709 they come in threes

2009-03-22T21:57:00.003-08:00

This was an interesting week for me in a lot of ways.
This weekend I got a BMW, got lost, bought a pair of shorts that are too big on me, ate at taco bell, went rock climbing for the first time in a long time, practiced my french and might be passing up a huge decision in my life because i'm too much of a pussy to make my mind up one way or the other.
Yeah, it's been that kind of week.

words

2009-03-08T15:48:00.003-08:00

I stole this from petit hiboux so that i could procrastinate on this fine sunday instead of doing what i'm really supposed to be doing, work. Anyway, it's kinda interesting to see that the word I say or write the most is really, really? You can go waste time yourself and do it over at wordle.

going on one

2009-03-03T11:12:00.003-08:00

A few years back I had a girlfriend who moved to another city. I think you guys know who i'm talking about but she'll remain nameless for this little entry.
Anyway, she didn't know anyone there and was just starting a new job. Needless to say it wasn't the best of times for her. The new job was hard and not having friends was even harder but I think the final straw was that me, her boyfriend, was living back at home in the comfort of complete familiarity and all of my friends. I was having a grand old time, starting a new job (I didn't really want but was excited to have) and being back in the city with all my old high school friends.
Well, her and I would talk on the phone and she would explain to me that she wasn't happy for various reasons. I could understand that, i told her to try and go out there and make some friends (which is not an easy task by any means) or at least to go out there and try and get some hobbies or do some extra cerricular activities. You know, to meet people, to occupy time and just to generally make yourself feel better. Cause there is nothing worse than sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself cause you got no friends and have nowhere to go.
As most of you know the relationship ended a few months after that. I blame the downfall mostly on the situation not on her. The new city, the no friends and the boyfriend who was having a hoot. Not really a good combo for a new relationship.
Well it's now a few years later and I've moved to a new city myself. And i've realized that I should also be taking my own advice. Just like I'm sure she felt back then, I feel now. Just time to make it happen.
Baby steps, right?

they say you are what you eat

2009-03-03T00:11:00.003-08:00

Dinner goes as follows:
A whole avocado eaten with a spoon
A glass of V8 juice
A frozen pizza
With pretzels on the side
A glass of coke
And a Babybel and some bread to finish it off.
...They might be onto something.

a year+a dinner+get a grip= too early to tell

2009-02-25T01:52:00.011-08:00

So this coming monday will be my one year anniversary at work. That's right, i've been at DDB for a full year now.
I'm not really sure what to say about it though. I mean, i love being here living my dream but (and yes there is always a but) it still feels like i'm missing something. I'm not really sure what that is yet but once I find out i'll be sure and let you know. But besides that I'm happy to be here and DDB has treated me well, better than a lot of people these days so i can't frown on that. Hopefully the next one year will be that much better.
So today i did the laundry, went running, grocery shopping and just finished dinner. Now i'm pretty sure i've already showed you guys this receipe before but I haven't made it in a while and it turned out fantastical. I mean, it really couldn't get much easier. So here is a recap:
Chicken
mushrooms
Sour cream and Dijon mustard
- 3 parts sour cream and one part dijon
Cook the chicken first then throw in the mushrooms for a couple of mins and then throw in your sauce and mix all that goodness up for a min or two. Delicious.
So I didn't have much (as in no) vegetables so you'll see the Maille pickels add a nice color contrast and in my glass is some V8. So i'm good with the veggies, kinda. Oh yeah and you can't forget the baguette. What would a proper dinner be without one? Not proper is the correct answer.

Part II - get a grip (written earlier this week)

Things have changed, obviously. As you get older everything changes, actually not older, just as time passes. I think there is a difference there. Things can change in 3 months as fast as they can change in 3 years. Thinking of it as just getting older just because of change is wrong. You make things happen to yourself and some things just come to happen because of things that happen around you. I don't really think getting "older" has anything to do with it. Anyway, Things have changes and yes, I've gotten older.... I don't write much anymore. I used to write every couple of days and I loved it. I don't stay up as late as i used to, thanks to my job. I've become a quasi alcoholic. Probably thanks to that too. I read many more books that I used to. And I'm really happy about that. I would almost rather read a book than watch a movie which for those of you who know me is pretty amazing. If i really like the book that is. I play just as many video games as I used to. I understand the need to have someone there. I just don't understand it enough to have someone there all the time. Priorities have changed in my life. From doing what I wanted to do to being what I think I want to be. But those are often based on what I am doing that particular night. But there are also a lot of things that haven't changed. I still like to stay up and will use any excuse to do it. I will still die soon, before any of you I hope. I don't want to go to any of your funerals, ever. So please don't die before me. And I want to live in the south of france with you.
m

extended stay

2009-02-16T22:03:00.005-08:00

It's been a while since i've put anything up in here but really, who's reading this? Nobody, So I don't really feel bad about it.
I'm sitting on my bed in my comfy addidas track pants pondering life and scouring the internet for apartments I can't afford or won't accept to live in. It's a pretty depressing thing really and I usually give up within fifteen minutes. Hence me writing this.
As most of you will have noticed Valentines Day was this weekend. I really noticed it on saturday night as I walking thru the grocery story getting previsions for the my evening. As opposed to the usual person (as in the number one) there were couples everywhere. I guess even valentines day makes grocery shopping fun for the both of em. Or maybe one doesn't trust the other enough to get the stuff they really want to make that night special for them. Or maybe it's just about spending those few extra minutes together. Either way couples where out in force walking hand in hand, smiling at each other and even the occasional nuzzle when they were waiting for the light to turn.
It really was kind of was bizzare to see (most) everyone in pairs. Walking around the grocery store I felt like I was the odd man out cause I hadn't paired up with a buddy at the door. That's what buddies are for, to make sure the other didn't go missing in the many rows of frozen food and canned goods. Me making sure she didn't forget anything on her list and steering us clear of the other "buddies" that always seem to be going down the aisle in the opposite direction, blocking our path. Going to the cash register together and then saying a goodbye at the automatic doors, acknowledging it was better to shop in tandem than taking the risk of braving it alone.
The grocery store can be a scary place sometimes.

I may or may not have left my bag at the strip club last night

2008-12-07T13:29:00.002-08:00

Ok, yeah, i did. But to be fair and try and make an excuse for it I had to check it in when i got there and then just totally forgot about it. Usually it's with me at all times so when I left.... at 3:30 in the morning.... I kinda forgot that i came with it. So whatever.
Other than that things have been crazy busy over here, work, play and heavy meditation. Not all things are going well but enough to keep me going.
For you fine kids down south I will be gracing you with my presence in T-minus 12 days. So get ready for me to steal your money at poker, beat you at the video game of your choice, take you thrift store shopping with me, listen to me talk about Kenzo too much and about how much I missed him, listen to loud music while ridding in the volvo, eating some fine tex-mex, visiting cecils often, hanging out with my cousin, listen to me telling you why San Francisco is awesome and why you should move there cause it's kind of like a million time better than texas, and just generally ramble on about the few things I have had time to do since i've been here. Which really isn't that much. So yeah, see you in less that two weeks.

Midnight

2008-11-24T00:59:00.002-08:00

So I've got homework for everyone. Find out what time of the day you were born. And now sit there and think about if you "wake up" at that time. Cause I know I was born at midnight and well, that's exactly the time my brain wakes up. It kinda sucks when you have to work at nine to five but I do what I can... like right now.

the next 3 digit blog

2008-11-22T13:23:00.004-08:00

so last night and this morning consisted of a lot of things: Zombies, ladies with no skin on and a new phone game I came up with. So where to start? Ok, with the zombies.
It started as a place to hide from the zombies, in a small crappy pretty much wood shack that i didn't know my mom owned. There were a lot of us trying to cram into this one little upstairs studio, including my deceased grand mother (nice to see you grandma, nice to see things haven't changed). So I started getting antsy and well decided to go out there and kill some zombies. I'm not gonna lit there were a lot. As I ran towards the crowd of dead humans recently turned into zombies it all turned into a video game.... who couldn't see that coming? Yeah, that's it, thats the point of that story, let's move on.
She was a lady, I was a man. I was a doctor, or a doctors assistant anyway. I was at work and the procedure began in a large white room, there was a handful of us watching and helping. That poor woman was dead and he was opening her up to take a look inside. The skin was cut down across her jaw line and around the top of her head. It was pealed back onto the table. The skin was cut all the way down her abdomen and down her stomach exposing all that was inside. Mike was reading off the list, checking off all her different part. Stomach was there, liver, small intestine. lungs, bladder, etc. There were a couple of people in the corner of the room talking and someone else walked by saying hi to mike as he's doing this, nobody is paying much attention. Theres a slight gargle that come from the stomach and mike responds to it "You full a gas huh, don't blame you". As he keeps messing around in there pocking and having fun another noise now comes out of the body but more from the throat region. Mike jumps at that and screams. Now people are paying attention as am I of course, real attention now as Mike says "That's impossible" and right when he finished saying that the body starts to twitch, then move more and more. Everyone is backing up slowly sticking towards the corner forming a tighter group while the body now sits up. The woman now gets off the table to stand up, mumbles something and stumbling a bit. Everyone is frozen quiet, nothing. We watch this pile of blood and guts start moving a bit before she starts to realize something is wrong with her. To remedy the "openess: she basically just does a hair flick but with her entire body and magically all the skin falls back into place, where it once was, now with large gapping gashes from one end to the other. She can't see though and she doesn't know we're all in the corner of the room just staring at her, wondering what her next move is gonna be. She starts feeling out her surroundings and find what she is looking for, a stack of her clothes, a flowy dress that she easily puts on, it's almost like a hospital dress but one she like and thinks she looks good in. The problem now becomes that she realizes there is something wrong with her and she's on a mission to find out why and what has happened. She starts shuffling towards the door and all of us bunch in tighter being extremely quite as not to get her attention.
She opens the door and starts walking down the hall towards the reception area clearly following her memory of the place. We all shuffle by the door to watch as shes doing this, all of us still completely amazed she is walking around but also realizing that Mike fucked up, big time. It seems that at the exact moment I start realizing this she does as well and reaches for her iphone, Mike is the last person she called so she just has to press talk and its gonna ring. And Mike knows exactly what she is doing. He starts freaking out running into a corner and pulling the phone out of is pocket knowing that if it starts to ring we'll all be found by the sound of his phone. She's putting up to her hear.... waiting. Nothing from Mikes phone, good. A few people go out the door and head the opposite direction she is going, wanting to get as far away from here as possible, I can't, I have to watch this mystery unfold.
She reaches the reception area calling out a name but it's empty, no one is there and even if there was I doubt anyone would have responded seeing the site of a flappy skinned blind woman walking down the hall. Convinced there is no one there, with no where to go she turns around to head back to the room. At this point all of us are standing in the double doorway just watching what she was doing and we now realize we are in her way. People around me start to slowly walk away, some backwards, some take the to hallway but all very very light footed as the slightest sound might get her attention and we would all loose this game. It has now become a game of hide and go seek with a blind lady. As people are moving away i'm stunned, just sitting there not knowing where to go and my decision is taking too long. She is getting closer so i decide that the closer the better. I'm going to walk right past her and go the direction she came from cause I know she won't be going back that way when she reaches the room and the people in the room will be screwed cause they'll be stuck in there with her. So I start off slow, barely letting my feet touch the floor as i flail my arms in the air, as if that move is gonna me weight less and therefore make less noise when my feet touch the ground. One step... two steps, we're almost right next to each other. My third step would put us neck and neck, i would be home free after that but as the rubber of my shoe hits the lanoleum my shoe gives off a scream of pain as if i just killed it and she automatically turns her head. I freeze... waiting, thinking and knowing full well in about a second she's gonna reach out there and touch me. And then what? So I act fast, do a little shuffle and pretend that i was coming to see her this whole time. Clear my throat and gently ask "Excuse me miss, you shouldn't be out of your room". She does a little jolt, seemingly a bit surprised to finally be talking to someone. If she was actually blind she would have known that I couldn't just magically appear or should I say hear there all of a sudden. But she wasn't so to her she just hadn't heard me coming. "I think my doctor has left, why can't I see?"
"Well it looks like you should have left you're bed, they might not be done with you." I make something up and... "A lot of doctors got called for an emergency so let me take you back to your room. Get you back in your bed".
She accepts that answer and I gently grab her arm to guide her back to her room, the loose skin not quite matching her movement. As we walk into the room I still see everyone standing completely still in the corners fearing being caught and loosing as i had. I kinda smile as I sit her down and I look around the room at everyone. "Now try not to move around too much and relax till the doctor comes back" I say as I turn and head for the door. I see someone twitch thinking they're gonna follow me out the door but they miss they're window and are motionless again. I walk to the doorway with the double doors, do a 180, spread my arms open and grab both of the open doors. Take another look at everyone frozen around the room and then say "I'm sure someone will be here soon to help you out ms". And with that i pull my hands together closing both the doors shut. I smile to myself turn around and walk down the hallway.

Wow, that took a while huh? Well, onto the third thing. This one is a fun little game you do if you have your cell phone and you're bored or like me if its a saturday morning and you don't want to get out of bed cause it's too early and you have a bit of a hang-over.
(You may need a special kind of phone, the ones that show you the state when you put in the 10 digit number)
So basically you just start typing numbers and get weird area codes to see what state their from. like type in 714.555.5555 that's California. Keep going, ever wonder what 242 area code is? Go ahead, do it! (That's a fun one too). Can you figure out the area code for St. Lucia? I did this morning. Go ahead, have yourself some fun. I know it took up a good 20-30 mins of my time just finding out all the area codes of the USA, fun stuff.

wish list

2008-11-15T13:01:00.004-08:00

Santa,

I'm not asking for much this year. I know times have been hard and that the north pole melting is probably not helping you out too much either, loosing all those elves to drownings can't be to good for production. So this is what i want, thanks.

Plane ticket back to you Houston for christmas, this link might help you out:
http://bringfrenchmatthome.com/

and the motorized walking AT-AT, here is where you can find that:
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=10178

Thanks a lot Santa, see you soon.

food and stuff

2008-10-22T23:44:00.005-07:00

So we'll start with the events of the past week and move on to todays new reciepe, chili.
In list form:
- Got to drive around San Francisco and more importantly got to smoke a cigarette while driving across the Bay Bridge going into the city.
- Got second place in the DDB ping pong tournament
- Saw Ghostland Observatory
- Went to San Jose to explore the Winchester Mystery House
- Painted for the first time in about a year
- ... and lots of other things I can't remember at the moment

So let's move on to the chili, tasty tasty chili.

Ingredients: (for six people or in my case one and a whole lot of chili for the next week)
- 1 onion
- 1 green pepper
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 can of tomatoe sauce
- 2 cans of ranch beans
- 1 packet of taco seasoning
- 1 jalapeno
- olive oil
- salt, pepper thyme, oregano, camin and crushed red peppers

So it's pretty easy.
- Pour some olive oil in there and heat it up to cook your veggies, finely diced preferred.
- Throw your meat in there and let that cook, mix that shit up
- dump in your tomatoe sauce and beans and seasoning.
- stir it up and turn down the flame
- let simmer for about 30 mins
- And to top it off I put a little shredded cheese for good measure.
And presto, fine chili. Tonight was the first time i used the taco seasoning. It was good but I might go back to the regular chili seasoning next time. We'll see what i'm in the mood for. Enjoy

postings

2008-10-05T13:37:00.003-07:00

Nine months later and here we are. Well, here i am.
I've been a bit slow about the posting lately so you'll have to forgive me one and only reader. Not that I haven't had anything to say, I have. I keep thinking about stuff i want to write here, mostly as i'm walking the streets of SF or Berkeley but by the time i get back to my computer i've kinda forgotten all those interesting life comments i wanted to make. In fact I already forgot about what it was i was going to tell you about today. Hmm, probably something about t-shirts, animals, blue skies, PS3 or maybe even a photograph.
Well, that'll have to wait till next time. Till then i'll be here.

why do all my titles have to do with time passing? Thats kinda depressing

2008-08-24T14:55:00.003-07:00

So it's almost my birthday again, a little less than a month. Honestly I really haven't been thinking about it and when it does pop into my head it's more of a fleeting thought. But as a reminder that it is coming Rachel sent me my present early and it's amazing cool. I've been wanting this t-shirt for a while. SO good.

And yes, I know i don't have to tell you but the Radiohead concert was amazing. I didn't really get to see Beck but you know what, that's OK. Radiohead for two hours was out of control, one might say.

Ten years and counting

2008-08-22T14:50:00.003-07:00

For over ten years now Radiohead has been a staple in my music listening trends. One of the few bands that after a decade I can still listen to over and over again. Well, after all this time I finally get to see them live tonight (as a double whammy I also get to see Beck among others). That's great, amazing, fun etc. but what happens? I fuck up my back the day before. So now as I'm sitting here waiting for go to the concert i've started pumping myself full of Advil, a few beers and some icy hot in the off chance I won't have to be miserable standing out in Golden Gate park listening to my favorite band of all time.

What am I bitching about, right? I get to see 2 amazing bands tonight. Shut up Matt and go have fun. Here is more info on the Outside Lands Festival.

And on a side note I also really want this.

life

2008-08-03T02:32:00.003-07:00

i'm better at life when i've procrastinated
i'm better at life when i've been alone for a while
i'm better at life when i'm afraid of the dark
i'm better at life when you when tell me i'm not
i'm better at life when i write things down
i'm better at life when you don't ask anything from me
i'm better at life when i get to sleep in
i'm better at life when i know nobody is watching
i'm better at life when i think of my dad
i'm better at life when my friends back me up
i'm better at life when something inspires me
i'm better at life when i stay up late (and maybe watch movies)
i'm better at life when i think i'm doing the right thing
i'm better at life when i stay up way too late
i'm better at life when i when i brake some of my rules but not too many
i'm better at life when i dont' it thru

...later

2008-07-28T01:35:00.002-07:00

1 large pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni and jalapenos ...later
1 bottle of coke and one bottle of evian ...later
5 1/2 hours ...later
one game of Civilization ...later
(and I do mean only one game played from beginning to end)

It's bed time

A weekend at Matts

2008-07-27T12:17:00.005-07:00

So this was a weekend to be remembered, or at least parts of it will be remembered... Maybe not by me but by others. Lets make this simple.

Thursday June 24th:
kelly went walking
i worked
we wanted to play shuffle board but got beat to it
had a couple of shots and talked over some beer at el rio
Had cheap mexican food while being watched by the holy mary
talked some more at casanova
got on the train back to the east bay
closed it down at acme

Friday June 25th:
woke up late
had a burger
civilization revolution
off to the city
wandered around
tasty ice tea
hung out in a park
new used shirts
bitchin martini
does it offend you, yeah?
danced a little
own two identical t-shirts
drank too much
talk to the door girl
got kicked out of the bar
waited 45 mins for a cab
went home, passed out

Saturday June 26th:
woke up late
went to the cite
SF cameraworks
comic museum
photo booth
dark knight
a couple of drinks and some video games

Sunday June 26th:
woke up early
rode the bart
sent him off
back at home
nap time.

So yeah, that was the weekend and I still have a few hours left. What to do?
P.S. today it has officially been six months since I moved to the fair city of San Francisco.
Won't you keep me for another six?

1/20th of a decade

2008-07-23T00:54:00.002-07:00

It's been almost six months since i've been here. T minus 4 days and I will say this: Things are staying interesting.
Isn't that enough for life? I think so.

I'm a dork

2008-06-24T00:09:00.003-07:00

I can only imagine what my roommate is thinking after he hears me in my room "talking to myself" for several hours at a time:
"DUDE, get that mother fucker! He's over there, check it"
.....
"Get in, get IN! If you don't get in i'm leaving you!"
.....
"Fuck, he got me."
......
"don't pick that up, it's mine. Hey Fuzzybear, it's mine i said!"
.....
The list goes on and on and well, it's kinda funny. Cause if i was someones roommate and that's what I heard coming from their room.
Big flipping dork.
But I do love it so.

reasons i love Olivia Munn

2008-06-21T01:40:00.009-07:00

There are only two reasons I want cable... Actualy, make that three.
1) The Daily show
2) Attack of the show
3) Discovery HD

Wait... make that four.
4) Three Sheets

All four of those shows (well three isn't a show but it's pretty great or used to be anyway... I think now they show more of those stupid reality shows so I might have to take it off the list) are amazing. There is still some good TV programming out there but it's hard to find. Myself, I kinda hate TV. I think it's all pretty stupid and over run by well, stupid people. Most if not all the shows out there are boring, unimaginative, one hour (mixed with 20 mins of comericals) piles of shit (I hope you agree with me). But there are a few out there that have promise. Whether its the Daily Show that's been on for over 10 years or Attack of the Show that is basically the "B movie" to other shows, they both have that quality that I love, personality.
I don't watch Lost, I don't watch thursday nights (expect for the office) or any other weekly type show.
So this is where i say "stop wasting your time and you're brain, there are better things out there. But if you do decide to veg out, watch these shows. Not some stupid crime reality series or "comedy" which these days seems more like a retard and a stick. Don't waste your time.
Thank you G4, thank you comedy central, thank you Mojo and thank you (2 years ago) discovery channel (cause now you kinda suck).
Here is the only positive TV comment i'll ever make so take it in while you can. Cause for the rest of the time i'll tell you the TV is the devil. Yes, that's right, the devil.

highlight of the weekend

2008-06-16T00:19:00.005-07:00

a) The wedding, of course. The wedding was amazing. Great location, great people, great food and beautiful weather. Very well done, I even started getting a bit emotional when she came down the isle. Oh and I was the man in charge of the margaritas which was fun too. (Pics will be posted on my FTP this week)
b) the rat pack (dice, big A and liability) coming up to hang out with us. Good times.
c) getting told that "oh no no no no you're thirty days are over ".
A Banana Republic employee referring to my pant size. Guess i'm getting older and a bit fatter.
d) Seeing a guy on the road, I shit you not, driving by himself shooting stuff (maybe other cars) with his "hand" gun. We had to slow down and see it again cause it was amazing. He was just pointing and shooting stuff as he drove with his hand made to look like a gun. Kudos to you my man, simply brilliant.
e) Allan trying to find the right timing for a "That's what she said" joke but not quite having the conviction for it.
f) Night hotel party at the 162 suite.
g) the snow bitch. That's all i have to say about that.
h) Running into Matt at the airport before his honeymoon in Germany.
i) In one day, going from Austin where it was like in the low 90s, to Phoenix where it was 111 degrees (supposedly 114 earlier in the day) and then getting home to 53 degree weather. That's kind of impressive for one day.
j) Walking back up the hill to get home and jammin to the new cut copy.
k) going to Youtube to find out that the reverse graffiti project has over 20,000 hits. That felt pretty damn good.

Not so highlights of the weekend:
a) getting sick on friday and being sick with a cold all weekend long.
b) Shannon getting a different kinda sick on sunday.
c) Having my flight today delayed which would have made me miss my connecting flight to SF. I was scared for a bit but in the end just went thru Pheonix so it worked out and really not loosing much time.
d) the compression and decompression of the plane as we went up and down. With my sinuses it literally felt like my head was going to explode. Hurt so flippin bad.
e) it being past my bedtime. Guess a great weekend like that can't last forever.

Reverse Graffiti Project

2008-06-11T14:06:00.003-07:00

So after some hard work we finally launched The Reverse Graffiti Project. Please go watch the movie and pass it on, put it on your blog, tell me what you think, etc. Enjoy.

Click here to see the movie on youtube

the beginning of the end

2008-06-03T23:49:00.005-07:00

So Barack is now the democratic candidate for the fall.
That's pretty nice, good luck.

the end of freedom fries

2008-06-03T14:40:00.002-07:00

but notice they didn't go back to french fries....

at night

2008-06-02T23:45:00.003-07:00

Last night I dreamed that I was getting married (and I was happy).
I also dreamed that I was in a train that was going x (x = very fast) and I had to make the decision to either jump off the train going x or face a crash with another oncoming train. I decided to jump and that's when I woke up.
I don't know what that means but it made for one good night of entertainment.

past and present

2008-06-02T00:01:00.004-07:00

I graduated high school in 98 with pretty much no clue what I wanted for the rest of my life. And when I say graduated that might be a bit of an overstatement. I barely made it through that bitch but anyways. I signed up for Community College and decided then and there that it was time to get my shit together and do something. I knew I liked art and the such so I started taking those classes. I think it was my second semester that I found out about graphic design. I didn't even really know that existed and that's when I figured out what I wanted to do. There were two things that really pushed me in that direction. One was a teacher at HCC and the other the discovery of the online design portal K10k.net. K10k kinda opened the door for a whole world of online design that I'd never seen before. I used to go to that site everyday, several times a day to see what new stuff they had just posted and get inspiration. I still go to that site everyday actually. They don't keep up with it as much but who's to blame them, running your own business can be hard enough.
One of my early goals I made myself back then was to one day have something I did make it onto their post section. That has yet to happen but who knows, i still have time right? But through these last ten years... close enough anyway they have always been a backbone that helps me do what I do.
So on friday night I was walking to a gallery closing over on 8th and Folsom and what do I walk by? I look to the other side of the street and I see the Cuban Council building (that's their business). It was amazing to see it. It was just one of those life altering moments or maybe just life affirming. In a ridiculous way it almost made me one step closer to my goal. But mostly it just made me really happy and made me realize how much i love to do what I do. It was kind of a little nudge that let me know I had done the right thing.
So i'm a graphic designer and I now live in San Francisco, time to prove i'm worth a damn.

doing it over and over again (update)

2008-05-28T16:09:00.005-07:00

I actually forgot to tell you my favorite part of that whole story.

A coupe of weeks before going back to Houston there was a song that I'd been listening to. It's this older techno song that I really like. You know, the type of song that just screams "turn the radio up real loud, roll the windows down and shake in your seat like a rabid monkey." And that is exactly what I had planned to do: Drive Malik down the freeway, blast my radio and play this song as loud as I could.

On sunday afternoon that is exactly what I did. I merged on the freeway and pulled out my ipod, Went to the S's, turned up the radio and rolled the window down....

I was just starting to really get into the song and then "BOOM". That is when my tire blew out on me, in the middle of the freeway, condemning my month long dream to just that, a dream. I never got to listen it. Maybe next time I got back down to Houston... whenever that is.

Yea, it was that kinda weekend.

Moustache May

2008-05-28T00:55:00.002-07:00

And for those of you who have not seen the new do, here you are:
Moustache May Matt
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
And for the one person out there who might actually care my Xbox did make it to SF safe and sound. Now I just have to get one of their stupid over priced wireless connectors to hook up to the internet and be able to play all my downloads again. Effin Microsoft.

doing it over and over again

2008-05-27T13:35:00.003-07:00

So I had a great weekend. Except for a few events...

As most of you know but a few might not I had a bit of a run in, shall we say, with yokohama tires this weekend. It all started when I got back home and started driving Malik around town again. I noticed quite a bit of shaking when I reached high speeds. As I've been told and have learned from Car Talk I knew it was most likely something to do with my alignment/tires. But being the lazy ass I am and assuming that my mom had done as I had told her when I originally left months ago (to change the front tires that had incidentally partially caused my first wreck), I didn't check my tires. Well on sunday afternoon in the midst of my BBQ/Fajita fest I left my house to go pick up a friend. I got on the freeway and made sure to talk it slow (or just slower than I usually would) as I knew something was wrong with the car. About 2 miles down my front passenger tire blew out and even though in Houston you're not supposed to stop on the freeway I did and changed my tire as fast as I could. Got the spare on and was back on the road, taking the back streets, to go pick up my friend. I completed the task and head back home to rejoin the BBQ and all my friends that were awaiting my arrival so we could start playing a round of poker.

As most Houstonians know even the back streets of houston are riddled with constant construction. On this particular day it happened to be at Richmond and Fountain View that they had taken out some of the asphalt for lord knows what reason... Maybe to eventually smooth it over again. But not until I went over it in my spare cause my spare to blow and leaving us stranded in a bar parking lot calling my fellow BBQers to come and rescue us.

I took my flat tire with me and went home.

The next morning I woke up at seven, took the wheel to the tire shop and got a new one. Drove back to Malik who thankfully was still sitting in the bar parking lot and changed yet again another tire. Had to get home to finish packing so I could leave on time to catch my flight.

Before me and ash left for the airport we decided to get a bite to eat at a nice place called Napolies. We headed towards the freeway and the car sounded a bit funny. Well when we pulled over to further inspect the noise and as i stepped out I saw that she had a flat tire. Yes, another flat tire on another car. So I got out and changed the tire which made me late for my flight. But not as late as the fact that i had to then go home and take another shower because i was wet with sweet. All in all i got to the airport just in time to run down the terminal and ear them saying "final boarding for San Francisco." I made i on the plane but just barely.

All in all I got home at midnight, just in time to celebrate my being in SF for 4 months to the day.

Happy four months matt.

4 months and counting

2008-05-23T11:21:00.002-07:00

So it hasn't quite yet been four months but since I'm a few days away I figured it would work out fine. Here's to four months and here's to me celebrating them later tonight in Houston.

The other morning I rode the BART to work and as it goes sometimes I was standing. Sitting on the floor next to me though was a kid that seemed to be in about high school. He was sitting there trying to finish his math homework which is something I can totally relate to. If i had a 30 train ride to school in the morning I would totally take that time to do last minute school work. So I was just standing there and minding my own business when he was like "excuse me, could you try to open this for me?" It was a tube of glue he was trying to open to glue his study sheets to his notebook. How sweet is that? He thought I was going to be able to open it. Well i gave it a few tries but couldn't do it. Cause of me now his work isnt' gonna be glued down, shame. Good luck buddy. School sucks but its worth it.

I had some other stories that i wanted to say but now I forgot them all of course. The TV is going well as is the PS3. There are a couple of kick ups every once in a while but otherwise it's a dream. I get to pet my occasional kitty and tomorrow I will get to pet my very own babies. Kenzo, i'm coming home babies. I miss you, a lot.

So here's to all you guys I'll be seeing tonight. It shall be monumental. Or maybe i'll just pass out from drukeness and exhaustion. Whatever happens I'm sure we'll have a good time. And here's to Malik too, I miss him too.

my new room heater: my PS3

2008-05-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

my new room heater: my PS3, originally uploaded by llamacafecom.

So after a few months I finally gave in a bought myself a TV. Problem is that when i give in i give in kinda huge. So I now have a 42" 1080p TV along with a new PS3. Yeah, its pretty sweet though, i won't lie.
I did end up missing my 4 month post and am now coming up on the five months. I'm ashamed that I don't have more photos to show really. I feel like i haven't take a single once since I got here, which is kinda true. So soon i will try to be better about it. Soon....

new things in my life

2008-05-04T20:33:00.003-07:00

Everyday this place becomes a little bit more like home. Sometimes it's as simple as walking down the same street for the umpteenth time. Sometimes it costs a bit more than a mere stroll down the street or smell that reminds me of home. Here are cost non-effective ways of making your new home feeling more like your old home.
I've had my old "smoking" shoes for about 6+ years now. Oddly enough I got them here in San Francisco or should I say I stole them from Rachel when she lived here in SF. But now it's time to let them go. As you see below they have been through a lot and now they have a holes and a particular smell that I can't seem to get rid of.

So I found a fancy pair of shoes at my local shoe barn for a mere 20 bucks. Can't go wrong there. And they are actually almost cool enough for me to wear as regular shoes. How can you go wrong there?

they aren't quite the slip ons the berks were but they're close enough and they'll match (or clash depending on how you see it) with most my socks.

So the second and much more expensive way to make your home much more "homely" is to spend a ridiculous amount of money on technology that'll help you not think about you left behind. For this I got myself a 42" 1080p LCD. I haven't even gotten it yet but it's already helping with my post move depression. So here's to the paper TV that is keeping the wall warm for when my real TV arrives. She is gonna be a beaut, frealz.

(I had to draw in the rest of the print out cause my printer ran out of ink. that made real upset until i realized I can just draw the rest in, looks pretty sweet.)

To pass the long tuesday morning

2008-04-29T10:33:00.003-07:00

Here's a little something to look at and enjoy.

Alex Prager

my view

2008-04-20T21:46:00.004-07:00

So it's been pretty effin beautiful here, I do love the weather.
Sometimes I get lucky and on my smoke breaks I get to see the dog next door, he is the cutest.

end of the week/end

2008-04-20T14:45:00.002-07:00

So it's been an interesting week but unfortunately now it's over, or almost anyway. I've got a few hours left and I need to work on some websites, ugh. But I did manage to make myself a very tasty Pitza for lunch today. You should try it cause it's really good and really easy to make.
Get yourself a pita, some kind of tomato sauce (I just used some Ragu), shredded cheese and whatever veggies/meat you want on your pitza. Put the sauce, cheese and all ingredients on pita and stick in the oven for about 10 mins at about 375-400. Just check and see when the cheese gets golden brown. So so yummy. Here is mine, mushrooms, pepperoni and lots of cheese. Some apple juice to wash it all down.

Stranger things have happened

2008-04-19T16:41:00.003-07:00

My Shuffle has disappeared
I have a bruise on my knee
I could have gone camping today

something is amiss

your holiness

2008-04-17T15:44:00.003-07:00

The funniest part has to be to right at the end. Seriously GW? Thats what you told the POPE?!
Ah jon stewart, you make my life better.
The visit

Now this is pretty sweet

2008-04-15T00:59:00.002-07:00

If we all go out in a black hole, so be it.

clean desk, matches to boot and two months + a few

2008-04-02T16:46:00.004-08:00

So it's been a rough month. Forgot to post my little two month review. Actually i'm sure i've missed a lot of things. The last month has basically been spent in the office so I don't have much else to say other than I'v been working my ass off.

I'm actually at the office waiting for yet another assignment to come in.

I see my kitties in the morning. Actually the other morning i saw a kitty sitting on a log and right behind him was a bowl full of seeds and a squirrel was eating of out it, so cute. But yeah, more kitty in the morning stuff. I did get to play Rock Band at the last happy hour which totally made my day. Ahh Maps, they don't love you like i love you. Besides that I haven't done much. Sitting around playing FFT, watching the occasional movie and just trying to relax during the little time that I have off.

Rae is coming into town this weekend which will be nice unless I have to work. I can't really think of much else at this moment. I'm just sitting here hoping I won't have to stay too late tonight, cross your fingers for me.

Here's to the new life.

on my way places

2008-03-23T13:49:00.002-08:00

So I've told you that I run into some pretty kitties on the way to work. It makes me happy to pet a kitty in the morning. The other morning though I walked passed a kitty that was on a leach that was attached to the gate. Poor guy was just hanging out on the sidewalk wondering why the hell is couldn't go any further. Last night I saw a big fluffy raccoon, he was so cute but this is the best one by far. On my way to work today (we'll talk about that in a sec) I was outside my building and I bum walked by, nothing strange there right? Except this bum had a leach and on the end of that leash was a beautiful fluffy black kitty just walking along with his master down the street. It was amazing. I've seen cats on leaches before but they always seem like they hate life. This guy was just trotting down the street looking like he was having a grand old day. I tried to take a picture with my phone but in all the excitement I must of deleted it cause i went back and all i had was the second photo which was just of the ground. So freaking cute.
So I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Easter sunday. I am, in fact, at work. That's right, i'm at work on a sunday that also happens to be a holiday. How fun is that? A lot of fun let me tell you. So after this I get to finally do my laundry that I haven't done in two freaking weeks cause i literally worked every single day for the past 2 weeks. 12 hour days, at least. Yup, the joys of being in advertising. Here's to ridiculous life decisions. And all that other good stuff. Hope you guys find some sweet eggs...

time lapse

2008-03-16T11:42:00.004-08:00

I started work a week before the spring forward event.

For nine months before that I kept a pretty loose schedule of waking up and going to sleep. The perks of being a freelancer.

My first week of work I woke up at 7:30 no problem.

After the spring forward.... all fucked up.

I wake up an hour to early ever day and then ai'm really tired when it's actually time to get up. How is that my body which didn't have a schedule for so long could all of a sudden take the one I had for one week and make me suffer for it? I don't get it.

I'm tired.

habits of a nation

2008-03-16T00:43:00.005-08:00

So here it comes, the other point of view.
I've been working 10+ hours days for the last couple of days, and yes it's saturday. And yes, I have to go in tomorrow on sunday for what is probably gonna be one of the worse days so far. They've got me working like a horse which most of the time doesn't bother me cause I know "that is what is expected of me". But then I think "That shit ain't right. People should be allowed to have lives!".
Where is the point that you put an end to this? I know in this country its regular (especially in my field) to work to all ends of the night every day. Shit, my boss still does it. I see him on IM almost every night when i'm at home just playing around on the computer/doing my own work. Is that right? Is that the way it should be?
Am I saying this because i'm lazy and don't want to work 60/70 hours a week or is it because my fellow country men get all the perks of two months vacation and 38 hour work weeks? Do they over work their designers in europe too? Do they have never ending days and weekends like we do here? Is it just a designers life to be worked till you want to just give up but you have nothing to give yourself up to cause all you've done is just work your entire life away?
Either way, if i ever make it past all this to seventy (which if you know me you know i don't think i will. Extra prize for the person who can tell me the age I keep saying i'm going to die) I know what i'll be doing. Hello CDF and hello to being young again. I'll fight even if it's just for a day.

inspiration

2008-03-11T14:02:00.004-08:00

So here is a bit of inspiration for everyone (and if you don't check out Fecal Face periodically, you should). Here is some amazing photography by Amy Stein. Enjoy.

my first week

2008-03-10T19:40:00.007-08:00

I've now been at work for a week, well, a week and a day. It's good so far, pretty good. I'm kinda stressing about a web site concept that i'm going to present tomorrow but hopefully he'll like what i have to show. So I do have a few stories about the first week... Let me see, I guess I'll just go chronologically.
Monday:
At 11 a.m. I get an e-mail saying "Grilled cheese mondays are back! in the Milk Bar from 11:30-12."
It wasn't a joke, one of the guys in the office was making a butt load of grilled cheeses for everyone to enjoy, quite nice.
Tuesday:
For lunch we had 5 Alarm Records bring us some very good and lots of sushi, beer and sake. They talked about what they could do for us and the commercials that we make and showed us a reel. Pretty sweet.
Wednesday:
Got another e-mail saying something about Collective Soul, at first i didn't pay much attention to it but then I realized that it said he was coming. That's right on wednesday afternoon we had the lead singer from Collective Soul give us a little accoustic show of his own. And yes, he played Shine On (or whatever that song is called). That was pretty awesome.
Friday:
Happy Hour day. What i didn't realize is that they are crazy serious about it, they have a different theme every friday. This friday was polka dots. So we had jello shots and beer with orange slices. Yes, you heard me correctly. It was a lot of fun, ended up making friends with the smokers obviously and actually was one of the last to leave at around 8:30. So it I would say it went pretty well. Actually I would say it was Awesome 2000.
The Weekend:
Got my board set up, read a book.
Monday:
I tried the carpool for the first time this morning. For those of you who don't know heres how it works:
It's free for me, i go to a designated spot (next to the BART station) in the morning and instead of paying $3.40 to take the BART I get into some strangers car and they drop me off 3 blocks from my work. It's pretty awesome and takes just about the same amount of time as taking the BART. Except i'm sitting in comfy car and not squished in the train. Oh and this morning I got to listen to NPR on the way to work for the first time in a very long time. I really liked that.

That was my week, how was yours?

one month

2008-03-02T21:33:00.006-08:00

So it's not officially been a month.
So here are a few things I did over the last week.
- Got a job at DDB
- Went back to Houston
- Did my taxes
- Bought a sweet coat
- Got a new phone
- got Final Fantasy Tactics. One of the best games ever made, seriously. (I feel like i'm back in high school again hanging out with kelly and allan in my bedroom. Except now i'm in California laying on my bed hanging out by myself playing it on a tiny screen that someone inches its way closer to my face as I play. It's still great though, one of the best games ever and it brings back a lot of memories.)

So yes, tomorrow is my first day to work. I'm really excited and really looking forward to this. I know it's gonna be awesome but I think it might actually be awesomer that I even anticipate... we'll see.

food, half eaten

2008-02-19T21:19:00.005-08:00

My favorite sandwich ever is the mozzarella turkey sandwich.
It's a baguette, an avocado, lemon juice and melted mozzarella on the bread. So freaking good I could eat this all the time. It's really easy.
Get a baguetter or similar bread, turn on your oven.
Put the mozzarella on bread and stick in oven about 5 mins. Time for it to melt the cheezy and make the bread a bit crispy.
Couple of slices of turkey and slice your avocado kinda thin.
Take the bread out of the oven and put lemon juice on the bread so it soaks up it a bit. I find more is better, gives it a bit of zest.
Put on your turkey slices and try to cram as much avocado on there as possible. Since its the fruit of the gods and all, you can't go wrong.
Enjoy the deliciousness that is the sandwich.
I had some chips and coke go along, tasty dinner.

I miss you...

2008-02-17T17:31:00.003-08:00

i miss you like a tree misses leaves
I miss you like a pen misses paper
i miss you like stars miss their gravitation pull
i miss you like earphones miss ears
i miss you like a cameras misses a subject
i miss you like a 6th grader misses clear skin
i miss you like a cigarettes misses a lighter
i miss you like dessert misses a spoon
i miss you like a sidewalk misses soles
i miss you like a keyboard misses keys
i miss you like a movie misses a star
i miss you like a nun misses her cross
i miss you like a car misses wheels
i miss you like a train misses its tracks
i miss you like a light misses the night
i miss you like a song misses a chorus
i miss you like a kid misses candy
i miss you like laces miss being tied
i miss you like the wind misses a breeze
i miss you like a whore misses male attention
i miss you like a table misses legs
i miss you xbox, you should be with me

They don't love you like i love you

2008-02-14T22:18:00.004-08:00

When I listen to Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs I dream of playing Rock Band. More specifically I dream of playing the drums for it. I love the drums on that song. I doubt I'll get to play that anytime soon though....
Oh, do you guys who have a mac and use mail for your e-mail program hear the got mail noise at about 21 secs into the song? Cause every time I listen to the song I hear that chime and think I got mail. It got really annoying in the last day or two since I'm anxiously awaiting to hear back from DDB.

Speaking of, the official bring french matt home.com has launched. Go check out the in depth site and you know, chip in if you can.

where did cendre go?

2008-02-13T23:32:00.004-08:00

No, i'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about my webiste.... yes it's gone but should be back up in the next 12 to 24 hours. Thats just my dumb ass having to deal with register.com. See I bought that URL so long ago that I used register and its been there ever since. Well I never transfered it over to dreamhost which I should have about 5 years ago. Anyway, it expired, i didn't know cause all the e-mails were going to an e-mail account i probably haven't used since a year or two after getting cendre... so you know, like a decade almost. But the other problem was that it was so long ago that it's not a register anymore but a sister company, so I can't access it from register.com. So Llama Cafe is on register but cendre is on poweryourname.com. Fucking ridiculous, seriously. Anyway, things should be ok and it should be back up soon. And next week you can rest assured that I will be transferring cendre and llama cafe over to my lovely dreamhost account so I never have another freak out like this again. And yes it has to wait till next week cause I'm out of minutes for this month and they only start over on the 19th. And i'll probably be on the phone for a good hour with them i'm sure until I can convince them to get me the authorization code to switch it over. You can't even do that on the site, you have to call them, bastards.
Anyway, hopefully this will all be over soon and I can get back to my regular www lifestyle.

you wanted to see me?

2008-02-13T18:04:00.004-08:00

Well now it's easier than ever to hang out with Matt. The new website lets you see FM more often than you might of ever thought imaginable. It's all up to you, so go check it out.
BRING FRENCH MATT HOME.com

din din

2008-02-12T19:38:00.002-08:00

So I didn't know what I was going to do for dinner. I was out of food and wondered what I could make. Well, with a few left over ingredients I made myself a lovely and quite large dinner.
Ingredients for Omelette:
2 eggs
1/8 of a green pepper
shredded mozzarella
1/4 avocado
salt & Pepper, crushed d peppers

Ingredients for Salad:
Lettuce
1/4 avocado
pepper jack cheeze
sauce (dijon mustard, olive oil and red wine vinegar)

And some bread, of course.
hmm, good.

faux hawks and the fights they get you in

2008-02-12T18:06:00.001-08:00

Faux hawks are pretty Euro douchebag if you ask me. It's like the business in the front party in the back thing. You have short hair but you decide to make it do the only thing mother nature intended it not to do: all in one direction pointing up to the heavens.
On a side note since i'm talking about douchebags if you haven't seen hot chick with douchbags.com you are a fool. It is probably the funniest site on the entire w w w. Not even kidding.
Anyway, so back to the faux hawk, this is what I looked like this morning after a good nights sleep. Really, i didn't touch it, natural faux hawk.
I must also say that the idea to take pictures of my hair came from Melissas great documentary of her own bed head/hair. Go check it out at flickr. It's pretty brilliant.... (start doing it again mel)

Yes it's pretty sweet if i say so myself. But what happens when the douche comes out in you? Well probably nothing or maybe hot chicks but this is what should happen:

Yes, that is a picture of me getting punched, don't ask.

href

2008-02-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

So I've decided that This also needs to be a sort of insipirational thing for me. I'm looking for a job right, i'm trying to better myself, right? Right. So in doing so i'll be going around the web looking at design stuff and putting it here for all to enjoy. So here we go.

We're gonna start with a London based design firm that does some amazing work.
A practice for Everyday Life.
Very clean simple yet beautiful design work for exhibitions and the such.

By the way I will also but adding all these links to cendre.com/insipration.htm, so feel free to bookmark that cause hopefully soon it'll be a big long list of links for references and the such.

You've got two options

2008-02-11T23:50:00.000-08:00

Both of which are to call me this weekend.
Option one:
I get the job at DDB. If so then i'll be celebrating all weekend. And when I say celebrate I mean being completely fucked out of my mind all weekend. So call me and congratulate me. Whatever time of day or night, i'll enjoy it. And you being blitzed out of your mind will be like a double whammy. My roommate is out out of town this weekend so you know i'm going to be pumping the jams dancing around in my undies.
Option two:
i don't get the job at DDB. Call me, please. i'll probably be laying in my bed, maybe crying, maybe considering self mutilation. I'll probably act like i don't care but i will. That's what friends are for, right? That's why you love me, or like me at least a little bit, just a little...

m

God and France

2008-02-11T20:41:00.001-08:00

Its midnight

2008-02-11T00:06:00.000-08:00

I was going to try and post some of the work i've been doing recently, get some feedback from you guys but its' getting late and i'm getting tired. So i'll just do it without explanation. That's probably better anyway cause I wont be there explaining the website when you go see it. That would be pretty cool if i was though. "Welcome to this web page. I am the web master and this is what this page is all about, are you ready?"
Anyway, option one: (click in order obviously)
A-01
A-02
A-03

option two:
B-01
B-02
B-03
B-04

So please let me know what you think. Any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Yet another photo

2008-02-10T16:43:00.001-08:00

Or click here.

2 weeks

2008-02-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Exactly to the minute that I've been here. At this time two weeks ago I was standing outside the airport terminal smoking a cigarette waiting for my luggage to come tumbling down their fancy motorized belts.
It's been two weeks now, i'm not much closer to having a job and I really haven't done too terribly much, or at least it feels like that now. Something is gonna have to happen soon cause I don't know how much longer I can sit here at this desk day in and day out.
So to spice things up, this is what I had for lunch:
Salad with Maille pickles, jalapeno jack cheezy, turkey and of course avocado. Made the sauce with some Dijon mustard, olive oil and red wine vinegar. Bread and some Honey Dijon chips. I wouldn't really recommend them. The Spicy Thai chips are the best Kettle chips out there but they are salty as shit. Have some water ready next to you when you eat them cause you'll need it.

ash in french

2008-02-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

So I've posted some new stuff on cendre.com finally. If you have any suggestion on stuff that I should add on there let me know... Leave me a comment or something.
Did you see there how I once again requested that you leave comments, yeah. You get it now, ok good.

For Candice and the rest of yous

2008-02-09T22:35:00.001-08:00

Please leave a comment if you feel the need. I know what i'm saying isn't very interesting but if you have an interesting story please do tell. So start commenting, or don't, whatever.

living situation

2008-02-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

So living with someone you've never met before is interesting.
We stay out of each others way most of the time and hide in our respective rooms. He's a nice guy and when we do run into each other we have polite conversations about stuff. The other day he even brought me to Ikea to get to my desk, that was really cool. But when you live with someone you pick up on some weird habits. Well, he slams doors.
Yeah, i dont really get it, at first i thought he was mad all the time but I guess he just doesn't know his own strength. It's a bit unnerving though because I hear him slam the door and I think "Is he mad this time?"
Damn! He just did it again. why do you have to slam the doors all the time? Just mellow out man, you're stressing me out and weakening the Integrity of the building.

my new favorite things

2008-02-08T18:07:00.001-08:00

My new favorite snack is Flavor Blasted Xplosive Pizza Goldfish. They are good (but a bit salty).
My new favorite drink is Earl Gray tea.
My new favorite place to hang out is my new Ikea desk.
My new favorite music at the moment is Yelle.

Not my new favorite thing: Talking to everyone partying it up at Cecils for Drews birthday on a friday night when i'm stuck at my desk with nowhere to go. Sad Matt.

Ikea and the world

2008-02-07T10:52:00.001-08:00

So forget about ordering online from Ikea unless you want to ruin yourself. After a few days of not hearing back from them (they were supposed to get back to me with shipping costs for my order) I called them to find out what was going on. First of all they had canceled my order because I hadn't gotten in touch with them 24 hours after I placed my order. But in the e-mail I received it says an Ikea employee will contact you within 24 hours to let you know of the shipping costs. I even read it out loud to her on the phone and she just says "we don't do callbacks". Excuse me?
Anyway, the whole point of that story is the fact that after all of that she put my order back through and then she told me the shipping and handling for an $129 order. The shipping and handling was $260. That's right, twice as much as the order itself. Bringing my grand total to a whopping 400 dollars for a lousy desk and chair. Ridiculous. Well, thankfully my roommate is going to be bringing me to Ikea tonight so that I can purchase that stuff without paying that freaking shipping fee.

Other than that few things have been happening here. Looking for work, trying to get adjusted to my tiny room under the stairs, trying to not go too crazy from the seclusion. I know that if I start going to interviews and i haven't talked to anyone in a long time it might get a little scary for them. So we won't do that, matt will try and keep it together.

I did get to visit a local bar last night. Well, kinda local, it's almost 2 miles away which is a little far to be walking to a bar in my opinion. It was a pretty ok place but there were a couple of things that kinda of made me say "Probabaly not for a while". One was that there was a live country band playing. Seriously, a week after I leave Texas I gotta get the 5 guys with guitars and Banjos playing live in Berkeley. The second thing was that when I went to get my second beer (same kind of beer of course) it was 25¢ more expensive than the first one I had. Inflation can be a bitch but I wasn't gonna stick around to see if the third was gonna keep up with the trends or not. You do get free popcorn though and they have darts and pool tables, thats pretty coo. So not a horrible experience it's just really a bit too far to walk unfortunately.

a letter to Netflix

2008-02-05T23:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Netflix and USPS,

why are you both trying to screw me? Seriously.
I've been a member of Netflix for 4 years now and not once have my movies been stalled like they are now. I send a movie in, the next one ships that same day. That's how it's been ever since day one. What happens when I get here? For some odd reason it takes 2 days after you receive my movie to even ship the next one. How does that make sense? And you, USPS, i can only imagine it's your fault that a movie that shipped last thursday is till not here (tuesday).
I blame you both for not entertaining me at night. What the hell else am I supposed to do?

m

P.S:Please netflix gods and the gods of my lonely nights, please do not let this continue. I can only watch free content on nbc.com and other major rival networks websites for so long. Oh and one more thing, please get a third party licensed DRM player for Mac so that I can at least watch netflix movies online in the comfort of my closoom. Thanks.

babies

2008-02-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

I miss you Kenzo.

gloomy

2008-02-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

So it's been raining for a week straight since I got here. It's getting on my nerves a little bit cause it's just not very fun to walk around and do the things i need to do, like grocery shopping. I might have to brave it today anyway and get a little wet for food sakes, I don't have much left. We'll see if I get off my lazy ass or not.
I did manage to order a desk today from Ikea (it's this desk with the white table top). I would have rather gone to the store but again seeing as I have no car some things become a bit more difficult to do. I think it'll work fine though, I also got this chair to go along with it. My little room might start to actually be livable in a couple of weeks.
And I will have to say thank you to netflix for helping me out in my lonesome times.

a beginning and an end

2008-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Things went well today, the interview went well. I'm going to be going back on monday or tuesday for a follow up. It's a great opportunity and I really couldn't ask for more.
But be warned, there's always a down for an up or an up for a down. Just the way things work.

I almost forgot, a security woman at the denver airport told me I had nice socks when I walked through the checkpoint area. That was nice.

least and best

2008-01-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

So my new place isn't perfect but one of my least favorite things about it is that I don't have a closet. That really wouldn't bother me too too much but I have these two huge suitcase and nowhere to put them. That sucks.
But my favorite thing so far is the heater in the bathroom. It's one of those old school ones with the coils that get red and heats the bathroom up in like a min, it's brilliant.

So since I got here my food intake has been less than adequate. I have eaten a home made sandwich for every meal except for lunch yesterday when I had that tasty french restaurant experience, it's called La Note and I had a very good salad, and on Monday night I have a Lean Cuisine Pizza which by the way is pretty much just bread and not very good. So tomorrow I'm gonna go grocery shopping, after my interview that is. I would go today but its raining out and just not a very pretty day to be walking around. So I'm staying in tonight, maybe watching me a little movie and working on some work.
Oh, and i'm still waiting on my sheets, i hope they come in tomorrow.

3 1/2

2008-01-30T21:48:00.000-08:00

It's been four days now. Well, three and a half if you want to be specific.
I've been sleeping in a sleeping bag for that time on a mattress with no sheets. It gets cold as fuck in here at night. My room doesn't have any furniture so I use my one empty suitcase as a night table and the other as my dresser to store my tee-shirts and unmentionables. My computer is sitting on my new printer's empty box that I bought yesterday. I carried an all-in-one (why does that have dashes? doesn't "all in one" mean the same thing? Anyway) printer/scanner/copier from downtown San Francisco to my house in North Berkeley. I have no hangers to hang my clothes on but I guess I don't have a closet to hang them in anyway. My room probably isn't much bigger than two of the mattresses that i'm now cross legged on breaking my back working on the computer.
While those things do kinda suck, it doesn't really matter. I've managed to go to SF twice already, walked amongst the people and the streets which I love. The BART took me to SF which well, let's face it, is a subway. I love subways. And i've managed to visit downtown Berkeley twice where I ran across what must be the only two goth people of Berkeley both days. I saw the same two people two days in a row, what are the odds? I've also already found a good french restaurant, several dry cleaners, a gentle cuts that for $12 is totally worth the price(yes i've gotten my hair cut "professionally" for the first time in over a decade), the 510 skate shop, the nearest grocery store, the local theatre, copy central, walgreens, radioshack, the local hang out for skateboarders (which i will be not be joining as I cannot and never could do a 180 manual on a ledge), and the Berkeley downtown police station if I'm ever chased by nasty fellows.
I like this town. I'm actually really glad that I moved to the East Bay area. Sure I could be in San Francisco in the thick of all but I feel like I can still do that, just on my time, not all the time.
So in the meantime i'll keep complaining about my back because i have to sit cross legged on my mattress with my computer on a box. I'll keep wishing I had more space and for the love a closet to store my shit in and maybe not a little shorter walk to the train station. But in the end all of that doesn't matter. I'm having a great time here so far. I have nothing to complain about, well, maybe except for the fact that I wish my friends were here.