Author: Steven

I like reading manga; I like coding; I like watching sports; I like sleeping; I like blogging.
05/15/08

SF: Prop B – Changing Qualifications for Retiree Health and Pension Benefits and Establishing a Retiree Health Care Trust Fund

Shall the City increase the years of service required for new City employees and certain employees of the School District, the Superior Court and the Community College District to qualify for employer-funded retiree health benefits, establish a separate Retiree Health Care Trust Fund to fund retiree health care costs, and increase retirement benefits and retirement cost-of-living adjustments for certain City employees?

I am confused as to why this measure needs to be voted on in an election.
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05/14/08

SF: Prop A – School Parcel Tax

The June 3 elections are almost upon us. Time to read up on the various propositions on the ballot before doing the deed.

Starting off with Proposition A:

To enhance quality educational programs for children; attract and retain quality teachers and staff by increasing salaries; provide teachers with additional compensation for extra work at hard-to-staff schools and in hard-to-fill subject areas; and increase teacher training, resources and classroom support, technology, innovation, and accountability, shall the San Francisco Unified School District be authorized to levy $198 per parcel annually, adjusted for inflation, with mandatory citizen oversight?

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05/12/08

Buzzing Made Me Batty

I turned off the bathroom fan tonight and an annoying buzzing began. The fan is relatively new, having been installed less than a year ago. I removed the bulbs to take a peak inside; there was an inch of dust all over the surface. After using a hand-held vacuum to suck out all the dust, I screwed on the bulbs and flipped the switch. No more buzzing! Awesome!

I washed my hands and flipped off the light. Took one step out of the bathroom and the buzzing began again. What the hell! I thought to myself, “Maybe if I just leave it alone, it will magically fix itself.”

No such luck.
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04/21/08

SacTown’s Finest

On Saturday, I and a friend went up to El Dorado, near Sacramento, to visit a friend.

I had a lot of preconceptions of what Sacramento would be like beforehand. I expected cows and pigs to be grazing in the streets with politicians and lawyers running to-and-fro chasing constituents and ambulances. Shockingly, the area was nothing like how I imagined.

For one, the weather was actually quite nice. The last time I was up in Davis, the weather was hot and dry; I felt like a finely-baked potato after the trip. The weather in El Dorado was totally different. There was nary a cloud in the sky and it had a nice soft breeze. The temperature was around the same temperature I would have expected in San Francisco.
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04/14/08

Stop the Spam, Create your own CAPTCHA

From the official site, CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. If you drop the “to” and “and”, shouldn’t it read CAPTTTCHA instead?

CAPTCHAs are those images you see with a phrase in them. The user has to type in the phrase they see in the image and the script upon submission will compare the user phrase with the saved phrase. If the two match then the submission goes through; if not, the user is booted back to the form usually with an error message.

The reason for the use of CAPTCHA images is to tell computers and humans apart as the meaning says. Computers have a hard time determining the phrase because of the other lines criss-crossing over the letters, so scripts can’t be run on the comment form.
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04/12/08

NDS Game Review: Geometry Wars: Galaxies

Geometry Wars: Galaxies Box Cover Late last year, a coworker of mines was playing this crazy game on his computer where shapes of all different types were colliding on the screen. The few minutes I spent watching him play made me both confused and nauseous.

The nausea didn’t quelch my interest in the game, however. When a version came out for the Nintendo DS, I leaped at the chance and grabbed one for myself. I haven’t played the original so I don’t have any comparisons to make between the current and the one from before.
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04/11/08

Clam Chowder Heaven or Hell?

Yesterday, I had lunch at Boudins, a bakery/cafe on 2nd and Market which serves salad, sandwiches, and soups. I’ve only been to the place once before and had the clam chowder in a bread bowl. It tasted pretty good before so I didn’t hesitate to order it again.

I didn’t realize that moment would be the cause of my downfall.

The clam chowder tasted good again, the bread was chewy and the butter tasted like real butter.

However, not less than a few hours later I had to visit the potty. This trend continued for much of the day and late into the night. I had been fighting off the onset of a cold for much of the week and the lack of sleep did not help at all.

Being sick just plain sucks.

I may avoid Boudins in the future, even though it may not be their food. But, usually, once I have one bad experience, I avoid the place like the plague.

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