We've encountered a roadblock in updating our iPhones to V2.0 of the software. Updating the iTunes to 7.7 goes fine, if slowly. Updating the iPhone to 2.0 goes very slowly but continuously until the phone is reset to factory settings. Then the iPhone (no longer "Galen's iPhone" in the iTunes display) tries to connect to iTunes to reactivate.  The attempt to connect to the iTunes Store times out. Going to the iTunes store for other purposes works.  But we've gotten a timeout on the iPhone connection for over a half hour. So, 1 dead phone for a while. If you're [...]

How long has it been that mornings in Noe Valley are tainted with just barely detectable smoke? Is there a fireplace going near-by?  So early in the morning? After a short, irritated hack of a cough, I remember. The smoke from the Big Basin Complex fires -- or from one of the other 1000 fires in California -- drops to the ground overnight. Red sun at morning, firefighters take warning. During the day, especially with the afternoon off-shore breezes, there's no trace of the inferno. But, it in the morning, every morning, the smoke's back.  The worst effect on our [...]

"[Senator Jesse] Helms regularly clashed with Bill Clinton, and once said the president "better have a bodyguard" if he visited North Carolina. He later said the comment was meant in jest." (Wall Street Journal 7/5/08)"Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade school classes that teach our children that CANNIBALISM, WIFE-SWAPPING, and the MURDER of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior." -- Senator Jesse Helms campaign mailer "Both presidential candidates this year are calling for an end to what they say are politics of division and vitriol that have intensified in Washington over the past quarter-century. "In [...]

Feeling old(er)?   Enjoy Newsday's 2008 version of Born to be Wild.  Wistfully nostalgic. Kinda sad. Very fun.  We were spoiled, pushy wild, But now we're bored, tubby and mild. Sit in your chair and rock to Bored... Tubby... Mild!

My condition started a week ago Tuesday about 8:15 am when redozdachs dropped me off at the celebration van my co-religionists had set up across Polk Street from San Francisco City Hall.  I looked around at the crowds of smiling, cheering people and started grinning. As I talked with fellow Unitarian Universalists handing out wedding cupcakes to everyone on City Hall steps, I kept grinning.  When Ed came by to pick up two blue wristbands saying "To Marriage" -- our congregation's "something blue" gift to newlyweds -- I grinned ever more broadly. Watching couples walk out of City Hall, waving their [...]

My church's stand for marriage equality was the lead story on tonight's 5 pm KTVU news.  The story appropriately spent most of the time interviewing Don and David, a couple of 30 years who are getting legally married at City Hall Tuesday. My 15 minutes of fame was actually more like 4 seconds. But, I am very happy to see a church's stand for equality highlighted. Sorry about the lead-in commercial, but here's the video.

This entry will be used to communicate the latest updates on the celebrations planned for June 17, 2008 by the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco. Check back throughout the day on Tuesday! Celebrations start at 8 am at City Hall where we give out wedding gifts and wedding (CUP)cakes.  Ministers will be at our Celebration Central to marry couples for free! Church Members and clergy will be cheering on couples until 7:30 pm.Don Williams and David Jones, "long-time companions" of 30 years , will be married by Senior Minister Rev. Gregory Stewart inside City Hall at 2 pm.Get [...]