considered the first lady of cinema, died at the age of 96 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. An iconoclast who worked the Hollywood system to her advantage, she was honored with 12 Academy Award nominations, the most for any actor until Meryl Streep broke that record last year. Hepburn won an unparalleled four Best Actress Oscars – one for the 1933 drama Morning Glory, two in a row in 1967 and 1968 for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Lion in Winter, and her final one for 1981's On Golden Pond. Known for her patrician New England accent, pioneering feminist stance, and unconventional bearing and beauty, Hepburn acted onstage in New York before being lured to Hollywood with a role in A Bill of Divorcement opposite John Barrymore. From there, her career hit both highs and lows, but she remained a Hollywood fixture well into the latter part of the 20th century. Early successes such as Alice Adams and Little Women were followed by financial failures like Bringing Up Baby (now a classic of the screwball genre) which labeled her "box-office poison." Going back to Broadway, she wowed critics and audiences with her turn in The Philadelphia Story, and bought the rights for the 1940 screen adaptation, which revived her film career. The '40s saw her paired with longtime lover Spencer Tracy (a relationship she rarely discussed) in films like Woman of the Year and Adam's Rib, while the '50s saw her star in the classic The African Queen, among other films. After her Oscar wins in the late '60s, Hepburn worked less, and also turned to the small screen in acclaimed television films. Her career was capped with her turn in On Golden Pond opposite Henry Fonda, and she made her last screen appearance in 1994's Love Affair. In the '90s she retired to her home in Connecticut, where she spent her remaining years in declining health.

Another good source of information is Biography.

I've had a great weekend so far. How 'bout you?

ps -
I forgot - thanks to Dinah, I've been online for 3 years and 6 days. Happy belated birthday, Booboolina.com!

Except for the "sodomizing"* part of the last line, this is a true and accurate description of how we Bay Areans are handling the heat this week.

*Can't wait to see what kind of search hits am I going to get now.

Sleepy sleepy sleepy. There was a time when I could stay up till 2 or 3 a.m. reading a book and not have too much trouble staying awake the next day at school. That time has long passed and I had a really hard time getting up. The book was worth it though. Kept me guessing almost to the end.

I went to Baker Beach last night, thinking that since it was Thursday, most people would be out partying and I could enjoy the sunset in relative privacy. Turns out most of San Francisco was partying at the beach. When I left at 9 p.m., the parking lots were still packed. No wonder - the characteristic gale force wind was gone, it was warm, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Tonight I'm going with Jessa to see I Hate Hamlet. It closes this weekend, so you have to make plans soon to see it. Tomorrow a friend of mine is performing at Santana Row in San Jose, and on Sunday, I will be watching the A's against the Giants.

Good thing there will be lots of nap time in there. Somewhere.

No comment whatsoever: Interesting dietary supplement [via Jon]

I'm feeling a bit nauseous from the constant diet of cough drops I've been on since Tuesday - anyone know where I can find sugar-free cough drops??

Also, I'm know I'm a bit late on the uptake, but I'm catching up on my Harry Potter and I realized today why the books keep getting longer and longer- she has to recap what happened in the previous books. As you move farther down the line, she has more to recap.

UPDATE: don't start a book that you won't be able to put down till it's finished at lunch on Thursday. Not if you want to stay awake at work on Friday, that is. 12:30 a.m. on a school night is way too late for me.

The next car I get is going to look like this.

cvbncv

So I admitted to my boss yesterday that it would be better for me to waste my time in the comfort of my own home than waste my time at work, and after 6 hours of listening to me hack and sniffle, he agreed.

So I went home, started some laundry and went to the grocery store to stock up on orange juice, allergy medication, and bagels. Not unlike preparing for a siege, where you know you won't be able to get out, and no one canwill likely get in to deliver what you need.

So the allergy medication I chose was Clariting-D, the 24-hour flavor. I called one of my Canadian friends from the store, thinking that since they have been able to get this stuff over the counter for longer than we have, that he would know a bit more about it than what I could get off the back of the box. It being about 5:30 at this time, my main question was "am I going to be able to sleep tonight?" My friend was under the impression that the drug companies had been putting stuff in allergy medication to make people fall asleep to begin with rather than that being the natural reaction, so he didn't think that there would be any harm in getting the Claritin.

Ha. Maybe it's because I might have a cold instead of allergies, but the Claritin didn't really kick in till about 4 a.m. And guess what! I was awake to experience it. That's right. I was in bed and trying to sleep at 10:30. Woke up at 11:30, 12:30, 2:00, and 4:00. I was awake when my alarm went off at 5:00 a.m.

Now I have a full day ahead of me, and I have to figure out what sick people who can't sleep do with their time. I know, I'll probably be online all day. That's the ticket!

Sniffle, sniffle, cough, cough. Seasonal allergies suck.

So I've been in Seattle for the past 2 1/2 days. In my experience, I found that the good times were inversely proportional to the good weather.

When the weather was nice, we were out in the back yard, where I found to my horror that the lawn had more living in it than grass. I just have the one phobia. I wish it had something to do with something that wasn't quite so ... so ... so frickin' ubiquitous. I might get over that part of the weekend ... in my next life.

The rest of the weekend, however, the weather sucked, and I had a really good time. From this point on, it was either threatening to rain or actually raining the whole time. After getting up at 4 a.m. and standing in a half-mile line at the airport and flying two hours, Saturday afternoon was spent in Ballard and Fremont at the solstice festival, where the main attraction was the naked bicyclists. I am told that in past years more of them used body paint. Also, fewer of the floats were so G-rated. Yeehaw. The rest of the weekend was drinking (you know you're a cheap date when it takes two drinks in an eight hour period to put you out), getting to know the friends of my best friend, eating quite a bit of hummus, and taking the ferry to the islands and driving through little towns that were apparently settled by Vikings.

The end was by far the most exciting, however, as we went to see Chris Isaak and Lizzie West perform at the Summer Nights at the Pier. The man is a great performer, and his fashion sense is the icing on the very nice looking cake. For instance, the first half of his show, and the second half of the show. We were duly impressed.

Now I'm back and plagued with allergies in the windy summer weather. Yay! Hope y'all had a great weekend too.

It's Gratuitous Link Friday:

Mustache!!
Balls!
Women are easy to turn on!!
Taxing animal farts!
[via Jish]

Have you read up on the spontaneous mob action in Manhattan? [more info] Well, we're getting one of our own - go sign up!

And { fray } radio.

Holy cow. It's 'Bring your dog to work" day today. People are overreacting just a tad - some are crawling on the floor to be closer to the dogs. Don't get me wrong - I'm one to make a fuss over a dog as well, but not at work.

I just scored* 2 tickets to the A's game on the 4th of July.

Want to go with me?

*pun not intended.

Ever feel like you keep moving, but you're not really getting anywhere? That would be my life these days.

In other news, RileyDog, ever the collector of great links, has two up today:

The Dead Milkmen

now stuart, if you look at the soil around any large u.s. city with a big underground homosexual population - des moines, iowa, perfect example. look at the soil around des moines, stuart. you can't build on it, you can't grow anything in it. the government says it's due to poor farming. but i know what's really going on, stuart. i know it's the queers. they're in it with the aliens. they're building landing strips for gay martians. i swear to god. you know what stuart, i like you. you're not like the other people, here in the trailer park.

And Return of the Mediocre Dead - too funny.

The museum page has been updated.

I am currently taking any input any of you might have into museums in other parts of the Bay area than SF. I mean, I know that it's possible to have a good cultural time outside the City limits.

Ha! For all you "Mac is God" people out there, I present Crash different. [via Jon]

I don't often read spam, but I get a kick out of the subject lines. Today's laugh was prompted by the following: We have your small p3nis problem under control.

Whew! I didn't know I had a problem, but I'm glad someone has it under control.

Why are we people?. I like Kevin's answer.

Also, regarding Sen. Hatch's thoughts on people who download music, I completely agree with JessaJune's take on the issue, which we chatted about mere minutes ago.

Today's Mantra: keep it simple, stupid.

Applying to: food, clothing, and weekend plans.

Graham Roumieu. Neato. [via Riley Dog]

You know, usually by this hour on a Sunday morning, the most I've accomplished is getting out of bed recently and maybe stumbling out to the see what late-breaking spam I've received overnight.

Today, however, is different, and I'll tell you why (since I can sense the question quivering on your lips). Since 5:30 a.m., I've managed to get out of bed, shower, drive 3.5 hours, stop for a farmers' market where I picked up more fruits and veggies than I'll need for the week to come, and then drive another 45 minutes to get home. If I can only maintain this momentum, who knows what I can get done today!

Took a nap, which effectively negated any momentum I might have had. But at least I caught up on my sleep.

It's hard not to be homesick when it's sunny and warm (but not too warm!) every time you visit. I miss this weather.

Haha. This whole day, I've thought it was the 12th. Even after Friday the 13th was all the radio people could talk about this morning, I was still putting 06/12 on all my correspondence with customers and such.

I have a long roadtrip to make alone tonight. I hope this doesn't affect my ability to stay awake and keep my car from physical contact with other cars, or trees.

Friday afternoon just isn't Friday afternoon if you don't get to watch two grown women in the staff room with $.60 between them, buying a Snickers bar ('cause it really satisfies, you know), searching frantically for something to cut it in half with, and then swearing when the pizza cutter won't go through the paper. Thank god there was a pair of scissors in another drawer to take care of that.

I got the SNIC part. Amy got the KER part. I'm more satisfied that she is at this point.

Also, defying thousands of years of tradition, as I ate my chicken-with-stuff-and-pasta lunch, all I could think was "this chicken tastes like ham."

Porn reaches the deepest depths imaginable. [via Peace Dividend]

It sure is a good thing it's Friday, 'cause every day this week I've gotten in to work later and later, and I think one more day would have pushed my employer's limits a little too far.

Went with Jane tonight to see Capturing the Freidmans. What an excellent, bizarre, and compelling movie. Best yet, the director was there for this screening (the movie officially opens in SF tomorrow) and said several things that shed some light on the movie.

1) it started out as a movie about New York party clowns. That was Movie A, this was termed Movie B.
2) every single person he interviewed perjured themselves within five minutes.
3) the judge considers this a work of fiction and she's seen it twice.

More than making you wonder whether the dad and the son were guilty (or how guilty) of the crimes there were accused of committing, this movie really highlights how the passage of time and different perspectives can change how people remember things. How the more people you have witnessing an event, the more diverse the points of view you hear later on - and the length to which they will continue to evolve as time goes on and peoples' desires and beliefs change how they remember things.

I have no doubt that everything that every one of the interviewees said was true, at least as far as they were concerned. This just makes it that much more difficult to discern what was probably the most true to the actual events.

In any case, this is the last documentary I see on the big screen. I had to close my eyes for most of the end of the movie and I am still feeling sick to my stomach from the shaky video.

In the interests of helping a co-worker reach her goal of $1000 to help fight breast cancer, I bought a home-made eclair from her this morning. And I ate it all. And now I feel awful - I think it's the sugar crash. At least it was for a good cause, right? Right?

You know what? You're beautiful. [link via Brushstroke]

Office Etiquette Lesson #1:

It is not advisable, in the interests of office morale and your co-workers' nosebuds, to wear so much perfume that one can tell your location from 100 feet away, with visual contact yet to be made.

I like Chanel and all, but not that much.

The thought that kept occurring to me as I read this article about Friendster was "yeah, you have to spend hours surfing the site, since the pages take so long to load." I can't imagine that this will make money for the founders when they complete the beta stage and start charging for things like sending messages to other members of the service. On the other hand, I'm coming to realize that perhaps I am not as into it as others. Hmm. [link via Jessa]

The end is near: I've started talking to my computer at work. Out loud.

Talking to a computer is nothing new - I mean, how else are you supposed to reason with it? get it to do what you need it to do? figure out exactly what it's trying to do to your mind?

Talking to the computer out loud, however, is a bad sign. It means you don't care what other people think of your state of mind. It means your frustration level has risen to the point where you can't keep your internal conversations internal anymore.

Granted, I'm not often talking to the computer, per se, so much as I'm talking to the people who send me email. And no, I suppose it's not technically a conversation, as I'm not waiting for them to respond to me.

It's just me, talking to my computer. Out loud.

What do your co-workers call you behind your back? They call me Mangler. [via Reecie]

UPDATE: I have been informed that if I refer to anyone here at work as "Tosser," that I will be in big trouble.

It's about anatomy today:

David Bowie's "area" and Harrison Ford's finger. [via Fujikosmurf]

As a white person in San Francisco, I have to do what I can, when I can, to be as culturally aware and involved as possible. This includes staying out late on a school night (*gasp*) to hang out with some culturally-enhanced friends at

A Song and Dance Tradition of Five Millennia
An Evening event of Traditional Korean Performing Arts

There I saw many wonderful things, including, but not limited to:
- a tightrope walker who chatted with and made jokes to the audience in the language of the evening (not English);
- the Korean equivalent of Ella Fitzgerald;
- lots and lots of beautiful dancing;
- and Min Jung, all dressed up.

I kinda wondered when the jokes would start rolling in after Martha's indictment. Now I know:

Take a look at Prison Living and Decorating Martha Stewart's Jail Cell [second link via Kevin. The first link I found on my own, thankyouverymuch.]

Q: When was the last time you went outside to play after school work and before dinner?

Tonight I went with Jessa to see the play that she has been doing props for these last several weeks, and I can only say that if you live in the San Francisco Bay area, you must see it. It is smart, it is funny, and it is excellently well-done. I can't tell you anything about it, for fear of giving something away, but it is well worth the effort ... and if you find that you need a companion to make the effort a bit easier, I would be more than happy to go with you.

I think there were perhaps 10-15 people in the audience, but from the laughter you'd have thought it was a full house.

Renegade Theater presents The Dice House
Written by Paul Lucas
Directed by Russ Marcel

Performs: 6-June-2003, 7-June-2003, 11-June-2003, 12-June-2003, 13-June-2003,
14-June-2003, 18-June-2003, 19-June-2003, 20-June-2003, 21-June-2003

Location: Benson Theatre
Bellarmine College Preparatory
All performances begin at 8pm.

Ticket Prices: Wed & Thurs:
US $15.00 General Admission
US $10.00 Student/Senior/TBA Member Discount with valid ID
Fri & Sat : US $18.00 General Admission
US $12.00 Student/Senior/TBA Member Discount with valid ID

I just took my best friend to the airport so he can spend 10 days traipsing around Austria and Hungary.

As happy for him as I am, I still have that pathetic feeling like when you've just broken up with someone and for the first time you sit in a room and think about what you're going to do with yourself for the next couple of hours/days/weeks and realize that you're entirely alone.*

Maybe it's a good thing he's gone away for a while.

*I'm not at all alone, of course. In fact, I could use a few less social engagements over the next few weeks to enjoy some time alone... I just miss him already, that's all.

Ernie, like the rock star he is, has come out with a Best Of collection.

Read it and weep (from laughing so hard).

Um, Happy birthday, Jish!

Happy birthday, Jish!

So my brother-in-law, after spending 7 months in Kosovo, is now in Iraq for Bush-only-knows-how long. I forget the details about where exactly he's stationed, but apparently it's hot and dry and they have to fill a 450-gallon container of water several times a day to keep their platoon well-supplied. He sent along some pictures in his last email, which I thought were interesting. Click on them for larger images.

Hanging out


In front of Saddam's house


Random picture

L'histoire des boobies:

Ah, how breasts engage
And all we maids and maidens mere purveyors:
They have their cheap rags, clips, their fetishists;
'Tis a lucky man fondles many pair.
Our boobs have seven ages. ...

Are you busy tonight? Scott is doing a show in Santa Clara (I know, it's a long way away for some people, but I've been to the venue and it's in a nice area, and SC really isn't that far away, especially if you carpool) at the Mission City Coffee Co. at 8:00 p.m. and it's free.

I came home last night to find a rather sizable check from the IRS in my mailbox. The check came in an envelope with no other documentation, and it had "Tax Refund" typed on the front.

Hm.

As I recall, I had to pay them in April. Now I'm afraid to deposit the check, in case it written in error and I have to return the money with interest somewhere down the road. Naturally, there is no contact information available on the check or the envelope it came in. I guess I'll be visiting IRS.gov today.

We say the highest compliment you can pay your best girl is to let the world know she could fishhook some bar skank without breaking a sweat.

This 26 Things sounds neat. Perhaps I can follow through with it better than I did the Project May Day.

Via Kevin:

Tuesday, June 3 - 6:30 p.m.
Women's Lit: Women as Writers, Characters and Readers
Litquake and Zoetrope: All-Story present a panel discussion moderated by Kate Moses (editor of the Salon.com anthology "Mothers Who Think" and author of the recent "Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath") and featuring best-selling, award-winning, local authors Ann Packer, ZZ Packer, Gail Tsukiyama, and Vendela Vida.
Admission is free. Held at the Bubble Lounge, 714 Montgomery @ Columbus (415-434-4204), this event is strictly for ages 21 and older.

Oh. My. God. Cat clothes. Scroll down. Notice the ears.

Benefits of dressing your cat:

1. You need to dress a cat. And you will say to a cat together with a family. "It has changed just for a moment". [ "it being very dear" or ] You will pass pleasant one time.

2. If a family and a cat become fortunate, you will take a commemorative photo! Therefore, please photo your cat lovelily with much trouble.

3. If it finishes taking a photograph, you will make it remove clothes from a cat immediately. You will say then, without forgetting the language of gratitude to a cat. "-- be flooded -- a way -- good -- having done one's best -- ! -- "

[via Jessa]

So in the course of my job, I frequently have to dial in to customer servers. It's usually a hum-drum practice, more often frustrating if they have firewalls that don't let us through (we can't help you if you won't let us in!!!!).

Sometimes, though, it can be extremely amusing to see what they name their servers. I should keep a log of these, but the memorable ones thus far are the three-server site called Sam, Frodo and Sauron, and the two-server site named Strife and Trouble.