http://www.jeffburg.com/index.htmljeffphlog syndicationenjeffburg@jeffburg.comcopyright 2008 jeff bergier2008-09-30T16:18:43-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:37:58 -0700jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-09-30T16:18:43-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-09-30-back-to-school.php#unique-entry-id-55http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-09-30-back-to-school.php#unique-entry-id-55
Well, I had to go back to school (Don’t worry, it’s not at Brandon College). I just took this picture because it reminded me of my Ex Roommate @thebrandontyler. I am actually going to school now at San Francisco State University. It has been a hard switchover to this new school. Basically, all of the system are more confusing than City College. Their web site doesn’t work as well and things are slow to respond to changes. Everything has pretty much smoothed out and I can turn in my homework now and things like that but thats not the end of the hardship. When I applied to get into SF State from CCSF I applied as an Industrial Arts major. So I was accepted into the Design and Industry Departments (DAI) at SF State. Because of that I received several emails before school started about what classes to take my first semester, GREAT! This will make things easy right? Just sign up for these required classes when I can register. So my registration date comes and guess what, each of those required classes has 1 section and they are all full, GREAT! So I decided to try and crash those classes to get added in. I got two of the four I was looking for and one unrelated but related Interior Design class that I actually really like; Overall not bad. The three classes has turned into a good transition from Community College while still working full time. It turns out that a real university is a lot more work than a community college. I already feel like i have more work than I ever did at CCSF with four classes in a semester. But there is something I really like about the work I am doing. A lot of it is kind of dry, but now that I am in a design program, everything has to look nice. I love it. We get these same letters and assignments and schedules, but they all have nice letterhead. When I do an assignment, half of the assignment is throwing together a full page letterhead. Also, because most of the stuff is submitted online, I can do full page bleeds so it all looks good without having to worry about spending $30 to get it printed. But overall, I really am liking school a lot more than I used to at City College or Saddleback or in High School. I can see the end now, and despite the fact that it is very far away, I can see it and feel it and I know how to get there and I know I will like it. Coming up on my next post will be the exciting tale of getting my car fixed... YAY!... Not.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-08-24T22:01:02-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/halfmoonbayrun.php#unique-entry-id-54http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/halfmoonbayrun.php#unique-entry-id-54
Wow, This posting thing really got away from me in the last month. I guess you can blame this post on Kayt and Alex. However, I should be posting without the competition from their web site. During this month a lot has happened. Of course I have been going iPhone crazy with all these apps. But more important than that, Alex has gotten me back into cars. This is both awesome and a curse. Cars are of course the one thing on this planet that are more expensive then computers... my other hobby. I have so many computers at this point I was done spending money on them. Now I have to start spending money on my car. It couldn’t come at a better time. My throwout bearing is just wailing at me. Every time I touch the clutch “rghrghrghrghrgh.” It sounds positively awful. That is a job that I can probably do myself, but I am still researching options. Unfortunately my “drop gear” as was described by my mechanic is too noisy and it has been getting noisier over the past year. That is an engine out job and probably something I can’t do. So research is being done on that as well. But in any case I threw caution to the wind and Alex and I went on a fantastic mini run. A bunch of minis grouped up at the base of the mountains between the bay and the pacific ocean and we went for a drive. It wasn’t too long, but it was exciting. The scenery was, as all scenery in Northern California is, beautiful. We ended the drive in Half Moon Bay at Cameron’s Inn and Pub where we had a tasty lunch. This wasn’t any official run. There were no dues, not RSVP’s, no maps. Just send out an email blast and meet us at this point. You could say it was “Social Networking” in real life. Whatever you want to call it, it was fantastic. You can see the photos Alex took on Jeffburg.com or my MobileMe Gallery.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-07-18T17:55:16-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-07-18-app-store-crazy.php#unique-entry-id-53http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-07-18-app-store-crazy.php#unique-entry-id-53
Well the App Store is out and what a great system. Every single one of the Programs from the Applications Store is higher quality than any of the Jailbroken stuff that the iPhone had before. I have already bought $30 worth of stuff... which is many many months worth of iTunes Store purchase before. I don’t normally buy music on the iTunes store because of the DRM. All of the Programs that I have synced to my iPhone I can see being used. Even something stupid like iPint is just ridiculously fun. AIM does what it needs to do... it will be better once Apple has the background notification service going. Evernote will be incredibly useful for snapping receipts and business cards for later searching. Twinkle is a gorgeous Twitter App (albeit right now Twitterrific is more reliable). NetNewsWire is the venerable RSS newsreader that I could not live without. Urbanspoon is a terrific app that absolutely captures the idea of location based computing. It finds you and you shake the Phone and it does a lottery of different variables and finds a place for you to eat. Mandelbrot allows you to zoom into fractals in a way that only the iPhone allows. Pandora is an amazing streaming audio app. You just choose a band you like and it will play them and other music like them all for free all over EDGE. If there is a good excuse for Apple to allow background processes this is the only one I have found so far. And then the apps that I paid for are Enigmo and Critter Crunch. These two games are very fun. Enigmo is a full 3D game is actually quite challenging. Critter Crunch is absolutely enthralling. By the time I am done playing it I am gribbing the iPhone twice as hard as I should be and I just don’t want to let go.
Now of course there are some general gripes with third party developers. First, most apps don’t remember where you were too well. When you close them and go back you are often placed at the beginning of the App which is something Apple told everyone specifically not to do. Another complaint is people use the opening Image that the iphone allows as a splash screen. This is incorrect usage. The image is a placeholder to make the transition from the button being tapped on the home screen to your app actually open more smooth. And a complaint with games. Most games have the first problem where if you get a call or go home you lose your position in the game. Also, Critter Crunch pauses the music playing in iPod when it opens. I would really like to be able to play some games while listening to my own music.
These small issues aside, Apple has a great thing going here. The SDK has proven to make much better stuff, much quicker, than the old jailbroken method. If they just add a couple of things like coupon codes and such so that developers can offern incentives and several other things that are not coming to mind right now, it will be the easiest and cheapest way for Developers to sell Apps.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-06-27T18:54:28-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-27-classic-computing.php#unique-entry-id-52http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-27-classic-computing.php#unique-entry-id-52
Classic Computing. My Dear Pismo runs 10.1 in the closet. It does nothing but host a simple web site that only says, “Yes, I do still exist.” I love this computer. It is a great toy. I have 3 batteries for it and each one lasts about as long as the one in my Air. It is also my only laptop with firewire and was just used yesterday to do a quick disk repair on ServerOnAStick. On this computer I have installed every version of OS X and OS 9. The only system that does not officially run on it is Leopard because it seems to require the AltiVec execution engine that the G4 has. But enough on the Pismo. Just looke at this. 10.1 is lightyears different from 10.5, its even light years different from 10.3. Look at those Pinstripes. They were there to match the pinstripes we found on the sides of the colored iMacs and they look absolutely hideous. But back then this was an amazing desktop. Look at that Save button on my chat program, Fire. It is soft and lickable. It also pulsates so vigorously that it makes you wish for Leopard’s, smooth and subtle pulsating action. Puma was the version of Mac OS X I started on. It came on my 733MHz PowerMac G4. However, the first time I turned on my G4 it booted into OS 9. I rectified that very quickly to get it into OS X. That was, after all, the reason I had gotten the Mac. There is still something about Puma that I love. The semitransparent window title bars are just so wrong. When something goes into the background it might make sense to have the whole window except the title bar go semitransparent. The title bar is click-on-this focal point of the app. Making it go invisible just doesn’t make sense. When you select an icon in Puma there is no surrounding box like now, the icon just gets darker. When you open a program you get OS 9 style box lines coming out of it. The sheets and other animated portions of the UI move so slowly in Puma. Apple just wanted to show off its stuff, but by later versions of the OS people got bored with waiting for the Print dialog box. Puma is the last OS with the soft buttons, it is the last OS wth the pinstripe dock, it is the last OS with the happy mac when starting up. It is also pretty much impossible to use today. Just like OS 9, almost nothing runs on it. Every modern browser requires at least Jaguar. It took me 2 hours just to find a VNC server that works on it (now built in). Adium didn’t exist back then, just Fire. Disk Copy was a full and separate program to mount DMG’s. Now it is faked as some sort of finder extension. There is no Activity Monitor, just a Process Viewer. Puma seems so old now, it just shows you how much work Apple does on OS X. I open up Windows vista and turn off the wizbang graphics and it looks like Windows 95 and has the same innards as Windows NT. But the Mac OS has been revied twice as often and the newest version is far different from the oldest version. It’s just great. In order of massive improvemements, in 10.2 we got search built into the finder and Rendezvous (Now Bonjour). In 10.3 we got Exposé, a new look for the finder and a new look for all the windows. In 10.4 we got Spotlight and Dashboard. In 10.5 we got everything. I just can’t wait to see how well my 2.4GHz Core2Duo iMac runs with the new super quick 10.6 that Apple has announced shipment in about a years time.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-06-14T08:22:23-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-14-foggy-night.php#unique-entry-id-50http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-14-foggy-night.php#unique-entry-id-50
As I was driving home last yesterday I saw that it was going to be quite a foggy night. As you may be able to tell from the posts on this site, I do tend to like the fog. I like it when it precipitates on my windshield and when I can see my headlights in it. I also like how it makes the air more dense and makes my car just that much faster. I also like how it blurs the landscape. The Golden Gate Bridge, for instance, normally quite visible. Last night I couldn’t even see the lights that illuminate its graceful steel cables. The fog also makes the roads a little slippery. This means that I can have a little bit more fun with under and oversteer (with my rotten suspension setup its mostly understeer) without squealing my tires and/or alerting nearby patrol cars. However, it was friday night and the cops were out for the drunk watch. Thankfully, none of them had any interest in me. I also managed to get some pretty crappy iPhone pictures, one of which is posted above. If only the iPhone had the same camera my old Sony Ericsson did. But anyway, there will be many more foggy nights where I can bring a proper camera.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comNone2008-06-03T17:47:52-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-03-summer-08.php#unique-entry-id-49http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-06-03-summer-08.php#unique-entry-id-49
Every summer I post some lame post about how summer is back in San Francisco... and again I can’t resist this year. I love summers here. We have the best weather over the summer. Yes we see the sun. But we also get these awesome fog layers. It isn’t very thick in this picture but sometimes it is more of a mis than a fog. Perfect. Then the combo of this fog and the tall illuminated buildings at night in the financial district is such an unbeatable combo. The grace of the buildings really come out when they are shrowded in fog. They seem like they are no longer just glass, steel, and concrete, but instead all the details and imperfections blur into hindsight. All you see is the elegance and grance of such large freestanding structures. I imagine that, in the fog, the buildings are appear a lot like the architect imagined they would look as the building was crafted and molded through its various stages of development. Not that these houses in this picture have any of what I describe above... but I just wanted a nice photo of the fog.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-05-29T17:02:06-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-05-29-rapidweaver-4.php#unique-entry-id-48http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-05-29-rapidweaver-4.php#unique-entry-id-48
I have upgraded to RapidWeaver 4. Looks like a great update. Seems much easier to find all of the relevant tools than before. Plus it has much nicer icons :-D .]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-05-01T22:44:46-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-05-01-macbookair-wired.php#unique-entry-id-47http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-05-01-macbookair-wired.php#unique-entry-id-47
I was copying some very large files and I was wondering what the best way to do it was. I started it on a 300Mbps N network from my Air to my iMac. Both are wireless and therefore each have an effective throughput of 150Mbps. It was going to take about 16 hours to transfer 50GB. Then I considered plugging my drives straight into the USB. However, that would have required ejecting them from the iMac and then finding a USB cable as they are both plugged in with Firewire 800. Then I caught it. I bought a USB Ethernet Adapter with my Core Duo iMac for my home server. All right I said to myself. I will make an exception this one time and make my MacBook Air not wireless. It was truly a hard decision... but it is done and transferring now.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-04-24T20:42:51-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-04-24-death-cab-concert.php#unique-entry-id-46http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-04-24-death-cab-concert.php#unique-entry-id-46
I went to see Death Cab for Cutie at the Fillmore last night. That was a good show. I went to see Cake about a year ago and I definitely regretted seeing them. That show made me like them less. This show made me like Death Cab more. If anyone has a chance to see them live I definitely recommend it. ]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-04-23T15:30:09-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-04-23-german-boring.php#unique-entry-id-45http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2008-04-23-german-boring.php#unique-entry-id-45
Need I say more?]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-04-20T00:31:59-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/fc379d08b6466c6558aa2c783fdc7953-44.php#unique-entry-id-44http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/fc379d08b6466c6558aa2c783fdc7953-44.php#unique-entry-id-44
I don't know about you guys, but 95º is the coldest I have ever seen a Core2Duo run. And no, this is not the instant I woke the MacBook Air from sleep. I had been using it and reading that PDF there for at least 10 minutes. As you can see I also did not bump the fan speed up to decrease the CPU Temp. However, it was 6:30AM and quite cold outside at the Caltrain station where I was waiting to go to work.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2008-04-13T22:44:29-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/twitter1.php#unique-entry-id-43http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/twitter1.php#unique-entry-id-43
I went to IKEA today. Going there is always so fun. I don't care that their furniture is cheap and can only be built once. Just buying it is so much fun and it is so cheap that it can be around for only a year or two and I won't care.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-02-26T20:16:42-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0a8a0e96194d18f62314802df1bd7c6f-42.php#unique-entry-id-42http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0a8a0e96194d18f62314802df1bd7c6f-42.php#unique-entry-id-42
It was a nice sunny day and it was perfect for a good drive. After finding out the Aimee's camera had no juice we headed out to Tunitas Creek Road. The first time we took this road we started from Highway 35 (Skyline Blvd) and went down all the way to Pacific Coast Highway just south of Half Moon Bay. However, the first time was not much fun because the brakes were getting a little toasty on the downhill section. This time I decided to go from PCH to Skyline. This was much more enjoyable. I was able to take it a little faster without worrying about not being able to stop. However the nature of the road requires driving with a good amount of caution. Its just a one lane road with lots of blind corners and therefore must be approached with caution. So while its not a particularly fast or smooth road it is a nice drive with a lot of terrific scenery to look at on the way. If your looking for a relatively quick one to two hour drive, you can't beat this road (so far as I know.)]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-02-28T20:15:43-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/34e8d74a6fb7a1c283a489d48b1d99cd-41.php#unique-entry-id-41http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/34e8d74a6fb7a1c283a489d48b1d99cd-41.php#unique-entry-id-41
I was ordained to work at the Sunglass Hut in the San Francisco Center. Aimee decided to come and eat lunch with me during my lunch. She, being the smartest girlfriend ever, got Chipotle for us. She hung out with me for the last hour of my shift. By the end of the day at 8 o' clock we were both pretty tired. Fortunately the San Francisco Center exits right into the Powell Street Subway Station. However, the Apple store is also located right outside the Powell Station. So I begged Aimee so that I could go to the Apple Store. We went in and diddled around on the computers and stuff. We paid particular attention to the new MacBook Pro's. I must say they are nice. They are faster than my 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4. I still think that PowerBook is an infinitely better name than MacBook. I do think the trackpad on the MacBook is a bit too wide. The iSight camera in the screen makes the top screen border bigger than the others and it throws it out of proportion. However the camera is quite neat... as you can see from the photo.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-10T20:13:45-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/3afcce5a6485476a5efd52c96dda7baa-40.php#unique-entry-id-40http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/3afcce5a6485476a5efd52c96dda7baa-40.php#unique-entry-id-40
Quite a strange experience. I never expected it to snow in San Francisco. Being that it is on the west coast where we have our nice moderate weather from the pacific ocean. However, I have to be honest, it didn't really snow. Now I know your looking at the picture and saying "well that looks like snow to me." Well it isn't. What it really is is hail. I did not get to experience the hail live because when I was driving home from work it was not hailing in the marina. But, it seems that there was a quite a bit of hail near my house. As I drove home I could see it on the ground. At first I thought it was sand because I was near the beach, but then I realized that it was quite cold and so I knew it could be snow/ice/hail. So this is a picture of a car outside my house after it hailed on this very cold March night... I am still going to say it snowed.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-11T20:12:16-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/89e473903d54eecdf74803fc74632373-39.php#unique-entry-id-39http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/89e473903d54eecdf74803fc74632373-39.php#unique-entry-id-39
Here is one marked advantage of San Francisco over Orange County. Look at the view from my parking lot. There are no famous structures at all in Orange County, let alone ones that are viewable from your local parking lot. In this picture you can see my car and the Golden Gate bridge. What this picture lacks is the view of Alcatraz and Sausalito which are both out of the frame in this photo. So this is what I see every morning when I come to work... Not bad. And thats the thing with San Francisco. Almost everything is like that. There is so much history here that you can only help but bask in its beauty sometimes. For instance what you also can't see in the photo, but I can see from the where I park, is the Exploratorium Dome and Coit tower. This city is filled with one amazing view after the other. It's fantastic]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-12T20:10:29-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a3b71ac2fd076c6e1c503cce92fea4f5-38.php#unique-entry-id-38http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a3b71ac2fd076c6e1c503cce92fea4f5-38.php#unique-entry-id-38
The San Francisco Marina. This is the place in which I work. This place is chock full of Porsche Cayennes, Land Rover Ranger Rovers, and Ferraris. Come to think of it, this place is just like Orange County. Well its not exactly the same. In the Marina people are lucky to get more than a two bedroom condo for less than a million bucks. They are also lucky to get one space to park their cars in a garage underneath their condo. In the Marina people are also nicer than they are in Orange County. They are not as stuck up and bitchy. But again, on the whole, this place is very similar. Maybe thats why I like it? Maybe its just luck that I work here. Or maybe its fate. When I interviewed here I had no idea what the Marina was or what it implied. However, I feel safer parking my car here all day than at home. Being able to park is nice because the 45 minute bus ride to the Marina is not pleasant. Anywho, here is a visual taste of the Marina.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-13T20:09:28-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/74bcc5bfc04846b0a75cdbfa84504456-37.php#unique-entry-id-37http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/74bcc5bfc04846b0a75cdbfa84504456-37.php#unique-entry-id-37
Here is a random photo which in no way has anything to do with my daily life. I took some staples and interconnected them. Placed them on an Oakley soft case/microfiber towel and took the photo. My camera doesn't quite have the close up focus capabilities that I was hoping for but I did a manual focus and got it as close as I could. Nothing else very special about the picture. I just desaturated it and raised the contrast a little. I cropped out some, but not all of the background and threw it up here for you people to look at. Aren't you glad you took the time to look?]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-14T20:07:51-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/d24fa6e518988de2a00450333250c201-36.php#unique-entry-id-36http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/d24fa6e518988de2a00450333250c201-36.php#unique-entry-id-36
This pizza place is near my place of employment. I walk by it twice nearly every day. However, despite this, I am still caught off guard by this sign. It is a restaurant that is called "Pizza my Heart." Now I can understand the reasoning that led to that name. I know that someone thought "well if people love pizza they will get pizza that is close to their heart" or something... However I can't get passed the whole effect that pizza will actually have on the average human heart. The high grease content in the cheese and the pepperoni and other standard pizza toppings are all very high in cholesterol and fat. So now I have vented. This pizza place, and it's weird name, will no longer bug me.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-15T20:06:44-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/89c1c1b17f138ab9c4a71329e3ec71a7-35.php#unique-entry-id-35http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/89c1c1b17f138ab9c4a71329e3ec71a7-35.php#unique-entry-id-35
This one is very interesting. Right in front of the Sunglass Hut on Chestnut street is a letter sized piece of paper with a message on it. This message is for anyone who can find this certain bag. The reward for finding said bag is $15,000. However, the message gets more interesting. It not only asks for the bag, but for the contents of the bag. The only question is what could be in that bag for the reward to be worth $15,000? I was surprised it doesn't say "No Cops" on there. So there you go. You can contemplate the contents of the bag all you want, but chances are that neither you nor me will ever know what was inside that bag.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-16T20:05:20-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/fadfc2c9885c266fae3a0ea9688743f5-34.php#unique-entry-id-34http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/fadfc2c9885c266fae3a0ea9688743f5-34.php#unique-entry-id-34
How quaint. These little red fire alarms. They are scattered all throughout the city and I think they are just hilarious. What are the chances that one of those will work after sitting out for who knows how many years. For instance, all of them say "Break Glass." However, I have not found a single one where the glass was not already broken. So I guess that means I don't have to cut my hand in an emergency. Now again, hopefully they do work. The good thing is if they don't you can always dial 911 to get the same result. I just think they are neat. A part of the history of the city that wasn't ripped down because they are out of date. San Francisco is cool in that way. San Francisco has history and the people that run the city seem to care about maintaining it.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-17T20:04:27-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/bfc4b64eb1465b37de37d319225d23d6-33.php#unique-entry-id-33http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/bfc4b64eb1465b37de37d319225d23d6-33.php#unique-entry-id-33
You all know how property taxes fund local schools? People say that this practice is unfair because richer neighborhoods will have richer schools. Well I found proof. This is the Marina middle school. Look at it. It looks like... well a prison actually. A big white prison. But besides that looks at its hugeness. It has 3 stories. And this picture is just one side. It has a horseshoe shape. So what you see here is one-third of the school. However, back to the point. Is it really unfair that schools are funded by property taxes? Well... yeah. I normally lean to the right myself, but I don't see why children with poorer parents should get a poorer education.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-18T20:02:16-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/ffda412e157cb3f5ed39262c9c603416-32.php#unique-entry-id-32http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/ffda412e157cb3f5ed39262c9c603416-32.php#unique-entry-id-32
Well, two weeks before I need my car to drive back to Orange County the brakes crap out. Wonderful! The one time I need my car to work it breaks. I can take the bus to work every day, but no bus to Orange County. Luckily, I disocvered this brake problem on tuesday. Therefore I could order the parts from Heritage Garage on tuesday night. That means they ship out wednesday and will get to me on friday. Its now saturday, I have received the parts and I do believe they are the correct ones. So now comes the fun part. Time to go sit outside cursing at my car and getting all dirty and getting brake fluid all over me. Yuck.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-19T20:01:01-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/36d127e1baf7573d632bf5f0c9edc575-31.php#unique-entry-id-31http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/36d127e1baf7573d632bf5f0c9edc575-31.php#unique-entry-id-31
Today at work I saw Lincoln. Well, I saw a Lincoln. Now I know there are people that will debate me on this but I do think the 1960's Lincold Continental is the peak of American luxury sedans. This is the lincoln. Look at how sleek and sexy it is. This car is stunning. This car has more features than most new cars. The short list includes power windows, power locks, power steering, power brakes, and electric seats. The eccentric features include autodimming headlights. It also automatically releases the parking brake when you put it into Drive or Reverse. It also has the fancy windows that roll down about a quarter of an inch when you open the door and close when you close it to get a good seal on the convertible roof. It of course has a full power top. It has suicide doors in the rear. I think this is such a gorgeous car. It accomplishes the hardest task of all big cars; it is spacious, comfortable and sleek and gorgeous.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-20T19:59:49-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/104c2814872618f74247fb223d9f1bcb-30.php#unique-entry-id-30http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/104c2814872618f74247fb223d9f1bcb-30.php#unique-entry-id-30
Today it rained. This morning it rained scarily hard. However, I managed to get to work alive and not drown. Then when I had to walk the ten minutes from the parking lot to Chestnut Street I got soaked. Even with an umbrella I was drenched. However, I powered on and ended up selling very well. Especially for a rainy day. Anywho, now for the picture. The end result of heavy rain is a nice cloudy sky. So this shot from my parking lot.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-21T19:58:45-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5f99a22ea6b8c112cf6853de5ef1e726-29.php#unique-entry-id-29http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5f99a22ea6b8c112cf6853de5ef1e726-29.php#unique-entry-id-29
I pass by this van every day on the way to and from work. I thought that was kind of a cool motto. So there ya go. Not much description today... but what can you expect. I try to post something every day. That means that most, if not all, of the posts are going to be slightly less than exciting.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-03-22T19:56:45-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/e0c9e4d66e57265bd9c87331e733e39b-28.php#unique-entry-id-28http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/e0c9e4d66e57265bd9c87331e733e39b-28.php#unique-entry-id-28
Today I worked at the Union Street Sunglass Hut. I like the Union Street Store but I am not too fond of Union Street itself. I like Chestnut a lot more. However, on my walk from Union Street to the Marina parking lot I passed by this beauty, the Maserati Quattroporte. I think this car is absolutely gorgeous. Its got full Maserati charm and elegance. It has their flagship engine and a cool transmission. Its a manual, but its operated by flappy padals and it can run in Automatic mode. This is nice on a nice road but I have heard that in normal stop and go traffic it can be quite jerky and slow. However, the looks of this car sell themselves.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-04-09T19:55:04-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/d14a571635b3cf4a135dcb9e2b89f697-27.php#unique-entry-id-27http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/d14a571635b3cf4a135dcb9e2b89f697-27.php#unique-entry-id-27
Long time no post. I'm sorry about that. I have just been busy. But I am back and all is well. So here is the best picture I could find of New York. I, in a moment of pure genius, left my Digital Camera at our place so I had to get a disposable camera and boy do those things take bad pictures. I touched this one up as best I could with iPhoto. I know your all screaming PHOTOSHOP. But the tools to fix this photo are no different in Photoshop than they are in iPhoto and iPhoto is easier and all the controls are all in one place. So here it is. This is some building in New York. First impressions of New York. Fewer Homless people in plain view in the nice areas that we were in. This is compared to San Francisco where Market Street is covered with homeless people. Also, I came to San Francisco thinking, "man, these buildings are tall." But, as I found out, the buildings in San Francisco are puny compared to the buildings in New York City. I think a good way to put it is that the tallest buildings in San Francisco are as tall as the shortest buildings in New York. Basically, New York is open later, has less annoying homeless people, is quite a bit more crowded, and not as "hippiesh" as San Francisco. So while I definitely would not want to live there. I think I will visit again some time soon when I have more time in New York City.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-05-01T19:54:02-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/8ee97938d3dbda75789c8c013ce82ae0-26.php#unique-entry-id-26http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/8ee97938d3dbda75789c8c013ce82ae0-26.php#unique-entry-id-26
I saw this Mercedes parked at the Marina one day when I was just ambling around and it reminded me of one of my good friends from home. Don't worry, he isn't dead or anything like that. Its just that Dan has a Mercedes Benz 300 SE from the early 90s. I thought this was funny because here is a Mercedes from the same era and the owner has made a small mod. Normally on a Benz like this there is a small plastic tab that pops out from the grill when you pop the hood from the inside. However this guys has broken off and so he has replaced it with a piece of a coathangar. This reminds me of Dan because his fell off and it took us a while to finally get the hood open. It was always so fun working on that car. Everything is so daft, yet it all makes perfect sense in a weird german overengineered sort of way. It's like when you take it all apart it all makes sense and everything has a purpose, but in real life half of the things they do are not required. However, it is all this that makes those old Benz's run forever. Something that can't be said for modern German cars.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-05-31T19:52:15-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/9f75f59dd832238751adef008c3f1f36-25.php#unique-entry-id-25http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/9f75f59dd832238751adef008c3f1f36-25.php#unique-entry-id-25
Its been a month or so since I got back from New York. The most stunning difference between New York and San Francisco are the buildings. New York's buildings are much much taller. However, I have been forced to work at the Embarcadero Sunglass Hut which sucks. However, the Embarcadero center (which is mostly a business center) is really cool. It has probably the tallest buildings in the city and its relatively modern. Here is the tallest building I could fine. Enjoy]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-06-01T19:46:34-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/efa38a1b996aba1ac3dfb75f3c5ee5a1-23.php#unique-entry-id-23http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/efa38a1b996aba1ac3dfb75f3c5ee5a1-23.php#unique-entry-id-23
Here is another picture from the Embarcadero Center. This is the fountain they have there (every real business center needs a fountain right?) It's a pretty neat fountain. I wanted to go up on the small overlook catwalk they have up there but of course its blocked off. However, water comes out of it and the square prism tubes are bent strangely.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-06-02T18:35:15-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0e85a0cf89404111c6ec87111f2f4cd9-22.php#unique-entry-id-22http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0e85a0cf89404111c6ec87111f2f4cd9-22.php#unique-entry-id-22
I think it's funny walking around in Powell Station. This is the subway station near my new workplace downtown at the Union Square Sunglass Hut. However, it's also the stop closest to the Apple Store on Market Street. Every single ad space in Powell Station is an iPod ad. Every pillar, every poster, every banner. They are all iPods. This is kind of ironic because of the iPod situation of San Francisco. Basically everyone is San Francisco has heard of an iPod. There are three types of people here. The ones that own iPods (most). The ones that don't own an iPod because they have no use for it (like they drive to work or something like that). Or the ones that don't have one because they refuse to buy an iPod and instead have a competing product. So there is really no reason for Apple to spend so much on advertising up here.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-06-26T18:30:57-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/976b31f252924230d3b2dc7716030848-21.php#unique-entry-id-21http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/976b31f252924230d3b2dc7716030848-21.php#unique-entry-id-21
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco"
Mark Twain]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-07-11T18:29:29-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5cbc758697e018b7fcb097dd989e8ff2-20.php#unique-entry-id-20http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5cbc758697e018b7fcb097dd989e8ff2-20.php#unique-entry-id-20
I finally got a new phone. I replaced that hunk of junk that was somehow recognized by some people as a phone. (I was never fooled by its phone-like appearance.) I knew from the very start that it was satan incarnate. My new phone is amazing, it does everything. It even has a radio. Now I can listen to the radio in my car. It also gives me the ability to transmit my phone conversations over the car stereo. Hands free is gold. You may be wondering what this picture has to do with my new Sony Ericsson W810i? I took that picture earlier. The camera in this phone is pretty amazing. It has a dual stage shutter button like real cameras. So you push it down one click and it focuses (and stuff actually moves around in the phone when it focuses) and then push it down more to take the picture. It also has white balance adjustment, and macro mode. It has a little LED Light on it that is surprisingly blindingly bright. So yeah. I took this picture of grass in macro mode. Its not as good as my full camera, but it is much better than all the RAZR cameras put together.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-07-13T18:28:17-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/8b27f0190fe590713483341ca97c4375-19.php#unique-entry-id-19http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/8b27f0190fe590713483341ca97c4375-19.php#unique-entry-id-19
Hey San Francisco, the Rabbit is Back! I like that VW is calling it the Rabbit again. It was originally called the Golf in Germany and then for some bizarre reason they changed it to the Rabbit for the U.S. market. They must have then said "Why did we rename it the Rabbit?" and changed it back to the Golf. However, in this modern market of retro revival they decided to go back the Rabbit and I think that is quite dear. I like that name better and it gives the chance for a logo.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-07-24T18:26:25-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/412e97a7ec4c581e62e7a1f7ec2684bc-18.php#unique-entry-id-18http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/412e97a7ec4c581e62e7a1f7ec2684bc-18.php#unique-entry-id-18
This is the last picture ever taken of Alok Gandhi. He and Hannah Block came up Thursday night to visit me in San Francisco. Basically put, it was one of the best weekends three friends could ever have. Then on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at around 1:30PM both him and Hannah left to go home. Alok dropped Hannah off at her house at around 11PM or Midnight. He then proceeded to go home. Then, as best all of us can tell, he wrote a two page suicide note and emailed it to one of his friends. In it he detailed some arguments about suicide in general. He stated multiple times that he was happy and such and that it was no one's fault. He then took his brothers Red Camry Solara Convertible and drove off of Ortega Highway.

I just have to say that Alok will be sorely missed and that the world is a worse place to live without him.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-09T18:24:45-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0a78fa530bbd88f2fa1c05cb0ead9b54-17.php#unique-entry-id-17http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/0a78fa530bbd88f2fa1c05cb0ead9b54-17.php#unique-entry-id-17
I don't know if you knew this, but in San Francisco the sales tax is 8.5%. I believe California sales tax is 7.5%. So, somehow in a proposition called K voters made the sales tax here 8.5%. Every once in a while you see a sign that says "Proposition K Sales Tax Dollars at Work." Usually it is on busses or near a construction site. However, I thought this sign was an all time low. Replacement of the Edge tiles on the BART system. What a useless way to spend money. The edge tiles were perfectly fine. But, it gets worse; look at all those people it took to get this edge tile replacement done. There are like 15 commissioners there and not a one of them is going to actually be replacing the edge tiles. The Bureaucracy is hopeless.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-21T18:23:15-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/05c16612adb2a59fa8bd1efaae0e9605-16.php#unique-entry-id-16http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/05c16612adb2a59fa8bd1efaae0e9605-16.php#unique-entry-id-16
I was walking down Market St one fine day in San Francisco when I saw several Scooters. However, these were no ordinary scooters. These scooters were all painted the same color; they were all had the same logo on them. They said "Intel, Leap Ahead." I have no idea what they were for. The logo was very small to be considered marketing items but hey, in San Francisco you never know what could come around the next corner. However, these were all little blue electric scooters with Intel written on them. They were also made by mercedes as could be seen by the star on the rear wheel hub. On a later date I saw them driving around, still no idea what they were for. So yeah, random Intel advertising is weird.

P.S. and when I say you never know what you are going to run into around the corner. Just a few days ago I saw zombies walking down the street. They were all dressed up in zombie outfits and had face paint and everything. Weird]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-22T18:20:26-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a63364c287c7a0621f554510cbfcf170-15.php#unique-entry-id-15http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a63364c287c7a0621f554510cbfcf170-15.php#unique-entry-id-15
I went to go get breakfast at the Boulevard Cafe on John Daly Blvd in Daly City. In the parking lot I saw this gorgeous Jaguar XJ6. I love this body style. It is so sleek. It has so many little touches. So many chrome accents and other little hints of design. Just like the new XJ's, this is pretty much the sleekest four door sedan in existance. The only car that comes close is the Maserati Quattroporte. I do think the Maserati is quite sexy, but I still think this XJ Jaguar is sleeker.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-25T17:18:23-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/7efdbf54cc55fa936d0c5530160333a6-14.php#unique-entry-id-14http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/7efdbf54cc55fa936d0c5530160333a6-14.php#unique-entry-id-14
Driving home one day I saw a stupid person. (This is actually more normal than most would think.) However, this person was definitely more stupid than the average stupid person. This person managed, in her brand new Honda Civic, to not see all of the orange posts sticking out of the ground to warn you that driving between them is bad. She managed to drive herself right onto the MUNI street car tracks. I did not see her wheels spinning. I assumed that she had already tried to drive out and failed. A nice policeman was being very forgiving; he wasn't even "police brutalizing" her. But the best part was that right behind her was the MUNI trying to make its way downtown.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-25T18:15:22-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/6c1298ef1fa7796cf51dfc60c91d580b-13.php#unique-entry-id-13http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/6c1298ef1fa7796cf51dfc60c91d580b-13.php#unique-entry-id-13
I was sitting at a bus stop and I saw the second most brilliant advertisement for beer. The most brilliant advertisements are of course the Guinness Brilliant! Series of TV Spots. However, this poster was also quite good.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-08-30T18:13:32-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/737d4d5b73b34f24b1f320b1b232462a-12.php#unique-entry-id-12http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/737d4d5b73b34f24b1f320b1b232462a-12.php#unique-entry-id-12
I was walking from the parking lot to the Middle School in which I take my evening German class and I saw this fountain. Now this, as a fountain, seems quite normal. I remember these fountains, or very similar ones, at my middle school. However, I have never seen them in a protective steel cocoon. I still cannot fathom what the purpose of the cage is, but I am open to peoples comments. So if anyone actually reads this and if those few that read this know why the fountain has a cage around it, please let me know.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-10-08T18:11:23-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/eae31e01e3d80d8af9b9445efa07a300-11.php#unique-entry-id-11http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/eae31e01e3d80d8af9b9445efa07a300-11.php#unique-entry-id-11
I feel this picture needs little explanation. In fact, by this point I feel that this picture is almost expected. But here is the end of world in San Francisco. I don't think its going to happen in Texas as Lewis Black thinks. I think its right here on Pine and Battery in San Francisco's Financial District. As you can see I took a picture of a starbucks while in a starbucks.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-10-29T18:10:29-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/4e033118f0d64566034bfaa70c26b0c6-10.php#unique-entry-id-10http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/4e033118f0d64566034bfaa70c26b0c6-10.php#unique-entry-id-10
This is gonna be a short blog post. I saw this sign in a residential area. I have no idea what it means. I thought it was weird and so I took a picture of it. It appears to be a U with a down-point arrow in it. I'm not exactly sure what it means. Be sure to E-Mail me if you know.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-10-30T17:08:38-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/23be73ad40c81afbaba597bbf1f71d47-9.php#unique-entry-id-9http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/23be73ad40c81afbaba597bbf1f71d47-9.php#unique-entry-id-9
It was a gorgeous and sunny day. My girlfriend and I were on our way to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. We took some detours and found an awesome view of one of the coolest buildings in San Francisco. This view is from Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The Metreon is the left-most building and that is a big brick church to the right. I don't know what the building or the church are called. But the building, in particular, looks fantastic.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2006-10-30T18:01:56-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5a515de3ce3f68990550964a026f9b43-8.php#unique-entry-id-8http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/5a515de3ce3f68990550964a026f9b43-8.php#unique-entry-id-8
It was a Friday and Aimee and I both had the day off (a miracle in itself). Then, by another miracle, it was also a beautiful, sunny day outside. Maybe a little hot for my tastes, but there was not a cloud to be seen. On our day off we had originally planned to go to the Academy of Science Museum. However, on this particular Friday they were closing at Three O' Clock, for whatever reason. Because we arrived there at around Two Fifteen, we decided it would be a waste of money. So I convinced her to get her chin up and to go to the SFMOMA. The good old San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Now this picture is taken from the Yerbe Buena Center for the Arts. They have a really nice fountain where you can get a great view of the city. That big red-orange building in the background is the SFMOMA. Its quite cool with that big cylindrical roof. This museum was pretty cool as far as art museums go. Yes, some of the art was "bleh" and yes there were squares being passed off as modern art, however, most of the stuff was fantastic. Also, the building has really cool architecture. I would say that its even cooler than the Getty Center in LA. I would definitely recommend anyone pay the $10 to get in. Also, on the first Tuesday night of every month there is free admission, and every Tuesday night they offer reduced Admissions.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2007-04-28T17:59:32-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a791ffdbb076dc7dd601051dbba70e25-7.php#unique-entry-id-7http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/a791ffdbb076dc7dd601051dbba70e25-7.php#unique-entry-id-7
This sign is so politically incorrect. I love it.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2007-07-07T09:40:00-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/14f970cab201cffebb633948208ddaf4-6.php#unique-entry-id-6http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/14f970cab201cffebb633948208ddaf4-6.php#unique-entry-id-6
We have such a wonderful summer here. One half of the city is covered in fog all day and the other side of the city is cast in sunlight all day. Occasionally these sides will switch or the whole city will be in fog. On this nice morning, the sides had switched and fog aimlessly roamed the buildings of the financial district.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2007-07-07T17:18:12-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2242af2143a162a47f66d896587907b4-5.php#unique-entry-id-5http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/2242af2143a162a47f66d896587907b4-5.php#unique-entry-id-5
On my way home I saw this gorgeous beauty standing out from the other ordinary, grey cars around it. Such marvelous Italian design. This thing belongs in the SFMOMA, not here on the street with a parking ticket on the windshield.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2007-11-09T17:13:01-08:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/7b6579d7d4d734fccef011eed4becd71-4.php#unique-entry-id-4http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/7b6579d7d4d734fccef011eed4becd71-4.php#unique-entry-id-4
I will need to make another post about my new iMac and my new house that I live in. But here is the apple on the front. The apple is just solid gloss black. It makes a rather nice reflection. You can see my sexy aluminum keyboard in the apple. Sweet.]]>jeffburg@jeffburg.comjeffphlog2007-09-23T17:08:43-07:00http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/95cba36b51928892714a4a421ca7bc78-2.php#unique-entry-id-2http://www.jeffburg.com/jeffphlog/files/95cba36b51928892714a4a421ca7bc78-2.php#unique-entry-id-2
When I think of a long weekend I think of sitting on the couch, or going out to eat with friends and family. But oh no. The only luxury I get is that I don't have to pick weeds. But anything else is a possibility. So here is a Mercedes at the junk yard. This one has a manual transmission. As you can imagine this is pretty rare... Mercedes force fed the automatic to everyone by the 80's. So this engine has a manual attached to it and my friends wanted it for their Mercedes. So we went to the junkyard to pull this engine. It is nice pulling an engine from a throwaway car because you don't have to be careful. We slashed the wires and the hoses, we even slashed the tires just for good measure. So here is the engine, hanging there. This was actually cool. From now on I will be able to say that I have pulled an engine.]]>