Saturday, June 29, 2002
Woke up before Patrick and started organizing things into the new cardboard boxes we got from theboxcompany.com several weeks ago. Their boxes are very well-designed. We got file boxes (16" x 12" x 10") with attached lids—my favorite, and I would recommend them to anyone who needs boxes. We ordered 12 file boxes and 5 moving boxes to get the free shipping on orders over US$50, and they threw in 5 book boxes for free! Our big closet has been a mess for weeks, and I've been wanting to organize it to see if we can make room for my bicycle and bring it in from the outside, where it is slowly rusting. Last Wednesday I found a website called findyourlink.com. It asks you questions about what kind of living environment you like and after you give up your personal information it tells you the cities with which you are compatible. On my first run through, I got: 1. Ashland, OR; 2. Milwaukie, OR; 3. Paradise, CA; 4. Hot Springs-Hot Springs Village, AR; 5. Las Cruces, NM. I think my answers need tweaking tho. I sent the link to a bunch of friends and they started sending back their answers, too. It was rather fun. Bryan Cochran, who is currently residing in Seattle, wrote back: "How fun! My top 5: 1. Portland, OR; 2. Albuquerque, NM; 3. Baltimore, MD; 4. New Haven, CT; 5. Providence, RI. Probably not too far off for me..." Tina Luu, who is currently residing in Honolulu, wrote back: "Hey! That was FUN. You will laugh when you see my top spots... this is what the quiz revealed: Portland, OR; Honolulu, HI; Santa Cruz, CA; San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA; Providence, RI; New Haven, CN; New Orleans, LA; Eugene, OR; Hartford, CN; Valencia, CA; Long Beach, CA; Washington, District of Columbia. I guess I live where I am true to what I like! That was a very cool site." Chris De Lay, who is currently residing in Honolulu, wrote back: "Ugh. They want all my personal contact info. Anyway, I got: 1. Honolulu; 2. Sacramento; 3. New Orleans; 4. San Diego; 5. Little Rock (ugh!); 6. Las Vegas (UGH!). Guess I already found my spot." Nate Dwyer, partner of Chris in Honolulu, wrote back: "<laugh> 1. Eugene, OR; 2. Corvallis, OR; 3. New Haven, CT; 4. Danbury, CT; 5. Baltimore, MD; 6. Providence, RI. Chris and I apparently need a summer home and a winter home. If I tweak the quiz to weight bigger cities more I get: 1. New Haven, CT; 2. Portland, OR; 3. Baltimore, MD; 4. Providence, RI; 5. Little Rock, AK; and 6. Hartford, CT (The Insurance Capitol). Eek." Kelly Hawk, currently residing in San Francisco, wrote back: "All my spots ended up in the MA/VT/WV areas except 1, probably because I said I like some snow and I don't care about skiing. 1. Shelburne Falls, MA; 2. Williamstown, MA; 3. Johnson, VT; 4. Hartford, CT; 5. Middlebury, VT; ... 16. Portland, OR." And Brian Kusler, partner of Kelly in San Francisco, wrote back: "i had baltimore, new haven, dc, boston, little rock. hmm. i didn't even scroll down far enuf to see anything below the top 5. it was the 'liking the snow' thing that pretty much ruled out any california cities from my results."—Chris De Lay sent us a link to the movie trailer for Star Trek Nemesis. Our first comments after viewing: Frank: "I thought it looked stupid." Patrick: "I have no idea what that movie is about." Frank: "They showed all the good parts!" Patrick: "Who was that running and jumping into space?" Frank: "We don't know, do we?" Patrick: "I'd see it."—Patrick had a dream about Katherine Forrest. He dreamt that she was a cop in New Orleans. That's all he remembers. He also dreamt about an airplane; he was chosen to learn how to pilot an airplane and he can't remember anything else. This reminded me that several weeks ago I had a dream about my former co-worker Mia Levine and her partner Katherine. They were sitting in a snack area of someplace like Target or Safeway (but Safeway doesn't have snack areas). It was around lunch time and they were eating sushi, I think. I said hello, but didn't stop to eat with them. That's all I remember. Watched "Minority Report" with Patrick and Sam at the Daly City Century 20. Victor had recommended this to me; he and Lindsay saw it the other weekend and said they liked it. We all enjoyed it very much, despite many flaws. I recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction. Outside, while going back to the car we saw a group of older Asian people walking to the garage and one of them had wore a windbreaker that still had the sale tag hanging visibly on his shoulder. We also saw some bubblegum on the sidewalk, which was noteworthy because the sidewalk was brand new. I wrote next to the gum "June 29, 2002" and told Patrick and Sam that I bet if we return 50 years from now the gum will still be there. I didn't use permanent marker, just a regular ballpoint pen, so my marking will probably wash away in the next rain. Patrick thought the sidewalk wouldn't still be there in 2052.