I feel like Ginger packing for her three-hour cruise. Just how many clothes do I really need for 48 hours in San Francisco anyways?  Whatever happened to the days I could live out of a single suitcase for weeks?

Yes, I should be finishing up this template and doing lots of work-type things.  Instead I’m shutting down the office and heading up to San Francisco for a few days.  Time for some me time. 

What a difference a week makes.  Last week the L.A. Times was reporting the results of their poll indicating that same-sex marriage rights were slightly disfavored in California.  Today the S.F. Chronicle released the results of a Field Poll reversing the numbers and indicating 51% support for marriage equality. 

So what changed?  Was the wording on the question different enough to skew the results?  Is someone’s random sample off?  Or was an extra week of scary religious types threatening plagues of locusts on the Golden State if the court’s ruling stands just enough to show how silly the proposed Amendment and its backers really are? 

Interesting to see the demographic splits in the new poll:

The heavily Democratic urban areas strongly support same-sex marriage; 55 percent of Los Angeles County and an overwhelming 68 percent of the Bay Area are in favor. By contrast, only 38 percent of the Central Valley and 41 percent of Southern California outside of Los Angeles are in favor.

Same-sex marriage also digs a chasm between California’s heavily populated coast and its inland areas; 55 percent of coastal voters back same-sex marriage compared with 40 percent in support inland.

The issue divides along liberal-conservative lines; 85 percent of strong liberals are in favor, and 85 percent of strong conservatives are opposed.

Protestants, who make up a third of the state’s voters, oppose same-sex marriage 34 percent to 57 percent, while Catholics are split almost equally, 45 percent in favor to 48 percent opposed. Those with no religious preference back same-sex marriage 81 percent to 12 percent.

I have to say that lumping non-L.A. Southern California, presumably everything from Santa Barbara to San Diego and east to the Arizona line, into one homogeneous group seems to be a bit reaching, but other than that the numbers are interesting.  Feels good to be a coastal voter.

I’m still in a bit of holiday mode from the Memorial Day weekend, and in pre-vacation mode for a quick trip up to San Francisco this Friday.  That leaves me with three days to do five days worth of work and very little ability to focus.  I think it’s going to be a rough three days.  The normally complicated calculus of billable hours could end up taking a beating.  Despite normally being burdened with a headache at even the simplest forms of addition, today is one of those days when complicated forms of higher mathematics isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It can be a very good thing in fact. Happy 39th Birthday Dad!

Yes, I’m tinkering.  No, the dust hasn’t settled yet. 

Thinking of expanding the layout here to three columns to include some new features that have become available since my last layout design.  ‘People who know’ seem to be writing online that I should also abandon HTML tables in favor of CSS for structuring the columns, but the only rationale I can find is that it might cut down the length of the code by a percent or two.  I don’t see a bunch of div tags being that much shorter than a two- or three-cell table.  Am I missing something?  Will CSS significantly improve or change the user experience?

I’ve seen two movies so far this weekend: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  One was outstanding and one was so-so.  I think it boils down to understanding that where Spielberg can tell a story, some other people know little more than how to pay a lot of money for CGI and slap a classic title on the result.  Where Karen Allen stole every scene she was in, even the actor in the title role of Prince Caspian (whoever he was) looked as bored as I felt and as stiff as my back was after two and one-half hours in that theater seat.  And while no one destroys a bad guy’s body as coolly as in an Indiana Jones flick (from the melting Nazis in the Lost Ark to the aging Nazis in the Last Crusade to the rampaging ants in Crystal Skull), Narnia’s creators really need to understand that Kenneth Branagh did the soldiers-and-archers battle scene better 19 years ago in Henry V, probably with a tiny fraction of the special effects budget. 

Sure Indiana Jones had a few cutsey moments, and even got in audible groan in my theater when Mutt tried to wear the iconic fedora, but it entertained.  Me likey. 

Seeking divine guidance and nutrition from the Ancient Order of Chinese Busboys and Frycooks, my weekend planning is being influenced by this bit of wisdom:

Happiness is around the next corner, wealth down the street [in bed].

The ritual ending doesn’t seem to be helping with my enlightenment this evening, but if I understand the underlying message right, both happiness and wealth are someplace else.

Great post on courtoom sketch artists, their work and their outside projects over at Ironic Sans.  Yes, it’s from March (my birthday, actually) but it just popped up on my RSS feed today.

At least the rain has stopped the construction noises from next door.