April 19, 2003

Learning Access, Reading about Los Angeles

I'm feeling much better now. I gave my cold to poor Tina, however, and now she's feeling pretty bad. We had to cancel our big spring BBQ tomorrow. Oh, well, we can reschedule for May.

I have not been away from the computer screen all week. I'm learning Access for the Pacific Brewer's Cup; I'll be the head data guy for it. It's a well put-together program; one of the SBC members loaned me a book, and I'm working my way through it. Databases have come a long way since File Maker at the Bay Tree Bookstore.

I've been reading Writing Los Angeles in my spare time; it's a great book, but did they have to include so many pieces from snotty easterners writing about a city they obviously hated? I get enough of that from my college buddies.

One of the articles I enjoyed the most was about Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, the car customizer from the 50's and 60's. A peek into an era of Los Angeles I was completely unfamiliar with, although I did have a brief brush with it once, when we lived in Costa Mesa and a Classic Car Rally took place a block from our apartment. Tina and I went to look at all the mobiles, and I think I saw one or two Roth-inspired behemoths there. (For all I know, I was looking at a Roth-original.)

Great Easter dinner at Mom & Dad's tonight! Happy Easter, or Oestra, or Spring Equinox, or what have you, to everyone!

Posted by Brian at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2003

101.2 °F

bleh.

Posted by Brian at 10:49 PM | Comments (2)

April 01, 2003

Poems in the Workplace

Today was a very good day at work; the department decided to celebrate National Poetry Month by posting our favorite poems all over the joint. I chose "In Search of Cinderella" by Shel Silverstein, "Address to a Haggis" by Robert Burns and "The Conqueror Worm" by Edgar Allen Poe. I would've put up Silverstein's "The Great Smoke-Off, aka The Ballad of Pearly Sweetcake," but that's not really work-safe.

Other people chose "Instructions" by Neil Gaiman, "MCMXIV" by Philip Larkin, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, and several others. One person even posted their own!

I like working with people that know it's National Poetry Month.

Posted by Brian at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)