current playlist

the dominatrix sleeps tonight - dominatrix - fabric live 33, spank rock
3 strange days (extended version) - school of fish - school of fish
indian ocean - west indian girl - 4th and wall
girl/boy song - aphex twin - richard d. james album
banged and blown through - saul williams - niggy tardust
got you (where i want you) - the flys - 25 cents
tea leaf dancers - flying lotus - reset
star 6 & 7 8 9 - the orb - adventures beyond the ultraworld
glad i ate her (original mix) - cass and slide - white label
reckoner - radiohead - in rainbow
ridiculous wobble - bassnector/nibu - underground communications
hey son - the black seeds - kiwi dub collection (private compilation)

venice xmas run

the venice xmas run is hands-down one of my favorite holiday traditions. i started running it when i first moved to california, prompted by my new pal big jason at deloitte & touche. i can't remember what i ran it in (something in the 50s?), but this is what got me started with running in LA, and soon beyond.

when i moved back to the westside a few years ago, we resurrected the tradition by inviting a few folks over for mimosas afterwards. it's been gathering steam over the last couple years and we had 10+ people join us this past saturday at the new casa. i finished a little over 46 mins, not bad for a guy recovering from a cold.

a few shots of the runners below.
happy holidays!

sprinting to xmas

just got back from wednesday evening hockey. we lost but i poked in a goal and notched an assist, not a bad evening o' stress elimination and exercise.

i've bumped into a few things that are pretty funny lately. if you've never read the register, it's worth checking out. here's your chance: they tormented MSN's santa bot and got it to crack under the pressure, talking about oral sex and calling the person a dirty bastard.

this one was surfaced by digg once again and is priceless; it's 5 of the worst high school senior pictures that ever graced a blog.

on a more serious note, i ran into this quote lately which i think is really poignant:

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
John le Carre (1931 - )
"The Chancellor Who Agreed To Play Spy", The New York Times, May 8, 1974

i'm sure everyone has felt like this at some point, but was unable to find the exact words to articulate the alien feelings upon re-entry to their normal existence. i get this sentiment on the tail-end of a long, intl biz trip at times.

i wanted to share 2 fantastic ways of wasting time online. the first is to spend hours playing around with interface flor designs. hands-down, you can make the coolest and cheapest rugs using interface flor. below is a shot of a couple designs i was playing with. i ended up buying a green version of the orange one of the left for under our dining room table and am very happy with how it turned out (and spent under $250 on it!)

interface flor
the next is my newest addiction: the puma mongolian shoe bbq. you can design your own special flavor of pumas by selecting different colors and materials, all for about $130 bucks (not cheap). it beats the pants off the nike version of the same concept which is less flexible and intuitive.

i've been practicing on especially boring conference calls and when i have a coupla extra minutes. i've polished my skills over the last couple weeks and i think i've gotten pretty good :-) check out my latest creation below, which i'm thinking of ordering for xmas .

random thanksgiving musings

saw this recently via digg, which has become my geek news source of choice: http://www.local6.com/news/14578641/detail.html

it's a mysterious blue cloud that "haunted" a gas station for about 30 mins or so. pretty interesting and i've no clue what it is (or if the story is real). the most interesting aspect of this IMO is how the digg crowd reacted. they made fun of the story and stated that it had to be an insect or something else readily explainable. now i can see how claims that this is an angel or a ghost could be easily questioned, but does everything have to be so readily dismissed by the dogma of science? is it ok if just a few things are genuinely unexplainable and strange?

our world is a wacky, mystical place. there's still many things we do not understand. i worry that the forthcoming generation (and my own) have abandoned this sense of wonder for the scientific arrogance that moves quickly to discredit something that challenges our understanding of the world and our lives. i do, however, applaud the comments regarding smurf farts and the vengeful spirit of global warming coming forth to haunt the SUV owners :-)

anyways, i've been a little lame on posts but figured on this thanksgiving eve i would catch up a little. been heads-down with work amongst the uber-political work environment. our design checkpoint is done so the worst is over but i never cease to be surprised by the fragile egos and poltitical motivations of the people of power in a big company like mine. since i have no further motivation of advancing in the company, i can afford to sit back and laugh a little but it's truly sad. sooner or later, it's back to start-up land for me.

jane and i just passed our first anniversary. i'll spare the planet my cliche'd thoughts on marriage. i don't think it's really *that* much work as people say but it is different than before, as i quickly learned earlier this year. it suits me fine and gets better each day with time and effort. 'nuff said, we're happy.

i will confess i've been spending a fair bit of time on facebook, which sort of feels like i'm cheating on my blog. they really nailed the social aspect of it though and i have to say i completely understand why it is successful. very cool stuff.

time for bed as i get ready to cook my first turkey: cletus, the 20lb wonderbird. wish me luck!

current playlist

sunday bloody sunday - saul williams - niggy tardust

ring road - underworld - oblivion with bells

lindsay lohan's revenge - pase rock feat. santo gold - ep single

deborah - beck - midnight vultures

middle distance runner - seawolf - leaves in the river

arp faust - radiohead - in rainbow
milk crisis - go! team - proof of youth
massage situation - flying lotus - reset

forever begins - common - finding forever

crimeware book

finally! worked on this early this year and after much ado, the book is up on Amazon and soon to be available. i am a contributing author, having penned the section on the business of crimeware. i drew on my experience over the past few years dealing with spyware and adware disputes, as well as malware investigative research we've conducted. should be accessible to even the less technical folks out there.

Link to Amazon entry for the book

autumn

just returned from a short trip to vancouver, which is easily one of the most beautiful cities on the face of the planet. there's few places in the world that have their combination of mountains, ocean, cleanliness, cool people, and metropolitan amenities.

anyways, thought i'd make good on my musings tagline and yet again ramble on my latest learnings and mental wanderings. first off, i've already learned a great deal about the retail industry but still have a long ways to go. it's pretty interesting and completely different than the corporate sales stuff i've grown accustomed to over the past 12 years. about the only thing i can say definitively right now is that my longstanding concern that i was getting screwed paying retail prices is absolutely confirmed. i've also learned the number of middlemen that get a cut of the action. note to self: order those new shoes from zappos.com.


we officially sold my old condo last friday. i dropped off my keys and the garage door openers in the early evening as the sun was beginning its dip into the pacific. i'll fully admit i was a little misty-eyed to the leave the place (the final, amazing sunset just punctuated my sentiments, pic to the right). it was the home of the last phase of my bachelorhood, my 30th b-day, many games of dominos, rooftop bbqs, and countless good times. if my old place in huntington was emblematic of my wild, partying days then 2222 was symbolic of an intense time of personal growth and maturity. neither better nor worse, just different. i will miss the place dearly, though our new digs are coming along just fine and already feels like a home. time moves on, all things change.

on the music side, the new radiohead album is in heavy rotation on my ipod. for the life of my i cannot understand what thom yorke is saying but i'm sure it's some weighty statement on the dissasociation of humanity through technology. it could be about gerbils, really doesn't matter, it sounds fantastic. additional faves right now are UNKLE "War Stories" and Underworld "Oblivion With Bells", both of which will be faves for the year. UNKLE's new album is their best in as long a time as i can remember. james lavelle finally learned to rock, god bless ya. underworld has yet to regain the brilliance of beaucoup fish but the album is stellar nonetheless (check out crocodile, the best mamgu ever, and ring road).

random travel thoughts

so i'm in DC today after a short trip from fort lauderdale. missed the beach entirely, which is a real shame but c'est la vie. the one thing i did learn at the convention in fort lauderdale is the difference b/w the crappy enterprise-oriented tradeshows i had been going to and consumer-style tradeshows. i was quickly taught how to barter with software for lots of other goods, everything from dvds to games and music. big win! i'd show up with an armful of norton internet security and i would receive the happy greeting of "you looking to trade?" why yes my friend, i am. it turned out so well that the resulting booty from my bartering forced me to have a small box shipped back with all the goodies. woohoo!!! i'm liking this new job already :-)

what the hell has happened to people's mobile manners? had a cabbie in fort lauderdale that was *texting* while driving me to the hotel. today in d.c., had a female bartender that couldn't be bothered to take my order since she was chatting away on her side kick for 5 mins while i prompted with ever louder "excuse me's". wtf???!!!

if you ever get to D.C., don't miss Georgia Brown's or Zaytinya. very different restaurants but both out of this world food.

one my pet peeves of travel is the airport change-up. that is, when you finish with a formal meeting and only have the trip home on front of you and you want to swap out the suit you're in for the jeans, t-shirt and sneakers you packed for a relaxing trip home. this means an extended stay in a bathroom stall, almost all of which have very convenient and hygenic auto-flush features. the problem is if i'm changing, i'm setting off the auto-flush about 13 times before i can get out of the bathroom. the scenario goes something like this...

dave: open suitcase, shuffling off dress pants and shirt while reaching for jeans and t-shirt
flush #1
dave: oh here we go... (packing dress clothes, reaching for sneakers)
flush #2
dave: sigh. putting on jeans and tshirt.
flush #3
dave: i can nearly visualize the temperature in the arctic rising and some poor penguin passing out from heat exhaustion. clothes on, putting on sneakers, tying shoes...
flush #4
dave: i can hear the ice in greenland cracking at the pressure i'm putting on the
fresh water supply. whales have changed their migratory patterns and PETA
representatives are protesting outside our home for the impact i've had on baby
seal habitats

... I'll spare you the rest of the details, but by the time I'm done the
robot-toilet has flushed no less than 12 times and i've visualized myself
kick-boxing with al gore while eco-armageddon takes place around us. makes me
want to go and recycle something, or get a massage.

overheard in fort lauderdale

police officer to crowd of people in front of jamba juice at 10pm (!?):
"if you are not patrons, leave the area"

person in the crowd:
"what did he say? sumthin' 'bout patriots?"

another person in the crowd:
"he's trying to figger out what country we're from."

hey, i think i figured it out. check please. tomorrow: off to washington DC.

current playlist

subterranean homesick alien - radiohead - ok computer
elementary lover - matthew dear - asa breed
pogo - digitalism - idealism
don't you evah - spoon - ga ga ga ga
seconds - fat freddy's drop - midnight marauders vls
shoot to thrill - acdc - back in black
crocodile - underworld - oblivion with bells
d.a.n.c.e. - justice - cross
you'll find a way (switch & sinden remix) - santogold - single
luz azul - aterciopelados - oye
stairway to heaven - rodrigo y gabriela - rodrigo y gabriela

... and huge kudos to radiohead for offering their new album solely online *for what their fans want to pay*. brilliant! it may or may not work, but a very brave gesture nonetheless. that noise you heard earlier in the week was the record label executives falling off their chairs. via this type of exploration, there's hope that we'll arrive at a reasonable model for paying artist for their work without the burden of money-leeching middle-men spoiling the music industry. onward!