so i’m not a hippy yet…

but i am officially a bike commuter now.

i’ve been checking craigslist for awhile now, but most of the stuff there are mountain bikes. i guess the fact that mountain biking started around here skews the market a bit. so after some yelping for bike shop reviews, i headed over to pedal revolution and saw just the bike i was looking for. not a mountain bike but also not a lance armstrong racer. i think the technical description is “performance hybrid”. basically it’s meant for people riding around on city streets. hey sounds useful!

after riding around for fun on sunday, and to work and back today all i can say is… my ass hurts. it’s been like 10 years since i’ve ridden a bike regularly. maybe i just need a squishier seat.

work is rockin. we are looking to launch the internal alpha for our product next week, so i’m in deploy mode. releasing used to mean “upload to a server” to me, so working at this scale is pretty cool. automated processes are your friend. learn to love the shell.

in other news, pepper attempted to travel to the moon, but was unsuccessful.

if 8-bit were an STD, i’d have chla-mario

title runner-up: “my nintendo gave me goomba-rrhea”

i have officially caught the retro fever.

maybe it’s the lack of stellar titles out right now (currently waiting for quake wars beta 2) or the fact that i’ve kinda plateaued with guitar hero. whatever it is, i am totally addicted to the old school again. i picked up nestopia, zsnes, and gens along with a “few” roms to play. it’s amazing how much an 8-bit theme song can stick with you. i was geeking out, big time.

yesterday’s playlist includes:

• excitebike (NES)
• california games (NES)
• chrono trigger (SNES)
• sonic spinball (Genesis)
• phantasy star 4 (Genesis)

soon a nice playstation-to-USB converter from ebay will be making its way to my door and i’ll be playing in style. playing with a keyboard just doesn’t cut it for me. you’re supposed to play with your thumbs! now i just have to think of a more permanent way to play all this on my tv instead of my computer and i’ll be set. it’s a shame my xbox bit the dust on pecan tree, since i know you can use it to do a similar setup.

this has even spilled over into the physical realm. i’m seriously thinking about doing some apartment decorating with pixelblocks and taking one of these big, empty walls and turning it into space invaders. terri isn’t too keen on the latter, but she’ll come around. :]

so what is everybody’s retro “must play” games? i’m looking for suggestions for tonite. :]

view from the roof

but to be honest, i’d rather have a roman candle duel with tyler. there’s no danger just watching them :[

full set here on flickr

the itch you can’t scratch

dammit, just when i thought i got away…

part of me really doesn’t want to setup a new fish tank. it’s like having a girlfriend, once you are single you remember how simple life becomes. (haha!) but really, the main nuisance of having a fish tank is the (in)ability to leave it alone for long stretches. you have to worry about equipment failing and your fish staying fed and the power staying on and all kinds of shit.

but the other part of me can’t let go. these things are just too damn cool. like my own little slice of ocean. so i’m doing some thinking about a downsized setup that’s city-life friendly. small, about 20 gallons, and simple equipment that doesn’t need constant fiddling. a drilled tank for sure, so i don’t have to worry about coming home to a waterfall. simple all-in-one lighting so no more hanging crap from the ceiling. (kinda hard now that it’s 20′ high!) oh and it’s time to go back to budget reefing too. san francisco is expensive!

i wonder how long i can control the urge. hopefully at least until i pay off my credit cards…

yahoo: week one

staying in a hotel for two weeks is no fun, and i’m glad to be in my new apartment.  now instead of living out of a suitcase, i’m living out of cardboard boxes.  hopefully all the red tape of moving is behind me and i can settle in and get comfortable.

so my first week at yahoo went fairly smooth.  monday and tuesday was all orientation down in sunnyvale.  you know, benefits overview, payroll stuff, paperwork; pretty standard really.  another advanced products newbie was there so we grabbed lunch and chatted for a bit.  he’s got quite the impressive resume compared to mine, including places like hotwired and six apart.  i also learned the joys of public transportation in the bay area.  for the record, airport shuttle -> BART -> CalTrain -> Y! Shuttle is the easiest way to get to campus from the SFO La Quinta. :P (realize that “easy” of course means spending 10 bucks a day and leaving an hour early)

the rest of the week was spent in the city at brickhouse (my office) mostly just trying to get my computer all setup.  but i did find the time to fit in a few rounds of Wii bowling and tennis. :P  next week i’ll actually be able to dive into my new project and start making some software.  i’m excited about it, but unfortunately it’s top secret.  :[  also my boss announced that they are still looking for some hot shots to fill out our roster, so if any of you want to move out to SF then give me a call!  here’s your incentive… a free tshirt!