Endopolis

A few weeks ago, mom and dad cleared out their closets that were still filled with my old junk from childhood, and delivered it all to me, lovingly, in paper bags. Unfortunately, there were no pristine, un-touched boxes containing original Star Wars or GI Joe figures.

Instead, I am now the proud owner again of what's mostly a bunch of crap. It's now taking up space in our office, and I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of some of it. I took a few photos of it all, so I'll remember it after I get rid of it. This exercise is not as simple as just chucking it in the trash, though it probably should be about that easy.

Here's the inventory, minus the sports trophies (assorted and standard tee-ball, soccer, high school football):

• 1 San Francisco 49ers foam "We're #1" hand from Super Bowl XIX, held at Stanford Stadium
• 1 terribly ugly Oregon Ducks hat, never worn, circa 1992. Yes, even in '92 UO made ugly stuff.
  
• 1 Prospect High School football jersey (white/away) from 1991. I'm sure my kid will find this neat when he's eight.

Assorted Pennants:

• 1 Oakland A's 1988 World Series. Stewart, Eckersley... 'nuff said.
  
• 1 SF Forty Niners circa 1980.
  
• 1 Denver Broncos, about the same age. Not sure where that one came from.
  
• 1 Stanford University. Ahh, to dream...
  
• 1 University of Wisconsin. From dad and professional schooling he did there. I've never been to Madison.
  
• 1 Ohio State. Not sure where that came from either.
  
• 1 Harlem Globetrotters. I vaguely remember seeing them at the Oakland Coliseum when I was little, around the same time they made the cartoon.
  
• 1 Kennedy Space Center. We visited when I was about 10 and when the Shuttle was still awesome.
  
• 1 Chicago Sting (NASL). What, you don't remember the NASL?
  
• 1 SF Giants (1988ish). This will go on the kid's wall.
  
• 1 Portland Trailblazers. Old skool. From grandma.

I have no idea how old some of that stuff is, but could probably estimate per pennant based on various life events. Before I throw all this in the trash, I will visit eBay to see if anyone is selling similar junk, and for how much.

I'm thinking that Chicago Sting pennant has to be worth something, to someone. Do they even make pennants anymore?

Posted by senders at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dear Editors:
    
I was shocked and saddened, but not entirely surprised, to see your note at the bottom of Sunday's Perspective declaring that the Mercury News will no longer publish the section.
    
I'm a San Jose native and life-long Merc reader, and have seen the overall quality of the paper sag over the years as it has cut newsroom staff.  Various mergers haven't benefitted the paper or its readers, and Perspective's departure is the latest example. I understand the papers are trying to figure out how to better cover their communities under new ownership, but it's a shame that often means less space in the paper to cover our communities and present truly important news. For Perspective's sake, I would be happy to nominate a couple of other sections in the Merc that might be worth ditching. All one has to do is look at where the advertising is to understand why the sections are still being published at all (i.e. Drive, Travel and Tech). Unfortunately, it's not the content that's driving those decisions.
    
Full disclosure: I work in the online news industry and am very familiar with the challenges facing newspapers and other traditionally offline publications. I'm also attempting to be part of the solution, in working for a company and business that has a solid track record of working with newspapers and publishers, advertisers, and readers in trying to extend the reach of print publications to new and far-flung audiences. We may not be perfect at doing all this yet, but we're trying and we're getting there.
    
It breaks my heart to see Perspective going away. It embodied everything that makes a newspaper great: wonderful editing and packaging of content, incredible discoverability of pieces you wouldn't expect to find, a variety of opinions, and writers exploring a range of issues facing the Bay Area and the world. It's the best section in the Sunday paper, and it's high on the list of what makes the Merc one of the best papers in the West. I looked forward to reading Perspective every week, and it's the section I always spent the most time with.
    
Meanwhile, there was plenty of space given Sunday to promote the revamped Monday Tech section, which I haven't yet read. I hope it's really fantastic, and you're making a lot of money from it. My problem is I can go just about anywhere to find information on the latest gizmos and profiles of Valley CEOs. Unfortunately, what I can't find every week is a smart newspaper section that consistently features opinion and commentary from the country's brightest thinkers and journalists.
    
I thank you for providing such a great service over the years; it's just too bad you had to kill it.
    
Regards,
    
Steve Enders
Sunnyvale

Posted by senders at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few months ago, I paid through the nose for tickets to see The Police. They're playing tonight at the Oakland McAfee Coliseum. It was partly a birthday present to myself (my b-day was yesterday), and partly a need to go see the band perhaps mostly responsible for my musical tastes today. I don't love The Police like I used to, but I did discover ska and reggae thanks in part to Sting, Andy and Stewart. I'd also still have to consider "Synchronicity" for a list of my Top 10 Albums Ever.

If I were going to see a baseball game, these would be great seats -- I'm in the second deck behind home plate. Sting and his mates will be somewhere out in center field. I forgot to bring my binoculars.

When I bought the tickets, I halfway intended to sell them because the show's on a Wednesday night, in Oakland, in a huge stadium which can't sound all that good, too many people, would rather see them in a club, can't see the band and blah blah blah. Well, I'm going after all, and am really looking forward to it. Beyond justifying the high ticket price, I'm just hoping they rock.

And if they suck, then maybe they'll get in a fight on stage and I'll be able to say: I was there! 

Posted by senders at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are a lot of bad, stupid ads floating around on the Web.

This one, found today on Facebook, just about takes the cake for worst-ever.

All I get for clipping nose hairs is a free ringtone? You've gotta offer an iPhone or at least an iPod to get me to click on that... 

Posted by senders at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This June marks 10 years since I've been out of college. My degree came from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a great university with a very decent and small journalism program that also happens to be in an incredible location. Time and life since then have been wonderful, and also a blur. Ten years ago, I had mostly wrapped up my tenure as editor of the Mustang Daily. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, but still had my senior paper to write in order to get my real diploma. The paper: about 60 pages on media bias against Muslims after the first World Trade Center bombing of 1993. That summer consisted of surfing El Nino-fueled waves, researching, and writing. Nothing more, nothing less. In September, I went to Europe for six weeks.

Last weekend we loaded up the Subaru and headed south, those three hours of Hwy 101 I could drive with my eyes closed. Straight through Steinbeck Country and at least one military base, dangerous intersections and ungainly farm trucks, new Paso Robles vineyards and ultimately down the steep SLO grade. We went to meet up with old my old friend and roomate from college, who was headed up from Orange County with his wife (he started dating her in college) and their new baby. SLO is still the same, but hasn't been able to entirely halt "progress," if progress means a few new buildings, housing developments, and chain retail stores downtown. Among other things, one of our favorite old bars is being torn down, probably for the better. Most shocking: SLO Brewing Co. is no more. It's now the Downtown Brewing Co. Our friends are likely to move back into SLO, which is great because they'll be closer and it'll be another reason to visit again.

It was refreshing to get away, and I didn't realize the 10-year milestone of the trip until today. We did lots of walking around town, and took a short hike at Montana de Oro State Park (next to Big Sur, probably my favorite place on the California coast). I surfed Saturday morning with one of my best friends in glassy, shoulder-high waves at our favorite old reef break -- one we thought we "owned," and the same beach I spent the majority of that summer of 1997. Saturday was cold and foggy, there were only a couple of other guys out, and I caught one of the better waves I've had in years.

Good times then, good times now.    

Posted by senders at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)