Fun Fact

The term "guano" does not just refer to bat poop. Among other animal poo, it also includes seal poop.

Who knew?

My Phone

I think I loved my iPhone 3GS for like two business days.

But I can't tether. I can't do much with Bluetooth period. I kinda want skip and pause/play controls to work on my headphones. I want to hook up a keyboard just for shits and giggles. I want to sync with my computer without wires. For reals.

I want other apps besides iTunes to play music in the background, like Pandora, so I can rock out AND check my email.

My location should be something I can publish ALL THE TIME, not just when an app is open. Really, I want to send a txt, not look at a dumb app update my position. I know where I am, my friends do not, figure it out.

I want my apps to be approved. Google Voice, Latitude, and all kinds of other cool things that "duplicate functionality" just mean the bar is higher for all parties involved. And you won't hear me complain if they have the occasional scantily clad woman here and there.

The Pre is a great piece of hardware, backed by a great OS, but leaves something to be desired in the app store. The Android has all the Google goodness I want, but someone forgot the headphone jack, wtf? Even Nokia touts a lot of the missing things here. And I might consider a Windows based phone if I thought "usability" was an add-on.

Sad face.

Really Good Birthday

Lara and Bailey combined forces and planned a fun evening for me on my birthday last night. They gathered up some people I know and had everyone show up at Bucca di Beppos. It's been a while since I'd been to a Bucca, but not for lack of trying.

So I had pasta galore, and bread, and pasta, and good company, and wine, and did I mention I had some pasta. Man I love pasta and people. I was given some really great gifts, including an old book I had loaned out half a year ago. I felt really special to have something planned for me. It really made it a great 28th birthday.

A New Question

Bailey asked me Friday night, "Why is a great guy like you not already married?"

I didn't have a good answer for her then. The standard answers could be things like, "I'm not as good of a catch as you may think", "I'm very picky", or "I'm afraid of commitment", but I'm not sure those are the reasons. They're all at least partially true, I am just a guy, I do set the bar high, and I'm just as apprehensive as the next guy (or girl) about spending the rest of my life with someone.

I can blame fencing for some of it. Even in the longest, best relationship I've had, I consistently picked fencing over her, over us. I think that's what scares me the most about fencing - the addictive effect it had on me. Fencing was easy to pick because it was easy for me to feel needed, and it was easy for me to meet expectations. It seemed like I was living, when the reality was that I wasn't risking anything at all.

The more realistic picture would be that I've been married to fencing for the last eight years, and that I've only been divorced for a year - since I moved out to San Francisco. In that sense I'm kind of just getting back into things.

More than just loving fencing, I think the real issue is that I've been reluctant to risk... myself. No, that's not quite right, I put myself out on the internet for all to read and judge, and I risk life an limb doing things like fencing, kite boarding, and rock climbing. These are not safe activities.

I think I'm afraid of failing someone else. I fear becoming another person's most important person, and not living up to her expectations, falling short. I cna point to countless examples in my life ranging from preschool to present day where I have freaked out, broke down, or abandoned a situation because I didn't think I was good enough. I'm not afraid of failure in itself, but I am afraid of people not finding me to be what they need me to be - of that, I am scared shitless.

After Swine Flu

If somehow I could convince the world that after bid flu, and now swine flu, the next evolution of the flu virus would induce "cat scratch fever" and have news media running around saying "The Cat Scratch Fever pandemic is sweeping the nation...", that would be an awesome day.

Don't kill any cats. I know, they're not as cool as dogs, but it's not their fault you've "got a fever of one-hundred and three..."

Dear Weather,

Thanks for being warm enough to be outside on Saturday. And thank you for raining just enough that everyone went inside except for those of us willing to see what came of it. Thank you for doing so right at sunset, giving us beautiful reds and yellows to the West, and a double rainbow to the East. A guy can't really ask for better weather than that.

Gratefully,
Will

My Day Was Fucking Awesome

It really was. Work went really well (technical mumbo jumbo to follow) and I capped it off with Euchre Night at Buck Tavern where I really felt like I was on top of my social skills.

Work rocked because I got ot work with Colin, who is started the project about the same time as me and we seem to think very alike in terms of design. We implemented the bulk of a new importing system that doesn't destroy old data, just modifies it, and does so in small chunks as opposed to one giant monolithic process that could die at any step and force you to start the whole thing all over. It's fucking sweet. The more we do stuff this way, the better I'll sleep at night.

At Euchre night, I had some great games, I had some crawlers. I did a good job of remembering some names, and picking up others as I went. I talked to the Kates. One just moved across the bay from Oakland and works in digital advertising. The other works as a community organizer and also lives in the city. I also played a hand or two with John, Joe, Kerry, Jamie, CJ, Shawn, and Sarah - who had arctic gulls tattooed on her right arm which I asked her about. Apparently they have the longest migration pattern and therefore spend 70% of their lives in the sun. Who knew?

Upcoming Birthday

My birthday is around the corner on the 24th of this month, I'll be 28. I am not yet convinced that I'm 28... I guess it is hard to explain. I don't feel like a youngin', but I don't think I look (or act) like a guy who is almost 30.

Anyway, the point of this post was to throw out some ideas in case you're wondering what to get me (but by no means should you feel obligated, this is meant ot be helpful and not solicitive).

• climbing shoes


• rope - 150ft


• rope bag/tarp


• small mixing bowls for making sauces or for holding dry ingredients like chocolate chips


• yoyo


• wireless xbox 360 controller


• Left for Dead for XBox 360


• Rayman Raving Rabbids 3 for Wii


• Any Sonic game for the Wii


• settlers of catan - cities and knights expansion


• settlers of catan - traders & barbarians expansion


• other board games

Three Ideas

I recently posted about wanting to start a business in order to exercise parts of me that have been sleeping in San Francisco. I realized I already have three ideas laying around.

Idea #1 - A queue system for libraries. Sure, you can reserve books now, but you can't stack 'em up and take one off when you return the previous one. This would also mean doing away with late fees and due dates. Eventually people could get suggestions on what to read next. A later version might even include a subscription sevice where books get mailed to your door - keep in mind people don't read nearly as fast as they can watch a movie.

Pros: This is the kind of idea that could make a lot of money. From money that users, advertisers, libraries could potentially pay, there's all kinds of revenue streams. It's also the kind of thing that could unify a divided national library system, and breathe new life into dead-tree books.

Cons: This is the kind of idea that costs a lot of money.There's also a high bar to get libraries to change the way they do business. I feel like the sales/implementation effort would be far greater than any technical effort. Also, the market is really saturated - there's tons of card-catalog vendors as well as many new services that are "netflix for books" that aren't connected to libraries. I'd also need to get into the world of Venture Capital, which I understand how it works, but I don't know where to start.

Idea #2 - Puppy Rental. I swear I posted about this idea months ago, but I can't find it now. Anyway, the basic idea is that girls find puppies cute enough that they'll stop and pet 'em. Dudes in the city may not have time and space for a dog, but that doesn't mean he couldn't benefit from an icebreaker, so he comes to me, rents a puppy for the afternoon and walks him in the park. The service encourages being honest when she asks if it belongs to him, or he can say "I'm walking it for a friend". But if he finds himself on the hook, or they fall in love and want the dog that brought them together, the pups would be for sale when they got beyond puppy size.

Pros: Cute girls, getting a fellow man a date, puppies, and fairly easy to start up. A great business for a crowded city.

Cons: Not really a cash cow. One person could make a living with 20 dogs, but that's a lot of dogs. Plus I feel like some animal rights people might take issue.It would also mean moving somewhere that I could have a lot of dogs, and be close to a park.

Idea #3 Fencing Club to end all fencing clubs. 3 stories, 8 strips per floor. Pro shop. Locker rooms with showers. Rent floor space to the college(s), local club(s), and high school(s). Always have the best floor, best equipment, be where the best want to go. maybe even toss in an on-site residence or some temp housing for visiting coaches.

Pros: I know fencing really well. Really well. I've run a smaller scale business like this before. I really like good fencing. I also feel like this would be a "if you build it, they will come" kind of thing.

Cons: Making money in fencing is hard. The building/land in Indiana would be $1mil at least. It isn't the most expensive idea on the list, but it probably has the longest recuperation time. Since this isn't really a "get rich quick" plan, it means I'd be looking at business and personal loans to get this idea off the ground.