I finished remolding my website backend to make full use of SQL databases today. Most everything is now represented by a searchable MySQL database, including journal posts, album reviews, comments, photo albums and photos, and playlist entries. With the perl DBI interface, this has made extracting and organizing data a thing of beauty. I'm amazed at how much this has improved the operation of my listening statistics scripts. The last thing i want to do is put up a searchable list of my mp3 library, which using the same approach should be relatively straightforward. As soon as i get a chance.

Apart from my renewed interest in coding, my weekend was pretty laid back. Veronica and i had a chill lunch at the California Café in Palo Alto with my old high school friend Iqbal. It was a good chance to catch up. Iqbal and i are very similar in lots of ways, so it was good to just spend a little while hanging out. Afterward, V and i did some window shopping around University Ave. before heading home to see our little fur factory, aka Tara. It seems shedding season is on us again, as no amount of sweeping or vacuuming seems to stem the endless tide of white hair for long. We decided to forgo my department's Mardi Gras party at Stanford, and as V was feeling lethargic she settled in for a Saturday early evening nap. Jenz called me to invite us to San Francisco for New Wave City, which i thought sounded good. I told her i would call her back when V awoke. Turns out that didn't happen until late, and she wasn't in the mood to go out, so we stayed home. I must apologize to Jenz because i neglected to call her at that late hour, and she ended up hibernating because my wake-up call never came. Without Saturday Night Live because of the Olympics (yes, i'm still watching SNL even given its recent crappiness), we got to see the live announcement that Michelle Kwan had withdrawn from the Olympic ice skating competition due to injury. Oh, the horror. To paraphrase Norm MacDonald, "the real shame is that because of all this interest in figure skating, even more good hockey games are going untelevised".

On Sunday we drove down to SJ and Stevens Creek Toyota to reclaim my months-old Prius deposit, now irrelevant as V has her Mini and i'm thrilled to be back in my Jetta. The dealer has been giving me a bit of the runaround in refunding it, and Sunday was no exception. The sales rep took my receipt and credit card numbers and assured us that the refund would go through on Monday morning, because for some vague reason they couldn't do it right then. Monday came and i called to verify they'd kept their end of the bargain, but no. At this point i got a manager, who had me fax him my receipt and told me it would be done this morning. Turns out he's not in until 2:30pm. I'm calling there in 10 minutes and if they can't do it immediately, i'm threatening to call the Better Business Bureau, the state Attorney General's office, my credit card fraud office, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Panamanian kingpin Manuel Noriega, and a few select members of the Russian mafia. After that unpleasantness, we did a bit of shoe shopping at DSW, with V picking up a $15 pair of creeper look-alikes and me getting a replacement pair of Sambas as well as a pair of black Converse All-Star low-tops. We got an early dinner at the Consuelo Mexican Bistro at Santana Row, and did some more window shopping before getting dessert at the Ben and Jerry's.

I did indeed pick up Winning Eleven 9 at Electronics Boutique as soon as it was in. And in keeping with the trend of the series, Konami has made the most recent installment true enough to its predecessors to be immediately recognizeable and playable, added enough new visual and mechanistic bells and whistles to keep it fresh, and tweaked the gameplay enough that you can't pick it up and achieve the same level of dominance you had reached on the last version. The latter adjustments come this year in the form of general player movement and interactions. Defenders are much quicker to close down the player with the ball, and are not as likely to let passes skirt by them without getting in a deflection. Also, one of the tricks i used to great effect previously was player redirection. In old WE incarnations, the player with the ball could be running in one direction with a defender at his heels, then pull up and move back in the opposite direction leaving the defender in the dust. This worked great for creating space in the box to attempt a shot. However, it was also generally unrealistic as any defender worth his salt wouldn't fall for this constantly. So this little trick is gone from my arsenal, and i'm now struggling to consistently create offensive chances. However, as before these new challenges are exciting rather than exhausting, bringing the game to a new level of realism and making the payoff of a goal that much sweeter. Also fantastic is that this year Konami has acquired the license to Chelsea, meaning the accurate logo and kit are there to behold as i take my team onto the virtual pitch.

Unfortunately the actual Chelsea played like my floundering WE9 squad on Saturday, getting demolished 3-nil and looking nothing like the strong, confident team that is chasing a second consecutive Premiership title. And to make matters worse, this debacle had to happen against Middlesbrough, guaranteeing that i'm going to be hearing about it for months (if not years) from Boro disciple and s@#$-talker Matthew. I have no idea why the squad suddenly tripped up in such stunning fashion ... we just *don't* give up three goals a game anymore. Hopefully this blip won't progress into the full-scale slump which Man United manager Alex Ferguson has been doing everything short of making voodoo dolls to bring about. Who knows, maybe he's tried voodoo too. I wrote and submitted a 250 word answer to the question "Are you the biggest Chelsea fan in the U.S.?" to the Fox Sports World Chelsea Sweepstakes. If selected, i'll win a trip to London next month, tickets to see the blues play Tottenham at Stamford Bridge as well as to a few gala Chelsea events, and a week's stay at the posh Chelsea Village Hotel. Sweet. I quite like my response, although i couldn't figure out whether the entries are being judged or if FSW is just picking one at random. I never win these sort of things, but hey, i can dream.

I finally walked through the credit card refund with the sales manager from Stevens Creek Toyota just now. Christ. I don't know why i'm surprised that it took so much effort to get a car dealer to give me money back. Veronica suspected they were stalling while trying to find a car to coerce me into buying.

I watched a tivoed copy of Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part 1 last week. What a great slapstick gem that film is. I first saw it way back in early high school, and its lowbrow humor (lots of masturbation and sex jokes) was perfect for my adolescent psyche. Watching it now, i'm struck by its vaudevillian roots. Apart from being chock-full of classic comics, including Mel Brooks (obviously), Henny Youngman, Shecky Greene, and Sid Caesar, a lot of the bits (particularly those set in Rome) transcend the storytelling motif of film and bear more resemblance to stage comedy acts.

Roman centurion: Do you know the penalty for a slave that strikes a Roman citizen? [turns to clamoring crowd] Ok, you, you had your hand up first. Man in crowd: Death by torture! Centurion: No. You. Another man in crowd: Crucifixion! Centurion: Wrong. You. Third man in crowd: They shove a living snake up your ass! Centurion: Ah! No, but that's very creative.

I had a fun dinner after the MIPS seminar series at Lavanda in Palo Alto last night. And today being Valentine's Day, i'm taking Veronica to MacArthur Park for another high class din din this evening. She gave me my present yesterday evening, two tickets to see my latest favorite comic Jim Gaffigan at the Palace of Fine Arts in April. Should be hilarious.

What is nachos? Nachos?! It's a tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables. Then what is a burr-eeee-to? Tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables. Then what is a tos-taaaa-da? Tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables. Then what is a ... Look it's all the same shit. Why don't you say a Spanish word and i'll bring you something?