Some punk selling used rowing gear on eBay hotlinked one of my photographs of last year’s Crew Classic* to do something or other.  It wasn’t to show the merchandise, because the image shows different but similar gear.  I think it was just to make the point that used rowing gear makes one look cool.  Regardless, I shot him a note with the law firm e-mail addy, mentioning things like eBay’s terms of service, hotlinking and copyright violations.  He was too cool to answer me, but when I checked a few hours later it appeared that he’d taken my image down and stolen someone elses (hotlinked, and probably without permission too).  So, the question: Do I walk away or do I warn his new “host”?

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Hanging out in the little law office this morning.  Somone having a panic attack was going to get me some documents last night, so we could discuss some options this morning.  So far neither one has happened, so I surf the nets and putter around, staying available.  Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all.  Especially the one, because chocolate’s an aphrodisiac.  Better Valentine’s Day posts are here, here, and here.  Go read the people who put some thought and time into their holiday efforts.

We saw The Queen last night.  Outstanding movie, and Helen Mirren‘s Oscar nomination is certainly deserved. 

Trying to get a swim in this afternoon.  It’ll be slow and ugly, and my first in nearly a month due to the space alien masquerading as a sinus tumor cold, but I think the sanity needs some time staring at the little black line.  That and I need to find a dry way of dealing with work stress.  Sitting around feeling sorry for myself makes me fat and bouncy.

Things to look forward to: My birthday and the 2007 Crew Classic, my sixth (2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002).

It was a long week. Ultimately a good week, filled with pleasant distractions, but trying at times. Went through some stress with the business of practicing law, but it seems to have passed for the moment. Can’t someone just write me a grant to go help small businesses and such so I don’t have to worry about billings and payments and stuff? No? Oh well. Maybe one of you would like a poolboy who practices law on the side. No? Seem to be striking out on the career here, so time to move along.

My annual drooling about Crew Classic has passed. Didn’t take as many photos as in years past, mostly because I was enjoying the company and conversation too much. My apologies to whoever it was anonymously asking for shots of Cal’s JV boat; seem to have missed that race completely. I think the keg was calling, but it may have been that the brats were coming off the grill. Damn that pesky social life interfering with my geekage.

Enjoyed reading about the Gospel of Judas. Loved that the research was sponsored by National Geographic. Makes me proud to have been a geography major way back when. Maybe some reimagined Christianity will even shake my adherence to Pastafarianism.

Not sure what the weekend plans are, but I think they will must either involve laundry or underwear shopping. Things are getting critical around here, though Pongo seems to have developed one of the largest Fortresses of Solitude I’ve seen in a long time.

Cleaning things up. Doing a little recovery. Crew Classic, enhanced by Micky’s presence, was great despite the Cal Mens Varsity loss to an unnamed private school. Details may be forthcoming after work things get caught up.

The rowers have returned to San Diego.

If you live in San Diego you should be going to Crew Classic this weekend.

Please cheer for Cal while you’re there.

Lots of nothing going on this weekend, except for an evening out to watch V for Vendetta last night.  Natalie Portman was outstanding. Two thumbs up for the drama and a standing ovation for the political commentary.

Next weekend should be busier since Crew Classic will be down at the bay here.  Rowing, Cal athletes winning, alumni tent, and this year, Micky!, direct from Chicago. Sunshine, grilled meat, some music and keg beer all in abundance.

Mornin’ y’all. I’m up and the coffee is still percolating through the magic machine. Soon my drug of choice will be entering my system.

I suppose one of the downsides to having a great weekend is the despair that comes when it ends and one has to return to the cubes. Oh well, it had to happen sometimes. Gotta earn money for a newer, faster, shinier camera, even though I’m still enthralled with the Canon I picked up back in February.

I was pretty happy with the pics I took at the Crew Classic on Sunday, but seeing the results when I posted them at The Vista both thrilled and terrified. I had no idea there were so many Cal fans out there. The feedback has been great, but the traffic level after a couple of sites linked to some of the photos went through the roof and by mid-day Monday I was checking my hosting plan in a panic trying to figure out what my bandwidth levels were. No problem – still plenty to spare. Still loving Dreamhost. No complaints here, just a strange feeling on an issue that for better or worse I’ve never had to deal with before. And me without enough coffee in my system to deal with business issues.

Spent most of the day down at the San Diego Crew Classic, an annual event held down at Mission Bay. Its always a great time (this was my fourth year) and the alums are great people to hang with. Sunshine, sports, grilled food and cold drinks help too.

I’d love to say there was drama or suspense, but really, it was a blowout. Cal’s Men won at the Novice, JV and Varsity levels. Cal’s Women won at the Novice, JV and Varsity levels. Not every Cal crew won: the Mens Lightweight boat lost badly. Also, in the Mens Novice and JV races, the Golden Bears had two boats running due to their amazing performances in the petites (preliminaries), so there was no way that every Cal boat could win. But enough did that the alumni tent was a very happy place to be.

Some of the pics are up; go ahead and click on the thumbs above to go to the gallery. I’ll be posting more as I go through them.

I’ve been remiss in not posting an update to the post on Cal’s men at the Pac 10 swimming championships. Cal went on to place fourth in the NCAA’s in Minneapolis this last week.

The San Diego Crew Classic is here again next weekend. Good food, fun people, and of course, Cal’s rowers winning many, many, races in the sunshine at Mission Bay. This will be my fourth year attending and it’s the only big alumni function I regularly get to, so I make the most of it. Definitely looking forward to having the new camera there for this one, though the results from 2003 and 2004 using the old Minolta turned out all right.

Go Bears!

Just enjoying a San Diego Sunday after a very long week of work. I should be doing some work today but it’s not going well yet. Little Pongo had me up at 5, and since I was up, I was swimming laps by 6. I don’t know whether the rentacops here open the pool gates especially early some mornings, or they just never get around to locking them some nights, but today it worked to my advantage. Even though it was an hour before the apartment pool officially opens, I wasn’t alone. With the sun rising earlier and earlier, I guess others had similar ideas.

Then breakfast with some friends, restock on some Peet’s, and the Sunday Times. Got the paper all spread out and I’m waiting for some iced coffee (Sierra Dorada) to chill. All I’ve read so far is the sports section, but the swimmer part of me was really interested in this one, and the guy in me who used to bike a lot enjoyed reading this one. On the bicycle story, I’m not really sure if I like the article as much as the fact that he’s now probably going to have another great Armstrong post.

Continuing the sports topic, my little Palm electronic brain reminds me that next weekend is the San Diego Crew Classic. My posts from 2002 and 2003 are still available in the archives. Hopefully Cal will win again and I’ll get some pics up in about ten days or so.

And now transitioning into our fun-in-the-sun block, I received approval from the bar (after only about two months) last week to offer a CLE program through the beachlaw site. To the non-CA-lawyers reading, this hopefully means very little (thank gawd you’ve been spared); for the rest of you – one hour, self-study with a self-assessment test is currently up in a print-PDF-and-mail format. I’m still working on implementing a completely online version (the pay part became more involved then I expected it to be) but it will be up soon.