The temperature outside broke 100 today, and is supposed to break 100 again tomorrow. Diego and I are hiding inside, moving very slow, and even with the A/C maxed out, wearing as little as possible. That’s a stylish tropical-print collar for him and gym shorts for me.

I’m as prepped as I’m gonna be for a hearing tomorrow, and the Business of Law is just slow in general right now, so most of the day (at least when I’m not napping) is going into website work. I’d love to show it off to you. Really I would, but it’s not going to happen. The biggest web project of mine for the last couple of years (and probably for many to come) is a homework and class project site for a bunch of local fifth graders and their most-wonderful teacher.

Unlike when I was a kid (paper, books, trudging 100s of yards in SoCal weather, blah blah blah), these 10-year-old learners get their homework assignments served online and do group projects on a restricted-access wiki space.  Their parents see their completed homework assignments as e-mail, and teacher comments and in-class test grades are posted online.  It’s simple to avoid browser compatibility problems (the school itself uses some pretty archaic hardware), but after over a year of watching 10-year-olds bash my code with everything they’ve got, it seems pretty resilient.  From looking at the server history we know some kids are even using iPhones and Wiis to complete their assignments.

More importantly, the teacher is not hauling paper back and forth to be graded, and not getting dinged for going over the school’s ridiculously low photocopying allotments.

So I code and nap and try and avoid the heat, but really have nothing to show you.

A bit of local site-seeing this morning, with breakfast out and some walking at the Zoo, around Balboa Park, and then a stroll through Little Italy while running some errands.  These two were the highlight of the morning (except maybe for a certain jogger) and seemed to be having a blast.

Normally by this time of the year I’d be looking forward to the Triton Invitational Water Polo tournament at UC San Diego.  Four years ago 14 teams participated.  Three years ago the tournament was down to a field of eight teams.  At one point there were five UC teams participating from what were then nine campuses.  Even with Cal  (Berkeley) itself never making the journey, it was always great as an alum and most-of-my-life Californian to be able to see water polo teams from five of the nine campuses competing against each other in some quality match-ups.

Just finally saw this year’s schedule this morning:this year’s tournament is down to five teams, with the host being the only UC present.  No brackets, just each team playing every other team once.  I’m sure there will be some quality games, but the trends are difficult to ignore.  Hard to not see it as just another step on the UC’s ongoing Drive to Mediocrity.

Interesting post at Joe.My.God on preparations in some quarters for quick rushes to the altar should a gap come between stays in the appellate process for Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

I know people who’ve planned their weddings for years.  We took a month (and then four more for the reception).  Strange to now be thinking about windows of opportunity for couples lasting only hours or days.  Stranger still is that I keep flashing to the titular scene in The Great Escape, and wondering how many more we can get through the tunnel before the goons catch on.

Maybe I’ve been neglectful of y’all, truth be told I’ve been having a great time and was just a tad busy to drop back by.  I tried to do a ComicCon post, but I think I’ll let the photos and their captions tell the story for me.  We had a great time and the photos prove it.

Since then there’s been lots of work.   And a new living room set, with photos forthcoming once the lamps arrive and the new print gets back from the framer.  And Randy starts school again next week, which has left me crashing on the website his kids use for homework and collaborative projects (their very own little child-safe wiki), bringing it up to spec from last year’s feedback and expanding into a few new areas.

Then today a very nice federal judge all the way up in San Francisco said some very nice things.  Lots of them actually, written down on 138 pages.  Hopefully that will lead to us being able to attend more fabulous gay weddings at some point in the future.  Everyone should have the right to be a Party B.

So yes, even though Randy’s up at UCLA for the week, Diego and I are doing the happy dance tonight.  We’re having a good life.

Been a bit short on substance around here lately. Muy busy with the work thing, blah, blah, blah, so this is just a little something to help with that whole OMG why am I up this early on a Saturday trauma.

[via Greg Louganis]

At least from our vantage point, the Comic-Con organizers seem to have finally figured out a registration process that makes sense.  We went to the off-site location, showed our IDs and e-mail registrations, and were politely handed our badges.  Twenty-one minutes from parking to putting on the lanyards.

Photos from this year will be going up in this album.  I’ve thrown together a dynamic album of all my Comic-Con shots here for those interested in past years as well.

Got no trouble running around in a speedo on New Year’s Day, but have never done so for Pride, even though the weather in July would certainly seem to be more conducive.  Am I just afraid of the competition, or is it something else?

Checked out a local photo place earlier this week. I’ve been looking for someone who can print in larger formats than my equipment can handle, and they came highly recommended. The guy I spoke with knew his stuff and made a great first impression, not just with his knowledge of the options and issues available, but also with the following notation on his price chart:

We never print on glossy because it’s evil!

Good to see a local business that respects standards. Just uploaded two images for printing; I’ll drop by next week and see if my initial reaction was justified.

Just pondering the word book for a minute.  Trying to figure out what I’m supposed to say now that I’ve just finished reading my second non-book on my Nook.  One novel, one autobiography, and neither bound in paper.  Is reading a book going to become some kind of historic construct with no literal current meaning, like dialing a phone.  I wonder how many people who use cc: on correspondence (whether electronic or dead tree)  have ever even held a piece of carbon paper.  Album seems to be surviving into the digital age despite the decline in vinyl and I guess book can survive in the generic in pretty much the same way.  I guess I’m just a bit curious how long it will take before the kiddies get confused when the see the paper-bound version and wonder how us old-folk ever survived.