Chris McIntyre

Well, the PME has come and gone. I had a lot of scotch and at the same time got a chance to meet the who’s who of the podcasting world. Everyone from Libsyn, to the guys at AMP, most of my favorite podcasters, The Podcast Pickle, and as the photo shows…Dawn and Drew.

I must have been having entirely too much fun because I forgot to take a lot of photos, but I did take some. You can see them here.

This Photo taken by theFerf

I couldn’t believe it…when Amy was here last we were wondering through the Safeway here in SF (on Townsend and 4th I think) and they had a DVD machine. The best part was, you swipe your card and for only $1.49 it would spit movies out! If I remember correctly it only had about 30 movies to select from for $1.49 each. You get the movie for 24 hours, and its $1.00 for each additional day.

Needless to say, we rented a handfull of movies and did not have to pay the $10+ per person to go to the movies. With the swipe of a credit card, no memberships required, we had an evenings worth of entertainment that only required me to walk by the grocery store the next day (by midnight) and push the dvd cases back into the machine.

This Photo taken by theFerf

“Kelly Dobson created ScreamBody. It is the first of the series of Wearable Body Organs. ScreamBody is a portable space for screaming. When a user needs to scream but is in any number of situations where it is just not permitted, ScreamBody silences the user’s screams so they may feel free to vocalize without fear of environmental retaliation, and at the same time records the scream for later release where, when, and how the user chooses.”

>> See The Site
>> Watch the Demo

Found this cool website awhile back, but it lets you spell words and it uses flickr.com to write it on the screen. You just type the word into the box, hit the spell button, and it picks images for you! Check it out!!

Do yours at: Spell with Flickr

Thank you for being there. You make Carls Jr. accessible to many people.
Sincerely,

The Ferf

PS > If you are reading my letter above and you are not the B.B.G. mentioned in the title (and there is a pretty good chance that you aren’t) then let me explain. Carls Jr (Hardees to all you punks back in the midwest, or with really awful cities) next to the Powell Street cable car turn around here in San Francisco has a security guard. For one reason or another a bunch of transients, drug dealers and other crippled and or thug looking folks hang out near the entrance. I now feel comfortable entering, exiting and eating inside the restaurant. Prior to my last visit, the food was sloppy, gross and I think it made us all sick (chris rockwell and cc chapman… would you agree?). But this new location has kicked up to a whole new level providing hot, fresh and personally prepared sandwiches with the added protection of a man wearing a SECURITY tshirt with crossed arms who isnt afraid to stare a $2 hooker in her crazy eye (anyone can look in the regular eye).

Anyway, I just wanted to publically (all 4 of you loyal readers) thank the B.B.G from the Carls Jr and let him know that he is making a difference.

I was browsing some photos online today (thanks jim) and found this one from a few years ago. This is of my brother, nik, performing at Universal Studios, Orlando, FL. Now seriously, who has a little brother that is that cool? That’s right, just me.

This Photo taken by theFerf

Yesterday morning I road my motorcycle into the office and “thought” I had turned it off. Apparently the motorcycle has a parking setting that leaves the lights on even though you are allowed to pull the keys out and walk away. Considering it was a bright and sunny morning, I didnt notice until it was time for me to take off and head off to Sues’ place for supper that the lights will still on.

So here I am, South of Market, nothings really open, and I have a dead battery. Thankfully last year for Christmas Amys’ parents bought us a years worth of AAA. I had always thought we should pop one of the tires on our car sometime just so we could use it and the year membership would not go to waste. So, thankfully, my battery went dead and I didn’t have to pop any tires becuase I finally, after 8 months in a 12 month membership, needed to call AAA.

I was a bit frightened at first, because even though Amy had yelled at me constantly to carry the AAA card with me at all times, I never did, and I thought this would be the time it bit me in the ass. I had to call Amy and get the AAA number and our membership number even to start the process. Fortunately, Crystal (from AAA Customer Support) was very nice and said I only needed photo ID after I verfied my number. 25 minutes later the tow truck was there to jump me.

One last thing…I think I offended the tow truck driver. Immediately after he sparked my bike up and it was running, I looked at him and said, “I can’t belive you get paid for that.” I need to watch my mouth I suppose with people who may not know/get my sense of humor. It was meant to be a joke that… ahh, you get it..right?

Finally, after all this time, we got our first new set of chairs and table for our kitchen. Unfortunately, I dont live in Tennessee to enjoy it. So…if you are looking at this photo, there is a very good chance that you know as much about this table as I do….because this is the only time I have seen it too.

This Photo taken by theFerf

Working at PodShow is killing me. Im so poor I cant afford anything but cereal and I eat it out of a plastic cup. Ok, not really….I just do not have anything in San Francisco yet. No furniture (other than my trusty air mattress), no dishes or pots and pans, no cable, no internet….Im a sad story.

Amy, if you are reading this, I need help.

This Photo taken by theFerf

In another outing, proving once again I need to start carrying my portable recorder with me every place, I had another meet up with a bum…which was the intention of the walk any way. I took my usual route down Stockton Street to Union Square here in San Francisco and had only just entered the square when approached by my first bum trying to sell me a handful of marijuana out of his giant sweaty hand. But back to the point.

After convincing him of the fact that I didnt want to buy anything from him, he decided to tell me his life story. His name was Osiris and he carries with him a few notebooks full of hundreds of signatures and personal notes from people walking the street. Turns out he is a poet. We sat around for about 30 minutes and he performed his scat poems for me while injecting his comedy into the verses as well. From time to time, when others would walk by, he would make very nice comments to them and make them smile as well.

At one point in his sales pitch (this time to solicite a donation for a hotel room for the night) he emptied the contents of his pockets into my hands, a bold move for a stranger. The contents of his pockets were this:

• 7 crumpled up single dollar bills
• $3.52 in change
• 1 giant watch battery
• A manual can opener….small, like a pocket knife

I know, not real exciting, but there I stand with everything this guy has to his name in my hands. Why would someone do that? When he started asking if I had any donations for his poetic performances again I told him I didnt have any money…which was kinda true. I had a $20 that I had taken out of my wallet and put into my pocket (this isnt my first time talking to bums). I pulled my wallet out and showed him the contents, and he was satisfied. We are now friends I think.

At the end of the night, after many poems, scats and cigarettes, we parted ways. He was off into the night to make other people smile and to earn some cash for his hotel (or drug habit, whatever). Immediately after that, I watched some cops pull over a car on Powell Street for smoking pot in the car. The driver got a ticket for letting it happen and the guy smoking got a ticket for doing it. What an interesting world.