This morning, against my better judgment, I read an article in Slate about how AI is going to make spying easier and supercharge surveillance. The basics are that we already live in a society that is heavily under surveillance. There are cameras everywhere always recording and the data is being kept and queried. We’ve seen…
If Joy Were Pop Rocks
Yesterday I went to the art museum. This morning I read some poetry. I love when I close the book with a sense of flustered awe, almost slamming it down while whispering to myself, “god damn, that’s good!” At the museum, there’s an exhibit, maybe six galleries in all, packed floor to ceiling with the…
Energy and Waiting
The song in my head at 8am is the chorus from Tom Petty’s “The Waiting” … “The waiting is the hardest part… something something something na na na na heart. You take it blah blah and you take it blah blah, yeah the waaaiiiting is the hardest part.” If a significant part of my days…
Sometimes Things Are Foggy
Yesterday, Karl stopped by the city and hung around for a good bit of the day. Karl is the name of the fog here in San Francisco. There’s a twitter account for him. I guess it’s a thing. Yesterday, I renewed my room at the hotel for a few more days. I also toured and…
Running, Looking, Applying
Today I ran. Today I looked for jobs and applied to a few. Today I looked for apartments but didn’t have much luck (I reached out to several but have yet to receive confirmations on showings). As I’m writing this, it’s 20 degrees in State College (where I used to live) with a real feel…
Go West… Early Observations
I recall but can’t locate a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville that both praised and condemned the indomitable American spirit. As I remember it, he was saying that no nation could have conquered as much territory and “tamed” as much wilderness in as short a time as Americans had done. Spreading from coast to coast…
Pie for Breakfast
Yesterday, after feeling whiny and sluggish in the morning, I shook off the twin shackles of indecision and procrastination and got going. I re-checked in to my hotel. As I suspected it would, it took them a while to figure it out. I went for a run along the marina. I drove out to Larkspur…
Mornings… Meh
It’s Friday. Black Friday. I won’t be doing any shopping today. An online ad for a suitcase that unfolds from the inside (or something like that) has made me realize how out of touch I am with the latest trends in suitcases. This is, of course, a metaphor for a lot of things. It aptly…
Thanksgiving 2023
With the exception of last year, I’ve written a Thanksgiving post each year dating back to 2019 (when I wrote about 2019 and 2018). Like many Americans, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I like the food. I like the family. I like the four-day weekend. I like the feeling of fall weather. Because…
What the Locals Are Telling Me
Ian works the counter at the bagel shop. The shop is around the corner from my hotel. I went there this morning because I had run out of oatmeal and wanted something different for breakfast. Ian is friendly and blends the right mix of curiosity and salesmanship. He picks up on details (he asked me…
Every Chance I Get
This morning I woke to a slight epiphany, or more accurately, I gave consideration to more potential evidence that what we dislike in others are sometimes the things we dislike in ourselves. The sequence of thinking went as follows (with lots of room for error because who really knows how the mind works, and it…