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March 23, 2004

I'm a design snob. No surprise given my preference for anything carrying the Apple logo. But my expectations extend beyond premium-priced electronic playthings. I've been meaning to buy a new spray bottle lately. Need something to hold plain water so we can mist the houseplants, don't you know. Picked up a lovely chartreuse one at Ikea a few months ago but it's filled concoction to ward off spider mites. Thinking it's kind of silly to drive across the bay, battle the crowds and pay a toll to get back home, I dropped into Walgreens at lunch today. They had a completely functional bottle for a buck fifty. But it was so hideous I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Milky white plastic, wrapped in blue and yellow screen printing. Line drawings of potted daisies, a checklist of possible contents so you don't have to remember and lots and lots of needless words. How could anyone bring themselves to produce, much less design, such a monstrosity? I can't begin to imagine but I did know the one acceptable course of action. I put the offending chunk of plastic back on the shelf and walked out. My plants may be suffering but my aesthetic sensibilities remain intact.

11:43 PM | Comment (5)

March 22, 2004

I don't talk about it much, if at all, here but I've volunteered with Under One Roof for over eight years, the past five as a board member. It's relevant tonight because we had a rather fabulous party in the art gallery and lobby of Gap headquarters to celebrate hitting the milestone of $10 million raised on behalf of AIDS service organizations. Of course, selfishly, I think the highlight of the evening was getting to shake hands with Mayor Newson, thank him for supporting UOR and leading the fight for gay marriage, and introduce him to my husband Rich. The fact that he greeted Rich with a genuinely enthusiastic exclamation of "Husband!" was just icing on the cake.

Yeah, you could say it was a good evening.

11:16 PM | Comment (1)

March 17, 2004

Censure Bush. I like that idea.

06:40 PM | Comment (1)

Like any self-respecting homo would want to live there.

05:07 PM | Comment (4)

March 09, 2004

The Times covered the last week's SF Apple store opening but I almost missed it because it ran in the Home and Garden section. Huh?

And while we're on the subject, all this lining up is getting a little silly. I lust after Apple products as much as the next fanatic but come on. How could 1200 people feel the need to wait in line up to 37 hours for a retail store to open? There are seven other Apple stores within an hour drive after all. And as Mr. Hawthorne points out, it's not like this store doesn't look exactly like all the others.

Kind of reminds me of an exchange I once overheard riding the cable car home from the grocery store. One tourist who has presumably just left the SF Hard Rock cafe, judging from her sweatshirt, accosted a second tourist who happened to be sporting a Hard Rock Maui shirt. "What's it like?" she demanded to know. Um, exactly like the one you just walked out of I thought with just the barest hint of sarcasm.

Yeah, right.

12:18 AM | Comment (1)

March 08, 2004

Martha got railroaded.

11:55 PM | Comment (1)

March 02, 2004

Ego Stroking Dept. A (straight) male work associate who I hadn't seen for several months observed today that I am looking buff.

Okay, maybe he didn't use the b word. Rather he asked if I'd lost weight. According the scale I haven't but I have been feeling as if the body mass is shifting around. Going back to buying 30" waist pants being a big clue. So I mumbled something about wishing that I'd lost weight and he went on to say that something was different and I looked good.

Guess the six days a week workout routine is starting to show results.

09:42 PM | Comment (2)