School of Rock is fun, fun, fun. Jack Black, annoying in so many roles, was born to play this never-quite-made-it rock-obsessed loafer who forms a rock band with some school kids. Joan Cusack, whilst not remotely believeable as an actual high-school principal, provides some fun scenes and a sexy will-they, won’t-they aside for Black’s character throughout the film. The kids, clearly crucial to the success of the film, are well-cast and act with skill and talent.

I feel a bit like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, but without the good looks, the riches or the sexy female companion. I’m now enclosed in a room on the top (26th) floor of the Holiday Inn on Van Ness Ave., and it’s much nicer than the motel I stayed in last night. The only problem is the altitude; as Gere said ‘[I stay here because] … it’s the best’. I asked for a high room too because of the view - it is fabulous (see this photo). Like his character, though, I’m scared of heights. What a combination.

So the Redbook residency is over, and after a little dance around the Bay Area this morning involving Best Western, Hertz, and BART, I’ve rid myself of my car (minimum hassle, especially considering I dented the bumper), and am sitting in a shabby motel a few blocks off the dodgier end of Market Street in San Francisco. I’m none too impressed - despite the seemingly ubiquitous free wireless - simply because the area doesn’t feel that great. To that end, I’ve booked myself in a (seemingly much nicer, but also more expensive) Holiday Inn from tomorrow. Another hard lesson in ‘you get what you pay for’.

… was a little less thrilling than I’d hoped. I felt a ripple pass across the room very rapidly, accompanied by a low rumbling sound and a few creaks. You couldn’t mistake it for anything else, but it was very undramatic. Nothing stopped working, nothing fell down. Not quite the next big one.

Update 2007-03-01 21:51 PST: It appears I was nowhere near the epicentre. The San Francisco Chronicle has covered the quake, which was centered around the city of Lafayette (for which the Wikipedia entry is already updated - astonishing). The USGS also has some technical data on their website. It’s impressive that I could feel it almost 30 miles away across the bay in Mountain View.

Things are still ticking along nicely here in San Jose. Am currently trying to plan what to do in my last week here, which will be a holiday. Probably some time in San Francisco, possibly some time in Vegas (flying there, I’ve given up on the idea of driving through Death Valley without a companion), then back to San Jose for a few days before flying home.

On a mostly unrelated note, went to a cinema the other day which was obviously using digital projectors for the adverts. This is the first time I’ve seen them used in a cinema, and they are without doubt the way forward - no flickers and no crackles. Of course, cinemas still suffer from the sticky-popcorn-noisy-teenager syndrome, but that’s a different problem.

Well, I’ve been in the Bay Area for nearly 3 weeks, with another 2 still to go on my Redbook project and then 1 week of vacation (which I’m now regretting not making longer - too late - my plane tickets are non-refundable). The Redbook is thoroughly enjoyable and there are some talented and interesting people on the team which makes for a worthwhile experience.

The apartment here is beginning to feel a bit like home - I even found myself referring to it as ‘home’ this afternoon. It’s interesting how easy it is to uproot and move your life elsewhere for a while (keeping data on the network has a surprising amount to do with this). I’d quite happily live in this area permanently. The standard of living is without question higher than in the UK (despite the typically variable US food), and the only thing that’d hold me back would be missing my friends and family in the UK, which I would find hard. I’d also miss the opportunity to go to London so often, which I love too (San Francisco is the closest equivalent here).

Went for a trip up to Napa today (through downtown SF, across the Golden Gate, around to Napa via Sausalito, then back down the eastern side of the bay via Oakland). It was a beautifully sunny day, so I took plenty of photos with the new Sony. Sunny weather always makes photography easy, even for amateurs like me, but I have to say I’m quite pleased with the results. You can see the latest photos in my Flickr photostream.

I am now the proud owner of a Sony Cybershot DSCW-55, which I’ll use for the remainder of my trip around the Bay Area to take some photos, after my Canon Powershot failed. I got it from Best Buy for the bargain price of $240 including a 1GB memory card. Not bad for a 7.1MP camera, especially given that current exchange rates almost halve that price when converting to pounds.

Advantages:

• Easy-to-use Sony design - the build quality seems pretty good too. Normally I avoid Sony in the same way I avoid Apple - I just don’t understand the fuss (sorry Apple fans). This time, the bargain price swayed it for me.

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It appears that my problems with my Powershot may not be the result of mishandling after all; I’m a victim of the dreaded E18 error. This appears to be a design flaw in Canon compact cameras that they refuse to acknowledge the existence of (the fact that there’s an extensive Wikipedia page for the problem says it all). Numerous solutions have been suggested; I’ve tried taking the camera apart a little to clean out around the lens but got nervous and screwed it back together again. My last attempt will be to buy some compressed air in a can and try that. By the sounds of things, if Canon try to charge for repairs, I may just have to pay up. But this, combined with the fact that it appears they won’t honour their warranties worldwide (which means I cannot really buy a 400D here) means that my opinion of Canon has plummeted from their previous record with me.

Katy, our family’s cat, died of cancer today. I wish I had been able to be at home. She wasn’t the brightest cat ever, and she was very nervous, but she sure was beautiful and I’ll miss her a lot. Good-bye, Katy.