June 28, 2001
Neil Gaiman is possibly one
Neil Gaiman is possibly one of the nicest, fan-friendly and chatty famous people I've met. He's been on tour for a month, and he was still nice enough to sign for and chat with almost 200 people, after doing the same thing in San Diego earlier in the day, and across town tomorrow. American Gods (his new book, from which he read) also sounds fantastic. I'll have more photos up eventually, more specifically when I get some good video capture software (I only recorded the signing, the Powers That Be didn't want videos of the reading). A wonderful evening overall.
Anyone else going to see
Anyone else going to see Neil Gaiman tonight at Vromans Bookstore? I'll be there...interested in meeting up? Email me.
Sad news, but funny wording
Sad news, but funny wording on the news release at Yahoo:
One would think more photos could get all of us, not just Miss Poundstone, in trouble...
Also interesting is that Yahoo! has a "Celebrity Crime" section in the first place...
I'm back! I didn't win
I'm back! I didn't win any money overall, but I had a great time.
Does it bother any of the rest of you when people misuse apostrophes? Especially in store signs? Anil was talking about it a while back, so I guess he does. If he doesn't set up the gallery of bad signs, I will.
June 23, 2001
I'm going to Las
I'm going to Las Vegas on Monday, since I'm unemployed, not hurting too bad financially, and need some decompression time from all that's happened lately. This is also my first trip alone - something my dad used to do a lot. Such stories to be told!
June 21, 2001
A while back I took
A while back I took a class on emerging web technology as art. Much of the discussion centered around devices connected to the internet. We didn't cover, however, the SACM Coke Club, in which a coke machine was transformed to only allow payment by preexisting computer account. it works by debiting a person's coke account whenever they login to the terminal alongside the coke machine and buy a coke. Fantastic.
Happy first day of
Happy first day of summer! Today's the longest day of the year in terms of sunlight in the Northen Hemisphere. How about a little history and tradition? No? Then how about some science?
Update from Chris: And if you're in the southern hemisphere, you get a total solar eclipse!
June 20, 2001
Anil had a little something
Anil had a little something to say about marriage, all good points. Check out my essay on marriage, too.
I like my blog and
I like my blog and all, and I'm proud of the design I'm done almost entirely by myself, but there's some darn attractive blogs out there. Eventually, I'll tinker till I have something I like, at which point i won't like it anymore =)
Holy Moly! 10-year-old 'Dog Boy'
Holy Moly! 10-year-old 'Dog Boy' found living in cave. This is surreal. How does something like this happen? I want the movie rights...
June 18, 2001
FYI, Neil Gaiman's blog has
FYI, Neil Gaiman's blog has moved from it's americangods.com site to neilgaiman.com, and it's now at http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp. Change your bookmarks. I did =)
Are you helping me find a job?
The results are in! Monkey
The results are in! Monkey Man blamed on mass hysteria. is it just me, or does the whole "Monkey Man" saga just seem like an entire city playing "telephone", where everyone tells a story, and it gets so twisted by the end that it's just insane?
June 14, 2001
Sorry about the popup, folks.
Sorry about the popup, folks. Hopefully it'll just be there for a little while longer. Yes, I really am giving $100 to anyone who finds me a job.
June 12, 2001
Picture and caption taken from
Picture and caption taken from Yahoo! News. Very interesting piece of art:
La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) a controversial installation by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is on display at the Padiglione delle Tese as part of Venice's 49th Biennale arts exhibition, Friday, June 8, 2001. Titled after the hour of Christ's death, La Nona Ora is a full installation featuring a life-like wax effigy of Pope John Paul II, in full papal regalia including a processional cross in hand, felled by a meteorite that has crashed through a skylight in the ceiling leaving shards of glass scattered on the red-carpeted floor. The work has been the subject of interest, debate and controversy since its debut at the Kunstahalle Basel in 1999. (AP Photo/Francesco Proietti)
Anyone have any good suggestions
Anyone have any good suggestions for employment agencies? I've never used one, but heard good things, and I know a lot of companies only hire through them. Email or IM me. Thanks!
June 11, 2001
It looks as though I'm
It looks as though I'm in need of a job. Any leads, anyone? I do good work, really. Check out my resume.
Why is the US so
Why is the US so pig-headed and ignorant to think killing a person who killed other people is a good way to show that killing people is bad? Why do we still need to feel like we're the top dog? Are we really that bloodthirsty and barbaric? There's just something wrong with government sponsored killing.
Just saw this quote on
Just saw this quote on Slashdot:
millihelen, n.: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship.
Now THAT'S a thinkin' man's quote!
June 09, 2001
It's rather strange logging onto
It's rather strange logging onto napster and seeing someone you've met on the intro page. I met John Vanderslice when my friend Teresa and I went to see him in MK Ultra in Santa Cruz a couple years back. She had written him a few letters, and we were about to leave when he showed up and let us in to see MK Ultra and Sunny Day Real Estate. Now SDRE's "Guitar and Video Games" is playing on my internet radio station, all very randomly. Very weird, very cool.
June 08, 2001
Fantastic! The daily weather burned
Fantastic! The daily weather burned onto your bread!
Get out of the city!
Get out of the city! Thanks Anil for turning me on to the tribute to Balki.
June 07, 2001
Check out the AT&T Labs
Check out the AT&T Labs Text To Speech Demo. Very nice. Very nice indeed. (Thanks to Anil for this link)
June 06, 2001
Wow. I've been finding all
Wow. I've been finding all sorts of fiction I wrote and forgot I had. I'll be posting some of it soon. Until then, why not check out the works section?
Fantastic! The First Twins, Jenna
Fantastic! The First Twins, Jenna and Barbara Bush, have their own website at http://www.thefirsttwins.com. Check out this gem, notice the beer bottle and cigs:
(Click here for a larger image.)
Oh, those Bush girls...it'll be an interesting 4 years.
For those of you that
For those of you that don't know, I LOVE Gambling. I got the gambling bug recently, so I went online to find some good software. "Casino-on-net" seemed very popular, and had a "fairness" page written by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, so I downloaded and bought $50 in chips. I got a $10 bonus for signing up, so had $60. I played for about an hour, going up and down, before finally losing it all. I quit till later in the day, when I decided to play again. I bought another $50, played for a while, did much better, and cashed out at $100, setting me even. Yesterday was good.
I got an email this morning that I had won a promotion and they had put another $25 in my account. I logged on and sure enough, there it was. I played it for a while, going up and down. When I got back to $25, I bet it all on one hand - BLACKJACK! I now had $62.50. I played for another half hour or so, lost it back down to $25. Bet THAT one one hand - BLACKJACK again! I played for another 10 minutes, getting some doubles that i didn't get many of yesterday, just played it up to $100, and quit. So over the last 2 days, I'm $100 up. Not bad at all.
(This post was originally just an email to Chris, my gambling buddy, but I decided to share it with the world. Enjoy.)
WWJD: What Would Jenna Drink?
WWJD: What Would Jenna Drink?
June 04, 2001
Yay! Jessy is back and
Yay! Jessy is back and blogging after an adventure in South America. Go read her blog.
June 03, 2001
After a (long, if you're
After a (long, if you're talking about the disease, but short, in the time we've known about it) battle with cancer, my father, Dave Doss, passed away this morning. He was 66. I hadn't been too forthcoming here about his illness, chosing to deal with it privately instead. But since it will affect my updates for the next week or so, I wanted to share it with everyone. Services will be held this coming Saturday, the 9th. If you'd like to donate some funds to help my mom get through this (she's losing a lot of the money my dad brought in every month), you can send them to me via paypal (link is on your left), or mail them to:
David Doss Memorial Fund
PO Box 8871
Fountain Valley, CA 92728
Thank you, everyone.
I was in the middle
I was in the middle of writing the following:
"It would really simplify things in my life if someone would just give me $10,000. Thanks."
When I realized someone IS going to be giving me $7,200 in the next few weeks. Though if you'd like to donate to the "Hang Around And Watch While Michael Tries To Start A Business" fund, I won't refuse it...
I just finished Neil Gaiman's "The Kindly Ones", from the Sandman series, for the 12th or 13th time. Wonderful series. Everyone should read it. Make sure you check out Neil's journal for American Gods, which will be out soon. I can't wait. Hopefully I'll go to one of the readings/signings.
You'll also notice the cam's not been up. I'm sure it will be again. You'll see a blue screen when it's not up. That's all for now. Email me with questions, comments, or jibber-jabber.
