Bugwatch ’08 (Day 97)

 

GREAT NEWS EVERYBODY!!!

I DON’T HAVE BUGS!!!! 

The Exterminator came by for a second time and checked the place out again.  I wasn’t home, so Jeff took care of him and everything it might’ve involved.  After two visits, I think we can confidently rule out bugs in my apartment.  And if that wasn’t enough, he sprayed around the place so if there was anything, they’re currently dying in the cracks and floorboards. 

Someone suggested moths to me the other day since my shirt was all sorta bitten up in a weird way, but I don’t think so because it was a cotton sweater.   Apparently they usually eat wool, not cotton. 

Meanwhile, I’ve been staying at the apartment and while I still itch, I don’t have any bites that look like bugbites.  The itching now is because I think I have eczema.  But that’s okay because every week I always get one ailment (last week it was a stye in my left eye and I had to wear glasses to work.  When that went away I got one in my right eye).

My ailment of the day is a continuation of being sick this past weekend.

 

The Air Around The Mac

I gotta admit…I’m thinking about that Macbook Air. All the reviews that I read say non-encouraging things. But am I the only one that’s willing to invest in apples vision? This is built to not only be the easiest computer to use with the most features available for that ease. But this is supposed to disconnect you from physical wires as much as possible, while testing the limits of how wireless you can go. The thought of incorporating as much wireless into my life as possible as long as it comes to what I will use in an average life routine (that is: pictures, music, information, files, etc). It’s set up to remove you from the wires everywhere -that alone is worth at least 500 bucks to me (I hate wires with quite a large amount of disgust, while at the same time there’s something so magic-like about being wireless (minus the cancer)).

So in preliminary thoughts and day-dreaming, I came up with what I still seem to think can be a great plan. I would buy the $1800 80 gig version, with 1.8ghz and a few other necessary additions (running me up to about a little over $2000) and then in time, see how money goes, with the plan to more importantly get the new under-the-radar product that apple announced and nobody seems to have mentioned on any pages that the actual potential for combining these things (cause the only people who write these things are geeks that think they really need all those gizmos attached -around this time I begin to picture a computer as being nothing more than one big clunky converter like the ones you bring with you on trips across Europe -one big universal heap of junk). The said product is called Time Capsule, and what this baby does is that for a mere $500 bucks, you can get a terabyte of storage space in a server grade hard drive that you place on your desk like the box in Sneakers (I left a message on your voicemail…’). One Terabyte of storage is where you put all…ALL… your data, information, etc -music, files, artlicles, pictures, projects, etc. It will be a beauty of storage and the kind of stuff you won’t need on your vacations (okay music maybe, but this is where you don’t forget your ipod). Then, in addition to holding a 1000 gigabytes of data, the Time Capsule also has a built in 802.11n ( n!!!!) wireless router. Thus, your time capsule is your black box of life. Your Macbook air is simply the holy grail delivering it’s blood. No, but seriously, think about it. You’ve got all your programs of itunes, photoshop, mozilla, winzip, office, full-tilt pokerroom, etc. all on your 80 gig harddrive, processed through a core 2 duo on a beauty of a screen that turns on right when you open it, and what jobs called their BEST KEYBOARD EVER. Have we all overlooked the simple fact that your sense of touch is completely neglected on most other machines, but apple has gone and come out with the most thought out ergonomic plan for your sense of touch to date? Okay, that aside, this is a wireless computer that is also the fastest on the market when combined with the these facts: one it on the OS leopard X -the fastest, easiest to use, stylish system, two it’s getting the internet through 11n, 3-4x faster than the 11g standard most of us are using now, three, it’s light and not cumbersome and you hold it and you want it, and the screen you can stare at for hours cause it’s pretty to look at (like one of those graphic novel films) and the keyboard works with you, anticipating you and you appreciate that. And more though and perhaps the most tempting, nerve-racking thing about the entire mess of it all…is that…that…s…s…d…drive looks so damn enticing.

Let me explain. Since computers began, the people have been debating on how to make it run faster -more ram, more ghz, more processing, and in these attempts to speed the machine up, the thing that’s lagged behind the most, despite great advances in itself, is the hard drive. This magnetic strip reading a spinning disc has been the bastion of possible accidents, diseases, and just plain breakdowns while all the other processes that could be sped up and made to be more efficient have accomplished their goals to a certain extent.

[ I have no idea how i got that font so big like that. I accidentally hit some double-keys I guess but can’t risk trying to undo it for fear of making it worse. (And damn, I’m gettin’ tired.) ]

If the computer I just spoke about was attached to an SSD drive for all its programs (ie itunes, mozilla/safari/ie, office, photoshop, email, etc, then loaded files from the internet or the time capsule, you would see the fastest moving, easiest to use, most pleasing to use computer that was possible at this juncture in time.

And that sounds good to me for about 2 years (the average time needed til an upgrade is necessary)

Now I have to see it and test it. This was all just hopeful speculation.

Write more posts?

One thing I like to do during the workday is to print out an article from the NY Times, (any 3page article is usually good), fold it up into my back pocket, and stroll into the back stall for the only true peace and quiet one finds in life. I don’t want to get into the details of my relationship with porcelain and plumbing and how we’re in the 21^st century and still using something called toilet paper (I mean c’mon! Isn’t everyone looking for something new to invent? Here it is! WE NEED A REPLACEMENT FOR TOILET PAPER!)

 

I read pretty random articles. Today I read about how the U.S. is beginning to implement cold-war tactics to fight terrorism. A few weeks ago I read something on how there’s a majority of people in prison with abnormal names (like the song A Boy Named Sue) hence people with uncommon names may be more likely to commit crimes (watch out for Rocketship Tobasco Stallone!). Once I read an article on how all of life is someone else’s hobby (like The Sims).

 

I’ve got a whole stack next to my desk of random articles waiting to be read. And unless I start buying bulk Ex-Lax, I probably won’t get to them all. But here’s some of the titles just to give you a taste:

 

Your Child’s Disorder May Be Yours, Too –This article is about how, say, if your kid’s diagnosed with autism, maybe you have a bit of it too.

 

Flying Humans, Hoping to Land With No Chute – This is about some guy who has this gliding parachuting suit so instead of falling out of a plane, he glides. He eventually wants to be able to glide right to the ground without deploying his chute.

 

The Power of Green –This is an in-depth article from about a year ago on the ramifications of green-thinking. I’ve been unable to finish it despite several attempts (but at least I’m not throwing the paper away).

 

Dark Nights, Sharp Pens –This is an article on graphic novelist Art Spiegelman, who wrote the book Maus (one of my favorites, one of my heroes).

 

Sailing With Few Frills or Inhibitions –This is an article on sailing. I have no connection to sailing whatsoever, but I like the idea of having a tan all the time. I also like the Peter Allen song I Could’ve Been A Sailor about a guy doing whatever it is he does in life, but hey, he could’ve been a sailor and had a completely different life.

 

 

In my next life, I want to have one of these.

Pile Of 8 (3/8): Matt Pond PA

You thought I forgot about this Pile of 8 thing, didn’t you? Well, I didn’t. I just suffer from a lack of focus.

But I got home today and despite having alot of things to do (watch Matrix Reloaded, read the article on Apple in FORTUNE magazine), I decided I had to write this entry. Don’t ask me why. Okay, here it goes.

To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised by Matt Pond. I know we say we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I did anyway (but that’s because I appreciate good album art (I’ll listen to shitty music if the album art is good (see Asia)). Anyway, the cover (see above) seemed to be saying ‘sleep with me, I recorded an album’. So I didn’t expect much. But Jeff mentioned in passing if I’d given it a listen, and we all know I more-or-less trust Kim’s musical opinion. So while washing dishes I put it on (there was alot to wash (I made guacamole (see previous post)).

The first song –Last Light– is unoffensive (as is the whole album) enough to be enjoyable, but works well as a bridge to the second track which I actually quite liked. People Have A Way has an 80’s trip rock sound that works and maybe it’s because I’d been listening to David Bowie earlier and Modern Love and Lets Dance had been playing that incestual (not a word) beat that you realize you like for some reason, despite feeling like you shouldn’t.

There’s some good songs here. Honestly (the 5th track) and it’s lyrics ‘I believe someday I hope I will believe’ -That’s good. That’s clever.  This is probably the track I liked most.  And ‘honesty’ is a good subject. It’s one of the most basic moral issues everyone of any stage can relate to (and something we all can agree upon (see Ex-Govenor Spitzer)). Sometimes, the song Honesty by Billy Joel makes me sad.

There’s some good stuff here. But 13 tracks is alot and it starts to get familiar/bit annoying fast. I shut it off by track 7 and was daunted with how much more I had to listen. I was worried that my penis might not make it that far cause this is pretty castrating music.   I only finished listening to it today.  Apparently Matt Pond has been around awhile.  And there’s probably a lot of discs there and alot of songs to go through.  Oy.

So to review…

Some good tracks. Nice vocals. Nice instruments. Well produced. Incentuous. Might make your penis fall off. But hey, in this crazy world, this will probably end up working in their favor.

Here’s their website: www.mattpondpa.com

And their myspace: www.myspace.com/mattpondpa

I Made Guacamole…

…and you can too!

It’s pretty easy. I just stood over the Mexicans at Tio Pepe on West 4th street and noted what they were doing while makes fresh guac at a table. The trick is alot of salt. And have your ingredients prepared before you start mixing. And also, don’t skimp out on cilantro. Use the fresh stuff. And…um….um….shoot. (I forgot what I was saying.)

[I have some leftovers I’m leaving for Jeff…mm…but I’m not gonna take them…]

Another good trick is to get the pit outta the avocado, just give it a good knife jab and twist it out.

I originally wanted to buy one of these stones (see above) for grinding it all up. It just looked like more fun that way.  And I would have had they sold them on Bleeker on the way home from the market (trust me, I looked. (In the herb store they only had this $6 ceramic grinder -but they were outta them too.))

[ah…I remember what I wanted to say: Why is it that you cook with ingredients, but build with materials. Why is that?]

Here’s where I’d attach the recipe for guacamole. But I much more recommend you watch one of these Mexicans at your local Mexican Restaurant serving up fresh Guacamole.

Molcajete!

Newborns

I’m an Uncle again!

On Tuesday, my sister gave birth to her second child. A beautiful baby girl they named Olivia. Beautiful because she’s healthy. Baby because she’s newly born this week. And girl because she’s not a boy. That’s all there really is to say about birth. I mean, she’s hardly even a person yet. It’s almost easier to talk about her as an it rather than this person named Olivia. People tell jokes, use money, and piss you off for having bad breath. But this thing (my neice) is just sort of a bunch of cells that aren’t quite done cooking yet.

Personally, newborns make me nervous. They’re so fragile looking I’m sure I’m gonna break them. And they look like they’re gonna stop moving or taking breaths at any moment (My cell phone looks more reliable than a newborn breathing.) They freak me out. And they don’t do anything but make you nervous. Well, they are cute. And mesmerizing. Y’know, to think we all started like that. It was my other sister’s birthday when Olivia was born so that’s good luck. She called me up and told me how cute Olivia was (I actually didn’t get to meet her til Thursday (I had a virus)). Sure enough, she was cute, yes. But I’ve realized that I kinda think if you’ve seen one newborn, you’ve seen them all. After meeting my first niece and nephew, they all have the same act. Same schtick. Call me when they’re less intimidating and I can pick them up. Until then, they’re like a glob of cells.

Look at this picture I put together above. Do any of these kids look very different? Are they all brothers and sisters? Can you even tell the boys from the girls? The only time newborns look different is when they’re ugly babies. And we all know when that happens because you think to yourself ‘oh, the baby’s sorta ugly’ (see baby on the top right).

This is not to say I don’t appreciate life. I saw The Matrix and I know how precious we can be. I spoke to Neil the other day about the birthgiving process and he was telling me about how slippery a newborn is (Neil’s a doctor). When he was in med school, he had to catch a spanish lady’s baby while he crapped himself. The juices got all over him and the smell was unbearable. But the creature is such a miracle, moving around, with all this potential. It’s us. The whole thing. It’s so disgusting, so beautiful, I guess it’s the only place a new life can come from.

Such is life.  I’ll keep you all posted on how we screw up the child in the raising process.  But until then…

Happy Birthday Olivia!