Cleaning up after the Peacock
SEIU's Justice for Janitors is one of the fiercest and most effective labor organizing drives out there. Check out the trouble Lisa G and her Fun Committee are causing down in Los Angeles.
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SEIU's Justice for Janitors is one of the fiercest and most effective labor organizing drives out there. Check out the trouble Lisa G and her Fun Committee are causing down in Los Angeles.
A big THANKS to everyone who cheered me on in this random endeavor.
I know those cheery event organizers and annoying gym people always say, "ANYONE can do it!" They say this because they are paid good money. I don't get paid and I do think anyone can do this. As some of you know, I'm not a sports egalitarian. I realize it's wack, but I believe in tracked P.E. classes, I admit that I didn't like to play on teams with slower, less coordinated kids, and I don't believe everyone can or should complete a marathon. However, I now believe anyone can complete a sprint distance triathlon. All that to say, it was actually kinda fun. You should try it sometime. For real.
I've posted some pictures here and thanks again for all the cheering!
One more week until the Luna Bar triathalon. After months of noncomittal "training", I registered last week and saw that the swim is actually a half mile--not a third, and it's a 12 mile bike--not 7. oh...
I'm beginning to feel anxious at the thought of paddling amidst hundreds of flailing arms and legs. One friend assured me that, "look as long as you're wearing a wet suit, there's no way you can drown." Right! Wait, I don't have a wetsuit. Another said, "hey no worries, you just have to raise your hand if you're tired." And what? They send a water taxi or something?
My goal is to make it through the swim. If I can get to the bike part, I think I'll be ok becauseI can't drown on my bike.
Hmm...lunamania is experiencing some technical difficulties. The banner image is not loading. I don't know why. Hope to get that fixed soon. There are also some upgrades in the works. I'm moving to a vdeck server (I realize you don't care.) I'll also be introducing a photogallery page. Don't hold your breath, but now you know what I've been doing durnig my weenie time.
I'm going to beat a dead horse-- I just read that Cnet has bought chowhound.com. I was wondering why the hell that site started looking like digg.com... once again, an unnecessary convergence of two good ideas--cnet and chowhound.
I used to love the chowhound culture. Founder, Jim Leff would get on 8 different subways to get to the best hotdog. Then he'd write all about the bun, the condiments, the JOY of eating. Put simply, it is the anti-Citysearch. Citysearch is so hipster-driven wrong that I will avoid restauraunts that get good user reviews. Chowhound was awesome. It was full of food-obsessed strangers coming together to exchage multi-page reviews about everything from the best samosa in Jackson Heights to the best produce stand at the farmers market on Jack London Square. I once received many detailed replies to my query about where to find Kyoho grapes in the East Bay. Not only did I learn where to buy them, but I got lessons in how they were different from Concord grapes. For those who are interested, you can get kyoho grapes at Bezerkeley Bowl between June and July. They aren't as large as the ones in Japan, but they definitely have that kyoho grape essence.
Since it was all about the food, ambience, hype, table service were all secondary. A $2.00 banh mi from Cam Huong in Oakland Chinatown will get more love on chowhound than the much vaunted and rather pricey, but really not all that tasty paella at B44. With the introduction of paid ads, the days of finding the best chive dumplings or taco truck are probably over.
I must point out some things that simply should not be. At times combined functionality is a good thing--fax + printer, radio + alarm clock, aloe + moisturizer. Often though integration just means expensive gear upgrades and more clutter rather than less as one function breaks down, but the other remains totally usable, e.g. answering machine + phone or VCR/DVD + TV. That said, I confess to being recently obsessed w/the Treo and it's PDA, phone, web browser, portable music, camera, camcorder, microwave, car and washer/dryer integration.
But there are some things that belong in the realm of CompleteltyUnnecessary Integration:
-- All in one condiments = swirled jelly + peanut butter; cheez whiz + salsa; jam + cream cheese
-- Jay-Z + Linkin Park
-- Tom Cruise + Katie Holmes
-- ipod + clothes
On that last point, Nike recently introduced a shoe that allows runners to connect a speed and distance monitor to their ipod nano. Levi's designed a pair of jeans with built in controls and a supposedly hip looking tether for the ipod. Burton has a $450 snow jacket with headphones and ipod interface. Peoples peoples...ever heard of pockets or disconnecting from your ipod for a second? I loves me some Apple products, but the ipod proliferation is starting to creep me out.