Archive for May, 2009

Sub-Zero: Team Be-cause Celebration Dinner

By
Paul Brown
Published: 29 May 2009Posted in: Team BeCauseTags:

Here’s the email I sent out to the team’s Facebook group tonight:

Thank you all for attending tonight! We had a great time, and when the final numbers are tallied, we will have broken $90,000! I am so incredibly proud of all of you for all you hard work and dedication to training and fund raising this year. This entire team experience has been wonderful and humbling and immensely gratifying.

While I am the captain of the team, I couldn’t have done any of this without the amazing work and volunteer efforts of the rest of the steering committee: Wiley Wang, Joseph Pulice, and Scott Ciliberti. Each of them did so much to keep things focused and straight-forward, and without their efforts, we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were.

Also, thanks to all the team mates who volunteered at our fund raising events – you are all the real heart and soul of this team!

The only piece of bad news is that I have had to withdraw from participating on the ride this year.  Financial circumstances, due to the downturn in the economy, are forcing me to this unfortunate decision.  On the bright side, I did get the offer of a ride down to LA for the closing ceremonies, as well as a ride back on Sunday afterward, so at least I’ll be able to celebrate with the team.  I couldn’t believe how choked up I got tonight when I announced that I had to stay home this year; didn’t realize how heartsick I was feeling about it until I actually said it to the team.

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Crusty on the Outside, Squishy on the Inside: Terminator Salvation

By
Paul Brown
Published: 28 May 2009Posted in: Dating, Jason, Life in San Francisco, Movie ReviewTags:

I went and saw Terminator Salvation yesterday, and geez, what a three-day-old dog turd: crusty and dry on the outside, but still moist and gross on the inside. Jason and I both agreed that the movie was a waste of time, but it was nice sitting next to him in a dark theater.

I had two clients and squeezed going to the movie between them. This is my favorite work schedule.

Focus Groups You Might Be Interested In:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Bored, Friendly Cop

By
Paul Brown
Published: 27 May 2009Posted in: Civil Rights, PhotosTags:

Officer FeganThis was the police officer I stood before at the protest.  He’s a likeable enough guy, and look!  No wedding ring! LOL  I should have taken more pics of hot cops (and there were tons of them) but I was too busy leading chanting and flirting with Officer Fegan.

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Protesting the Protest

By
Paul Brown
Published: 27 May 2009Posted in: PoliticsTags:

As angry as I am, or was, about the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Proposition 8, which when you read the decision is really more of a victory for us than not, but the pre-planned protest response to it?  What a crock.

Marriage Equality USA planned on blocking an intersection as a symbolic protest, but they chose the intersection of Grove and Van Ness.  They had arranged the protest ahead of time with the City, so that they could re-route traffic.

This is the proper expression of anger?  I’m all for non-violent protest, but these protests should be much more like critical mass, where there’s a starting point but they don’t let the police know where they are going in advance.  A better intersection to block would have been Market and Van Ness.

Just because the city government is sympathetic to the cause is no reason to be as cooperative with them as these organizers are.  This strategy is completely and utterly empty, and no real expression of anger.

Harvey Milk died for you.  Fight Back Now!

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To Be of Use

By
Paul Brown
Published: 25 May 2009Posted in: PoetryTags:

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Marge Piercy

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National Memorial Day Celebration on PBS

By
Paul Brown
Published: 24 May 2009Posted in: Television, US NavyTags:

I was watching that TV show on PBS tonight, and the did a segment on an Iraq War veteran who had the left hemisphere of his brain blown off, leaving a giant wedge shape where the left half of his cranium should be.  To the credit of the medical professionals of the armed forces and Veterans Administration, this young man is still alive, although little more than a wheelchair bound man in a semi-vegetative state.

Two broadway actresses acted out a couple of monologues based upon writing or interviews with this soldier’s mother and sister, and then they went out into the audience and greeted the family, who was on-hand to see this spectacle.

Next up, a singer came on-stage and sang “Somewhere,” from West Side Story.  Periodically they’d flash the veteran up on-screen, where he was sitting in his chair, head cocked back, “looking” at the sky and mindlessly chewing something.

This all just seemed to be far too over the top.  There was a montage of limbless soldiers and marines receiving physical therapy, learning to walk with prosthetics, with family, etc.

I honor our veterans.  Heck, I am one myself.  But this show just seemed really exploitative.

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Ghost In The Lava Light

By
Paul Brown
Published: 19 May 2009Posted in: Business, Jason, Life in San Francisco, Movie, iPhoneTags:

I have a lava-light lightning bolt lamp on my computer desk, and I turn it on at night when I’m sitting here in my room.  It’s random blue glow is soothing and provides just enough light.

Did part one of  a trade with my acupuncturist yesterday – she’ll work on me next week.  After that, I went and saw the new Star Trek movie with Jason.  It’s a new imagining of their origins, and it works.  I love Zachary Quinto (Sylar from “Heroes”) as Spock, and the rest of the cast is very good, too.  Lots of spicy action and lurid danger to keep things moving along and great visuals and sound to immerse one in the experience.  Recommended.

After that, I had my evening client, and came home to have supper.   Does anyone else have one of these?  It’s a fifteen foot long electrical cord with a pass-through plug on one end and a switch on the other.  It’s essentially a remote control switch for a lamp or other electrical applicance.  I had forgotten I had one until I was looking at my bookshelf last night and saw it.  Suddenly, I can control one of my floor lamps in my bedroom while I’m 8 feet off the ground in bed.  Hooray for reading in bed again!

This morning I headed down to the Apple store on Stockton at Ellis downtown to have them look at my phone.  The volume rocker switch came off and I wanted to see how much it would cost to repair.  Turns out that my one-year warranty is still in effect and they just gave me a new phone on the spot.  While I was sitting there, the iPhone Genius noticed that the rubber on one of my earbuds is coming detached, and he said, “while you’re here, let me exchange those for you, too.”  So it’s suddenly like having a brand new phone again!  That’s the kind of customer service experience I like!

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Here Comes The Rain Again

By
Paul Brown
Published: 17 May 2009Posted in: Books, Business, Life in San Francisco, RelaxationTags:

It was time for a haircut, so I got out the clippers and buzzed my hair down, then off to work. On the bus ride downtown, I was trying to remember if I had left the blinds open on my south-facing windows, which would have been quite unmoist. Fortunately, I had kept them closed when I left on Friday morning, so the room was still fairly cool. I got the cross breeze going, table dressed and plants watered, then sat down to wait for my first client.

He was 10 minutes late, but we had a very good session. I had 30 minutes before my next client, so I got the room ready again, did some stretching, and continued my re-reading of “The Educated Heart” by Nina McIntosh, a book on ethics for bodyworkers. I think it’s important to remind oneself of how to maintain professionalism and the therapeutic relationship from time to time.

Second client arrived and we got to work. Two hours later, he was wrung out like a limp dishrag, and I was hungry, so I walked over to Little Delhi at Eddy and Mason for some prawn biryani and vegetable korma and a sweet lassi.

Hopped on the bus and came home, then got on the sofa and continued my umpteenth read through of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Book Twelve (“The Gathering Storm”) is slated to come out in the fourth quarter of the year, and as is my habit, I do a complete re-read in anticipation. I have been a reader of this series since the late 1980s when the first book came out. Robert Jordan died in 2007, and his wife selected Brandon Sanderson to finish the series. The work proved to be huge, so they split it off into three volumes, to come out in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Even Jordan before his death thought that Tor would have to invent a new method for binding this last volume. The running joke over the life of the series has been that he’d be able to finish the series with “three more books.” I’m glad that that joke is proving to be true.

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Such a Strange Night

By
Paul Brown
Published: 15 May 2009Posted in: Life in San Francisco, Starbucks, TwitterTags:

Two two-hour sessions yesterday, and after the second one, I sat down to read the newest issue of Massage & Bodywork magazine and think about the idea of a masters degree in somatics. No such thing currently exists, but the idea is gaining currency.

One of my clients is working on his PhD in clinical psychology, and wants to do work with people with PTSD. That started me thinking about how bodywork might help people who have that condition, too.

Well, sometime around 21:00, I decided to take a little nap. Bad idea, as I woke up at 03:00. Eek! No public transit to get home – at least without a goodly amount of walking, which did not appeal in the cool night. So, I sauntered around the corner to the St. Francis where Jason was working the night shift. Sat in the lobby and did some tweeting, but that got boring, and he wasn’t getting off until 06:00, so I walked down Powell to Market, stopping at starbucks to get some mocha and a veggie and egg wrap – that thing was disgusting (spinach, tomato, feta cheese and scrambled egg wrapped in flatbread – you’d think it would be good, but it sucked).

I sat at the bus stop, and 25 minutes later, the 21-Hayes arrived and I boarded to come home, where I sit writing this. On the way home from the bus stop, I saw two vehicles which had been burgled.

I think more sleep is in order.

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Stuff To Do

By
Paul Brown
Published: 14 May 2009Posted in: Jason, Life in San FranciscoTags:

Yesterday I got a text from Jason saying he was going to Target, and did I want to go with him. Sure, I replied, and showered and dressed. He picked me up and off we schlepped to Serramonte and Junipero Serra Boulevards in Daly City to the Target Greatland there. We wandered the aisles, picking up the things on his shopping list, and I found this cute little metal business card holder which I have turned into my new wallet. Hooray!

After Target, we went to the Fresh Choice across the parking lot to have lunch. A big salad, some soup – they have a new Pho section to make one’s own noodle soup, a slice of pizza and some soft serve ice cream, and we were sated.

Our conversation flowed quite naturally, but eventually, he had to go back home and take his afternoon sleep for his overnight shift, and I wanted to do some work here at home, too, so he dropped me back off and we parted company.

Meanwhile, here are some upcoming Focus Group studies for the San Francisco Bay Area in which ones might be interested:

~SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS~
THURSDAY, MAY 14th, 2 HOUR FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION IN THE EVEVNING
Requirements: Homeowners who recently purchased a solar energy system
Incentive: $100.00

If you are interested in the SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS study, please click on the link below and fill out the survey:

http://tinyurl.com/cwwfbl

~CONSUMER ELECTRONICS~
TUESDAY, MAY 19th – MAY 20th, 2 HOUR FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION DURING THE AFTERNOON OR EVENING
Requirements: Males and females ages 30-54
Incentive: $85.00-$100.00
If you are interested in the Consumer Electronics study, please click on the link below and fill out the survey:

http://tinyurl.com/o59vbg

~HOMES~
TUESDAY, MAY 19th – THURSDAY, MAY 28TH, 1 HOUR INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW IN MOUNTAIN VIEW
Requirements: Males and females at least 18 years old who have purchased a home recently, will be purchasing a new home soon or refinancing their current home soon
Incentive: $75.00

If you are interested in the HOMES study, please click on the link below and fill out the survey:

http://tinyurl.com/oav6tc

~TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS~
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10th, 1 HOUR FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION DURING THE MORNING, AFTERNOON OR EVENING
Requirements: Males and females at least 18 years old
Incentive: $65.00

If you are interested in the TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS study, please click on the link below and fill out the survey:

http://tinyurl.com/rblyjy

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