Chris Bjuland’s blog

Wednesday (still trying to catch up on the days I missed posting)

Day off for me.  Not for Elli.  Walked her to the BART station and then I hit the Farmer’s Market solo.

Came home and packed up my computer to go to the repair shop tomorrow night at 6pm.  Spent the afternoon running errands; returning stuff to Office Depot, going to the Academy of Art to get a student ID (the line was 50 deep, so I left), and ended up at Borders where I read comic books for an hour or so.

Came back home to clean up before Elli got home, fold the laundry, and do the dishes from the morning.  She challenged me to Tetris duels, and she won all four games.  Tetris just isn’t my game.

Watched episode 9 of Family Ties on cbs.com.  Welcome back 1982!  Ran out to get ice cream and then introduced Elli to the 1976 goodness of The Love Boat (some episodes also on cbs.com).  The online shows are great, but cbs doesn’t put all of them online, so watching episodes with continuity is impossible.  You could go from episode 1 to 4, never having seen 2 or 3.  Most of the shows from that era don’t have much continuity anyway, so it’s not such a big deal.  Annoying, but liveable.

Read for awhile and then lights out.  I have to go to work tomorrow (my day off) because the printer in the front office isn’t working… It worked just fine when I left on Tuesday night… hummm….

Monday

Today was a work day, no teachers, no students.  Just me and the dust on on the tables and cords and computers.

Elli came to the BART stop to meet me for lunch.  We ate at a place near the school and shared an iced mocha.  Went back to work.  Elli joined me and Facebooked while I finished up my job for the day.

On the way home from work we stoped at Phil’s Coffee for some reading and sitting time.  The coffee was fabulous.  Probably my second favorite in the city (behind Ruli’s).

Took the BART a bit further on the way home and went to the toy store on Market Street to look for Star Wars Legos.  No luck.  Nothing on the shelf except on Bionicle stuff.  It’s a sad existence for San Francisco that they don’t even have a Target store.  There isn’t a Microcenter, either.  Remind why I moved here?

After leaving the toy store, we walked waaaaayyy down Market to visit Flex, a super great art store.  It doesn’t have the crafty stuff that Michael’s does (which is why I was going), but for paints and paper and notebooks, it’s the best I’ve seen in the city.  Outshines the Utrecht and Dick Blick art stores by a long shot.

Walked home for dinner (chicken salad on a bed of mixed greens), and watching the newest Flashpoint episode, followed by Tetris battles, reading and sleep.

Sunday

Woke up early (for me) and ate Kierfer for breakfast.

Traveled with Elli to the Farmer’s Market for celery.  We are now recognized by the vendors we frequent.  That is a refreshing notion.  Someone has noticed us in the city!

Walked from the Farmer’s Market to Gamescape to play Heroclix.  Elli was heading to a coffee house on the corner near the game store to read and hang out.  We stopped at Five Star Truffles and Coffee (much cheaper than Chris Elbow and every bit as delicious) before going to our respective destinations.
I played Heroclix at Gamescape for about three hours.  SF players are proving to be very generous and nice. They gave me 16 game pieces that were extras in their collection. I’m used to trading with my friends Kevin, Chris, & Chris in Kansas City that way, but this is cool because it means I know have more pieces and choices to use each weekend, and I don’t have to pay the internet re-seller prices (which vary from 70 cents to over $200 depending on the figure).

We walked home and found Bluebottle coffee stand tucked away in an alley. But we bought lemon-aid from two kids at a stand across from Bluebottle.  They had the right idea in trying to pull customers out of the long and slow Bluebottle line over to their side.  Worked for Elli and I.

Finished walking home made dinner and watched a new episode of Monk on usanetwork.com.

Searched the internet for affordable beach vacations for the upcoming holiday weekend.  My idea of affordable is obviously not the generally expected definition of affordable; room rates were often $350+ for an ocean view and $269+ for a view of the back service gate.

Internet excitment followed by the usual of Tetris, reading and bed.

Work tomorrow (no students or teachers, just me hooking up computers on the network).

Saturday

Saturdays are great because it’s a day off from work, so lots of time for fun and relaxing.

Ate breakfast with Elli and watched the newest episode of Flashpoint. Then we cleaned up around the house and I left for the BART station shortly after to go visit my friend Scott in Oakland. We were going to hang out at a game store in Oakland and find some games to play. I arrived at the Civic Center BART to find it closed. Walked to Powell Street Station and waited 50 minutes for a train. Closing one station really screws up the schedule. I arrived long after I wanted to, but it couldn’t be helped. Stopped in at Powderface at the Fruitvale BART stop and scored some deep fried donut-like goodness covered in sugar and cinnamon. It’s a great place for eating and relaxing, I will definately be going back and taking Elli with me the next time.

Meet up with Scott (he’s got a car!) and we drove to a game store near Lake Merrit. I had a great time hanging out and talking with Scott, looking at all the board games, RPG’s and mini games out there.

Came home about 7:30pm and ate dinner with Elli and watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Elli really enjoyed the movie, and I thought it was okay. I had trouble getting past the kid-friendly violence (knife and sword attacks that never draw blood, but “kill” the target) and the lack of any rational battlefield tactics whatsoever. I also had trouble with how dumb the kids acted and the irrational actions that they took. And lastly the lack of consistancey with traveling between Narnia and their home world. Sometime time passed, sometimes it didn’t. I understood most of the symbolism that was supposed to be there, but it just wasn’t a “fun” movie for me. It wasn’t Lord of the Rings enough, I suppose. I’ll give Price Caspian a viewing when it hits DVD.

Finished the movie around midnight, and it was lights out.

Friday

Woke up for work. Planned on going to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars after work.

Spent the day at work throwing out junk and trying to tame the cable mess someone made. Whoever set up the computer network didn’t know what they were doing. I’m putting band-aids on band-aids right now until I can start dismantling it section by section. Two kids were on the computer in the lab while I was also online in the lab. The network ground to a halt. The incoming and outgoing connections are terribly slow and not adequate for the business size. We have a straw (incoming and outgoing) when we need a water main. And we are paying 4 times market prices for the straw connection because the person signing the contract two years ago fell for the snake oil sales pitch and just didn’t know any better. I can’t wait to get out of all the school’s bad contracts (remember – $700 a month for phone rental, not including the price of the actual phone service!).

Came home from work to meet Elli and hang out. We made dinner and watched Dr. Steve O on the computer. It’s a “reality” show where everyone does stupid and painful things (like waxing one eyebrow) and then the host does something stupid and painful. It’s amusing, but not something that we will watch over and over again.

We decided not to go to the movie, and put it off for later.

Standard end of evening routine of Tetris battles, reading and then sleeping.

Thursday

Woke up for Keifer and the last episode of The Unit online. Spent the morning using the washing machine in the apartment basement. Now we have clean clothes for the upcoming week.

Costco run was a success. We made it all 1.5 miles with our old lady grocery cart, found what we needed, and even found a short check out line. (That never happens!). I will say that I love Costco and Target because they are convenient. My friend Scott says I shouldn’t shop at places like these and that I should support the local mom and pop stores that line my street. I try and often do support them for some items… I bought cooking oil at the Korean store around the corner, ice cream from another store, and the occasional donut. But when I went in search of cat litter, I found that the mom and pops charge $16.00 for eight pounds, where as Whole Paycheck charges $6.00 for fourteen pounds. Costco offers thirty pounds for $6.75. Yeah, I’ll take the small package for a lot of money… Sorry Scott.

Went back to Westfield Mall to return Elli’s new shoes. Woo Hoo! Had the AT&T booth transfer her phone book from her old phone to her new one, and then to Borders to look at magazines while Elli broke her new phone in by chit chatting her friends from Missouri.

Melrose Place

Left the mall 30 minutes later to eat dinner and watch Melrose Place online. Our library won’t interlibrary loan DVD’s (unlike the Johnson County Kansas library), so we are reduced to the episodes she finds online. I miss the 80s. Big shoulder pads, hair bangs, poofy hair, catty drama..

There was of course a Tetris battle, some reading and getting ready for work tomorrow. I have to go to Mass tomorrow (I work at a Catholic School and it’s part of my job). Not sure what to expect.

Read, sleep, good night…

Wednesday

Woke up for sausage and eggs and an episode of The Unit. Now that I’ve watched all the online episodes of Flashpoint (all three of them), it was time to find a new show. Wish I would have jumped on the show from the beginning. Now I have to find them on DVD. I’m sure they are in stock at the local Virgin Record Store, but it’s usually much, much cheaper to buy things from Amazon.com. Just no instant gratification. Oh, well. It’s only TV, right? Our local library doesn’t carry it (the San Francisco Public Library DVD’s we have checked out have been severely scratched. People in this town are animals with no respect for public property). I could go on about the local library or how the Johnson County Library in Kansas is the best library system I have ever used and the San Francisco Public Library doesn’t even compare, but why bore myself with griping? They have books in decent shape that they lend for free, so it’s not all bad.

Went to the Farmer’s Market for fruit and vegetables. Found lots of really good stuff. The berries and peaches are losing their flavor, so it may be time to start skipping these items for more seasonal fares.

Ate lunch and watched another episode of The Unit. To bad there are only three online. One to go.

Read a big chunk of Kabuki, vol. 1: Circle of Blood by David Mack. Great series about near-future Japan and the relationships between organized crime and the government agents that combat it. Then I took a short nap. Woke up in time to go with Elli to the Westfield Mall and engage in some shoe shopping. We visited The Walking Company and Nordstroms. She bought some Keens. Elli is very frugal, whereas I will throw money in the air to watch it dance in the wind. So I was happy she finally found some shoes. (This isn’t the first shoe finding trip, at all…). I stopped at the AT&T booth to see about replacing my Razor phone that only has 20 minutes of talk time before the battery dies. I would love the iPhone, but they have some kinks to work out, and I think the phone plans are to expensive. We pay way to much for way to many minutes that we can’t even use. I would like AT&T to offer a lower plan, but we all know that won’t happen. They are happy to charge me a lot to not talk on their network. Makes more room for all the iPhoners out there. We had to renew our expired plan, but we got two new phones, red for me, green for her. Only $40 after mail in rebate. How about we dispense with the stupid mail in rebate and just charge me $40.00? Wouldn’t that be money saving for everyone? No need to hire people to actually process the rebate? No need to pay for postage, or someone to cut a check. Free business advice that will go unheard. AT&T (and all the others) are banking on the fact that a lot of people won’t actually take the time to fill out the forms, make all the necessary copies, wait for the required time before sending the paperwork in, etc. Shame on AT&T and all the other rebaters…

Mary and Anne Boleyn

Came home to watch The Other Boleyn Girl. Elli had recently finished reading the book and wanted to see the movie. It was confusing for me. Broad jumps in plots, dudes that looked like other dudes so as to create confusion… Elli provided commentary and filled in the big holes, and explained all the parts they mixed up. We both think the movie makers tore each chapter out of the book, put them all in a big hat and then drew them out either to use in that order, or to throw away completely. Go Hollywood. But it had Padme from Star Wars. Oh, wait. She’s Natalie Portman, not Padme.

Played Elli in some midnight Tetris battles. She’s way to good for me, especially when I’m tired. Tomorrow it’s Costco time (we never went today like we planned).

Tuesday

Woke up at 6:30am, got to the BART at 7:00am and made it to work by 7:30am. Passed by a store called “The Jelly Donut”. The line was out the door. Must go there someday. Spent work cleaning up the lab (it is filthy), and sorting through all the junk in the closet. Unearthed a beautiful treasure; a Macintosh SE computer!

Beautiful machine...

It’s 1987 to 1990 all over again. I never had a computer like this, but I remember playing Prince of Persia on one at a friends house (in 1989). I just need to locate the other parts, but I really hope this computer still boots.

Spent part of the day comparing PC’s for the secretary’s replacement computer. They all look alike after staring at the screen for 2 hours and clicking all the boxes on the Dell website.

Took a break for lunch; peanut butter and honey. Yummy stuff. Also, a peanut butter cup.

After work, Elli and I went out for coffee and then to Whole Paycheck to get popcorn and ingredients for carob balls.

Talked to my friend Scott on the phone about starting a new gaming group for role playing games. No matter how much I try to get him to play miniature based games like Star Wars Miniatures or Heroclix, he won’t do it. Shame on him.

Monday

Woke up at 6am for that Monday morning joy all over America; Work! Rode the BART to 24th station and walked 15 minutes to work.

Spent the day working on the computer lab, fixing broken parts and cleaning out stuff that should have been recycled eight years ago. I still have much to pick through. I feel like I am renovating a 1990s computer museum display.

I also spent part of the day reviewing the school budgets and their expenditures. Believe it or not, they are spending $700 a month (MONTH!) on phone service. There are only 18 people working there. The school is paying for a ton of features they aren’t using, or didn’t know they had. If they weren’t under contract, I’d cancel the service at the end of the month and go with another company. I also found out that our school Internet connection is only 6.0 Mbps download, and 768 Kbps upload. Which translates to slow. Great if you are only one or three people, but trying to put 45 people at once on that like is insane. What is also insane is that they are paying $155 month for that DSL service. I wish I could find the people that negotiated those “deals” and put a wet paper bag over their head, or hit them with a water balloon. AT&T offers that same “business deal” for $55.00 a month. If I could get them out of their contracts, I could have the money I need for replacing the 20th Century technology with 21st Century technology. Where is a good lawyer when you need one?

Spent the afternoon in teacher meetings trying to plan schedules. Nothing much was resolved.

Came home after work to challenge my wife to another round of Tetris battles. She won about half the games this time. I’m getting better.

Ate dinner (lentil sausage soup and cheese bread), watched another episode of Flashpoint, read and hit the sack for a repeat of today tomorrow.

Sunday

Elli and I were tired after our big hike on Angel Island so we lazed around until 11am, not really being in any hurry.

I made breakfast for us (eggs and sausage) and then we cleaned up and hustled to Gamescape so I could play in a Hero Clix tournament. Hero Clix is a comic book “action” game using a map and miniature figures to represent your super-hero team. Each figure has a point value and together the team needs to add to no more than 300 points. Today was a sealed tourney, meaning that you bought two sealed boxes of random figures (5 figures to a box), and had to make a team with “what you got”, so Spider-Man might end up being on a team with Doctor Doom. I’m a big theme team player; I like my team to be something that would have been in the comics, or reflect a certain team-up from a comic book that I liked. Most players are power players, putting anyone and everyone on a team, buying “super rare” figures off the internet for insane amounts of money (sometimes $125 or more) to get them the edge. I don’t like to play that way, mainly because it’s not very much fun, and I can think of better things to do with $125 dollars than spend it on a small piece of plastic).

Anyway, I was the new guy in town, and I didn’t make many friends today with my Doctor Doom and Arachne team-up. (It was what was in my box!). But I hope I did and that everyone had fun.

Doctor Doom

Arachne

I won all my games, and in my last game Doctor Doom rendered Hercules powerless. I had a great time, and enjoyed my beginners luck. I traded my winning prize battlefield condition card for Cloak and Dagger.

Cloak and Dagger

Afterwards, I met Elli at a coffee shop down the street where I ate a breakfast bagel (egg, turkey and jack cheese on an asiago bagel!), and drank a cup of coffee. We left there and walked to Chris Elbow and indulged in some chocolate, and came home for dinner.

A great Sunday after a great Saturday. I think I could get used to hanging out in coffee shops and playing games all day. If only I could make money from that…

Watched an episode of Flashpoint on www.cbs.com. This is my new favorite TV show, and since I don’t have a TV, I have to watch it online. It is about police officers in the Strategic Response Unit, and they are responsible for tactical emergencies such as hostage situations, with the goal of saving lives and diffusing the situation. Unfortunately, the first episodes is not online, even though the CBS masthead says it is. Settled for watching episode 6, I think. I don’t think there will be much confusion for watching them out of order. Anxiously awaiting time to watch the other episodes that are still online, where I can start with episode 2.

Flashpoint on http://www.cbs.com

Spent the remainder of the evening looking on the web trying to buy Hero Clix singles (the ones I want seem to be sold out most places) and reading with Elli before sleeping.