June 30, 2005
Some honest propaganda
Dear conservatives:
You're losing the battle against gay marriage worldwide. We've got it in one state in the US, and more will certainly follow. Thankfully we didn't listen to you when you wanted to keep interracial marriage illegal. Or when you wanted to keep segregation. Or anytime you've harkened back to the "good 'ol days" that really exist only in your idealist fantasies.
Equality marches on. The rights of the people to be treated equally by the government and by each other will always return to haunt you if they're driven away. My children will wonder why we limited gay marriage the same way I wonder why we limited equal access to restaurants, schools and water fountains. You're on the losing side of a battle for rights, and rightfully so.
June 29, 2005
More poker this weekend
Since I don't have other plans this Saturday, and because I did pretty well last week, I'll be returning to Pechanga on Saturday morning to play poker. Anyone interested in joining me?
June 27, 2005
Livejournal Insignifica Feed
If you're a Livejournal user, you can now add the feed from Insignifica to your friends page. It'll show you the title and first few words of the entry, with a link back here. This is great for my regular readers who find it easy to keep up with LJ posts but harder to remember to click over here. Enjoy!
June 24, 2005
Free gifts!
Ah, Friday evening. The weather's still beautiful, we're in the lightest, longest part of summer, and I've got a great weekend ahead - a date tonight and some poker online, then real (with actual cards and chips) poker tomorrow morning at Pechanga, then lunch with my mom, then a party (with whoever shows - RSVPing has been low but I expect 10 or so guests), then D&D on Sunday morning. The girlfriend will be out of town as well, so I'll have Sunday evening to come up with something interesting and different to do.
I hope everyone out there has a great weekend! If you're a new reader (or infrequent contributor) and leave a note, and I'll send a prize in the real mail. Seriously. I think that means everyone but me, Chris Stankevitz, and Gary are eligible. Leave a note and get a gift! You don't have to leave your postal address in the comment, just your email, and I'll contact you. The more people who leave a note, the bigger the prizes will be. This contest is developing as I type, so leave a note, tell a friend, and win!
Who are your representatives?
It seems that just about every time I've moved, I've been on the boundaries of congressional and representative districts, so I'm not sure who represents me in government until election time. I always feel like a Bad American™ when I don't know off the top of my head who all these people are, so I decided to refresh my memory:
United States President: George W. Bush (R)
California Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)
United States Senate: Barbara Boxer (D) and Diane Feinstein (D)
United States Congress: 48th district, Christopher Cox (R)
California Senate: District 33, Dick Ackerman (R)
California Assembly: District 69, Tom Umberg (D)
Orange County Board of Supervisors: First District, Lou Correa
Mayor of Santa Ana: Miguel A. Pulido
City of Santa Ana Council: Ward 3, Carlos Bustamante
Am I missing any? I vote for judges, school board, etc. but I don't count those as representing me in the same way. If you'd like to find yours, The list of senators by state is available here, Congressional representatives here, and your local representatives at your state and county web pages.
Update: Added Governor of CA and Mayor of Santa Ana.
June 22, 2005
Take the MIT Weblog Survey
Have a weblog? Take the MIT Weblog Survey. Thanks to Anil for the link.
June 21, 2005
happy summer
Happy summer! Today's the Summer Solstice - read more about it here. In the northern hemisphere, today's the day with the most sunlight and the least darkness. Go out and enjoy!
June 20, 2005
weekend wrapup, summer
I didn't do as well in my poker tournament as I'd hoped, but there'll always be more chances. I played well in general this weekend, which I'm happy about. I'm hoping to get some live play in this Saturday at Pechanga, if anyone would like to come out and join me.
Tomorrow is the official start of Summer; the weather this weekend seemed to reflect that. Clear, warm, and generally very plesent out. The only bad part is that the days are going to grow steadily shorter from now until December. For now, it's nice to see some light in the sky until 9pm.
Summer kick-off party is this Saturday, June 25th. If I know you and you'd like to attend, let me know.
Prediction: Though sentenced to 15 years in prison, and ordered to surrender to prison authorities Sept. 19, John Rigas (founder of Adelphia Communications) will die (perhaps by his own hand) before he serves any jail time.
Just a gut feeling...
June 17, 2005
woohoo
Wow, I got a slashdot story accepted. It has nothing to do with me (it's about the MasterCard security breach), but I'm still surprized - usually someone beats me to the punch. Not like I submit a huge number of stories, but still. Welcome /. visitors!
upcoming weekend, poker tourny
Another quick week, as I took Monday off. We were going to go to the Glen Ivy Spa near Corona, but we were both sick, so we just took the day off. That was the third weekend in a row I'd had a three-day weekend; first for Memorial Day, then Chris' wedding, then for the spa. As far as I know, this weekend will be the standard two-day.
If you haven't been reading the Poker Blog, I won a satellite tournament into a much larger ($200+$15 buy-in) tournament that takes place tomorrow, so I'm excited. Top prize last week was a little over $50,000 - wouldn't be a bad return for my original $9 entry.
Sunday, I don't have plans. I hope to be spending newly won cash.
June 16, 2005
Behind on Halloween
There's only 4 1/2 months until Halloween. It's time to get planning.
June 15, 2005
still sick, Angela here at work
I'm still sick.
More than being debilitating, this most recent cold has been annoying. Every day has been a new, different symptom; today's is severe head congestion. When you're healthy, enjoy it!
I'm looking for more pics for the banner up there. If you have some of me (especially if they're weird/odd/funny), send them my way.
In the small world department, I just found out an old friend from high school, Angela, works here with me in the facilities department. I didn't realize when I was calling in a request that I was calling her extension. luckily, she remembered me. What's funny is that I expected to run into someone from high school (or college) here before this. But our location is so large that there could be plenty of old friends here and I'd never run into them. I continue with my belief that the next 12-18 months will be huge in terms of running into/reconnecting with old friends.
June 14, 2005
OC Atheists meeting tonight
Atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, humanists and the curious are invited to join the Orange County Atheists tonight for our monthly meeting. We'll be discussing possible funding sources, upcoming events, and ideas from members for group projects. We'll be meeting tonight, June 14th, at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana, beginning at 7:15. More information is available at the group's website.
June 13, 2005
Photos
Trying to find a way to spruce up the site a bit since the redesign, I borrowed an idea from the OC Metblog, and put up a banner of pictures at the top, using the tools available at Flickr.com. You can click on any of the photos to see a larger version at the Flickr site, and the banner itself displays a random selection of 7 pictures from my collection. Until I get several hundred pics up there it'll be a little repetative, but it's certainly better than the blank banner that was there before. Enjoy!
June 12, 2005
quake
Yes, I felt the earthquake this morning. No, it wasn't that bad out here. It was enough to get me out of bed wondering "What is that?"
poker blog
Check out the Poker Blog if you haven't - it's where I'm putting most of my gambling related posts. The latest entry is about my recent winning streak - take a read!
June 10, 2005
Stuff I want to do while in Vegas
Stuff I want to do while in Vegas next month:
- Play at least one poker tournament, though probably a small one. I'd love an Omaha hi/lo tournament, but I haven't seen any listed.
- Watch some baseball at the Hilton's huge sportsbook.
- Eat at least one great meal. Any type of cuisine. I particulary enjoy Asian, Italian, and California.
- Ride a roller coaster. All my trips, and my love of thrill rides, and I've never done that in Vegas.
Now, your turn. Any suggestions for the above?
June 09, 2005
week wrapup and atheists
What a busy, crazy week. Went to a beer tasting (as designated driver) on Tuesday, and came down with a pretty bad (for me) sore throat. I stayed home from work on Wednesday but got some stuff done around the house. In the evening Marek and I went out with my old high school friend Noel, who was in town visiting family. It was great to see her, especially since it'd been nine years. As I approach my 10 year high school reunion, I look forward to seeing more old friends. Considering my site comes up near the top when you do a google search for "Los Amigos High School", I expect more people contacting me just to say hello.
(If you're a voice from the past, or even a new reader who knows me from some other part of my life offline, let me know! I love to know who's reading).
Today I'm still sick, but hopefully getting better. I seem to have one of those "different symptom every day" type colds. Today it's having to clear my throat and battle a rattling chest. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse.
In terms of upcoming events, fellow OCatheist Travis let me know that "The God Who Wasn't There", a documentry by Brian Flemming, is having it's last California showing tonight at the Vine Theater at 6321 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, at 9:00PM. I've heard good things about the film, so if you're in the area, check it out.
Speaking of atheist events, Orange County Atheists is having their next meeting on Tuesday, June 14th at 7:15pm at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana. More info is available at the website.
June 06, 2005
post wedding monday
Happy Monday!
First and foremost, congratulations to Chris Clark and Vanessa Duquette, who were married this weekend in a beautiful ceremony. The reception was awesome as well, and I can't wait to see pictures. Congrats!
The rest of the weekend was busy too, but lots of fun. Lots of wedding stuff, saw some other friends, ate some great food, and had a great time. I've also been doing well with poker, winning about $60 this weekend, as well as finding out that my win percentage for tournaments (50%) puts me in the "pro" range. I don't consider myself that good, but it was interesting to see that I'm better than most other players at partypoker.com.
News of the day: Supreme Court allows prosecution of medical marijuana. Ignoring the State's Rights issues (which I consider to be a double-edged sword), I'm amazed and the lack of compassion so many people seem to be showing. These aren't kids just smoking pot to get high (not that I think that should be any more illegal than alcohol), the medical marijuana is given to hurting, ailing, dying people so they can feel better. It relieves pain and suffering. To deny it, or prosecute for it, or have armed federal agents arrest sick people at gunpoint, is sick and sad.
June 01, 2005
Vegas in July!
Vegas plans are quickly coming together. I got a room for two nights at the beautiful Las Vegas Hilton, my hotel of choice. For whatever reason, they didn't have their deal rate on Monday, July 18th, but they did have it on Saturday, July 16th, so I'll be there Saturday through Monday morning instead of Sunday through Tuesday morning; hopefully I'll still miss some of the worst traffic.
If you're interested in coming to Vegas with me, let me know. I love meeting up with friends there, especially if no one feels like they have to hang out with a larger group the whole time - there's so much to do in Vegas that everyone can have fun doing their own thing. If I know you well, I'll even consider sharing my room with you ($50 for two nights is a pretty good deal), otherwise we'll meet up for gaming and dining. Leave comments here or on the Las Vegas entry on the "upcoming events" menu on the left. Vegas!
New camera page
To go along with the cam returning, I've got a new page up with the last five cam images. If you notice something weird, funny or interesting on the cam, go to the last five webcams page to save a copy and send it to me.
