~ One of Those Nights ~

I really didn't expect this. My stomach is still uneasy. I decided to celebrate my birthday a little early. When I woke up this afternoon I noticed that I had taken over 100 photos and I remember taking about 10. This is a picture I don't remember taking of Peabody working the tap at the Xchange on G street.

I guess I should have taken Yanis more seriously when he mentioned I had finished nearly an entire bottle of Vanila Stoli.

Caffine: Not My Cup of Tea

I put together some lighting equipment today. I bought it from Steve Kaeser Backgrounds and Accessories in Ventura, CA. Of course one of the light's barndoors is broke. I called them and they're sending a new one. Scanned the internet for jobs. Is it easy to find a job on the internet? Planning to put a portfolio link up soon.

Went to the Diner in Adams-Morgan with Solomon to get a hamburger. I really wanted to get a coffee, that's what you drink in a diner. Late caffine throws my sleep off .

[Watched Solomon take the trash out, and I watched some High-Definition Comedy Central on his HDTV. The District put salt all over the streets and sidewalks, they're expecting a couple inches of snow by morning.]

Men of Adventure Enjoy a Close Shave

This is the Schick Quattro. A four-bladed shaver. I am looking forward to using it. It's a big step for me though, jumping from two straight to four blades. I have no three-blade experience whatsoever.


Product Review: I imagined the four-bladed Schick Quattro would glide smoothly across my face. It didn't have any less drag than the two-bladed shavers I normally use. I was thinking I had been bamboozled out of my money ... until I rinsed it off. Because their are so many blades this shaver was much easier to rinse than most*. I also noticed that, as Schick claims on the box it took me less time to shave. Then I looked closer in the mirror, I shaved my face off!
*over 50 percent

Spanish Band Plays Tunos

These are members of Tuna de Derecho, tunos musicians from Valladolid, Spain. Their trip from Spain was funded by the University of Pittsburgh's Spanish Department. In their three days not performing at Pitt they have gone from Toronto to Washington, D.C. Peter, a guitarist said that college students in 16th century Spain had very little money and played instruments at local taverns hoping for soup. He said the word tunos is someway derived from a Spanish word that means soupist.

[Worked on my humorous account of San Francisco as a tourist. I'm trying to keep it exciting too. Maybe I can sell it along with some photos for soup. Stopped into the Penn Ave Pour House, formerly the Pittsburgh Pour House, and soon to formerly be the Penn Ave Pour House next week when it turns into something completely different than a Pittsburgh bar.]

St. Meridian

Meridian Park, near 16th and Crescent Pl NW, Washington, D.C.

St. Smithsonian

The National Mall in front of Smithsonian Castle, Washington, D.C.

Cronies Around Bush Residence Halt Dean Supporters

Karen Gasper, D.C. for Dean Ward 1 co-coordinator, makes a call as Secret Service and other uniformed officers swoop in. She is verifying the laws against putting up a Howard Dean sign on a street lamp infront of the White House. The authorities claim she is unable to because it's National Park property.


xxx Cracklin Disgust xxx
I really didn't want to see this day come. The day I can no longer eat Pork Cracklins.

[Those aren't hairs on that Cracklin. No, they're straws. The straws that broke the Cracklin-eating camel's back!]

**Fighting the Coldness**

This is my friend Alex getting a Metro ticket. His little sister is huddling behind the machine to avoid the chilling wind tunnel the escalators create. I, on the other hand, was completely frozen.

[I went with Alex while he escorted his little sister to the other side of Arlington via subway. On the train I picked up a scrap paper with movie listings and decided to go see The Fog of War. It's an Errol Morris film about the life of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Thanks to those that made the film possible. It made me smarter by tightening some loose pieces of the past. I learned how loose the pieces were in the heads of those in charge during the Cold War too. McNamara helped shape today's world, good or bad.]

A Smart Cycle

According to the website Simplitudes.com things like the bones from the chicken wings and the lettuce I took off my chicken and bacon sandwich make up about 10.4 percent of the garbage in our landfills. The beer bottles we drink from and other glass make up around 5.9 percent, the least of all waste materials. And, although paper is the most common material recycled, at 38.1 percent it takes up more landfill space than any other recyclable material.

[If I talk to people all day can I consider that "training?" Or "networking?" The only reason any of us are here is because of the faith others have in us.]

Goodbye, Hello. Hello, Goodbye.

I left San Francisco today. When I look at these pictures I have collected of my friends and family I feel lost sitting in D.C. again. But probably just until tomorrow. Back to the real world. The world that I need to make money in.

[Back to D.C. I flew ATA so I brought food with me. My brother and me walked to this nice place called Rossi's Deli. I got a couple sandwiches, both great. The second one I ate on the plane, along with 3 bottles of Blue Heron Pale Ale. I asked the stewardess for, "Just a cup, please." She put her finger over her mouth and said, "Shhhhhhhhhh. You aren't suppose to bring your own alcohol on the flights." I guess she was lenient with me because I was the only one on my side of the isle.]

/\/\/\ The Mass Underground /\/\/\

I was going to check out the Diane Arbus show at the SFMOMA today with my friend and my brother but the museum is closed on Wednesdays. Called the SFCameraWorks Gallery, they're between exhibits. I asked them to recommend a gallery and they directed me to 49 Geary St, a commune of fine arts and photography galleries. While we were there I discovered that one of the men responsible for the photographic space is Paul Sack, cousin to an idol of mine, John Sack. Also, whom I met personally while visiting John just a couple days before. Small world.
[Riding on the MUNI, there is Yusei in the reflection.]
The galleries at 49 Geary were better than I expected. And though we didn't get to see the Diane Arbus Exhibit at the MOMA, they had a few of her pieces at 49 Geary. But I like the culinary arts too so my favorite part was eating at Henry Hunan's Restaurant. The best Chinese food I've ever had, still. And I've been eating at Hunan's since I was som young guy, like 10.
[This is looking up Stockton St from Market. The tunnel is a great cityscape feature.]
After we ate at Hunan's my brother went to feed my nephew at daycare and Yusei and I went to visit John Sack. He doesn't like getting old very much, but he's doing great. He always has the best conversation and a great sense of humor. Today he gave me his definition of literary-journalism. He also explained how he became known as one of the movement's prominent figures. He told me and Yusei some interesting inside details of his book Dragon Head, a biography personally commissioned by the Godfather of the Chinese Mafia, Johnny Kon.

The Blind Leading the Blind ... Into the Future

Ron Hideshima sits at Judi's Place on Market drinking his Ouzo. He just got off work and is talking to a friend about a trip he is making to Boston tomorrow. Ron is going to speak at Harvard and MIT about a piece of hardware called the DOTVIEW that makes it possible for sightless persons to access email, do web research, learn Japanese and "see" Windows icons through the help of over 1,500 Braille pins that move in and out of the DOTVIEW forming the equivalent of a Braille computer screen. Ron lost his own sight in a car accident when he was 25, and immediately taught himself Braille.

[Ron is an instructor at the Living Skills Center for the Visually Impaired in the East Bay. The center teaches people 18 and older how to live in society while visually impaired. He said they center averages approximately 30 students a year. "Last year we had a student who turned sixty during the program," said Ron. "When he came to the school he was so 'protected' he couldn't even use a phone, now he is emailing." The DOTVIEW is not quite as mainstream as Ron would like it to be. Mostly because of the cost of the retracting Braille pins. The first model with 768 pins was $6,000; the current model Ron uses with twice as many pins is more than twice the price. He said the largest DOTVIEW, with 3,072 pins is used by a NASA scientist in Japan.]

~{# Japanese Friend in Chinatown #}~

I went down to see my friend Yusei today. He lives by Fifth and Market. We were going to go see the Diane Arbus exhibit at the SFMOMA but taking care of our hunger ended up taking more time than expected. "Let's go eat fast food," said Yusei. "Let's go eat in Chinatown," I insisted. "They're infamous for cheap food." We were walking down the street in Chinatown and a girl came up to us showing a menu and offering 20% off. "I'll show you where it is," she said. We followed her around the block to the place. She escorted us in the door, up the stairs, and even seated us. While we were looking at the menu Yusei held his hand up and said, "Is my hand shaking?" I told him it wasn't. It was the entire building, we must be sitting on top of a motor or something. We put our coats back on without eating and left. There's no sense eating in a shaking restaurant.

[We walk up another street to try our luck with cheap food. After Yusei asked someone directions he told me he gets aggravated in Chinatown sometimes. Because he's Japanese people look at him and expect him to speak Chinese. When he continues to speak English the Chinatowners get irritated with him like he is not upholding their traditions. I told him to say, "Can you understand me" in Japanese and they might get the picture. Aside from the Chinese community looking at my Japanese friend like he was the downfall of their culture, everything else went smooth and we ended up eating at a pretty cool place on Stockton St. called New Moon Restaurant.]