Chris Ullrich @ micro dot blog

Well, I wouldn’t call Encinitas a “hood” exactly. It’s a combo beach town suburb where some people have lots of money and others don’t. However, it is neighbor to more exclusive areas like Solana Beach and Del Mar which have many more rich people and fancy cars. In High School, we used to hang with girls that lived in Solana Beach and Del Mar. Their houses were bigger and their parents were gone most of the time (out earning the dough for the houses and cars) so we pretty much had the run of the place. Although sometimes, the maid or cook would make us a sandwich or something so that was nice.

Anyway, the trip has been interesting so far. Many things are the same and many things are different. Bars have different names and some dive restaurants have a new coat of paint and still have good food (or bad). Raul’s shack is still there, looking better, and still has the best rolled tacos and quesadilla around. And their guacamole is first rate also. A must go to if you are ever in the area. Also great is Filibirto’s (which used to be called Alberto’s but changed as Filibirto got bigger in the family. Brothers you see). They have great guacamole also and carne asada as well. All good.

Also saw an old friend and we got along very well. I have to admit I was a little pissed off at him for a few past issues but I decided that life is too short to hold a grudge so we went out, had dinner and a few beers and all is well. Plus, he has great kids so he must have some good qualities I guess. Maybe they all come from his wife?

I also heard that Ronald Reagan died today. Even if you don’t agree with his politics (which I don’t) you gotta give “The Great Communicator” props. He made politics interesting to me as a child of the 80’s. Hey, at one point I was a registered Republican so there you go. CNN.com has all the scoop. Rest in piece Gipper.

More to follow but now I gotta go find something to eat. It’s already almost 3PM and no lunch yet. Although, I could probably afford to go without lunch once in awhile. Yeah, I’ll start that diet tomorrow.

Later.

My parents are going to visit the place where they want to be buried. I have to admit I find that a little strange. I don’t think about death that much. More than I used too but still, not that much. For them to be so able to deal with it and to go and work out the details about where they are going to go when they die amazes me.

For me, they are two of the bravest and most thoughtful people I know. Not only do they have the courage to deal with the details but they are especially concerned about ever being a “burden” to me and mine after they are gone. Are these people great or what?

To have put up with all my shit as I was growing up and still want to make things easier for me now is something I probably won’t understand until I have kids of my own. Until then, I will just consider myself one of the luckiest people around. Thanks for being cool Mom and Dad.

Now, on to the other part of this. As my parents have left town I will be going down to their place for the weekend to water the plants, check on the place, etc. It has been some time since I have been back to Encinitas (a.k.a the flower and surf capitol of the world. trust me, it says that on the sign) and I don’t know quite what to expect.

Every time I go back the place seems to have gotten bigger and, much to my dismay, more like LA. Too many people, too many giant SUV’s and Mercedes drivers with their heads up their ass. Too many people on cell phones. All the things that make LA a less than pleasant experience sometimes. However, the house is very close to the beach which is a plus. I used to go to the beach all the time but now it takes too much time on the 405 so I almost never go.

I may end up seeing a few old friends and having a cocktail or two (i know, big surprise) so that could be cool. Whatever happens I will take some pix and be posting the gory details right here. Maybe I will drink to much beer and get in a bar fight! Or get stopped by the cops and have to walk home. See, in those days the cops were pretty cool. We got pulled over one night and the cop knew we had had a few. Does he give us a ticket or arrest us? Impound the car? Beat us with his baton? Nope.

He makes us park the car at a nearby 7-11 and walk home. That’s it. They don’t call them the good old days for nothing I guess. Oh well, maybe you can’t go home again but you can visit for a few days.

Later.

Here are a few interesting items from the news today.

For those of you who have less than nice things to say about Microsoft:

Jeff Reifman, a columnist for Seattle Weekly, has written a great editorial analysis here.

He talks about Microsoft’s past and current missed opportunities, contrasted with its financial success, while covering in fair depth some of the most serious threats to their business model. Great insight from someone who has been on the inside.

And, from CNN.com today:

CIA Director George Tenet has resigned, citing personal reasons, President Bush said today. Tenet’s resignation takes effect in mid-July, after which Deputy Director John McLaughlin will become the agency’s acting chief, Bush told reporters at the White House. Bush said Tenet had done “a superb job for the American people.”

Mmmm, yeah. Except for that whole anti-terrorism thing. Well, the President has a soft spot for former CIA directors so I can understand. After all, he does call one daddy. Maybe George Tenet will run for President some day. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on that one.

Lastly, for the pro-Apple computer crowd (of which I am a card-carrying member):

Toshiba announced that it will offer a 60GB version of its 1.8-inch hard drive in the coming months and that Apple has already placed its order. Cindy Lee, deputy manager of Toshiba’s hard disk drive division, said the drive will enter mass production during July or August. All three iPod models (15GB, 20GB, and 40GB) use Toshiba drives, while the iPod mini uses a 4GB 1-inch drive from Hitachi. Lee noted that Toshiba is currently shipping 350,000 of the 1.8-inch drives per month to Apple.

60 Gig iPods? What’s the world coming to? My first computer didn’t even have a hard drive in it. One of my first Apple Computers only had a 128 MB Hard Drive and I thought I would never fill that up. Now, my G5 has 500 GB of storage in it and I am running out of space. Odd.

Later.

I just finished watching Scarface (the Tony Montana version) and I just have to say that it is really one of the most fun experiences you can have. It especially helps to have had a few beers before watching. I think it adds to the experience.

Who can forget classic lines like “Let me introduce yo to my little friend” as he blows the door off with his grenade launcher. Great fun! Rumors were that the pile of cocaine on the desk was real and that the cast and crew had a good old time making the movie. I don’t know if that part is true but it sure seems like they were having fun.

With the state of Hollywood movies today, maybe they should go back to taking drugs. They sure seemed to make quite a few good movies in the Seventies and Eighties. Lots of bad ones too, for sure, but quite a few good ones. Although, some people believe that Hollywood hasn’t made a good movie since 1950 but what do they know?

It would be nice to see the fun come back to movies a little. Sadly, I think it is far too driven by profit and loss now to be any fun for anyone. Sometimes a fun movie manages to get through. And sometimes a good movie manages to get through. Mostly it just seems like things are driven by marketing flacks who are just frustrated directors or something. I don’t know. Many of my friends are frustrated directors so perhaps my opinion is a little off.

At least I can still enjoy Scarface now and again. Or some others like Fantastic Voyage, Star Wars, The Godfather, Touch of Evil, The Third Man, Raiders of the Lost Ark and so many more that were not only good but really fun to watch.

So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Later.

Some tidbits from recent tech and other news:

Brighthand reports that Sony will no longer develop and sell Clie handheld models to the United States market. Most certainly that means no more Clies for Europe, too.

That’s ok, I never really liked PDA’s anyway. Even though I have at least three of them in various stages of life. What I really want is a combo cell phone, pda, wireless, bluetooth device that will allow me to make a ffing phone call from my own house. Are you listening ATT Wireless? Get your shit together. I will also be holding my breath for Apple Computer to make the hardware. The iPhone, as it has been called. That would be cool.

From CNN comes an article that makes painstakingly obvious to the public what we already knew: 802.11 security is horrible. The article points out that nearly 40% of wireless network APs haven’t even been changed from defaults and as many as 80% of home APs have encryption disabled. The article goes on to say that ‘[t]o make matters worse, users who don’t secure their networks are often the very people who don’t keep their computers up to date with the latest security patches and antivirus software.’ It also accuses WiFi manufacturers of disabling security measures by default to make wireless easy to the lowest common denominator. My favorite quote? ‘Experts say that while Wi-Fi hardware makers have made initial setup easy, the enabling of security is anything but. Meanwhile, average users are no longer tech savvy.’ Which is to say that they at one point were?

Every day I open the laptop and find an open wireless network. And I don’t even live in San Francisco. I really do appreciate the cup of free broadband though. Thanks.

And becuase I take exception to the way Mr. Bush works:

From CNN.com – A federal judge Tuesday declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional, saying the measure infringes on a woman’s right to choose.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton’s ruling came in one of three lawsuits challenging the legislation President Bush signed last year.

“The act poses an undue burden on a woman’s right to choose an abortion,” she wrote.

I like Phyllis. Maybe she should run for President.

And last, but not least, the Chris Rock quote of the day:

“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn’t want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named ‘Bush’, ‘Dick’, and ‘Colon’. Need I say more?”

Mmmmm makes you think.

Later