Last Friday i packed up my office in the Stanford Hospital ... didn't take long, i've only been here for six months ... so that everything could be moved over into my new office in the brand spanking new Stanford Cancer Center. That happened on Saturday, so this morning i headed over to my new space. Moving, as always, is not without its headaches. First off, there's a note on my keyboard saying "SYSTEM DOES NOT COME UP". Hrm. I investigate, and find that someone has jammed the power button on my monitor back inside its housing, so that you can't turn it on. Movers. So i spent ten minutes fiddling with it with a pushpin, and succeeded in liberating the button and restoring functionality to my monitor. The computer booted up fine, but when running i then found that my network ports were dead. I'm not going to attempt to rehash the debacle of the Stanford network situation, suffice to say that the ETA for connectivity in my new office is unknown. At least the phone works ... had an interesting chat with a potential molecular biology postdoc.

So now my office is more or less unpacked, but i can do very little there without network access. So i brought my laptop back to my old office, and here i sit. Wow, this new office is awesome ...

I'm slightly ill-tempered after suffering through yet another Chelsea defeat at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday. For ... what is it, the fourth year running? ... the Arse knocked us out of the FA Cup, this time in a 2-1 come-from-behind victory. Crap. We play them again in the league next weekend ... let's hope we can finally muster a win against those bastards. Why do we always draw Arsenal or Manchester United in the early rounds of the FA Cup? Why don't we ever get paired with ... oh, i don't know ... f@$#ing Colchester?

My sister had her bridal shower in Fremont on Saturday, so my dad and i had lunch at Chili's and meandered around Best Buy while the ladies did whatever pagan rituals they do at those things. Veronica and i came home and found Cobi had had a little accident while we were away. Let me explain ... a week ago, a tumor on little Cobi's face started bleeding after she scratched it too vigorously. We tried to bandage it, but given its difficult location we were only partially successful. The Monday after Veronica took the doggie to the oncologist to see what they could do. They convinced us to put her on a mild chemo regimen, supplemented with steroids to reduce inflammation and itching. Well, a side effect of the drugs is that Cobi drinks a lot of water, and correspondingly produces a lot of whizz. Since the concept of a doggie door is beyond her understanding, she has to wait for us to let her out to go potty, and with her increased water consumption her endurance is getting pretty short. So she's peed in the house a few times now. Her tumor isn't bleeding so much anymore, but she still drips little red drops every now and then. So i've spent a significant amount of time on my hands and knees scrubbing the carpet. Poor little pup. I complain, but she's a loveable little girl and i hope the chemo can keep her happy and healthy a while longer.

I finally finished watching Scarface last weekend. I didn't care for it so much. I just felt it was a pretty run-of-the-mill "small time gangster makes it big, lets his ego get the better of him, and goes down in flames" story, notable only for several fairly gory and brutal scenes. Pacino's Cuban accent also got seriously old by the end of the three hour film. I did find it amusing however that the new wave songs (written by Giorgio Moroder) played in the nightclub scenes were recently used in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Hell, i think a good portion of GTAVC's story and characters were based on Scarface.

Speaking of brutality, i succumbed to curiousity and bought Manhunt at Best Buy yesterday. The game centers on James Earl Cash, a death row inmate whose execution is faked so a snuff film director can have him star in a series of movies where he's hunted by street gangs. Manhunt was made by Rockstar Games, who were responsible for the aforementioned brilliant GTA series. So far it's pretty good, some nice stealth action. And some seriously bloody execution scenes. Naturally, the bloodier your work, the more points you earn. Tipper Gore, stay away.

Later this week my almost-free (thanks to a $30 gift certificate from participating in a University faculty survey) copy of Winning Eleven 7 International should be arriving from Amazon. And i'm also eagerly anticipating the release of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow next month.

I'm perplexed as to why conservatives think permitting gay marriage will threaten the union between a man and a woman. If you think it's morally wrong, say so! Don't try to hide your religious feelings in this cloak of political B.S.

Lots of good shows coming up in SF ... the Wrens at Bottom of the Hill as part of the noise pop festival, as well as Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Fuse! at Bottom in March and the Liars shortly thereafter. What a town.