Chris Tann's Walkabout Blog

12:59: We're baaaack
Jenny and I returned from a wonderful week's vacation yesterday. Lots of adventures were had, and we'll post a full write-up soon. We camped out in Betty (our 1990 F250 with a Northlands Camper) for a week, in 4 different National Forests and one National Park. Oddly enough, it was hotter in San Jose when we got back, than it had been in the middle of Death Valley!

The trip got off to an inauspicious start - while driving through the small town of Groveland on the Friday night, a woman backed her car straight across the road infront of us! This happened at 9:30pm, right outside the main pub, and so within minutes just about the entire town had turned out to watch the entertainment. No injuries, and while her car was pretty badly beaten up, Betty got off pretty lightly. I consider this a good thing - if we had to have a car accident, having one while driving slowly through town in a big truck with a bull bar on the front, is the way to do it!

Although Betty's winch mount and fog lights were pretty bady bent, the worst part was that the bumper was pushed back onto the tires. A bit of judicious bending using a "Hi lift" jack got us driving again, but the tires would still rub when turning sharply. A brief bit of work with two trees and a winch popped the bumper back into place again, and we were good to go on the rest of our adventure!

Stay tuned for more stories of our adventurous week....

16:45: Keeping the rubber side down
If I were Raffaele de Rosa, I would have this Motorbike mounted in pride of place over my mantlepiece. I suspect my underwear would be headed for the trash though...

19:25: SallyX - Extreme by name, Extreme by nature

So, as faithful readers will remember, in December Jenny and I were treated to the delivery of a new addition to the family. 



Being an out-of-state car (I purchased the car from Frontier Ford in Anacortes, Washington), it was a bit of a hassle getting through the California Smog and Licensing, but finally I got the number plates, and she was now road-ready. 



The next bit of drama was an announcement by Saleen Inc that they would no longer honour warranties. That was a bit of a concern, and till the man himself, Steve Saleen, stepped up and said that his new company (SMS Supercars) would honour all existing Saleen warranties. What a guy!

Now in the owner's manual, Saleen were very clear about the running-in period. Opinions differ on whether this is necessary or not, but with a high-performance, hand built 5.0l engine, I wasn't taking any chances. So, being the good boy I am, I kept the revs down to a reasonable range. Well, today was a big day!



So, a quick call to the lads at TPS Motorsports, and SallyX and I were off for our first run on the dyno. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared enough, so the video is a totally crappy one shot from my phone - it really doesn't do justice to the adrenalin pumping scream that SallyX lets out as she runs her way up to 6400RPM.



The results? 500HP (SAE), and 460ft-lbs of torque - right where I was hoping to be!





Not bad for a bone-stock car. Here are the gory details of what an S302E consists of, if you're interested:

10:57: American Idle
As a surprise for Jenny, I managed to pick up tickets for "Opening Night" of Spamalot, at the Golden Gate Theatre. I'm not sure it was officially opening night, but it was the first non-preview show, so that spells opening night to me!

Jenny and I are staying up in San Francisco at the Mark Hopkins International. That became our favorite hotel when we discovered the superb Sunday brunches they serve at the Top of the Mark (the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel). Yes, it looks fancy-schmancy, but me being an eagle-eyed bargain hunter, I managed to not only land us a great rate - but also get a deal where for every two nights we stay, they throw in a free one! We walked down Taylor street towards the Theatre (although it was still a surprise for Jenny as to where we were going), and decided to stop for dinner at the Grand Cafe in the Hotel Monaco. The place had a great Ambiance, delicious food, and fantastic decor (with many sculptures by an artist who's name escapes me right now!)

Jenny looked fantastic, dressed up in her green dress, with brunette hair. Yes, as a fun little change, she was wearing a really cute little brunette wig. For those who havan't seen me lately, I currently have black hair, and a long black beard and mustache, and was wearing a dinner jacket and Hawaiian shirt - so as usual, we made quite the pair! jenny's wig played quite a part in the adventures of the night, as you will see later!

After dinner, we wandered down to the Golden Gate Theatre for the show. Our seats were OK, in the orchestra level but quite far back, and the view and sound were both fine. The curtain came up on the first act, and of course, I started giggling in the first few seconds of the show, and pretty much didn't stop for the next hour! it was great fun, well put together, and so packed full of "in" Monty Python jokes.

Intermission came around, and Jenny and I headed to the bar to pick up our (pre-ordered) drinks. A slight mixup with the order got us a second beer for free. As we were trying to find a quiet spot to stand, I spotted a familiar looking profile just walking through the door into the lobby. At the same time, Jenny turned to me and said "There's a guy here that looks just like Eric Idle." Not so - there was a guy there that *was* Eric Idle. How exciting, I was standing three feet from the author of the show, and the Monty Python legend.

After we finished our drinks, I headed down to the bathroom. On my way back, I peeked in the door of the theatre, but couldn't see Jenny. Ah, but that was because I was looking for a blond, and she was currently a brunette! So, I wandered back to where we had been standing before, and who should I see standing at the merchandise stand, but the man himself. Now I have never been good with meeting famous people - I can't but help imaging what it must be like for them getting pestered by fans all the time, and I am usually a little shy. In actual fact not many people seemed to have noticed him, and I waited my chance, and walked up and shook his hand. I complimented him on the show, and then added "and thank you for all that you have done over the years". Yeah, pretty lame, but it was from the heart. I was all abuzz when I finally got back to my seat, and settled in for Act Three (Two, sir).

After the show, which culminated with a standing ovation, Eric Idle got up on stage to say a few words. It is the 40th anniversary of Monty Python, and I think he was quite touched by the reaction he got from the audience. The show really was great - in true Monty Python style, Eric Idle managed to poke fun at just about every aspect of Musical Theatre - while at the same time, paying homage to Musical Theatre's great entertainment value.

The evening culminated with Profiteroles and Lagavulin back at the Grand Hotel, and Jenny and I virtually floated back up the hill to the hotel. All in all, a superb night out in San Francisco!

14:13: Chris the Plumber...
Spring has sprung, and naturally a young mans mind turns to ... plumbing? Yes, I decided to play the plumber for the weekend. I'm not exactly "Joe the Plumber", but I actually quite enjoyed it, so i thought I would recount the tales...


A few months ago, I noticed that our water bills were going up - despite the fact that winter had arrived, and the sprinklers had been shut off for ages. Our water softener has (or rather, had) a feature called the "Water Mizer" - a little red light that lights up when there is water running. I checked that to see if anything was running - and found that the water softener itself was leaking! Luckily it was not actually leaking onto the ground, but the overflow was running out of the backwash pipe and into the drain. It did pretty good service for 11 years, so I figured we did OK. I disconnected it from the system - which should have been an easy job, but was actually quite tricky - a previous owner of the house had done some DIY plumbing in the garage (including the water softener hookup) - and they were not all that good at it. In fact, instead of water pipe, they used thin-wall electrical conduit! This was probably 25 years ago, so the water softener hookup was fragile to say the least. Not only that, but there had at one time been a sink installed in the garage, and there was now a rats-nest of pipes and drains. Anyway, I managed to disconnect the water softener without breaking anything, and left it at that, planning to come back and do the job properly at some point.

Now a week or so ago, i was taking a look at where I would install the new softener - and noticed that the ground was damp. Yep, things always seem to happen at once - turns out that the water heater had sprung a leak. It did us pretty good service too, considering its warranty expired in 1990 (making it at least 25 years old). It was a slow leak, but it had soaked the "pedestal" (water heaters in CA have to be raised off the floor when installed in a garage, to avoid petrol vapours), which was made of wood and sheetrock - when sheetrock gets wet, it basically starts to fall apart. So, in the spirit of "doing the job right", I pulled out the old heater, and pulled apart the pedestal. Uggg, it turns out that under the pedestal was a lovely place for a rats nest, that had then been soaked by the leaking water - not pleasant. I spent several hours breaking things down and cleaning up, ready for the "new install".

I did a lot of research on new water heaters - I like to upgrade to the latest technology where possible. But in this case, the alternative to a classic old water heater is a "tankless water heater" - but the more I read about them, the less I liked them. They may be slightly more economical (as they have no storage costs), but require a much higher gas draw (10x that of a standard water heater), which means that the old gas line would probably not be big enough, and the venting would also have to be upgraded. There is also a question of how much they can supply, and even the biggest will struggle if you want to shower while the washing machine is running. The solution is to install two or more in parallel, but that was all starting to get way too complicated - so it was off to home depot for a plain-old storage water heater.

In looks, the new heater is more or less *exactly* the same as the one it was replacing - same height, same width, same inlets, outlets and vents - not much has changed there in 25 years. I did choose a good one, a GE with a 12-year warranty, and an energy star rating wualifying me for a $30 rebate from PG&E (thats the gas and electric company), and, believe it or not, a tax-credit for next year! Well, I guess that should make me feel green, right?

I rebuilt the pedestal, with cement board this time (water proof), and added a "drip pan" under the water heater to catch any eventual leaks, and direct them to a drain. I even painted the pedestal and wall "sunburst yellow", which makes this little corner look quite cheery - although of course now the rest of the garage needs doing as well... the trickiest part was getting the new water heater into place - these things weigh in at around 150 pounds, and the pedestal is 20 inches high - plus a 3-inch lip on the drain pan. But I love a challenge like that, so with three long boards resting on some bricks in the pan, I slowly "walked" the water heater into place. The last little step of removing the bricks required a little brute force (and help from Jenny), but it all went prett smoothly.

Hookup was simply a matter of reconnecting the water lines, gas line, and vent. The tricky part was the "overflow" pipe - water heaters are fitted with a pressure release valve (which should be tested once a year - have you tested your pressure relief valve today?), which needs to be piped through hot water pipe (i.e. no PVC), and to a drain (or to the outside, as this one was). The previous installation was "dodgy" to say the least, built out of bits of galvanised pipe, and not at all following "code". Well, I hooked it up as is for the short term, knowing that I was coming back to attack the rest of the plumbing shortly.

So, next was the water softener. As I said, the plumbing for that was extremely dodgy, so finally I just pulled out the lot, including the afore mentioned "rats nest" of pipes and drains. Amazing, it opened up a huge space in the garage! The new water softener (also a GE, as it happens) has connections for 1" pipe. The water pipe coming up from the ground is also one inch, as is the pipe leading into the house for service. So, I carefully made all my plans for the new plumming route, and went and bought all of the 1" parts and pipes I would need. When I went to cut off the water mains though, I discovered that the actual pipe leading off the water meter is only a 3/4"! Ah well, 1" pipe won't hurt, but I definately could have got away with 3/4".

One thing I didn't like is that the new water softener is designed for a "fixed" connection - the old one had flexible pipes for the hookup, which makes things easier. With a rigid connection, you have to make your measurements carefully so that the connection is at just the right height and spacing - and from experience, that can sometimes prove tricky. But, luck was on my side, and after I finished all of the hookup, I was spot on in the right place. I plumbed everything in, waited the 2 hours for the pipes to cure, and with fingers crossed - turned on the mains. No leaks, hurrah! So, no we have nice soft water again (the water at our house is very hard, as it is all well water).

Next step on the plumbing front is installing a new water filter. Water softeners don't add all that much sodium, but we do drink a lot of water, and that means our sodium intake was probably 10-20% higher because of the softener. That doesn't worry me too much, we don't eat much processed food, and never add salt when cooking, so our sodium intake is still probably way less than the average person's. Still, water is pretty important stuff, so I am considering fitting a reverse osmosis filter for drinking water. Any one have one?

15:00: PetrolHead redux - The arrival of SallyX.
Introducing the latest member of the stable - SallyX, a 2008 Saleen S302E "Extreme" in Speedlab Yellow.



And for all of you who are concerned about the environmental impact of this 5.0l, 620HP beast - I have put less than 500 miles on her in three months, so not too bad for the environment.



Buying the car was kind of a tough process - because I am picky, and had to have a yellow Mustang, my choices were limited. In fact, you are looking at it - 1-of-1, the only factory yellow Mustang for 2008. I bought the car from Frontier Ford in Anacortes, Washington State - a great dealership, highly recommended. I had been virtual tyre-kicking for months, but had been waiting to see what the new GT500KR would be like. Luckily for me, the KR was delayed long enough for the bottom to fall out of the car market. In the end we decided against the KR, but Frontier Ford made me an offer I couldn't refuse on this Saleen.

The original plan had been to drive up to Washington in the '98 Saleen, drop that off for the trade, and drive back in SallyX. Unfortunately the Gods of Weather had a thing or two to say about that, and with many feet of snow piled up between here and Washington, we decided it was far more prudent to ship the car.

We were knocked out when she arrived - she is abslutely stunning! You can't see too well from the picture, but the entire roof is glass - the Saleen "Scenic-View" roof. We are still running through a few paperwork challenges though. First off there are many beaureaucratic hoops to jump through to import a car to California, and the "smog-referee" gave me the run around, insisting I provided reams of paperwork for the car. I got all that sorted, but still haven't got the official plates yet - with the California Government on a "go-slow" (they laid off many temporary workers, and now shut down 1 work day in 10), things are a little behind. Then, the car manufacturer decided that they would go bust, so I am was left without a warranty! The owner of Saleen Inc, Hancock Park Associates, seems to have done some serious behind-the-scenes maneuvering, so I am seeing what we can do to get them to provide at least something to existing warranty holders. At least I paid out for the extended warranty (these high-end cars only come with a 12-month warranty anyway), so will be covered in the event of any serious problems.

As SallyX is still "running in" (and I am sticking to it with this hand-crafted engine), I haven't had a chance to push her too much as yet - but even at 4000RPM, she rumbles along nicely. In order to make up for this running-in period (and for neatly going bankrupt and taking my warranty with it...), Saleen Inc gave me a gift-certificate to the Skip Barber High Performance Driving School. This is a *must* for any petrolhead - a day spent driving high-performance cars hard - skidding, drifting, autocross, track time - it was a heavenly day! No Fords in the line up, but I did get to drive a couple of BMWs, and Infinity IS3, a Porche Boxter and 911, a Mazda RX8, and a Lotus Elise. I think my favorite part was drifting the RX8 in the skid pan, followed closely by zooming around the cones in an autocross course in the Elise.

So, have you nourished your inner petrol-head today?

12:42: Chess club meets D&D
Like many of my fellow geeks, I was in Chess-Club when I was in high-school. I used to do pretty well, but never quite had the "killer instinct" necessary to really be a good player - that burning desire to win. Perhaps that was because I also pursued another geekly pastime - Dungeons and Dragons. And yes, I will admit that I still play D&D to this day, although my chess playing ability has fallen seriously into disuse.

But some creative people manage to mix their passion for chess with their passion for Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe it is best to stick to one or the other, and not try and combine the two...

13:29: Road-rash (but not mine).
It was a beautiful day on Sunday, and so I got the first chance to take my new car for a spin (more on the car itself later). I went for a wander, up Uvas Canyon Road, over Hecker Pass to Watsonville, and then along the backroads towards Corallitos. I was taking it easy, the car only has 100 miles on the clock, and is "running in", so I can't go over 4000rpm. The road was small, twisty, and mostly deserted. As I came around a corner, I saw a guy standing in the road, waving his arms. I immediately slowed down and put my hazard lights on, and took a look what was going on.

Biker down.

The rider was lying in the middle of the road, conscious but in a lot of pain - his Motorcycle was piled upside-down against a tree. I was third on the scene, and the paramesics had just been called. The guy was reasonably coherent, but didn't want to listen when we told him not to move. I tried to keep him from moving around too much - he even wanted to stand up, but it was obvious that wasn't a good idea. He was wearing good motorcycle gear, and already got his helmet off (the current wisdom is that you should never remove an accident victim's helmet - but the information doesn't tell you what to do when the victim insists on taking it off himself), so there wasn't too much I could do except keep him "calm and reassured". We put his bag under his head to support it, and just kept him talking until the paramedics arrived.

First on the scene was the fire brigade, and at that point we left them to it. A chopper arrived just minutes after the fire brigade, and pretty soon there were ambulances and police on the scene. They took quite a while to stabilise the guy, and then loaded him onto a stretcher, and off for a helicopter ride.

Yup, motorcycle riding is a dangerous business, but there was somthing that struck me about this. The guy had apparently been riding with a bunch of people. He was obviously last of the group - and not a single one noticed that he wasn't with them anymore. It is well known that being last, with a bunch of people that ride faster than you, is the most dangerous place to be - it is the place that suckers people into riding beyond their abilities... I'm not saying that is what happened in this case, but anyway - bad karma to his riding buddies for "leaving a man behind".

Last time I went for a group ride, it was with a bunch of people from work. A great day out, but we're all pretty careful riders. After we set off after lunch (at Alice's Restaurant) - we were passed by another bunch of sport-bikers. They zoomed past with little regard for us, and at one point, as one rider was passing the guy infront of me - another rider was passing him! Later on that day, we also went past a "biker down" - probaby not from the same group, but seeing the behaviour of some made it just that little bit harder to feel sympathy with the downed rider. There are  lot of good and safe riders out there, but there are also a lot of idiots - on 2 wheels, on 4 wheels, on 18-wheels, they are everywhere. Just make sure that you stay well out of their way, and don't let them put you in a position where you are in the danger zone!

Safe rides, drives, flys, and travels,

Chris.

22:31: My new car...
Here she is!



Hehehe, Merry Christmas!!!

10:52: The next big thing in elective surgery...
I just read a news report that blew my mind. Face transplants are here! Of course for the moment they are rare, and reserved for those that are desperately in need. But once the technical hurdles have been overcome, it can only be a matter of time before some less needy people are lining up for the procedure. Imagine a rich (yet ugly) person forking over a few hundred thousand to a poor (but beautiful) person, for a face-swap. Even face-theft is a possibility! And forget the anti-wrinkle cream, just throw on a whle new face when the old one gets a little saggy...

And imagine bumping into someone wearing the face of a deceased friend or relative. I suggest everyone takes a good look at their donor cards and makes sure the "face" box isn't ticked! Or not, maybe some people would like their faces walking around after they're gone...

15:01: Thanks for the beans...
Jenny and I received a mystery Christmas present yesterday - a "Women's Bean Project" Gourmet Basket. Unfortunately there was no card, and no name of the sender. I tried calling Overstock.com, but they couldn't help me. So, please own up, whoever sent us this wonderful gift!

The spirit of Christmas is not exactly running high in our building - it seems we are the only people with decorations up (at least, decorations that can be seen from outside). People seemed far more excited about Halloween! Still, Jenny and I are really looking forward to spending Christmas in the city... Our tree is looking lovely this year - it is a live tree that has been growing for about 4 years now, and has reached a height of about 7 feet. I just about killed myself lifting it in and out of Betty, and dragging it up the stairs in our appartment block! Its got a lot of character too - it looks like the Angel on top is about to take a great stage dive! :-> Purple lights running up and down the stairs, a string of Guiness lights, and a dancing Homer-Santa Claus - we're all ready for the big day!

Jenny and I are heading off for a road-trip to Washington next weekend - well, assuming the snow and freezing weather let up a bit. I can't give you any hints about why we would choose to drive a thousand miles towards Alaska at this time of year - because I am pretending that I don't know why! All I know (at least, all I am allowing myself to admit to knowing), is that somewhere north of Seattle, there is a Christmas present with my name on it...

23:12: My latest film project

Check out what Jenny and I have been working on: A short film called Twisted Lipstick. Come see what happens when Sarah Palin is thrust into the Twlight Zone...

Chris.

16:16: Where were you, during the GD2?
I know that the media loves scare-mongering, but the latest financial crisis does look quite serious. Its true that we take a lot about our way of life for granted, and denial is a fundamental element of the human condition. Never the less, I think there is a very real danger that we are headed for a crisis every bit as bad as the Great Depression. I'm not saying it *will* happen, just that it is a possibility.

Anyway, I've always thought that "living in interesting times" is more of a blessing than a curse, and that crisis is the same as opportunity (yes! Crisitunity!). What ever happens, its going to be a fun ride. Jenny and I have been drawing up a list of supplies we want to lay in just in case things go horribly wrong - just for fun mind you! I'm also considering pulling out of the stock market and investing in gold instead...

In other news - I have joined the ranks of the gainfully employed! Caustic made me an "offer I couldn't refuse", so I am once more a "permanent employee". That means that we will be in SF at least another six months (when our current lease is up), or maybe even longer.

Chris.

16:26: Forget the presidential election farce, vote for meeeeeee!

Please go take a look here, and vote for me! Well, vote for my car at least, the "Special Order Yellow" GT500, second match down...

12:02: Mail-bombed

Hi all, Sorry I was a bit slow at unscreening some comments, but I was the target of some serious mail-bombing. Well, actually, I was just collateral damage, which is somehow even more annoying.

Somewhere, a spammer decided that "christann.com" sounded like a good return address - and so they sent a gazillion spam emails, all with the reply-to field set to <random-stuff.@christann.com. That means that I was flooded with "bounce" emails, thousands and thousands per day! It wasn't too hard for me to fix, but it meant that a few of my christann.com emails (livejournal@christann.com) turned into black-holes for a while. It seems to have calmed down now, but still - darned annoying! The thing I don't get is, what the goal of the spammers is in the first place. None of the emails seemed to link back to anywhere real. I really think that it is just a couple of guys that do this for fun, and get a kick out of annoying people...

Anyway, looks like normal service is resumed, we apologise for the inconvenience!

12:10: Would you like undercoating with that?

She's here!!!!



Unfortunately my camera was having issues, but you can probably tell from the poster, she's a MINI. A Mellow Yellow Cooper-S to be exact. We'll post some new pictures shortly, but so far, she has proven to be a lot of fun.

Its been a long time since I've bought a new car, and some things have come a long way - while others have remained disappointingly the same. The car itself is fantastic, with an owners manual more complicated than many computers. She has bells, whistles, and even the bells have whistles on! With onboard computer, Navigation, IPod connection and cellphone Bluetooth, the gadget-nerd in me has been kept busy. Even the gearbox is quite fun, we got the "Steptronic" (this is primarily Jenny's car), which has a manual mode. OK, nothing like a real manual, but if you decide to, with a flick of a lever you have full control over the gears, with gear changes being performed by the little paddles on the steering wheel.

So, cars have changed a lot, but the tired old back-room sales techniques haven't. We wound up with a good deal - we ordered the car just before the dealer started charging a markup, and due to a small error on their part, there was a mistake in the leather that was ordered - so they threw in $400 in accessories for free. Good deal! Plus, we were paying cash, so why we were even taken into the back room is beyond me....

It was a busy day, so they took us over the road to the BMW dealer for the final purchase. And the whole point? To try and sell us undercoating. OK, its not called that any more, it is disguised as a whole palette of "waranty extensions", "protection programs", etc, and the price now runs to something like five thousand dollars! But what annoyed me the most is that they present you with all of this information at the last minute, make it sound like you would be crazy not to purchase this extra protection, and then give you two minutes to make a decision. I got pretty angry actually, I don't mind them trying to Supersize me at McDonalds (not that I actually ever go into McDonalds, mind you), but this is a BMW dealer, for crying out loud! So, I told the woman just what I thought about this sales technique, and she was very apologetic (but that won't, of course, stop them from trying that on the next person...).

So, a general request to everyone out there - just say "no" to high pressure sales. Always. Don't even do it if it looks like a good deal. If the person really wants to sell this stuff, you will always get another chance. If they need to use high-pressure technique to sell it, then you are probably getting ripped off. If we all say no, maybe the practice will stop. OK, I can dream, can't I? :->

Anyway, rant over, we drove off in our sparkling yellow MINI, and Jenny and I had huge grins all day! We still need to settle on a name and a personal plate for her, all suggestions welcome.

17:48: Cars cars cars

Yes, I admit it, I am obsessed with cars. I have found that this new "pedestrian life" in the City is making me miss all of my vehicles! Jenny passed her old Buick (her Grandfather's old Buick, to be exact), nicknamed Stirling, back to her sister, so for the moment the Saleen is our City-vehicle. Unfortunately she is more at home on the racetrack or the open road, and I rarely get the chance to drive like something out of Bullitt....

Here's your chance to help me out with some car-love - vote for my car, the third one down! (Note: that link will only be valid until 28-Jul-08).

Anyway, stay tuned for some exciting car news. Its been a long time since I bought a (one and only) new car, and so we finally decided it was time for another. No clues yet what sort she is, except that she is, of course, yellow. She landed on US soil last Friday, so we should be picking her up in a week or so. Exciting... Anyone car to guess what we bought?

Vrooooom!

Chris.

17:29: Rock'n'Roll

A few weeks ago, Jenny and I took part in a music Video for "The Fans of Jimmy Century". We love doing this sort of thing, and it was actualy Jenny's first time in front of the camera! It was great fun, a cool location, and we met some nice people, including Victor and Alicia. You can take a look at the final result here or here.

Did you see us? OK, we're a little hard to spot. You can scroll down to the photo below to see us in close-up...



.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

:->

14:24: Lifestyles of the moderately well off and mostly unknown...
I am a reasonably self-confidant guy (no sniggering please!), but part of that self-confidence comes from having a realistic evaluation of my own strengths and weaknesses. Well, "weakness" is really the wrong word there - too pejorative. I really mean areas that are not my "strong suits".

For example, at a swanky black-tie event, packed with dignitaries, models and socialites, I don't consider it a "weakness", but I am fully aware that I am about the last person in the room the press is going to run up to and photograph. As you may have guessed, I had a first-hand experience with this last weekend, at the San Francisco Ford's "Star-Studded Grand-Opening Gala". We are talking about free-flowing champagne (Veuve Cliquot) and Caviar, with a few Hollywood Celebs (Amy Smart for a start) thrown in for good measure. I consider myself able to move in just about any social circle, but even in the obligatory penguin suit, I think I still stand out (and I don't mean in a good way!)

One of the benefits of knowing your strengths and weaknesses, though, is that you can often play your hand a little differently, maximizing those strengths, and minimizing the weaknesses. When invited to a Ford event, where everyone in the room has some sort of link to cars, and to Ford, I am lucky enough to have an Ace that I can pull out. Sure, no press photographer is going to rush to snap a photo of me, but just about everyone in the place was lining up to snap a photo of my car!

So, rather than "Some Random Engineer from San Jose", I shortly became know as "That guy With the Really Cool Car". OK, that may sound really shallow, but then again, how deep do you expect a pond made up of dignitaries, models and socialites to be? ;^>


Now lets be clear on this - I don't own a yellow 1968 Shelby GT500KR so people will "think better of me", or to impress people. I own her because it gives me immense pleasure. Sure, a happy side effect is the fact that she gets a lot of attention, and I get the chance to bask a little bit in the reflected glory. When everyone is taking photos of the beautiful people, why not live vicariously through your car?

Anyway, it was a fun event, they raised a bunch of money for The Art of Elysium - a charity that Jenny and I are seriously considering getting involved in. I met and chatted with some interesting people, and took photos of the hired help (i.e. the leggy models) draped on my car. Keep an eye out for the Yellow Shelby in the Society pages - she may just be my ticket to fame! ;^>

ps: take a look here for some more photos of the event.

12:31: I read it on the internet, it must be true...
Funny what you come across while crawling the web.

As many of you know, I participated in the "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, in the early 90's (two years in a row, in fact). What you probably didn't know is that I was "gored by a Miura bull"! Not surprising that you didn't know that - I missed the fact myself!

You will notice in this article from San Fermin.com, that they quote more or less directly (I guess adjusted for translation) from the PGG (Project Galactic Guide) article I wrote many years ago. But then they start to take a few creative liberties with their quotes. I wrote:

"Ensure that you have good medical insurance, and it is probably wise to make sure that your will is up to date."

Which was then quoted as:

"get good medical insurance cover and that could be the best thing you ever do if you are going to take part in the running of the bulls."

Hmmm. OK, a few liberties taken, I can deal with that. But the story then wanders into a realm of pure fiction:

"Chris Tann was gored by a Miura bull inside the bull ring when he tripped over a pile of runners. He was treated in the small surgery within the bull ring itself. The bull ring itself had insurance coverage which covered all the expenses."

OK, I'll admit to the possibility that another Chris Tann has run with the Bulls in Pamplona, and the even smaller possibility that said Chris Tann was gored by a Miura Bull. But the possibility is *so* small, that I am going to need proof before I will believe it - especially after they misquoted me about the health insurance...

Still - any publicity is good publicity, right?

13:43: Boy did I miss out...

I had always assumed that my "day job" was in a boring and tame industry compared to the glamour and glitz of Stage and Film. I guess this guy proved me wrong! Boy, did I miss out when I worked at Broadcom! Not a hint of the "party favours" on offer, and I didn't even get to keep the huge pile of options they gave me (I did wonder at the time how they could throw me so many, I wonder how the current situation effects the employees with options...)

Next time I'm applying for a job, I'm holding out for a private underground party-lair! :->

15:16: Crazy days
Well, time has been absolutely flying by, and I have been very remiss with my communications of late! Its hard to believe that I am coming up on the fourth week in my new job already, and we're shortly about to embark on some more craziness, moving house.

So, life in the city has been a lot of fun so far. We found a nice little furnished apartment, with a great view, and settled in there pretty quickly. It is nice and comfortable, and well located, but it is a little small, and - well, I guess a little "corporate"? Thats not really the right description, but it definately feels like temporary accomodation.

So, shortly after moving in there (and the advantage, of course, was that we moved in with just a couple of suitcases), we started to look around at other accomodations. My first thought was that, in the property market, now would probably be a good time to buy. Interest rates were low, there were some great discounts being offered on top of that (I had an entire 1/4% discount lined up), and property prices are still dropping - when places sell at all.

Being slightly OCD, I of course analysed and planned and researched this all to the hilt, but the bottom line was, I came up with a number that gave us affordable payments (just!), and would allow us to find "something" in the right area. That area is known as "SOMA" (South of Market), and one of my requirements was that I should be able to walk to work. That put a pretty decent sized area within reach, and with a list of several dozen places, Jenny started visiting, analysing, and crossing places off our list.

As the fates always decree, no matter what budget you set yourself, you always wish for more. We pretty quickly decided that the "corporate-condo" places, like the one we are in now, didn't really suit us, and we also eliminated those that didn't have parking (a pity, because that could easily make a $100k difference in price!) What we were really leaning towards was the "loft" style, or at least, something in the converted-industrial style. After much deliberation, we narrowed our choices down to three. When I have time I will add links to those, but basically, none of them quite suited us - either too expensive, or not quite right (or in one case, perfectly priced, but stinking of urine!)

The problem with buying in this market is, because sales are few and far between, it is hard to make a good estimate. Many of the places we looked at were "valued" at the right price for us, but the asking price on those hadn't come down. The ones that were dropping in price, were usually the ones that didn't quite suit us. Sods law...

So, after a couple of exhausting weeks of that, we decided to put the purchase on hold, and find a rental place instead. That turned out to be a good decision, as we were suddenly spoiled for choice - the rental price budget we had allowed us to look at all the types of places that were just a bit too much for us to buy. We quickly had a short-list of 4 potential lofts, and managed to line them up to visit all of them in one day.

Now, Jenny is an easy-going girl, and I am the difficult one (who would have imagined it? :-> ), but I discovered an easy way to make decisions like this. As i had done my homework pretty well, each of the places we saw would have "worked". But as we walked into the third place, Jenny's face lit up, and she looked like a kid in a candy store. Decision made!

Jenny and I had actually seen the building before - in fact, we walked past, and I said "What on earth is that - Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory?" This picture doesn't do it justice, we'll post some better ones shortly:




We move in next weekend - real moving this time, as it is unfurnished. But this time, we're going to try and keep the minimalist thing going, and avoid the clutter that tends to build up where ever we go! ;^>

 

22:20: City Living

Well, its been a busy two weeks since we got back from Australia. We are now living in San Francisco!!! That all happened fast, huh? :->

I am working for a company called "Caustic Graphics". You guys know the deal, I can't talk too much about what I'm doing, but what I can tell you is, I'm having a lot of fun! We cut the deal last Thursday, and I started work at their office smack in the middle of San Francisco on Monday. Jenny and I moved super-fast, and also tracked down and moved into a nice little furnished apartment walking distance from work. I'm sitting here watching the twinkling lights across the Bay...

Phew! I'm about ready for a rest after all that, but you know what I always say - no rest for the wicked, and only short naps for the naughty...

So, come visit us in the city! (or The City, as the locals call it :-> )

12:45: Back in sunny CA
My my, I have been absolutely terrible at blogging lately! So, here we are, back in Sunny California - and sunny it is, a beautiful day, and the weather so far has been better than our few days in Sydney! It was sad to leave Perth, but it is nice to be home again. Now I have all the work of getting the house running - getting Internet set up again, getting a new cellphone (mine died), so busy times. I have two job inteviews tomorrow, so as usual, all is go! We'll get our act together to publish photos of the trip (and the wedding! We're running a bit behind) soon...

16:36: You know you're famous when...
In the past few weeks, I have received dozens of emails, replying to an email sent by a "Mr. Chris Tann" of "Christann Clothing Inc." or "Christann Clothing Company". This email takes the form of a "letter of interest", sent to models and photographers listed on various agency websites. The emails refer to my website http://www.christann.com, and use my name, although they list an address and phone numbers (almost certainly bogus) in England.

Although I answered the replys I got, pointing out that this was probably some sort of scam (something like the "Nigerian Certified Cheque" scam), and didn't think too much of it. However, the emails continued, and then I was refered to a site called fraudwatch, which lists literally dozens of occurences (and variations) of this email. I realised the large distribution these emails have had, and it sounds like people have really been caught by this scam. It seems that in later emails, they stopped listing my website, but each time I see a new round of emails, it has a new return address - so this scam is still in progress!

Well, I guess imitation is the highest form of compliment - but in this case, I just feel violated. Not realy much I can do aside from publicise the fact that this is a scam, and has nothing to do with me. Yet, it shows just how frail our "internet identities" are. Be careful out there people, it's a jungle!


Here is an example of the emails being sent:

" Hello friend

My name is Mr Chris Tann. a retired actor presently based in the UK. and now own a clothing company(CHRISTANN CLOTHING INC. ).

I came across your profile on.www.photographersindex.com,

If you would welcome a photographer Job here in the United Kingdom, contact me, so that the detail of the job will be run by you.

Regards,
Mr Chris Tann.
christannclothingphoto@yahoo.com
+447024039203
Tower 38, Level 30
25 Old Broad Street
London. EC2N 1HQa "" Hello friend

My name is Mr Chris Tann. a retired actor
presently based in the UK. and now own a clothing company(CHRISTANN CLOTHING INC. ).

I came across your profile on.www.photographersindex.com,

If you would welcome a photographer Job here in the United Kingdom, contact me,

so that the detail of the job will be run by you.

Regards,
Mr Chris Tann.
christannclothingphoto@yahoo.com
+447024039203
Tower 38, Level 30
25 Old Broad Street
London. EC2N 1HQa "