AC Capehart capehart

I have two really smart friends who are building MailRank. I don’t know more than they’ve posted online or made inferences from their name, but I think they are trying to make email distinguish between the stuff you do care about (mail from your spouse) and stuff that’s not spam, but you don’t care about (mail from the bike shop, mail from your mom). If it works (and, to be sure, I’ve got no idea how it possibly could), I’d love to get a “biff” style notification of “mail I do care about”!

<p> There&#8217;s something magic to camping. The quiet sounds of nature still louder than the faint hum of the distant city. The s&#8217;mores fire next to me radiating dwindling heat and light. The redwoods arcing overhead painting inky shadows against the sky lit with the glow of stars and the city both close and far. I&#8217;m glad to be sharing it with Sam who I hear tossing and turning in the tent, sleepless from the novelty.

I went for a bit of a meander-y bike ride today. For a good bit of it, I was on San Pablo Ave (see map below.) San Pablo Ave is 4 lanes of automotive traffic, and has occasional bike lanes. At one point I was honked at, presumably for not being “in my place” in the bike lane. I’m not sure I was flipped off, but I sure was startled so just in case, I [I went for a bit of a meander-y bike ride today.

I tweeted that I was going to drag myself outside today, and probably be glad I did. I did, and I was. I decided to go for a wander on my street bicycle. I’d not gotten more than a couple hundred yards when I had a little trouble shifting, so I immediately turned around to diagnose with tools at home. I eventually decided that the support for Sam’s sidecar was pinching the shifter cable.

I don’t really think of myself as an adrenaline junkie, but the way I’m beaming at the moment may be betraying me. I just got back from a mountain bike ride. It was amazing (or if you’re reading this from the UK, it was brilliant. Or if you’re reading this on teh inter webz, it was teh awesome)! The girls are away, there are trails nearby that I’ve only begun to explore, I had no plans for the day, and because it’s California, the weather was simply perfect.

<p> The three of us went to the Maker Faire ((Carolyn especially enjoyed the spelling of &#8220;Faire&#8221; as it&#8217;s the French infinitive of &#8220;to do&#8221; or &#8220;to make&#8221;! )) today. I was ambivalent about going originally as it seemed like it would be a bit of a hassle to get there. Originally, it was going to be only Sam and myself going, but as Carolyn helped us figure out how best to get there, she decided it looked interesting to her too, so we decided to all go.

There are people in my life who, when they keep re-appearing, cause me to ask myself why. I can only assume it’s because they have a lesson to teach me and I’ve not learned it yet. I have to assume it’s something about communication style with this individual. As Carolyn put it, “Some geeks are cute. Their social awkwardness leading to a shyness that can be endearing. Others are just off-putting.

This was sitting in my drafts for a long time. This is from the Berkeley Kite Festival a couple months back. Kite Ballet. Definitely impressively coordinated flying.

I was riding my motorcycle to work the other day when I saw a service van that I thought was pretty funny and made me think of one of those joke vans they use on the Simsons to indicate that it’s really a spy van trying not to be a spy van. Simpsons example: Flowers By Irene In this case, the van was emblazoned with a picture of a water heater and the company name “Just Water Heaters, Inc.

I guess this really has been a bay area weekend. Yesterday, we went down to Berkeley partly just to wander, partly to pick up a kid-sized table and chairs for Sam that Carolyn arranged to buy through BPN but partly to go to Half Price Books. We were seeking the third book in the Song of Fire and Ice series — A Storm of Swords. I gave up on the series after the first book — too much soap opera, too little fantasy, but it engulfed Carolyn like a raging storm (of swords?