I've been inactive on (e:strip) lately. I don't even respond to comments left for me! Very rude. This should cover the last couple months or so, in reverse chronological order:

1. Anthony Van Dyck, a 17th-century Flemish painter. Most of his subjects have that type of beard, now called a 'vandyke.' It is unclear whether he made them grow it out for him, or whether he just painted it on them. I'm not sure which would be worse.

2. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but I was off-the-grid at the time. All it needs is to get hooped.



3. It means 'Dentist' in Slovenian, but not on purpose.

4. Cuki is a contemporary folk band of the type which might sit in as panelists on the Slovenian edition of "Pocakajte Pocakajte ... Ne Povej Mi!"

5. It probably gets cold there.

6. MacSolutions Plus for out-of-warranty repairs, definitely. I broke an iMac G4 with hubris [those fuckers are tricky inside]. They had a logic board in-stock [!] and fixed it in two days. The clerk told me they can fix 'any Mac that's not beige,' and then said, 'probably some of the beige ones too.'


A few things which do not merit separate entries:

1. It's bullshit that a bottle of beer is 11.5oz. It's also bullshit that a pound of coffee and a pound of bacon are both only 12oz. This makes me genuinely, sincerely angry.

2. I'm tracking a package that was sent via DHL.



What the fuck is this?! When did DHL stop being 'we'll deliver your package' and start being 'we'll take it to the Post Office for you?'

3. I just upgraded to Snow Leopard. I know it was supposed to be kind of a low-key update, but I really like this one. I guess there's not a whole lot of new technology in it, but they totally fixed a lot of my peeves. I'm also waiting for my complimentary upgrade to Windows 7. Am I the only person who's excited about this? I'm such an upgrade geek.

4. Woop! My moustache wax just came in the mail. This will come in handy for my birthday beard. [Three-zero on the three-one! I think that deserves a wacky beard. Only difficulty is making it look presentable for the more respectable holidays first.]

- Z

1. I'm starting to notice more people with unusual moustaches and beards. Is facial hair coming back into style? Or are people with facial hair deluding ourselves that it's coming back into style?



2. People Magazine says Johnny Depp is the sexiest man alive. Dude's one of my favorite actors but dang if he isn't skeezy as hell. What's the deal?



3. FiOS just became available at my house. It's only $10/month more than my current dry-loop DSL. I do not have, and do not have use for telephone or television service. Is it worth it?

- Z

I just got a coupon in the mail for $100 towards Google ads. I'm not going to use it but if you do, send me an email and I'll give you the coupon code. Value drops to $75 after December 4, valid until December 31. It says 'new advertisers only,' but you may be able to work around that.

- Z