I got a new a passport and I am leaving...

I thought it would take forever. I lost my passport when I moved. Every one said it would be a pain in the ass. and take forever. Everyone is a moron.
but it just came.

and so I am going to leave. I leave for Amsterdam in like 72 hours.
It has a RFID in it.

yeah, I had to scum this picture up. No info for the enemy.

Couple of cool things:

"This document contains sensitive electronics" Like what, a f*ing boom box?
That would be so cool.
First generation of passports to have this message. Does yours have this?

and a satellite?

I want to go to space.

Popeye's and PPC

I am rocking the paid search advertising on this blog because I figure why not? This is where Google gets 99% of their money from, and alot of people don't understand how the process works. I have worked around PPC key word buying for more than 4 years now but wanted to know exactly how they place the words that they do.

Last week, I blogged about the Popeye's chicken by my old apt on 2nd ave closing.
Today I see this ad:


Weird.
What's even weirder is it takes you to a a Yahoo store that sells Chicken nick nacks, not even an official Popeye's chicken site?

As I started this blog post, I went back to check something and then saw this ad:


so I click on it and it takes me to a site giving away TVs

nothing to do with KFC OR Popeye's.

A shoutout and a garbage can

First, Fred gives me
a shout out on his blog.

Second, I had become obsessed with getting a new garbage can for the kitchen that had a pedal. Closed tops on garbage cans are crucial. Susie had a plastic one with a spinning top that was always awkward to work with. When I cook meat, I need to get that packaging in the garbage ASAP, and the one we had was just not working.
We went to Bed Bath and Beyond on 6th avenue (shopping here is a New Yorker right of passage), and I had a coupon for 20% off that had expired. Coupons for B,B,B never really expire. We walked in, and there she was, for $60!

And a 20% off coupon making her $48. I was so excited.
Until I just checked Amazon that is...
Whatever, its a great garbage can, and this is what my life has reduced itself to.

Nate asked me to make him a new comp

And I told him I would before coming out to SF next week. Making a few extras for the folks, so let me know if you want one.

I love that chicken from Popyes

I just wrote about a few experiences I had in the past week that were directly tied to events from my past. Happy times.

I also have to write about Popeyes, and specifically the Popeyes that was 2 blocks down from the apartment I lived in the East Village.
We were walking back to the train after dinner tonight, and I'd noticed it had closed.


Now I'd lived close to a Popeyes in San Francisco too. I can't say I'd eat the stuff regularly, but when I wanted some spicy fried chicken and some red beans and rice, I'd go.

There is a funny story behind my Popeyes semi-obsession. My first job out of college was at a big ad firm in Houston. Popeyes was a client. I was asked to help with a store launch and wear a costume at a store opening. When I started to hesitate, I was told that I was an intern and had to do what they say. I looked at the two costumes, one was Popeye and one was a chicken. I said that they probably would not fit.

We get out to the location and I am told to change into the Popeye costume in the men's room and then head outside to flag down traffic. This is what I took out student loans and got a marketing degree for?

The costume didn't fit. I open the door, holding the Popeye head under my arm so the boss would believe me. There was a little kid there seeing a half naked man holding a Popeye head. He started to scream his head off. I said 'see! - I told you it would not fit.' She started screaming, knocked on the door to the woman's room and said - "You have to switch costumes, you're Popeye now, Josef, you be the chicken. " I said this costume won't fit either. I was told to try, and had the same issue.

Needless to say, I never really recovered from this at this firm. I ended up moving to San Francisco a month later. Every time I pass a Popeye's I can't help but think of this experience. I wasn't the only person eating at this East Village Popeyes, but I think its funny that two months after I leave the neighborhood, it closed.

The past presents the future?

This was a big week.

We went to see Lucinda play Car Wheels at Town Hall.
She was great. I saw her for my first time 10 years ago when she put Car Wheels out.


Wednesday took us back to the East Village for Patrick Wolf at Webster. I am surprised that he is not bigger. When people ask me what he sounds like I say Speak and Spell era Depeche Mode meets Bright Eyes.


Nate and Alison were back in town on Thursday. No, I am not moving back to San Francisco anytime soon. Unless like a dude calls and offers like $250k or something...

On Friday we went to visit Jason and Kori and to hang with Magnolia in Connecticut. She's a fully formed little person now. We've been friends since 2001 in San Francisco and its great to see how far we've all come.

We're back in action

I got a new personal laptop and we finally have wireless internet service from Verizon. Time Warner Cable couldn't figure out how to give us service after 2 months, so we found someone else.

We're now a 3 laptop home.


I had to configure my computer by downloading Firefox, iTunes, a Flash plugin, Flickr uploader, add to Bloglines and Delicio.us buttons, etc. The coolest thing though was opting out of all major ad network cookies thru this website.
This is what a website with alot of advertising now looks like to me.

A Test. of bluestring.

The view from here