Objects of My Desire

I have been covetous.

It started with our printer. I had one from the 90s that no longer connected to anything and another with degraded print quality that could have been cleaned, but I opted to get rid of it instead. In place of those, we got a new HP scanner/printer that operates on our wifi network, too. It's pretty sweet - three computers can scan or print wirelessly.

A few years ago, I went through a similar tech upgrade. I had a Palm Pilot and upgraded to a Sony Clie since I already had a Sony digital camera and could share Memory Stick media between the devices. The Clie has gone by the wayside as it's bigger than an iPod and does a lot less. The camera was state of the art when we got it, but now I realize that I would benefit greatly from image stabilization. Oh, and Panasonic is making one with a stabilized Leica lens and it's waterproof!

On our last trip, we decided not to take any tech with us. We had film cameras (not digital) and no laptops or smart phones or anything. I'm still not ready to pony up for a data plan ($30/mo.) since I'm surrounded by wifi and computers all day. On the other hand, I think I would be more reliable with dates and appointments if I could get a Palm-like device that would fit easily in my pocket. So, it's been suggested that I look into the iPod Touch. I can't justify the price of that without the phone (especially considering it'd be another device to carry). Catch 22 - I'm still thinking this one over. I suspect that either Verizon will have to acquiesce on its smart phone data plan requirement, or I'll have to figure out a viable VOIP solution for the Touch.

Last summer, I built a new computer for music recording and game-playing. That turned out great, and my plan was to use the old computer as a home theater PC (HTPC) for our nice, new television. That old PC is, indeed, old. While it does work, it reminds me of why I pushed to build a new one in the first place. Using it as a HTPC is just frustrating. So, while it's totally impractical, I have had the urge to build a whole new HTPC on the cheap.

Here's another thing - I sold my old Free Agent BMX bike a couple of years ago and scored big. I only decided to sell it because I didn't foresee using it again. Since then, I've had really bad seller's remorse and an urge to ride a BMX bike. Traditional BMX bikes have 20" wheels, while an average mountain bike runs 26" wheels. There have always been 24" BMX bikes (cruisers) and there are a few companies that make 26" BMX bikes, too. Anyhow, I think I've narrowed it down to these:

Haven't even thought about new drums in a while...

Action City Limits

Just kidding - I'm talking some ACL here, but the Austin variety. I've always liked that show, and it doesn't matter who is playing; I'm usually in for at least a few songs. When it's a group I actually like, it's easily my favorite live music show.

A short list of bands that I think would be perfect in that venue:

• Radiohead (loved the free webcast show from the end of their last tour)
• Portishead (almost as fun to watch as they are to listen to - the Live @ Roseland DVD will suffice)
• Slint (would love to get a close-up view of the drumming and strumming)

Here are some of the bands they've had recently that impressed me:

St. Vincent
The Decemberists
Arcade Fire

And you can find lots of older footage on YouTube. I recommend it.





Here's the very first episode. Awesome.

Terrorism Begins at Home

Watching Good Morning America whilst burning off some anxiety this morning, I saw the story of an older politician and his young girlfriend. Apparently, things didn't work out between them, so he had her killed, then went to a cemetery and slit his own wrists. Tragic story, but missing a key component: it wasn't reported as terrorism.

There were warning signs, apparently;  a pretty clear agenda by this psychopath, and he carried them out even further than anyone would have suspected. Next, this horrible story is carried nationwide on the major networks, which reminds us that anyone can snap at any time. Classic terrorism.

We don't hear about the heroic, coalition-building efforts of a senator that passes a droll bill to curb corporate pollution, but we do hear every bit of information on a politician who killed his girlfriend. It's not a shock to me that people in other countries think we're crazy. We kill our own fairly frequently. Our representatives are just as dangerous as their constituents.


Somehow, we're able to live with street gangs in our towns. Police do their best to curtail gang impact, but in general, we just know it's a part of our society that probably won't go away. On occasion, gang activity spills into the civilian world, and someone innocent dies. I've not seen the same fervor toward eradicating gangs as I have around "terrorism". In fact, we hardly ever see gang activity equated with terrorism, and it's the very definition. The main difference is that the Latin Kings have not openly stated that they want to bring down the U.S., I guess.

We go through weeks or months where a neighborhood is terrorized by a mugger or rapist before he's caught. That's terrorism.

Gacy, Kaczynski, McVeigh, Klebold, Kazmierczak, Rader (and plenty more) - all domestic terrorists. Worse yet, like with the politician, we see every grisly detail of the murders, the murderers' lives, and how helpless each victim was. Terrorism depends a lot on PR. 

I guess this post came up after hearing the debate on whether profiling should be allowed for security measures. What would that profile be? Would it include "pasty white nerd"? How is that even remotely American?

It's Getting Ugly Around Here

I'm a proponent of innovation, but the term "crossover" makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If you design something new, or even something to specifically fill a niche, that's great. If you try to shoehorn two existing things into each other arbitrarily, it can get ugly.

Such is the case with cars. Driving in to work today, I saw a BMW X6. Yikes. The vaunted German auto manufacturer was never known for its outlandish or innovative design; more for their top-notch driving experience and relatively conservative look. The X5 was innovative back when the SUV was still a truck that you could stand to drive for more than 20 miles. It offered luxury and stability in a larger package.


The X6 follows this new trend of genre-busting, but to unfortunate results. It's ugly. It's a BMW hatchback, a la the Gremlin, the Aztek, or the Crosstour. That's right, Honda's in the game, too. Take a standard Accord, make it about 10 inches taller, add a clunky-looking hatchback, and you've got a Crosstour. Or a Venza.

To be fair, the recent crossover crop started with Toyota. Credit where it's due. This one looks like a snubbed and shortened Highlander, which looked like a neutered 4Runner in the first place. There must be a market for these cars or BMW and Honda wouldn't be racing to produce their own, but it's disheartening.


Maybe we're working toward a convergence, and "crossover" is only the intermediary step. Maybe all cars will be essentially the same in the future - one centralized, evolved design. Maybe Apple should look into this...

Nuggets and Tidbits

I meant to post this yesterday, but I was actually proud of my fellow drivers on the way to work yesterday. The roads sucked, and yet for my brief stretch of highway, everyone just slowed down and moved ahead. There were no accidents that I saw and only one douchebag speeding along in his Hummer. Kudos.

On the one hand, I like cross-country skiing. On the other hand, I am pretty tired of shoveling snow.

A group of Internet pals embarked on an exercise exercise a few months back, and while I had intended to join in and track my push-ups, that ended for me as soon as it started. I did make it into the gym three times this week where I ran for 20 minutes and did 50 crunches each time. Starting slow while I'm under a deadline at work; I'll turn it up when that passes.

Side benefit of working out - I was on the treadmill right by the window when a coyote cruised by in search of some half-frozen carrion. It looked like a smaller German Shepherd. Awesome.