June 12, 2008
Asus Eee Pc redux
USB keyboards and mice seem to work without a problem.
June 9, 2008
Sunset over the Charles
June 8, 2008
KatrinaRitaVille Express
KatrinaRitaVille Express is in Boston by Boylston T stop on Sunday and Monday to illustrate FEMA's failure.
For more information:
June 7, 2008
Ryan's Birthday Party
Update: The party was at a laser tag arena. It was a lot of fun. Though running around in the dark was inadvertantly painful at least to my knees and shins.
June 5, 2008
Bonus!
And to think this is the first time I've been here without someone driving. The nice thing about being clueless is that the world has many more welcome surprises that way.
The food didn't disappoint. The garden burger frozen and adequate, but then hand-carved garlic fries and crisp lettuce and tomato on the top were fantastic. Even better was listening to the two men next to me handicapping the democratic Veepstakes like they would a racing form. Clearly, my kind of bar.
Asus Eee PC

This might fit the bill on both counts. It'd be a little easier if the keyboard wasn't built for hobbits, but it's not too bad.
Pictures will be coming...
Update: Yes, it's that small. Sadly, difficult, but not impossible to use with my big hands. I can only imagine it will be worse for my Dad. I can't wait to give it to him and watch him suffer. (Does that make me a bad son? Or just passive-aggressive?)
June 3, 2008
Book Reviews
Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine"
Friedman's neo-cons -
Crisis, exploitation, greed.
Perhaps, Keynesian?
James N. Frey's books on writing
Remember: premise,
character driven stories
for damned good novels.
Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys"
A modern fable,
entertains as it teaches.
The old become new.
William Landay's "The Strangler"
Boston terrified:
memorable characters,
weak plot - adequate.
Robert W. Cabell's "The Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde"
Cliches, every page.
Vanity press - no surprise.
Dear God - Don't read this.
May 30, 2008
May 29, 2008
Technology and Customer Service...

We rush ordered the TV from Philips, paying extra to get it there right away. Unfortunately, they sent it to the CEO's home rather than the office. We had to jump through four days of hoops to get UPS to send to the right address.
When we finally got it, we opened the box to find a beautiful TV, but no screws, mounting brackets, remote or power cable. We called the manufacturer. The remotes were back ordered, so we can't get that any time soon. They did have the rest. But they can't rush order it to us, because of company policy. We've already paid for that, but that doesn't matter. The power cord is different than the TV, I guess.
We complained and they said they could put it in expedited, which will get it up to 3-5 days. Of course, that would assume that they wrote our name right on the box. UPS couldn't deliver it (but somehow the post office was able to deliver the post card telling us that UPS couldn't deliver to us, even though the postcard had the same information on it). A quick phone call. They now had our company name and they're ready to go.
Three more days later, the problem is that there was no suite number. There's no suite in our address only a floor. Sure, the company name is listed in the lobby and by the elevators on our floor, but that's enough reason not to deliver our package.
Today, we finally got our package. Power cord, but still no remote. (Still on back order, I assume.) Unfortunately, powering up the TV, we can't get past the initial set-up screen without a remote. Wouldn't it be nice if the idiot on support that we talked to initially let us know that at the same time she was arguing that we didn't need a power cord for the expensive TV that we just bought?)
So today's recommendations are not buying Philips or using UPS if you need something.
May 27, 2008
FW: It's raining,it's pouring...
May 26, 2008
Train ride to NYC through Conn.
May 25, 2008
May 23, 2008
May 22, 2008
May 12, 2008
May 6, 2008
Spring Has Come, Klennex Stocks a Good Bet
Gotta love the pollen.
At least one good thing is that next week, I'll be going to the allergist.
I can't wait to see if there's anything that he or she can do for me other than telling me to suck it up.
On the other hand, the sun and the flowers are a nice change from the grey and the rain.