entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Ever since my Ecuador vacation, my sleep period during weekends rarely lasts more than 5 hours; i can snooze a bit afterwards, but it's definitely not true, bona fide sleep.  This is... suboptimal.  However, one silver lining that we've found is getting up before dawn and driving over the hill to Santa Cruz to experience the sunrise on the beach, where 2wanda took some pictures, and then head to Linda's Seabreeze Cafe for breakfast, after which we drove to the next beach and Kim took some more pictures.  I took one, too:

After that, we drove back north, past San José to Mountain View, and dropped by the farmers' market, hoping to score some pork belly from TLC Ranch; they had none, alas, so we consoled ourselves with some of their excellent bacon.  On the way out, there were volunteers registering people to vote, so i took the opportunity to cease being a registered Republican and once again join the glorious ranks of the Scorched Earth Party.  The volunteer who reviewed my form laughed when she saw my party declaration, and also when i said, "Join the 10% with the lead pipes!" but Kim thought she looked nervous, so i dunno.

I find it intensely disappointing that there are only 17 Google hits for "Smeg Whitman".

I keep reading stuff about how Obama's candidacy increased African-American turnout, which in turn became a factor in Prop 8's passing, because 70% of African-American voters voted for it.  And today i thought to myself...

Hey, black voters!  Are you in favor of traditional values?  Prop 888: Bring back slavery to California!

Kim and i took a flight early this morning to Marion Morrison Airport to drive to Riverside (yes, i know Ontario's closer, but we couldn't get any decent fares) for the wedding of my old college friend Dave Zuckerman.  The traffic in Southern California is an obnoxious endemic feature, a daily hazard for travelers; besides, SoCal is so big, it takes a long time to get anywhere anyway.

For the first time since the early `90s, "we" were all together at the same time: Brian Dailey, Eugene Hsu, Ron Swain, and the aforementioned DZ.  We had a blast, of course, cracking wise during the wedding rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, and at the après-ceremony dinner at Café Sevilla (which reminded me of the Current Music).  Except for Brian, who also works in the IT dungeons (albeit for academia instead of the dread world of startups), we've all settled into different careers, all of which have little to do with the degrees we achieved (and by "we" i mean "they", as i never completed my curriculum).  The food and wine at Sevilla were excellent, despite a few hitches (how does a Spanish restaurant run out of Spanish wine, i ask you?)

This afternoon's ceremony was elegant and succinct.  Dave and Julia radiate passion, love, and good humor.  I liked what i saw, and i had a great time.

This morning, we had brunch at Plums with jkcohen and his better half Beth, and it was delightful to spend a few hours with them (alas, not nearly as much time as we'd've liked), and the food was excellent.

Now i must go to bed, as we must get up before the crack of dawn to make an 06:45 flight.  I just didn't want to take Monday off...

A big FUCK YOU to my friends at the FCC:

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators on Wednesday fined CBS a record $550,000 for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," which exposed the singer's breast during the Super Bowl halftime show.

You can almost hear Jack Valenti snort-laughing:

Sacramento -- Aiding the industry that helped him gain worldwide fame, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday aimed at discouraging online piracy by requiring anyone disseminating movies or music on the Internet to disclose their e-mail address.

California file sharers who trade songs or films without providing an e-mail address will be guilty of a misdemeanor, under the first-in-the-nation measure that could make it easier for law enforcement to track down people who illegally download copyrighted material.

Schwarzenegger also vetoed a bill that would have mandated sending juvenile parolees who are caught in a nonviolent drug offense to drug treatment rather than back into confinement with the California Youth Authority.

The California quarter does not suck.

dem took this gorgeous picture as he rode down PCH today.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Saturday rebuffed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demand that he force an end to San Francisco's same-sex marriages, calling the directive political rhetoric. "The governor can direct the Highway Patrol. He can direct the next 'Terminator 4' movie if he chooses. But he can't direct the attorney general in the way he's attempted to do," Lockyer said, adding that Schwarzenegger's written directive "was a statement designed for consumption at the Republican convention."

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"I sort of resent it when Arnold plays Conan the Barbarian for the right wing and directs me to do something. He doesn't have the authority to do that," Lockyer said Saturday.

Found on Ananova:

The story of the race to become the governor of California is being turned into a porn movie. [...] "It's kind of like satirical," said Mark Kulkis, president of Kickass Pictures which is producing the film. [...] The two-hour picture will co-star porn star Ron Jeremy as Spooge Cruztamante and muscle-bound X-rated actor Lee Stone as Ernie Gropenegger.

And, yes, starring Mary Carey as herself.

From Dan Weintraub's California Insider:

[California Attorney General Bill] Lockyer had this to say about why he didn't vote for his fellow Democrat [Cruz Bustamante]: "You know the people in your profession really well. You know who works hard and who doesn't. You know who is honest and who isn't. Cops know that about cops. Doctors know that about doctors. I know that about politicians. The common thing to all these professions is none of them say it. That's all I'm going to say."