electrical socket repair

had a couple of sockets in the house that needed repairing badly, as you'll see below. they wouldn't hold a plug tightly and had evidence of definitely an electrical hazard. i shut off the power from the main box, tested the sockets for a negative current reading, then pulled the pieces of crap out of the wall.

the 1st socket was in extremely bad condition, having completely disintegrated into fragments and pieces on the back side.


the 2nd socket was only marginally better, having burned and cracked on the bottom outlet.


i then reattached the wires to a new socket.


and wraped black electrical tape around the assembly to ensure a tight seal and minimize risk of electrical shock.


and voila! a new socket with face plate. looks nice and new. amazing how old and crudy it is behind the shiny face.


i found out, apparently, electrical sockets usually need to be replaced after several years due to short circuiting, wear and tear, and other reasons. here's a good video tutorial i found on the web for those of you who are frightened at the prospect of repairing an electrical socket.

happy 2008!

happy 2008 everyone! yes, it's 12:30 am on new year's day and i'm sitting in front of my computer. i'm sick with a cold and a nose that won't stop running, and christien is on my bed at the tail end of a bout with food poisoning.

needless to say, we didn't head out to enjoy the nite's festivities and instead had chinese take-out for dinner (salt & pepper pork chops, chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and yang chow fried rice) and enjoyed the radio countdown provided by 99.7. hope you were able to celebrate with something more tasty and festive! have a great new year's day!!

politically correct?

while slurping a vanilla malt with christien on a summeresque day at johnny rockets in the marina, i noticed this huge, framed poster above our table.

politically correct? at first glance, yes. you've got an all-american baseball team, the tigers, about to share a chocolate shake. the kids are all smiles and good-looking. caucasian, asian, african-american, and hispanic are all represented. they're sharing in the good times. but take another look...

all kids' ethnic features have been toned down to an all-american look. if you painted their hair over with blonde they'd all look white. the female, although tom boyish, is portrayed with distinctly feminine hair and features. and what the heck is with the white dominant male pouring the shake to be rationed down to his minority friends?!

ok, i'm not really that pro-affirmative action or political, but this poster paints an oxymoron. blame it on my art history background. other than that, i found it hilarious.

unexpected...

altoids.

they come in may shapes, sizes...

and flavors.


how do you protect and carry your digital camera?

haight ashbury

an eclectic blur of...

food... vegetarian fat slice $2.75...

art... graffiti over what used to be the gap store...

and people... yes virginia, candy kid ravers do still exist...


i need to visit the haight more often.

nude cyclists

this past sunday, 6/10, around 11:45 am, riding down market st from the ferry building.

what the heck?? the only thing i could think of was gay pride month.

contrary to what some may believe, this was not a pretty sight.

wax job

what is it about the summer sun and long days that motivates one to attempt the usually impossible on a work nite?

i decided to wash my car. easy enough. 1 hour. but the sun was still out by the time i finished and i decided to wax my car too.

what was i thinking?

i finished everything by 1030pm. she is purty now though... hopefully the daly city fog holds off long enough for me to enioy a joy ride on a twisty road this weekend.

the wonderful weather has allowed the one plant outside my front door to blossom. a rare sight in foggy city.

anyway, at least i worked off that ginormous triple chocolate mini bundt cake from specialty's bakery i had after lunch today.

chocolate cake. chocolate filling. chocolate glaze. with sprinkles. it was damn good.

big red balloon in dolores park

dolores park reminds me of a miniture central park. probably due to 2 associations: 1) it's in the center of the city; 2) people convene en masse in the park on gorgeous days, sunbathing, bday partying, and lounging amongst a thousand dogs sniffing the grass and each other.

winds were whipping the the palm trees like mad on an otherwise beautiful, sunny day in the bay.

a young darth vader was also in attendance, running amok with his helmet at his hip.

danna and i sunbathed. and dozed.

until these people showed up with a giant red balloon.

it was ginormous! the group brought it over to the playground and a minute later a mob of boisterous little kids were chasing the balloon through the park, hitting it up into the blue sky this way and that.

until one little girl popped it with a pinata stick from a birthday party nearby to a collective and acutely audible "awwwww" from literally everyone in the park.

balloons. guess we're all kids at heart at any age.

and mirrors are fun.

cafe lo cubano

cafe lo cubano is a comfortable cafe at the corner of california and laurel streets in laurel heights.

it serves cuban coffee drinks and cuban cafe fare in an ethno-centric environment that utilizes varying woods, wicker, cuban photographs, paintings and decor with a pale yellow wall paint that wouldn't work anywhere else.

the ceiling has a great angled build that plays off of light and shadow and cleverly conceals vents and spot lights.

cozy spot. free wifi. and the iced chai latte is strong, if not overly sweet. in the background you'll see cafe cubano's signature red mug. apparently the dulce de leche is the thing to get, but i'm not much a coffee drinker.

i think i'll find myself here more often. it's a nice neighborhood too. more on that later.

inaugural post

i've been wanting to blog about things other than food and restaurants for a while. my old xanga allowed me to do this, but i've "graduated" from that.

so i present dimension.verve. just a fancy way of saying, here's my take on life, seen through and experienced through my camera. music. photography. night life. random shit. and thanks goes to cameron and tawny for inspiring the name.

and now, how i frame verve. or how i dimension life. or whatever. enjoy.