Friday, August 17, 2007

Sushi Night, Unpacking

Well a lot of posts tonight eh?!

Just went for Sushi with Matt and his girlfriend Miriam and her friend Frances to a really awesome sushi place near downtown on Market St. It was REAAAAAAAAAAAALLY good. It took ages to get our table since it's a very small place, but we chatted and that was awesome, and the food was SO good. Miriam and Frances roooock too and it's nice that I am starting to meet some more people out here!

I am thinking about some cool stuff I want to get once I finally get the rest of the stuff that I actually need. First on the list is going to be a Canon Digital SLR camera. I think I want to get the Rebel XT or the Rebel XTi. Also I want to get a Mini-Mixer to connect my guitars and new condenser Mic to, so I can have better and higher quality recordings of me rockin' out. Good stuff. Kinda want to eventually get a new Didgeridoo, a Surfboard, maybe some Bongos, and maybe I'll get back into playing the Saxophone. Crazy!! Haha yeah so those are longer term things. First off, I gotta pay for my bed that's arriving on Saturday. Sweet! Also gotta get some Blue Bottle Coffee Co coffee beans. Probably the best coffee in the history of mankind. I gotta make some at home and see if it rocks as much as when they make it for me at the Ferry Building market.


All my stuff from Canada


Starting to unpack the guitars


Haha this crazy wardrobe box


Matt, Miriam and Frances


Getting ready for some foooood


Miriam and Matt rockin' some Sushi

Conan O'Brien at ILM!

I finally saw this video of Conan O'Brien visiting ILM!!!!!!!!!!! This is really awesome, and shows a bunch of the desks and models and characters right around where my desk is!!!

Also it shows Conan walking through a glass hallway and looking at old movie props, that rocks, and I walk through there every day to get lunch! :) So cool.

Visit to Skywalker Ranch

This has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old. And it was AWESOME.

Yesterday, I went up for lunch to Skywalker Ranch. And it was every bit as fantastic and amazing as I could have ever imagined.

Now, the entire place, and LucasFilm in general is very very very careful about security and such important issues like this. I therefore am not going to post much on here about it (sorry) - I can't. But I'll copy and paste a few things from some links I found about the Ranch on Wikipedia, and some information from the Skywalker Sound website.

According to Wikipedia: (See article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywalker_Ranch)
Skywalker Ranch is the name of the workplace of film director and producer George Lucas in secluded but open country near Nicasio, California in Marin County. The ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road, although Lucas is not related to the road's namesake, a turn-of-the-century landowner in the area...

Skywalker Ranch is intended to be more of a "filmmaker's retreat" than a headquarters for Lucas's business operations. The headquarters of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and LucasArts are located in Lucas's Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco.
So that's an intro into the place from a Wikipedia article. There's some cool info here on the Skywalker Sound page too. (See here: http://skysound.com/about_ranch.html)

Specifically, check out the QuickTime VR "Tech Tour" on the Skywalker Sound page. This will give you a great idea of where we toured in Skywalker Sound. I can't post any photos from this, I am sure of that. But this link will take you to the Skywalker Sound sound website, and I am
sure their photos will be better than mine anyway. :)

http://skysound.com/about_techtour.html

According to the Skywalker Sound website:
Skywalker Sound is housed within the 155,000 square foot Technical Building at Skywalker Ranch.

There are six feature film dubbing stages, a 300 seat screening room and a scoring stage capable of recording a 130 piece orchestra.
It was REALLY awesome there. We toured around the Main House, had a really nice BBQ lunch, and then headed to the Technical Building where we saw the Stag Theatre, and the Sound Recording stage. Now as I mentioned I can't post any photos. But if you poke around on that Skywalker Sound website, you'll see lots of cool QuickTime VR photos, as well as a bunch of photos they have posted there. You'll get a good idea of what I saw there by looking at those anyway.

I loved it there. Hopefully my description (and the Skywalker Sound website) should be good enough to give you a feel for the place.

Here's a few pictures on our way there and our way out and back to San Francisco. For pictures of inside the ranch, you'll have to check out those links.


Big Rock


Nice trails around the area on the drive around the area

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Harry Potter #7

It's 3:20am, and I just finished Harry Potter #7. It was SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO absolutely insanely awesome.

I couldn't stop reading it, the ending is just awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome.

Man, I can't WAIT for that movie. This was so good I think I am too excited to sleep.

Stuff from Canada, Pixar toy recall

Today my stuff from Canada arrived. This is great and now I can finally start unpacking a ton of stuff!! Good times. Glad to have it all here now and I am excited for getting some recording on and spending lots of evenings rockin' out on my guitars!!!!! Yes!!

Anyway that is great, and work was so totally super awesome again today. Man I love that place!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am starting to get to know my coworkers too and they are all really awesome and nice and brilliant. Tomorrow I get to go to the Skywalker Ranch which is actually something I've wanted to do since I was 10 years old!!!!!!

So yes, exciting times.

But also... man crazy news today about some of the Mattel Pixar Cars toys. I have every single one (obviously), and today they announced a recall of some of the "Sarge" cars only, bought between certain times. Turns out they have lead paint in them. Ahh!! This is very very concerning for parents, obviously, and thankfully I am not a small child who would put the cars toys in my mouth! Man this is nuts. I can imagine parents must be really angry about this.

I am not sure if the "Sarge" car I have is in the recall or not, so I'll have to check. But anyway, that is pretty crazy.

Here's some news about the recall.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/14/fyi/main3166371.shtml?source=mostpop_story
http://service.mattel.com/us/recall/default.asp?recall_id=52433

That is nuts.

Here are a couple photos of my stuff getting delivered today.


The moving truck arriving


Huge pile of stuff from Canada!!

Oh yeah and I've been reading Harry Potter a bunch more and I only have a few chapters left to go. It is SO awesome.

I've been ZipCar-ing like a madman lately, every day for 3 days so far! I drove a Prius on Sunday, a Mazda 3 to Big Rock Ranch yesterday, and a Nissan Versa back to my apartment today to be here when my stuff arrived! So it is working quite well and I am enjoying the ability to get a ZipCar with like 2 minutes notice. That is really helpful when you need it!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Visiting Big Rock Ranch

Yes, it is just as amazing as you might expect.

I went up for lunch today, met my buddy Frank who works there, and got some awesome latte from this crazy automatic latte machine. Big Rock Ranch is one of the two ranches north of San Francisco where Lucasfilm runs some of the divisions. It was great to hang out with Frank and man... it is awesome there. I'm going to Skywalker Ranch this week too, and I'll ask if I can take photos, but I doubt it. It's pretty important for there to be hefty security there, and I wouldn't want to post anything I'm not supposed to post online. But anyway, suffice it to say... it is absolutely beautiful there. I sat on a little porch there, admiring the sun and the mountains, and having a fantastic day.

So as well as getting to check out Big Rock Ranch today, I also got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time ever!! It was great, and the traffic wasn't too crazy or anything. Awesome times.

I don't think it was possible to take photos today, and I didn't ask. But here's a photo I found online of someone on the biking trails in the Big Rock area of northern San Francisco, man it sure was awesome.


Big Rock trails

Work totally rocked today. What an awesome day. This evening I chatted on the phone a lot, got some more groceries, and read a bunch more of Harry Potter. Good times!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

I finally have somewhere to eat dinner that's not my desk or my bed

Today I ran around all day and night, but it was totally worth it.

This morning I got this from a guy down the street, who also delivered it and helped me move it into my place:
  • IKEA chest of drawers
  • 2 IKEA end tables
  • 2 chairs
  • Round kitchen table
Then I booked a ZipCar (a Toyota Prius, which was sweet), biked to the car, drove my bike back to the apartment, and drove alllll the way downtown. It took a while to find parking and it was nuts there, but no worries. There I got:
  • 2 rugs
  • Little night stand thing
  • Clock radio
  • Glass lampshade
  • Some Pyrex dishes, a small bathroom mat
Then I drove to another place and walked down 3 flights of stairs with the guy helping me carry a HUGE 8 ft bokshelf!!!!!!! I SOMEHOW managed to get all of the stuff I picked up in the car into my apartment in 5 MINUTES?!?!?!! This is because the ZipCar was due back in the parking lot some ways away from my house, and I had to get it over there. Insane!!! So it was a major runaround but still Craigslist is amazing. The bookshelf would have been $80 plus tax from IKEA, and I would have had to spend 3 hours putting it together, plus getting it from IKEA all the way over here somehow. So this way it was great, a bit of heavy lifting, and not totally new furniture, but not a big deal since it was only $20. Sweet.

Oh man. So yeah another day of running around and getting stuff. But I also finally got my bulletin board up on the wall and sorted out the bazillion papers on my desk. So it'll still be some time before I feel really settled down here but at least it's coming along!! Next weekend I get my bed which will be an awesome thing to get.

So the car worked out really well. It's a bit hard to judge when you need to head back to the parking spot since it's hard to figure out how much traffic there is. The Prius was fun, but next time I'll get a Civic or something that is closer to my apartment. After dropping off the car I went to this fancy grocery store called Andronico's, it's a bit overpriced but I found a few nicer things there, like some Dolmas and Olives. I made some nice dinner when I got back and called my sister Norma for her birthday.

Then I spent a few hours sorting some more stuff out over here. There really are like 1000 things to do to set up a new apartment on your own, but actually it's pretty fun to get new stuff, and to get good deals on used stuff. That's fun, and although it's a lot of work, it's nice to finally have my own place and also my own real person furniture. Lots of new stuff to get used to but I think in the long run it's going to be awesome not to move every 4 months. It's already suuuuuuuper weird to be buying stuff to last long term and buying a bed and a new desk and stuff rather than just using whatever junk is in the house I am subletting. :)


My awesome new red and white polka-dot carpet, bookshelf, plastic tub drawer


New end tables and desk lamp, clock radio


New end table


Chest of drawers and hanging canvas chest of drawers


In my walk-in closet


New stuff


Bathroom mats, new towels


New rug, chairs, round dining room table


Dinner!! St Pat cheese from Cowgirl Creamery downtown, Sourdough bread, apricot, dolmas, olives

Saturday, August 11, 2007

New phone, towels, clothes holder

After getting my sweeeeeeet new bike today, I took off downtown and got a bunch of stuff. I went to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon and confirmed that they all suck for calling Canada.

So then I went to Metro PCS as expected and bought a sweeeeet new phone, a Nokia like my other one but with some nicer features and a bigger, colour screen. So that rocks. Anyway it's a great plan, $40 a month for unlimited calls to anywhere in the USA, any time of the day. Also Call ID and Voicemail and unlimited texting. Excellent. The key is that calls from Skype and from Canada are FREE, any time of the day!! So that is great. None of this "evenings and weekends" which only start at 9pm PST (which is Midnight EST and everyone is already asleep), so that is great.

So calling Canada is actually a decent rate, it's only 2 cents a minute, so finally I'll stop paying like a madman for calls home. Fantastic.

So, Canadian friends, you can now call me like crazy and I won't pay a cent (I won't, I tells ya!!!!!!!!) Sweet. Let me know if you want my new number.

Ok I also went back to my favourite home/bath store (that's right, Macy's) and got a Martha Stewart towel (haha) it was nice and soft. Also finnaaaally got a toilet bowl contour rug, man I've been needing that!! Haha my floor is cold!! Anyway good times. While I was there I got a matching... wait for it... toilet bowl cover. Haha. I went to The Container Store too and got some pins for my new bulletin board and a hanging canvas clothing holder, sortof a hanging chest of drawers. It's excellent and totally what I need so I can finally stop living out of the suitcase. I went to the Ferry Building too for some coffee, dessert, sourdough bread and cheese.

Tonight I got back and Matt called me to test the Canadian receiving awesomeness of my new phone. I made a Caprese Salad (sweet) and it rocked. I gotta get some basil (or is it dill, I don't know) cause it'll be better with that. Tomorrow I might drive up to see Frank in San Rafael, or otherwise just hang out and maybe go to a garage sale or two and also have fun on my bike and unpack and sort out some more stuff.


My new phone


Rugs and other stuff


Caprese Salad for dinner, made of tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It rocks!!

Got my new bike!!!!!!!

This is SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my new bike today... Gary Fisher Tassajara, 27 speed, totally awesome. I waited an extra week so I could get the red one with yellow flames rather than the yellow one with black checkerboards on it. This one ROCKS.

Anyhoo I bought a TON of other stuff with it...
  • San Francisco Bike Map
  • Headland Quickslide removable front fender
  • Headland Backslide removable back fender
  • Topeak White flashing front light
  • Cateye Rear Superbright rear light
  • Jandd Mini Mountain wedge black saddle bag
  • Topeak Peak MB DX Pump with built-in multi connections for different types of wheels
  • Roaring Mouse Cycles bottle and connection with pump
  • Connection of my Kryptonite lock to the bike
  • Park AWS-10 Folding Metric Hex Set
  • 3rd Eye Bar End Mirror
  • Aardvark Velcro trouser snaps
  • Bell Slant Matt Carbon/Black Helmet with Visor
  • Pearl Pittards Carbon leather glove
  • Dimension Black bell
  • Terry Men's Cite Gel Black saddle
The bike was $659 which was a great price, and with all the extras it came to just over $1000 with tax. Great deal and what a beautiful bike. When you think about it, it's WAY cheaper than buying a car... and I've got ZipCar now in San Francisco for the occasions when I really need a car, and I can pay per hour for that without worrying about parking overnight etc. Fantastic.

I was going to go straight downtown to get my new cell phone but instead I couldn't think of doing anything else other than taking the bike for a spin in Golden Gate Park. It is AWESOME!!!!!!!! There are some intense hills there too with lots of roots and tree stumps and stuff so I tried one of the hills and it was a bit nuts but AWESOME!! So I am going to really make good use out of the bike and of the biking trails in Golden Gate Park and the Presidio and all around here. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man this rocks. But I gotta get downtown and look for a phone, so here are some pics.


My new bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


3 gears on the front, 9 on the back


Saddle bag, removable fender, back light


New Gel seat


Bike lock connection, bottle holder and pump holder


Front shocks, front removable fender, front light


Shocks, fender and Avid brakes


Nice connection for the bike pump to the bottle holder


Front light and shocks that you can "lock out"


Me in my new helmet and gloves with my AWESOME BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Siggraph 2007 - Thursday

Today we got up early and headed to Siggraph for 8:30 as Pixar was presenting a bazillion things today. I got there for Patrick Coleman's talk on slicing food in Ratatouille. This was cool cause he was sitting beside me when I was at Pixar and I always got to see his crazy work and what he was up to.

After a bunch of Pixar sketches on rendering fur in Ratatouille, cloth simulation, water particles, water effects in the rapids sequence in Ratatouille, and a bunch of other cool stuff, I went to the ILM and LucasArts Film and Game Convergence lecture and watched about half of that. Then I had to run back to the Pixar room so I could see John Reich's talk. That was awesome and he did a great job.

We went for lunch later on and then headed back to the hotel before I headed back to the airport and now back to San Francisco.


On the way to Siggraph


Jon presenting his talk


John again


Paul on the big screen


Cool 3D Hologram viewer that was in the "Emerging Technologies" section


Hey, it's Jim Blinn!!!!


GasLamp sign again


Awesome picture of Jake and I


Another fantastic photo


Out for lunch


Our hotel


Hilarious and awesome Autodesk/ILM poster!!


Renderman Teapot container


Renderman Teapot upen up


Awesome


Teapot and tin carrying case


AMAZING Maya shirt!! Also another Maya shirt and the Star Wars shirt I won