20 Beautiful San Francisco Pictures from a Photographers Eye

via boostinspiration.com

This is a great collection of images of San Francisco. It's one of my favorite cities, and seeing these pictures makes me want to make a trip back.

Yes, but is it filled with Jawas?

via furiousfanboys.com

This is a conceptual image of the new Lucasfilm Animation building in Singapore. Look familiar? It's designed to look like a sandcrawler from the Star Wars series.

Now, if they start selling droids in the lobby...

Jim Henson - The Early Years

Here's an early version of muppets created by Jim Henson to sell coffee in the Washington DC market. Don't be surprised if you recognize a voice or two...

But there is a bit of creepiness in some of it. Enjoy!

Men Are Dogs? Maybe...

You probably grew up with one of these, either in your immediately family, or at least on your street. The guy who had a man-cave space, usually in his garage. It was the place where the guys kicked back, the kids wanted to hang out, where Dad headed to when he just wanted to relax and listen to the ball game on the radio.

This morning, I was listening to the morning drive radio, and they started talking about these testosterone laden spaces, and one of the personalities mentioned that in a way, men really are dogs.

Well, more like wolves, anyway.

Why is it we like these little hideaways, these protected spaces of manhood? Maybe it's because we innately have a den animal lurking within us. We don't need a lot of space, just enough for a comfortable chair, a fridge and entertainment. When it's cold, give us a little space heater. Maybe a toaster oven or microwave for snacks. And we'll be happy!

We revel in our cozy surroundings, with the faint scent of motor oil and burnt electrical connections. All it usually needs is a "No girlz alloud" sign. From the Humane Society website:

Dogs are den animals. They need their own sanctuary that is just large enough for them to fit inside and feel secure. They need a "home away from home" where they can go when they are stressed. If you don't provide your dog a "den" of its own, it may make do with whatever is around -- a chair, the narrow place behind the couch, or the wedge of space between the bed and the wall.

A crate is an indoor doghouse that is used for brief periods of time. Its primary function is to serve as a bed or den. It can also be an ideal tool to housetrain your pet or to keep canines that suffer from separation anxiety from destroying the house while you run a few errands. However, the dog is not supposed to live in the crate. Endless hours in the crate can lead to severe social and isolation problems for your dog -- and it will no longer see the crate as a special retreat.

When you are home, your dog needs to be out with you. In fact, the crate should be kept in the room where the family spends most of its time. That way, your dog can seek refuge from the hubbub of household activity, yet still feel like a part of the family.

Once your dog realizes that the crate is a sanctuary and that no one can bother it while it is in its "den," your dog will begin to seek out the crate on its own. For more information on crate training, call your local animal shelter.

Now, every time you read "dog" in that little piece, think "man". There are some differences. The man-cave should not be in the same room as the rest of the family. Very counter productive. Otherwise, it's pretty darn close.

And while it's always the start of a joke to say that women travel to the bathroom in packs, I think we males are the true pack animals. If one of the guys has a good man-cave, we will all partake of its luxuries, enjoying our buddy's Fortress of Solitude. From the Wikipedia entry for "Dog":

Domestic dogs inherited a complex social hierarchy and behaviors from their wolf ancestors. Dogs are pack animals with a complex set of behaviors related to determining each dog's position in the social hierarchy, and they exhibit various postures and other means of nonverbal communication that reveal their states of mind.^[2] These sophisticated forms of social cognition and communication may account for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit into human households and social situations, and these attributes have earned dogs a unique relationship with humans despite being potentially dangerous apex predators.

Again, you can pretty much substitute "man" here as well. Don't think there's a hierarchy? Most guy groups especially when assembled in the man-cave, include the jock (in charge of the sports programming); the mechanic (the guy with ALL the tools), the socially awkward dork (who also fixes all the other guys' computers) and the total screw-up who is still part of the group because he's a bro. Each has their usefulness - if only as a bad example. And they all fit into that complex social hierarchy.

As for nonverbal communication - the ladies could take lessons here. The subtle head nod to acknowledge another guy's presence. The fist bump to greet another of similar stature. The swagger of confidence - which often accompanies the loser in the group. All non-verbal cues.

We even have simplified communication, especially in the man-cave. One word is sufficient for a vast majority of communications between we human canines. "Dude". Example: Buddy opens fridge to get a beer. You say "Dude!". He looks. You give him the quick upward head tilt to signify "My good friend, I have a thirst which needs to be quenched. Please, be so kind as to obtain one of the frosty cold beverages which you have thoughtfully stocked, and pass it my way." Without a word, your buddy grabs a brew, and you sir, are doing fine. Recap: Dude. Head tilt. Receive beer. We are masters of the simple communication.

Yes, we men are easily compared to our four-legged friends. We are proud and stand together as brothers. Defend and protect, like the the noble and powerful wolf. Why the wolf? Because I ain't no damn chihuahua.

Sleepnessness and the Muse

So here it is - Saturday night at nearly 3am and I'm wide awake. Not really unusual, just really annoying. The sleepnessness, similar to insomnia, has worked its way in.

At 8 or 9 this evening, I was ready to keel over from exhaustion. I got very little sleep last night, and it looks like there's another night of that coming tonight. Why? Because about 10pm I started getting my second wind. My brain turned on, and when that happens, I'm toast. It's like I don't need soleep.

I had started doing some research online, and M sent me a text message commenting that she wished I did as much homework on everything as I did on this particular topic. It struck a chord. The topic was interesting, but I did have more energy. Got me to thinking - most of my writing and creative work is done in the wee hours. I just seem to hit my muse about midnight. And once I get going, I just seem to keep going.

Why is it my creative juices don't start flowing until after midnight? There's probably some new-agey stuff out there about it being related to the time I was born or the cycles of the moon, but I don't buy it. There's gotta be something else.

I've always been this way. When I did a lot of theater, I could pull all-nighters hanging lights or painting sets without hesitation. In my theme park employment days, Happy Hour started at midnight. I can remember being up to watch the Tonight show when I was 10 or 11 on a regular basis.

But now, I have a "real" job, with 8a-4p hours, weekends off. For most folks, that's heaven. For me, the hours are killing me. By mid-afternoon, I want a nap in a bad way. Even now, at just after 3am, I've got three or four blog posts running around in my head, I've been installing software on my laptop and mobile phone, and I feel like I want to snack in a big bad way. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to get up at about 6-6:30 so C and I can go hiking. Yeesh.

A lot of research has been done on circadian rhythms. Of course, when you see these symptoms, it gets a little worrisome:

- Difficulty initiating sleep
- Difficulty maintaining sleep
- Nonrestorative sleep
- Daytime sleepiness
- Poor concentration
- Impaired performance, including a decrease in cognitive skills
- Poor psychomotor coordination
- Headaches
- Gastrointestinal distress

Of these, I can tick off at least 6, maybe 7 as symptoms for me. Great.

And if course, as I write this, I'm starting to quickly fade. My eyes are tired, which helps. But by this point, I only have about three hours to sleep.

I know I'm not the only person who has these issues. My writing/blogging is an important creative outlet for me, and keeps the creative side of me happy. So how do I balance my late night muse with my early morning responsibilities?

Do you run into this problem? Is it just insomnia 0 or something more? How do you cope with it? Do you have a favorite way to get your body and mind to synchronize? What do you do? Enter it in the comments below.

Some People Have Odd Weddings...

Every bride wants their special day to be unique, and that's great. Sometimes, however, unique goes a bit beyond that point to "HUH?"

DJMick has a collection of 100 pictures of brides in either strange attire, or pictures that are just plain wrong. For example, there's the picture of the bride with an out-of-focus groom zipping his fly in the background. Or the shot of the bridal party taking a ride in the bucket of a skip-loader. Or these two at left.

Bizarre Brides And Weird Weddings (100 Pics)

Just In Case You're Having A Bad Day...

Came across this site via Mashable, and realized some people have worse days than I do. Lots worse.

Badhap : House of Hell

Until I discovered to my abject horror that the landlord had a spare key to the house and would routinely let himself in whenever he wanted...and sleep on the living room sofa! No notice was ever given - it was totally random. Sometimes he'd be there on the sofa when I got up, other times he wasn't. I found this a bit strange and enquired if it was a regular thing and one of my housemates (who we'll meet later) said he'd been doing it for as long as she'd lived there.

Badhap is a site where you can share your lousy days, your ugly roommate stories, and general miserable experiences. Just 'cause you're not laughing doesn't mean the rest of us can't!

Categories on this site include:

• I've never been so embarassed
• I had the worst day at work
• Housemates from hell
• I can't believe how drunk I was

...among others. You can even rate the "badhaps" from "not so bad" to "glad I'm not you". You'll find all kinds of stories here, like the guy who was so drunk he did a cannonball - into an empty pool.

So - if you're having a bad day, just check badhap. You're bound to find someone who had a worse one!