Interesting
I've been reading the Johns website since I found out about it a month or so ago, just found the Working Girls site this morning. Makes for some interesting reading.
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January 29, 2008
January 28, 2008
Funny
I found this at SEB, but it's so funny I'm going to post it on my bloggy thing as well. Even if you're easily offended you should watch this, it's very amusing:
EDIT: and if you need an additional chuckle, go to the actual yoo-toob page and read the comments.
Opportunity
I’ve never gotten into the American Idol phenomenon and outside of a few snippets I’ve never watched an entire episode. I think for me, and I suspect most people, the most entertaining aspect of the series is the auditions where you get to see hopefuls try their luck before the judges. For the most part the cut scenes in the teaser commercials are more than enough to amuse me and I don’t feel a need to subject myself to a full hour of it. But for some reason one evening when Mitsy was at school I found myself sitting on the sofa and watching American freaking Idol.
I admit that since this segment was hosted in Dallas I was curious to see what our “home” crowd had baked up to throw onto the national stage. At this point I remember very little of what I saw, except for this guy:
What can you say, he makes an impression. However, the biggest impression for me was how thankful this gentleman was to receive the opportunity to audition, even after he didn’t make it. It suddenly made the outbursts of all those other untalented, self-absorbed cretins less amusing and more truly sad. This fellow should make them all feel ashamed. My goodness, they all got the chance free of charge to sing before the entire country. What an amazing opportunity that is. And it made me wonder, personally, how many times in life do we look at opportunity and label it catastrophe, or become angered at what we perceive as other’s shortcomings, instead of using the opportunity given us to become better.
January 25, 2008
Ai r Supply
I love how they come out of the wood work the day after the Apple cabal makes its big announcements on whatever day they do it. It’s almost like Oscar or Emmy day-after-ness, except people come to me asking what I thought or how excited I am about whatever overpriced, Geek-status, wonder gadget they’ve shown to the swarming latte-washed masses. I always have to catch myself so I don’t give them my disdainful, uncaring look or roll my eyes or express how little I care. Such was the case with the Air Book, so after having to tell a few eager beavers, somewhat falsely, that yeah it looked really cool (which seems to satisfy them), but yeah don’t know when I’ll get one, I decided I should actually look at the thing.
I watched the little video of some guy telling me how great it will all be, just in order to kind of get a feel for what the laptop has to offer. It is nice to see that Apple is responding to the need, and I’m sure their rabid community is in agreement, for an ultra-portable travel laptop. As funny as it seems, even small laptops are a real pain in the ass to travel with and if you have to do it with any real frequency you find that you want something as small as possible. The Airbook appears to do this, and I applaud Apple for looking at what already exists and improving the design. Now most companies don’t have a Super Bowl Sunday to promote their new products, and I’m not really sure what every ultra-portable laptop out there has to offer, but I like what Apple is pitching with this one. I secretly bet that you could find a nice PC equivalent with the needed features available elsewhere, and much less the cost, though the AirBook starts off at like $1,700 and that’s not too shabby.
I’ve had the most experience with the Sony VAIO brand of ultra-portables and they’re a real pain in the ass to work with. Yes a small keyboard is problematic, but not killer, I’m glad Apple went balls out and put what looks to be a nice sized keyboard, but to me the real issues involve all the adapters you have to plug into the thing to make it office usable. No getting around that I guess, and this is an issue with all of the ultra-portable I’ve ever had to deal with.
The propaganda film I watched touts the wireless capability of the thing, but I have to tell you that this doesn’t make much of an impression. They say, with some confidence, that you don’t need an optical drive. You can use the wireless to use a remote drive on your other computer to install software and even reload the OS. Use the wi-fi to back your data up, and of course use it to watch movies purchased/rented from iTunes instead of DVDs! If you rely on wi-fi you probably know how unreliable it is, and Bluetooth isn’t much better. On my MacBook Pro I had to resync the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse so much that I went back to USB. So I’m curious to see how well it really works, but I’m dubious.
Bottom line, if I had to do a lot of traveling I think this would a great option to consider and probably a must have if I were to really prefer OS X over XP. I don’t think I’d go with this as a replacement for the office or home computer, but then these types of laptops aren’t generally marketed in that direction.
January 23, 2008
Best WoW Forum Thread Ever!
January 22, 2008
Not Surprising Really
Many in certain circles would not break stride in their daily routine, so unsurprising is this development, but others further from the epicenter might pause to give thought. In fact the bigger surprise may be that it took this long, I mean a man can only live beneath his desired comfort level for so long.
As a result, disgusted at his current forced economic status, Blue Cat has at long last decided to put that four (six) year college education to good use and pursue employment. This picture was taken mere minutes before heading out to “beat the pavement” in hopes of landing his first job, I think the tie will make up for any discrepancies in his resume.
I apologize for the dark photo. I really don't know what I'm doing.
January 17, 2008
Disturbing Trend in Functionality
I couldn’t tell you why, nor can I pinpoint any changes either mundane or supernatural. Life tends to go along as a series of events and trends and the alternation of these occurrences tend to be obscure. I recall, a long time ago, that a friend of mine had a program for his 8086 XT computer that mapped out a “biorhythm” depending on your age and birth date. Essentially it mapped out a sine wave that flowed with an unknown frequency but purported to indicate the peaks and valleys of life, so-to-speak. I’ve sense heard that such things are nonsense, a pseudoscience, but sometimes I wonder, because I just don’t have any response as to the sudden difficulty I’ve had keeping my fly zipped up. Really, it’s never been an issue before, but I think we can all agree that this is a situation that can have far reaching and unforeseen implications…if you think on it. Especially in a business environment, and especially if you wear boxers. And I don’t know how familiar you are with boxers, but they don’t always come with buttons that allow you to secure the fly hole. So you can reasonably see, by mapping out the possibilities, that this is a reasonably serious situation.
Eternal vigilance is then, I guess, the only counter to nefarious and mysterious alterations to one’s biorhythm’s of happenstance, or that illusive ebb and flow of the life force.
January 16, 2008
Zune Zune
I have confessions to make, and they have been a long time coming. I am not a Woot.com virgin, no matter what discussions you may have been a part of or what information you overheard while scrounging for pennies. I purchased a 30 GB Zune media player a month or so before Christmas, and then I subsequently purchased a case in which to put it. I bought two, one for Mitzy, mainly because I then got the bonus prize for free, they called it an accessory kit I believe. Mitzy has resolutely ignored the one I bought for her, and this is just more evidence of her cat-like nature.
I’ve been happy with the purchase, though much mental wrangling went into the decision. My desire for a media/mp3 player has been drawn out for a lot of years, ever since I first heard about the iPod and its glorious 40 GB hard drive, which at the time cost $400 or $500. It was way out of my league, but as time marched on I was determined not to settle for one of the “others”. The logic was that if I was going to get one I was going to get the best one out there. Over the last two years or so I’ve managed to get myself into the fiscal environment where I could entertain ideas of squandering money on needless items, such as media players, but I found myself hesitant to lay down the big greenbacks for an iPod. “Not something I need”, was the mainstay of my indecision.
Then came along Woot.com and their offer of a refurbished 30 GB Zune for around $80, and I decided to let go some of my egotism and tight-wadded-ness. Like I said earlier, I’ve been happy with the purchase, the thing does what I need it to do and there’s more then enough room for my entire collection of mp3’s, which ended up weighing in at a disappointing 13 GB. The screen is clear and bright, the playback is good enough to my clogged and damaged ears, and the battery life has been quite lasting.
I was at first disappointed by the shuffle, as it seemed to get stuck on certain artists and would never venture out to those that had less volume on the drive, but after adding a few more G’s of music it seemed to bump out of that malaise and shuffle in more shuffling fashion.
January 15, 2008
Into The Sunset
The Cowboys lost on Sunday. As usual I forgot about the game and only tuned in right before the end of the 1st half. I got to see the second Cowboy’s touchdown and then the Giants answer with 45 seconds remaining. I had a feeling at that moment that the game would not go as Dallas fans might want.
I’ve been disappointed with Dallas professional teams over the last couple of years, and this includes hockey, basketball and football. I’m not and have rarely ever been an avid sports fan, but I admit I enjoy watching the local teams do well. Hell, I’ll still cheer for Baylor, even though the poor bastards shouldn’t be in the Big 12. It seems that our teams have been capable of putting together great regular seasons, but then unable to take their game to the next level when it comes playoff time. I wonder, since this seems to affect all of our pro teams, if it’s a cultural thing here in Dallas? I know the players, by and large, are not from the area, but most of them live here (I would imagine anyway), and I wonder if there’s “something in the water”?
And I really think that’s what happened to the Cowboys on Sunday, they couldn’t elevate their game, they couldn’t inspire themselves and play with the urgency that a playoff game demands. The talent was the same, the coaching was them same, and while that was good enough for the regular season it wasn’t near good enough for the playoffs. Is it something about the DFW area that gave them the “pre-ordained” bug, or did they just choke? Because on one hand I can see that we have a young quarterback, and a first year coach, so I don’t find it too hard to say that maybe they just weren’t quite ready for the big show. Guess we’ll find out next year.