my life, as far as i know.

part of working for a biology related company is taking part in conversations about life. today at lunch the question came up, what prevents [humans] from living forever?

what we gathered was that the human body’s cells replace themselves every few years. cells can only replicate so many times. you multiply the two together and you get the theoretical lifespan of humans.

the other thing to think about is, every time a cell divides mistakes are made. the copy is not 100% correct. accumulating mistakes is why older people are more susceptible to illness than younger people. it’s why individual lifespan varies so much.

the only ways to prolong life are: reduce the mistakes made in replication, increase the number of times cells can replicate themselves, and reduce the frequency at which cells replace themselves (regenerate). these are the three important variables.

someone suggested that reducing caloric intake would reduce metabolism and tweak the system enough to extend life.

this is an honest to goodness people photo that i took. it’s the closest image i have to a photo of someone i don’t completely know.

it would be both irony and triumph if i was able to do a series of photographs of people in their quiet and alone places. the places they like to be alone in, when they want time away from the world at large. if only..

i’ve been reading diane arbus revelations. it’s affirmed my thought that full frame photos are the most truthful and real.

tom, dad, me. the front steps of the house in peru, indiana.

today we received the final statement and payment from our previous landlord.

from april 14, 2005 through august 10th, living in san francisco has been a wild ride. our landlord threw us for a loop when he decided to sell the property we were renting, 3 months into an 18 month lease. very long story very short, we agreed to move out if he compensated us for our troubles.

as of today, the transaction is complete.

as many people know, i run a server that hosts accounts, email, web pages, etc.

i used to have a user whose address was doug@ and he stopped using the server when he became famous from a documentary movie.

from time to time i watch the server logs and always see attempts to email random email addresses, all are “doug” and three or four random letters… like dougvtr, dougwgg, dougibf,.. you get the idea.

it turns out that there are more than 10,000 attempts a day to send email to these random doug addresses. i thought to check if they’re all coming from a set of mail servers. no such luck. today alone the attempts came from 630 unique hosts.

thankfully, it’s not generating too much load on my machine, as the smtp connections are rejected. but how do you stop so much wasted time/energy/bandwidth?

many people dont know how much crap there is out on the internet. my servers are constantly scanned, spammed, and exploit probed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

before and after.

tonight we made pan-fried potstickers, and beef ala shabu-shabu with soba. served with bishonen sake. yum yum yum!!!

on wednesday we’re making our curry katsu for scott and andy. can’t wait!

today i did a good deed. recently i saw a posting on craigslist for cheap 4×5 film holders. i found two folks on apug.org who were interested. turns out the seller was 5 blocks from me. i walked down and puchased them all. today when i got home from work i shipped them out via UPS. i didn’t ask for shipping charges. if they wanted, i asked them to instead donate the shipping amount to apug.org. helping out feels good.

on sunday, i went on a great drive with boman. when i go for a drive, i run into the most random things. this time we saw wild turkeys that live in a woods. we saw a small russian colony on the coast. we talked to wine maker at a family owned and run winery. we stopped to take a picture of a sign at camp gulala where a feminist camp was taking place.

had breakfast at boman’s. fried potato, eggs, and bacon. i helped trim the rosemary bush and plant some cuttings. boman packaged up some rosemary sprigs in a bag titled with a purple ribbon.

i was a little late for my haircut. bethany recognized me and we had a great time chatting while she cu my hair. i’ve deferred its styling to her, she does good stuff. i was glad to give her the compliments i’ve received. she thanked me for the fresh rosemary, she plans on using it tomorrow for dinner.

next i wondered over to true sake. i picked up a bottle of bishonen, one of my favourite sakes. i also picked up some dreamy clouds, this marvelous unfiltered sake. the woman behind the counter asked me what i eat with sake. i told her about the wonderful ton katsu. when i mentioned our deep fryer, another shop employee asked me what do you have a fryer for? are you a chef? i told him about our french fries — the real reason we got it. he said everything sounded so good and he wanted to come over, and he’d bring the sake!

nocturne in e-flat opus 9 #2 is just what the doctor ordered.

tonight i tried a little curry improv. i looked up a recipe and made some changes.

beef something curry

1. prep the beef: cube, roll in flour (flour, dash of cayenne, nutmeg, ground coves)
2. prep the veggies: slice/chop onion, green and red bell pepper, 6 cloves of garlic
3. prep the potatoes: skin, quarter, and parboil two potatoes. once they’ve cooled down, slice them into smaller pieces and toss in a caulinder

4. cook the onion in oil until it turns clear
5. add 2 tbsp curry powder, garlic, bay leaf, two cans of coconut milk (be sure to shake the cans before you open them)
6. add the beef and bring to a boil
7. add the peppers and potato and reduce heat.
8. simmer for an hour

served over steamed rice.

it turned out pretty well. made enough for two dinners.

this morning i felt at home in potrero hill — i found the local coffee shop on my side of the hill, cup of blues. it’s open early enough to stop by before i catch the train.

welcome to 672 pennsylvania. tonight i had some time to take some photos of the new place.

i’ve posted more pictures with descriptions …

i’ve not been blogging about personal stuff for a while, but this one i wanted to write.

a week ago today, i discovered that my dad has cancer. i have friends and coworkers who have had cancer and lived through it. but his is different. his parents both died from cancer. we waited until the information was confirmed, then my brother and i both called our mom to give her the news.

i haven’t cried in such a long time.

my dad started his treatment yesterday, the first phase will last two weeks. i know it will change him — he is already changed in many ways — and i’m afraid. afraid how the next several months will be. unfortunately, the cancer is already pretty advanced. ever time my phone rings, i dread answering it. i’m not really sure what to think or how to feel. i’m trying to support my family as best I can.

my brother and his wife are flying here in four weeks. i’m looking forward to seeing them, despite the circumstances. i’m helping out with logistics where i can. i think they’ll be staying somewhere in san jose.

now that i’m settled in my new place, i want to go through my old photographs and negatives and dig up the good ones.

although i have no photographs to remember him by, i remember clearly visiting my grandfather (my dad’s father) in fort lauderdale. he had been sick, gone through a tracheotomy, but kept himself in good spirits. i remember he had a cleft chin, he told me and my brother that when he drank, it might leak out. every time he took a sip of water, we’d rush to put a finger on his dimple.. you know, to make sure the water didn’t leak out! we would laugh and have such a good time on chin-patrol. i remember visiting cape canaveral and how the car windows fogged up from the humid heat outside. that was the last time i saw my grandfather.

anyways, i’m hoping for the best, obviously. i too have so much unfinished business in this world. i am planning on a trip for next spring. i hope to update here again.

this is the first cancer related website i’ve visited so far:
Radiation Therapy for Cancer: Questions and Answers

been spending time on the new place. the visit count so far: boman (3), ted and emery (1). it’s tough putting a household back together. it takes a long time to regain stasis.

been working on my blog and the new movable type (which is fabulous!).

been hanging around IRC, where everybody is either cramming their opinions down my throat or perpetuating the banal irc banter.

been thinking about my dad, my family, and myself.

so now i’m a resident of the portero hill neighborhood in san francisco.

we hired movers to pack and move everything. despite some schedule changes, they sent an extra worker and completed the pack, load, move, and unload in less than seven hours. nothing got lost, nothing got broken.

i now live in the lower level of a two level victorian. the lower level is twelve steps down from the street level. it stays surprisingly cool throughout the day thanks to the breeze. the lease is for a year, then month-to-month after.

we went back to the old place to pick up the vacuum cleaner and leave the keys. the new owner of the loft was already there with a half dozen friends, a couch and table, and chairs. he still has grand ideas about his new party pad, which will certainly get stifled by the home owners’ association. we feel sorry for our old neighbors. he wasn’t even supposed to be there yet. we had already moved our schedule ahead a day. it was upsetting to experience his attitude.

in any case, we are hopefully set for the next year. we can soon get back to game-playing, wine-drinking, and print-making.