Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is great. Here's the cast list:

Peter Coyote .... Narrator
Andrew Fastow .... Himself
Ken Lay .... Himself
Jeff Skilling .... Himself

What more do you need to know? If you're from California or were in California during the rolling blackouts in the early part of this decade, you're going to want to see this movie. It's truly jaw dropping.

I saw it at the Parkway Theater in Oakland which has a restaurant downstairs and couches in the theater. So I lounged back with a pint of Newcastle and soaked it all in.

Posted by andrew at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry about the lack of updates. My hard drive crashed, hard to believe with my sweet Compaq notebook, I know, but it happened. Details to follow.

Posted by andrew at 01:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

On Father's Day, I was walking down the beach sidewalk in Alameda with my sister and her newborn, Mateo. People coming the other way, walking, jogging, cycling, were wishing me a happy father's day. Isn't it what people assume about a man and a woman walking down the street together?

Posted by andrew at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally finished Tom Friedman's , which I had been reading for a few weeks now in fits and starts. I have mixed feelings about Tom Friedman's work. Sometimes I find his NYT columns to be oversimplified, condescending and often downright wrong. Sometimes I find them interesting, compelling, and informative. Such it is with The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

On the whole, I'd say the book is not great. Friedman is too caught up in presenting what he thinks of as his clever metaphors (equating institutions of democracy with operating systems) and name-dropping (I was in Bangalore the other day having lunch with X). Even the name of the book itself is one of Friedman's annoyingly cute (so he thinks) metaphors.

However, if you read the book for the anecdotal evidence of the issues surrounding globalization and ignore all the garbage that surrounds it, Lexus is well worth your time.

Because of the recent passage of the Bankruptcy Bill which makes it harder for Americans to declare bankruptcy and start over with a clean slate as in the past, I found this section in which Friedman posits an a geo-political architect fashioning an ideal financial landscape interesting:

He would have designed a country with a system of bankruptcy laws and courts that actually encourages people who fail in a business venture so declare bankruptcy and then try again, perhaps fail again, declare bankruptcy again, and then try again, before succeeding and starting the next Amazon.com - without having to carry the stigma of their initial bankruptcies for the rest of their lives.

In Silicon Valley, says renowned venture capitalist John Doerr, "it is O.K. to fail and in fact it might even be important that you failed before on someone else's money." In Silicon Valley, bankruptcy is viewed as a necessary and inevitable cost of innovation, and this attitude encourages people to take chances. If you can't fail, you won't start. Harry Saal, who founded one of the most successful software diagnostic systems in Silicon Valley, after being involved in several start-up ventures that went belly-up, once told me over coffee in Palo Alto: "The view here is that you are always better and wiser for having failed. Which is why when people here fail after having tried something, they often have an easier time raising money the next time around. People say, 'Oh. he went bankrupt on that first venture? I bet he learned something from that, so I'll bankroll him again.'"

In Europe, bankruptcy carries a lifelong stigma. Whatever you do, do not declare bankruptcy in Germany: you, your children and your children's children will all carry a lasting mark of Cain in the eyes of German society. If you must declare bankruptcy in Germany, you are better off leaving the country. (And you'll be welcomed with open arms in Palo Alto.)

I couldn't agree with Friedman more here. And while I want people who are reckless with their debt to be held accountable, I also want people to be able to take financial risks without fear of living in poverty for the rest of their natural lives. Our liberal bankruptcy laws are probably the number one reason why America leads the world in innovation. That we have given people the chance to try and fail is why so many have tried and succeeded. I really believe that the new bankruptcy law is going to thwart some of our entrepreneurial spirit and stifle innovation.

Later, towards the end of the book when Freidman is talking about the need for transparency in all financial institutions and preventing financial meltdowns like Long-Term Capital Management and the S&L crisis, he makes this comment:

There is no greater restraint on human behavior than having other people watching exactly what you're up to.

I understand where he's coming from, if you only think of restraint in the context of large institutions and government. But I found this thought to be profoundly disturbing, in light of both the secrecy of the present administration and the provisions of the USA Patriot that allow the FBI to find out exactly what you and I are up to by sneaking peaks at library records, amongst other things.

In the world that Friedman describes which is increasingly interconnected, where more and detailed information is maintained on the habits of citizens, but more and more companies with no little or no accountability, it is incumbent on a successful society to maintain the privacy of its citizens, and for citizens to protect their own privacy, though this is harder and harder to do.

Posted by andrew at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm almost embarrassed by this, but I've just gone through a period for the first time in my life when I was paying for a gym membership and not using it. I used to laugh at people like that, and for a time, however brief, I was one of them, and it didn't feel good. But that's over now.

I have no idea what was going with me, but I think it might have had something to do with the ski season. I was away all weekend. I was usually tired on Monday and didn't want to workout. Friday was a no go because I hit the road to Tahoe. It was hard to get into the sort of groove I need to workout regularly. That could be it. It could be something else. I don't know.

Ski season is over and it's easier to have a regular schedule. So I started going to the little gym at my apartment complex just about every morning and swimming right afterward (I'm a horrible swimmer and limited to breast stroke with my bum rotator cuff, but it's something). I've been doing it for about three weeks now. It's so good to get up early and get the workout done in the morning. I feel great.

Posted by andrew at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Again I was assigned by Brightroom to shoot the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco. Last year it was beautiful sunny day in the city, but my assignment to shoot runners crossing the finish line, was a joke. This year, again it was a perfectly beautiful SF spring day, and again, more problems.

This year, I had a slightly different assignment. I shot the runners in the swim/bike transition along Marina again and then off to the Baker Beach Sand Steps to capture the agony of the competitors at the end of the grueling run. The first part was fine, went and all that, but the other photographer assigned to shoot the transition with was a no show.

Then I had to get to the Sand Steps, but my car was blocked in and there were no transportation of any kind. I had to hoof it. I'm not exactly sure how far it is, but it took me more than hour in the winding, uphill streets of the Presidio to get there. There's no reason I should ever have to do anything like that, but it's so typical of the poor planning that is always a problem at larger Brightroom events. Anyway, I got there before the first runner arrived, so I was annoyed but relieved.

After the swim off "The Rock", the Baker Beach Sand Steps are the seminal moment in the race when runners climb up about 400 feet from the beach to the road along a unforgiving steep and sandy incline. It's a grueling an agonizing ascent at the end of the very difficult race. Very few of the athletes, even the elite professionals, actually run. Most walk, shuffle or drag themselves up using the cords that line either side of the "steps".

The reaction from the runners was interesting. The top performers completely ignored me, as you would expect, but many in the field of amateurs offered a comment. Some would joke, saying are you sure your film is fast enough to capture this (never heard that one before). Some cursed me for being there. Others thanked me. Some stopped when they noticed me and turned back down the stairs so I could capture a shot of them faux running. Many just smiled through the pain and hammed for the camera.

The only problem came from a fat ass TV cameraman who was giving me shit for not getting out of the way while we was standing in the middle of the narrow path forcing runners to either side, some even apologizing for getting in his way. He left for a while to shoot the top, I guess, but when he came back he stood right in front of me. What a jackass.

When the last runner came through, I headed back through the Presidio, past the Golden Gate Bridge, through Crissy Field and along the Marina Green. It was much nicer walking back since I was done shooting and didn't have to sweat getting anywhere before runners showed, but still I shouldn't have had to walk. It shows a complete lack of planning and organization on the part of Brightroom and is really pathetic for a professional photography outfit.

When I was done, I was chatting with my old buddy Hasein, who was the lead on the shoot, and he told me, much to my surprise, that Brightroom had cut our rates by 10 bucks an hour. Supposedly the company sent out an email to all the photographers explaining the cut, but I never got it and since this was the first job I accepted this year, I was totally in the dark. I was not pleased. Last year they decided not to pay us for the time we are told to arrive and the start time of the race and now this. Sort of fucked up, especially when I find out after the end of the shoot.

I sent an email this morning to Brightroom expressing my concerns about planning that led to me having to walk all over the Presidio and not being informed of the rate cut and got an email back expressing no contrition whatsoever. I always wonder about these companies that pull shit like this and still expect any kind of loyalty or respect from their contractors. It's really nonsensical.

Now I have to make the decision if I ever want to work for them again. I don't need to. I don't need the money. I'm not going to make a career out of this kind of photography or any kind really. It's just fun to get out and shoot, but when I have to deal this shit, it sort of sucks the enjoyment out of the whole thing.

Anyway, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon will be shown on national TV between June 24 and July 31. Check you local listings for exact stations and times. Probably NBC. Probably on the weekend. If you see it, let me know what you think of the sand steps.

Posted by andrew at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

World Blood Donor Day is here. No excuses. I have an appointment in 16 minutes. Go find a donation center and give up a pint for the cause.

Why should you donate?

The need for blood is great--on any given day, approximately 34,000 units of Red Blood Cells are needed. Accident victims, people undergoing surgery, and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer, or other diseases, such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia, all utilize blood. More than 23 million units of blood components are transfused every year.

Typically, each donated unit of blood, referred to as Whole Blood, is separated into multiple components, such as Red Blood Cells, Plasma, and Platelets. Each component is generally transfused to a different individual, each with different needs

About 12.6 million units (including approximately 643,000 autologous donations) of Whole Blood are donated in the United States each year by approximately eight million volunteer blood donors. These units are transfused to about four million patients per year.

Posted by andrew at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's interesting that the Houston Chronicle, a newspaper that endorsed Bush in 2004, is now calling on his administration to fully explain "the source and content of the Downing Street Memo". Here's the whole story:

June 9, 2005, 7:52PM

MEMORANDUM OF INTENT

The Bush administration should explain why Americans should not be disturbed by a secret British memo on the runup to the Iraq War

Weeks after it dominated front pages in Europe, the so-called Downing Street Memo finally has bored its way into the U.S. press. The 2002 document describes comments by Britain's intelligence chief, Richard Dearlove, concerning talks with U.S. officials eight months before the invasion of Iraq. Identifying Dearlove as "C," the leaked memo summarizes his report: "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Intelligence agents' observations can be inaccurate. The head of the CIA at the time, George Tenet, erroneously thought the case for Iraqi WMD was a slam dunk. But the Downing Street memo accurately foresees the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the administration's attempts to link Saddam to al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction - links that were found after the invasion not to exist. The memo's observation that U.S. intelligence would be shaped to policy might be mistaken, but the administration did wind up using flawed analysis to justify its war policy to the American people.

An independent panel investigated the use of U.S. intelligence before the Iraq War. It concluded that President Bush and his administration did not manipulate the intelligence. The panel supported the administration's claim that it relied on faulty intelligence.

In a Tuesday press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush responded directly to the Downing Street Memo's content for the first time, saying, "there's nothing further than the truth." He added that his administration had worked hard to avoid sending troops to war. "Nobody," Bush said, "wants to commit military into combat. It's the last option."

Like Blair, Bush reasonably points out that Saddam would never have changed his spots and, left to his own devices, would have endangered his neighbors and U.S. interests. But that argument, absent WMD and terrorist ties, was not what moved Congress to authorize military action.

In the interest of the nation and the administration, the source and content of the Downing Street Memo need to be fully explained.

I doubt this will be the start of any watershed reporting from the cowed media, any Congressional investigations or any mea culpa from a president who's reportedly said that "as a leader, you can never admit to a mistake," but it's thought provoking. Read this is you want more background on the latest news.

Posted by andrew at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

World Blood Donor Day is just around the corner, and while you shouldn't need an excuse to donate blood, here's a built in for you.

Our blood banking system relies on volunteers like you to keep the supply of blood in this country plentiful and safe. In the past, the American Red Cross paid for donors and sought blood units from inmates which led to a tainted blood supply. So it's vitally important that people who can give blood, who have untainted blood, to give blood. That means you.

It's simple. It's takes very little time. It saves lives. And it will make you feel good about yourself.

To find out where to donate, go here. To find out if you're eligible go here

Why should you donate?

There is a multitude of reasons to donate, including the fact that nearly all of the nation's blood supply depends upon volunteers like you. Sixty percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, however, only five percent do. If all blood donors gave at least twice a year, it would greatly strengthen the nation's blood supply. There is no substitute for human blood.

Donating blood saves lives. It may not be your neighbor or co-worker or best friend who needs your blood today. But someone does. Every three seconds, someone needs blood in the United States. Your blood donation could save as many as three patients who need you to be a hero.

While blood donors are needed throughout the year, they are most needed during holidays and in the summer. It is during these times that the number of donations declines while the demand continues or even increases. While a given individual may be unable to donate, he or she may be able to recruit a suitable donor. Relatives and friends of a patient requiring a blood transfusion may wish to help their loved one. Donating blood to replenish the units that were needed is one of the best gifts one can give.

Posted by andrew at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Toilet Train Your Cat and Throw Your Litter Box Away!

Any cat - skinny, fat, young or old can be trained to use the toilet bowl!

The CitiKitty Toilet Training Kit teaches your cat to use the toilet through a series of gradual steps. In just a few weeks your cat can be using the toilet.

Sounds great, right? No more litter. That's a good thing. No more cat smells. That's a really good thing.

The problem is one of my cats (guess which one) has the toilet skills of an inbred, sun-stokred mongoloid. Who knows, might work for your cat though.

Posted by andrew at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few weeks back I become curious about who represented me and I went to the House website where you can type your zip code into a box and find out who your congressperson is. Since I only moved to Alameda after the election, I had no idea. I found out that it was Pete Stark, I went to his webpage and found out that he was holding a town hall meeting in San Leandro, about 10 miles south of where I live. I decided I wanted to go and check it out, more out of curiosity that anything.

I hadn't gone to see a politician speak in over a decade. The last time, in what turned out to be a complete waste, was way back in the 92 election when I went with some friends to Orange County to hear Ross Perot.

There were about 100 to 150 people in the small auditorium at the San Leandro library. Most were from the blue hair set. There were precious people my age or younger. Stark, who's a Democrat, has been in Congress for more than 30 years. Most of the audience reflected his concerns. There were a few Republicans, including one guy who brought up his issue with embryonic stem cell research and another who wanted to talk about immigrations. It was generally very cordial until old WWII vet who started a vocal fight with a few other attendees on the subject of troops in Iraq. The congressman is for a complete and immediate pullout.

Anyway, as we came in the auditorium, we were asked if wanted to ask a question and given numbers which the congressman called randomly. I hadn't wanted to about either the Downing Street Memo or about PBS, but others had asked these before my number came up. So when Mr. Stark called for number 19, I wasn't sure if I was going to get up and ask, but I did.

I thanked the congressman for being there and told that I just moved into his district. He asked me from where, and instinctively, I said from Samoa where I was in the Peace Corps. Everyone in the audience started clapping which was seriously embarrassing. I could have said Walnut Creek or Vail, CO, and each would have been true but would have suggested something about me that's inaccurate, but I digress.

In answering the questioner about PBS the congressman made some qualitative remarks equating PBS with Rush Limbaugh. He said something like on the one hand PBS does its thing and on the other hand Rush Limbaugh does his thing. I made a comment about how this was a spurious analogy. Then I turned to the Republican who questioned the morality of the embryonic stem cell research and I said it was great that he was here, it took some serious fortitude to come, but I believe he represented a widely misunderstood view that embryos are humans with arms and legs when in fact they are nothing more than microscopic undifferentiated cells that are going to be destroyed anyway. His response: "That's your opinion."

I was stunned by this response. I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was. Right now we have a huge problem in this country that is caused by blurring the lines between fact and opinion. When I can state a fact, i.e. that embryos are cells and don't have limbs and am told that's my opinion, what are the "facts" that this guy is basing his opinion on? Clearly his "facts" are wrong and therefore any opinion based on those facts is going to be deeply flawed. But I suppose religious dogma trumps reality every time.

So I asked Mr. Stark my question which was about a James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) bill HR 1528, entitled Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005. Keeping drugs away from children is a good thing, but there's a section of the bill that requires people who have knowledge of any drug related activity to report that information to the police within 24 hours. The penalty for not doing so would be a felony punishable by a minimum of two years. I asked what was being done about this. Curiously the congressman hadn't read the bill, hadn't even heard of it. He asked me to email him about it and I have.

My question was towards the end, and the meeting ended, people started dispersing. As I was leaving people started to come up to me either to engage me in their political activism, which I have no interest in, or to talk about the Peace Corps, which is always interesting.

A couple of things were notable about this experience. The first is that there was no security of any kind. As I came in the door, all I was asked was if I wanted to ask a question. They didn't ask for ID. They didn't ask for party affiliation. They didn't ask whom I voted for. They didn't even check my bags. This is how a democracy is supposed to function and the fact that it even comes to my attention is a problem. The second is that Pete Stark took unsolicited, unscreened questions from everyone and anyone. People asked about all sorts of things from issues I mentioned about to base closures, the Patriot Act, Social Security, and everything in between. It was very refreshing.

The whole meeting was in stark contradistinction from the "town hall meetings" that George Bush is holding around the country to drum up support for his Social Security reform plans where the crowds are hand picked and the questions are preselected while Americans taxpayers pick up the whole tab for the entire charade.

I doubt I'll become a regular at these events, as some of those people clearly were, but it was enlightening and it feels good to be part of the political process.

Posted by andrew at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I went home for lunch today (no sign of any urinating transients), but when I stopped at the mailbox I was buzzed by three low flying mallards, 2 horny males in pursuit of a female. The males were fighting each other and trying to mount the squawking female at the same time.

Posted by andrew at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning, before I went to the gym, I made a quick stop by the garbage to throw out the refuse from the litter box. I walked down the stairs and turned the corner and I could see someone standing in the area where are the dumpsters are. I knew what was going on immediately. A fucking bum was relieving himself on my apartment building. C'mon, dude.

The guy saw me and tried to hide, but I was carrying a sack of cat shit that needed to tossed and I wasn't about to turn around. I press forward, and I see this with his dick in his hand standing in front of a puddle of urine, and looking seriously embarrassed. This is happening in Alameda. Fucking Alameda.

Now Alameda is not the lily white suburb of San Francisco that it was in the days when the Naval Air Base was operating at the tip of the island, but it's a far, far way from the city where, if you don't come to expect this sort of behavior, you at least tolerate it to some extent. My apartment bills itself as a "luxury apartment home" and the houses across the street have yachts and sailboats moored out back. So the last thing I expect to see is some transients pissing on my building in broad daylight.

Posted by andrew at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amazing as it seems it's getting the point in my life that I've known the friends I made in college for 15 years. Although I don't see them as often as I would like, it's so nice to get together with people, like Anita here, whom I have known for years, have a long shared history with and feel so comfortable around.

(n.b. Anita was not too thrilled to be photographed and she'll probably be even less thrilled about seeing herself on the web, but I couldn't resist. Sorry, amiga)

Posted by andrew at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The resident felines in the Abandoned Planet Bookstore on Valencia in the Mission District of San Francisco. I've been coming to this bookstore for years. The cats have always been there.

Posted by andrew at 09:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm sitting here in a computer classroom in the city (SF) in the middle of the second day of my training for Adobe InDesign. I really have no idea what I'm doing here. My boss sent me to this class, but I have no real need for a page layout application for anything I do for work. It would have come in handy for the designing the Belly Dancer of the Year program, but it's not really necessary. I am learning a few global Abobe shortcuts that I missed out on because I'm self taught, and that's pretty cool, but the rest of this is mostly a waste of time.

But it is nice to have a change of pace and be in the city, such a huge change from Emeryville. There's so much going on here, so many people walking around, so many places to eat, things to see, distractions, whatever. It makes me think seriously about picking up and moving to SF once and for all. I've lived all around it, Burlingame, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Alameda, but now it might be time to move inside it.

Posted by andrew at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I finally put the from the Pageant finals online. You can find them . Personally, I think, because there are so many shots, over 800, it's best to view the . Just click on the slideshow link, set the interval to 1 second and watch the show. It's almost like you were there, or would be if I didn't have to delete so many shots because they were blury or out of focus, but like I explained before, the photography conditions were rough for a novice like me. I'm happy any of them came out to be honest.

The finals were really good. Lots of very talented dancers. The results were somewhat surprising, at least to my amateur eye. I really thought , a tall, elegant, stunningly blond dancer from Seattle was going to take the title, but she finished second to a local dancer from Oakland named , a tiny bundle of frenetic whirling dervish energy. The judges are valuing a whole set of criteria based of their collective years of experience that I can hardly begin to comprehend ranging from music, costuming, finger cymbals and choreogaphy. It's much more complicated than you think.

Anyway, the Pageant was good fun despite the problems with the program. I really enjoyed taking these shots and am reasonably happy with the results from my first time shooting anything indoors. I hope you like the photos. Please let me know what you think.
I would have put all the images up earlier, but I had run out of bandwidth on my Flickr account. I can harly believe it myself, but somehow I managed to put 2 gigs of images online in May. Mostly this was because I didn't want to resize any of them because I wanted Flickr to retain the metadata and also have to the largest resolution images on the web in case, I don't know, I ever needed them or my hard drive really crashed or whatever. It's a really tedious process, getting them all online, giving them all unique and relevant title and tagging them with keywords so I can search and sort them.

Flickr is really a great service, one of the few things worth paying for on the web. The only thing that I wish Flickr would enable in the next version is to have "subsets". Right now you can create sets to organize photos, which is great, but I have some sets that have a large number of photos, upwards of 1500 in one case, and it would be really nice to be able to subdivide the sets. It would keep everything nicely organized and make it easier for me and anyone else to view the photos. Flickr, are you listening?

That's it for harping on Flicker and that's definitely it for belly dancing for a while. Now back to regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by andrew at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)