Well… I have purchased a URL to make a blog/webpage. Point your browser or RSS feed reader (for the two people int he world that may subscribe to this feed) to Pressure to Bear…

I like the opportunity to change my WordPress template and such, but it is likely to just be a place to spend $3.99 a month to write nothing…

C’est la Vie…

Rather difficult to blog most of the time. It takes away from the active search for content… I want to Calistoga a couple weeks ago and walked around. I saw some cemeteries and took some pics… rather exciting

Hitting the random button on my media player this eve’, I landed on Bill Hicks’ album Dark Poet. I saw the title of a set portion, “the comedy of hate.” I was reminded of how often my sense of humor could be exactly defined as such.

Hicks had the ability to mock something in a devastating manner only by using the truth…

The comedy of hate isn’t hate; it is telling the truth and being unfiltered in a world that has lost the appreciation of honesty. I am a very “P.C” person; I believe that every person is worth exactly the same. Unfortunately, this worth is nothing. All of us are forsaken by our cherished beliefs and deities and left to this world to deal alone and naked and vulnerable. Society tells us even more lies about the “American Dream” and the ability of all people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

People are all equal. We are all born and, those who are lucky enough, live to make our own decisions. Society fucks us all. We are casualties (or survivors) of class.

This post has taken a right turn, but I will hit on my point: The comedy of hate is not about hate; it is about love for all people and hope, even in the face of reality. Pointing out the truth may allow others the perception of the constructs that work against them; to turn the tide.

Categories: Bill Hicks, comedy, truth,

My dog, Sadie, is now whole again. Her leg is healed, she has been spayed, and she no longer has to wear her Elizabethean collar. I must say that it is much easier to deal with a dog when it isn’t bouncing into shit and wearing a doggy diaper…

She is a rather nice dog (or Wog, as my wife and I have begun calling her species). I can’t imagine what sort of person would throw the dog out on the freeway and not feed her.

One of my co-workers (A world champion of pinball BTW) knew my love of video games and presented me this lovely Nintendo dress shirt.

She had received it at the Game Developers Conference and decided to give it to me. Rather nice I must say. She said she traded a pen branded for the company she works for in exchange for this swag.

My boss from Seattle defined SWAG as “stuff we all get,” because everybody is giving this shit away at trade shows. People don’t really realize the coercive subliminal power of a bouncy light-up LED ball branded with the company’s name… priming its name in your subconscious until it just becomes the proper thing to buy…

Categories: freebies, nintendo, swag

I am moving for the eleventh time in twelve years. This is especially surprising seeing that I lived in two of these places for three years each.

I can remember a short year back blogging from the floor. Fortunately, this year I will only have four days without internet service at home.

I am not looking forward to finishing moving tomorrow. Fortunately, I have hired movers and will be hiring a maid service to clean my apartment.

Categories: moving, lameness, pain

I rather enjoy checking my feed stats to see what people use to find this blog… Yesterday someone was searching for “up Skirting pictures.” Imagine their disappointment when they found my blog instead of pictures of girls’ nether regions.

I assume that this individual had to go about 30 pages into search results in order to find this page.

It is rather interesting the search results that I am able to find for this subject. For example (via Google Images):

I am guessing this is more in-line with the searcher’s expectations. Then again… perhaps this person was looking for this provocatively titled posting on Flickr describing a “Close up of skirting:“

Man, that makes me hot!

Categories: skirting, pictures, search

I must admit, BART never has held much allure to me.

Coming from Seattle, I enjoyed the idea of rapid transit (or transit of any reliable sort). There was always the possibility of the future Monorail in the Emerald City, until that plan was derailed, twice. Unfortunately, Seattle had far too much area to cover and not enough focus, money or real estate to create a viable option for a large group of people.

Moving to the Bay, I was excited about the prospect of a fast people-moving system that was already in place (as well as not traveling on the same congested freeway that I would be stuck on in a car). Unfortunately, I do not live near a BART station, so it is just not convenient. I could drive to a station in Oakland, park, worry about my car being stolen and spend about the same amount of money to ride as to park. This doesn’t even take into account that taking BART (I have to be mindful of not adding an article to BART lest I be seen as a Bay Area noob) takes longer than driving to downtown San Fran on any normal day.

I have decided that what would work to lure me to ride on BART, even with the inconvenience and likelihood of car theft at Fruitvale, would be the possibility, no matter how slight, of being rescued by a super hero…

I have noticed that in numerous summer super-hero action-fests, elevated trains and subways are often highjacked by villains and the people inside are saved. Just look at Spiderman 2 or Batman Begins. I think that a commute would be made far more interesting if the train conductor were to be knocked unconscious as a plot to destroy a superhero. I am sure that in reality I would be screaming and crying, but it would make that time fly past as I fly past the stops I didn’t want to go to anyways.
How much more interesting would it be to know that if your train was hurtling out of control that you just may be saved by a superhero? Instead, you have the possibility that the BART train that you are taking deep below the Bay is the one that will be flooded as the tube is torn asunder by an earthquake. I for one would prefer to know that my train may be saved by a man (or woman) in tights instead of the pedestrian fate of drowning or being crushed.

This would also make for a great excuse for tardiness… Imagine telling you boss that your reason for being late was that your train tracks were destroyed by laser-bearing super-criminals and you were rescued from falling into a precipice by a flying green man, not that you slept-in (again).

Categories: superheroism, subways, real-life, rapid-transit, boredom, BART

This weekend, I went to the lovely Monterey Peninsula to relax and celebrate my fourth wedding anniversary. With the increased distance from home, I had the opportunity to check out some local brewpubs in the area. The first of which I visited was Peter B’s in “historic” downtown Monterey. This brewpub was attached to the Monterey Convention Center and was spacious and inviting inside. They had a nice oak bar with a brass rail and the inside was decorated with models of sailing ships and historical photographs and miscellania.

I sat down for an excellent lunch consisting of pizza and beer. I ordered a 5 beer sampler for $5; an excellent deal.

I realize that I should have used the close-up macro on the camera in order to obtain a nice picture… I will remember to do this in the future. All of the beers were rather tasty. I especially enjoyed the IPA, which had a crisp, citrusy quality and a nice dry hop flavor.

They were out of their 7-grain Stout, and instead, they had the New Belgium Black Ale on tap. I immediately ordered another pint of this brew. It was full-flavored and unapologetic in its robust thickness. It was delicious. I must hunt down a place that has this on tap in the future…

The service at this location was second-to-none. The waitress/bartender gave us an overview of the brews and gave exceptional service with personality. The owner of the pub was congenial and personally spoke to my wife and me and comped our parking for the whole day at the parking garage. The waitress showed us where to get on a free shuttle so that we could enjoy an additional beer before going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Good beer, nice people, great service and food as well as inexpensive beer prices make this brewpub a must for any trip to the Peninsula.

Beer Advocate Page

BeerMapping Map

Categories: brewpubs, beertourism, monterey, beer

As I am constantly pursuing the freshest, finest and most fascinating local craft brews, I figure that I should post reviews and pictures so that I can remember where I have gone and what I have drank. Also, since I am running out of brewpubs in the Bay Area, this will allow me to sample brewpubs again in order to obtain a couple of pictures and new memories.