Apr 16
Apr 16
I’m officially on vacation, but I still can’t stop myself from scheduling my day. I need to clean house, take the dog for a walk, and finish the laundry.
Some where in all of that, I’ll try and write an interesting post…
Apr 11
I’ve been watching the first season of Stargate-1 (SG-1) and find it necessary to share the things I’ve learned:
I don’t like men who wax their eyebrows. Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) has perfect eyebrows. It weirds me out. He also has wonderfully manicured hands. I don’t mind that so much.
I like Richard Dean Anderson (Lt. Col. Jack O’Neil) better without the mullet.
Everybody on all planets speak English. On the other hand, they write in archaic scripts which needs a philologist/anthropologist/archeologist to decipher. Go figure.
Dr. Frasier is the real boss.
Teal’c should be banned from wearing pseudo cowboy gear with red silk bandanas. He looked like a refugee from a Village People reunion tour. (Oops, also from a later season - I’ve been watching SG-1 on Sci-Fi channel as well)
When a babe blows pink dust at your man, grab a weapon.
Be very, very careful about the off-worlders you have sex with; corollary, don’t date Samantha Carter or you’ll die. Actually the corollary comes from later episodes, but you gotta wonder why she doesn’t have any men in her life.
When unsure what emotion you are supposed to display, scowl (Teal’c), wrinkle your forehead (Daniel) or come up with a sarcastic quip (O’Neil).
No matter what action SG-1 takes, it will mess something up. Sometimes beyond fixing. Which is actually impressive - I mean most shows would get it fixed within the hour. That would be why they call them story arcs, I guess.
Apr 11
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Apr 10
There is no mortgage crisis. What there is, is a set of incorrect beliefs. Here are mine:
- A personal home is not an investment. It never has been and the the past decade is an anomaly.
- Everybody deserves a place to live, however:
- Not everybody can afford to own a house.
- Nobody deserves to own a house.
- Live within your means. Buying a $300K house when you make $30K a year is NOT living within your means (real-life couple I saw on new the other night).
- Don’t enter into contracts you don’t understand.
- Don’t blame your stupidity on entering into a contract you didn’t understand on the other party.
- The only person looking out for you is you. Hello! The mortgage company, bank and realtor are all making money off of you! Why should you give them your unquestioning trust?
- People who make bad decisions should receive the consequences that those bad bring.
- The government should not interfere in contractual transactions. If there is a question of facts, the courts can handle it. In other words - no bailout!
Apr 09
If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results. - Patton
I saw this quote today and it reminded me of a History Channel show I saw. It was about D-Day and a group who were parachuted in to destroy a particular big gun installation over one of the beaches.
When they fought their way to the installation, they found out that the gun wasn’t there; it had been moved miles inland. But here’s the cool thing. The soldiers’ orders weren’t “go to this bluff and destroy the gun there”. Their orders were “go destroy this gun”. So they packed up their stuff and moved inland to destroy the gun.
This made an impression on me because I live in a world where just enough is considered OK. A world where “nobody told me that” is considered a good excuse. I like the simplicity of it. They were supposed to destroy the gun. The gun wasn’t where they thought it was, so they went to find and destroy it.
Our basic, personal principles work the same way, don’t they?
Apr 08
My DH is a ham freak. The electronic kind of ham, not the pig kind. He’s returning to it after years and is discovering the joys of open source software which is available for hams (hammers?). He’s also been mastering Google SketchUp for use on his building projects.
Our conversation went something like this:
DH: This open-source software is great! Why even buy software anymore?
Me: Well for most people’s uses it isn’t really necessary. That’s why I didn’t even bother to put MS Office on my laptop - I can get by with Google Docs or OpenOffice if needed.
DH: I don’t think we should buy any more Microsoft stuff. We don’t need it!
Aaah, the joys that comes when a neophyte realizes there is a world beyond Microsoft….
Apr 04
I’m eligible for a phone upgrade in two weeks which I’m going to take advantage of. I know, it means selling my soul for another 2 years to Cingular/ ATT/ WhateverTheHellTheyCallThemselves, but I’m one of the few who’ve had wonderful customer service and connection experiences with them, so I don’t mind.
My current phone is a Samsung x507, which I like, but I really want a camera phone. I like the idea of being able to vblog on the go and send photos right to my Evernote account.
What I like about it:
- Size
- Clamshell - can’t accidentally dial
- Sturdy - as it is used by someone who regularly drops phones.
If I still lived in Seattle and was away from the office a lot I could justify a blackberry or an iPhone. Right now, I’m almost always within 10 minutes of my home computer, so accessing email/calendars isn’t a necessary feature. I also have an iPod, so music isn’t an issue either. When I do need information I text Google, which works pretty well. In fact I do text quite a bit and use SMS as a reminder for appointments. It also needs bluetooth. I use my cell phone as a work number, so this is essential.
It would be neat if I could take short videos as well, kind of like a phone version of the Flip.
It looks like my choices are these:
Anyone have any suggestions or opinions about these phones?
