Well… We (Cal) didn’t do quite as well as we all hoped/expected… I won’t go into details as to why (Ayoob)… but we did make the Vegas Bowl.

 So Go Bears!

So I’d like to think that we’ve all had this happen to us. You have what you think is a brilliant idea… okay maybe not necessarily a ‘brilliant’ idea, but at least a ‘good’ idea and you decide “I’ve got to do it”

And so of course as you start down the path of accomplishing this grand scheme that you believe will provide you with a sense of fulfillment and self worth and in general make you and your life indisputably better only to find it’s not exactly as simple/ideal as you expected it to be. 

If you’re like me each problem or ‘minor setback’ you encounter only doubles your determination. Before you know it you’ve lost sight of the original goal and your only objective is to get past whatever the current problem you’re dealing with happens to be. So you work and work… running into one problem after another becoming more and more entrenched in problems. Eventually you hit a point that brings you out of the euphoric stupor that’s been consuming you to find yourself mired knee deep in a pile of shit saying to yourself… “How the hell did I get here?”

As some of you know I decided to install a new head unit in my car. It seemed like a simple thing to do… definitely a good way to save money and learn about my car. Ha! Such was the dream… but in the end it was not meant to be… The unit is too long, the harness doesn’t quite fit properly, and so now I’ve got myself a car with a bunch of wires sticking out where the radio used to be.

Looking back, you can always identify that one moment, that one decision that led you to the point of no return, the move that got you caught in that proverbial jet wash. What was it this time? Definitely when I decided to take a hand saw to the entrails of my car.

The xbox 360′s only been out a week now and it looks like the masses are getting organized to hack it…

 http://www.free60.org

 I can’t wait to see what ppl will be able to do with this thing.

So this incident actually happened back in March. It was one of those things I had always planned on putting in my blog (once I had one that is) simply because I think things like this are too important to go unmentioned. What the hell am I talking about you ask? Well here’s the story….

I stopped by the Taco Bell in Emeryville after hitting up Home Depot one night. As I was standing around waiting for my order I see the cashier (kid in his late teens) go to the back and start to prepare food. I found this a bit surprising considering it was just me and these two haggard little kids (10-13ish yrs old) who had just ordered and there was already a guy back there preparing the food. Regardless, I dismissed the thought and continued to wait. Before my food was handed to me, the cashier returned with a few bags of nachos, tacos and other random Taco Bell delectables and handed them to the kids.

My first thoughts were, “Hey these kids ordered after me… how are they getting their food first?” and “Wow these kids must have ordered a lot of food.” I didn’t really care too much since I wasn’t in a rush or anything; my curiosity was just peaked.

As soon as the kids got the bags, one of them exclaimed, “We didn’t order all this food! We just had one taco! We can’t afford to pay for this!”. To this the cashier calmly and matter-of-factly responded, “Oh don’t worry, its part of our inventory surplus; it’s free, so you kids enjoy.” As one might imagine, the kids were pretty overjoyed.

I walked out of there a little bit choked up, and a little bit in awe of this Taco Bell cashier. This was one of the most genuine/spontaneous acts of kindness I’ve ever witnessed. (The only other incident that moved me this much that I can recall occurred in Germany and involved an elderly Turkish man, the mother of a neo-nazi, and oddly enough me). But that’s a story for another time…

Anyhow, major props to the Taco Bell Guy for having a greater sense of social responsibility in his teens than many people ever will. 

So some of you have heard about my latest attempt at cooking last week. In case you haven’t the summary of the story is… “Nabs can’t cook”. In all fairness to myself sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t. It’s really a matter of how the food feels like turning out on any given day. Anyhow, this last attempt left me semi-scarred as it was one of the worst outcomes in a long time. (Kinda like Cal dropping to #23 after being #10… but we won’t talk about that).

Anyhow, I told my mom about the food when she got back from LA yesterday and she in her most motherly voice she offered to take a look and see what I did wrong. Now I don’t know much about cooking (obviously) … but I didn’t think that food could be diagnosed. I mean cars, sure… computers, no problem… but food? Not only that but to top it off after her ‘inspection’ she came back and said… “Oh I can fix this, you did it right you just didn’t add enough water or cook it long enough”. Okay… maaaybe I could be convinced that you can diagnose food… but fix it? NO WAY.

Of course low and behold in 15 minutes she turned my cooking into her cooking. I’m not kidding – it was good. Not just good, but her cooking good which is way gooder than any good I’m capable of. Not just that… but to top it off she broke my ineptitude  down to geek terms for me:

“You look at cooking the same way we look at computers… We’re afraid to that playing with it will ruin it. You’re like that about cooking… sometimes you just need to play with the food a little longer and you can fix it.”

After this ‘pep’ talk of sorts from my mom… all I can say is… if she and my dad can learn how to use computers, I can learn how to cook.

I know some of my friends consider blogs to be a self promoting egocentric entity. To them I say… “HERE I BLOG… HEAR ME ROAR!”… (And have any of y’alls known me to be anything other than self promoting and egocentric anyhow!? I’m GREAT remember?)

I know this isn’t exactly my first computer program or my first website… but it is my first blog (and my first domain). The aspect of having a blog is kinda exciting as I feel like I’m finally contributing to this new fangled 21st century internet. I think it’s fascinating to see so many people so eager to share their experiences and thoughts with the rest of the world.

I was reading an article on CNN talking about this blogger’s handbook that’s out there for bloggers living in countries where the internet is censored; giving out tips on how they can cover their tracks so that they can post to their blogs without fear of having it being traced back to them.

It’s sad that people out there are forced to go through all this trouble just to have a voice in even this borderless and identityless void we call the internet. In spite of this blogs are fast becoming an integral part of this new virtual society that sometimes binds us closer together than the communities and countries we live in. Regardless, I’m proud to join the legions of bloggers out there with my humble little blog.

The tagline of my first website ever is just as appropo now as it was then, “I’m now an official speed-bump on the information super highway”.

[And yes for those of you looking at this 'joomla thing'. I do feel like a semi-sellout because I am using blogger software that's been developed by others... But alas, as my friends Sandy, Rishi, and Steve all reminded me many times over,  "There's no point in reinventing the wheel". Thanks guys (I still think I could make a rounder wheel). ]