the end / of my annual vacation

alas, all good things must come to an end ... and this is the last day of my vacation. august promises to be one hell of a brutal month. i'm the senior resident on one of our many medicine teams at county. in the past year, it has become a jungle on the wards. i'm not looking forward to it. until tomorrow, however, i plan on cleaning up my apartment a bit and throwing out some really ancient things... yuck!

jaguar / nice kitty, nice...

installed this puppy on my aging but 'faithful' G3 ... i must say that even for a pre-release that this 10.2 ride is going to be very nice. everything is smoother, faster and "snappier!" i think that everyone is going to be plenty happy about OS X after playing with 10.2. it's everything that i had hoped and expected from 10.0 ... and i was expecting a lot after having waited for so many years after a series of disappointments (System 8/Rhapsody/Mac OS X)

i think Microsoft may be onto something here - Apple should be trumpeting this thing much more than they have been. hopefully with Jaguar out the door, they'll start promoting OS X a bit more as it's finally ready for "the rest of us."

the rules / by men

these are our rules! please note: these are all numbered "1" on purpose.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us bitching about you leaving it down.
1. Birthdays, Valentines, and Anniversaries are not quests to see if we can find the perfect present yet again!
1. Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.
1. Sunday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
1. Don't cut your hair. Ever. Long hair is always more attractive than short hair. One of the big reasons guys fear getting married is that married women always cut their hair, and by then you're stuck with her.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
1. We don't remember dates. Mark birthdays and anniversaries on a calendar. Remind us frequently beforehand.
1. Most guys own three pairs of shoes - tops. What makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
1. A headache that last for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.
1. Check your oil! Please.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of he ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. Let us ogle. We are going to look anyway; it's genetic.
1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions, and neither do we.
1. The relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out. Get over it. And quit whining to your girlfriends.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
1. We are not mind readers and we never will be. Our lack of mind-reading ability is not proof of how little we care about you.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as navel lint, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. It is neither in your best interest or ours to take the quiz together. No, it doesn't matter which quiz.
1. Beer is as exciting for us as handbags are for you.

reading / more irving and something persian

july was my vacation month. survived a small fire that 'interfered' with our plans in tahoe. but after that, it was a very nice month. good to get away from the county for a tad bit. i also had an opportunity to read again.

i devoured tara bahrampour's to see and to see again. i have to agree with nearly everyone else on the 'net who enjoyed this book. it's really a must read for any iranian who came to the united states at the time of the iranian revolution. after that, i inhaled irving's a prayer for owen meany. in case you haven't seen the movie Simon Birch, do yourself a favor and read the book. i love irving... can't decide which i liked better, though... Widow for a Year was wonderful but depressing. Owen was tragic but fun. you really should read them both.

kcrw / get your fix on the 'net

iTunes has both 'kcrw' simulcasts. this is fantastic because i can now listen to my favorite 'npr' station regardless of where i am. in case you don't know, kcrw (89.9 � in the los angeles area) is a fantastic radio station that has a great deal of npr programming and plays some good tunes the rest of the day. it's "a good thing," for those long interminable commutes in l.a.

in case you're one of the unfortunate majority (lacking a Mac with iTunes), goto KCRW.com.