02/17/10 10:54 - 28ºF - ID#51036

earshot

For those of you who haven't been within earshot of me this week, I bought myself a Nexus One

I'm not going to review it right now but suffice it to say that it's quite nice and works just fine on the AT&T network, although I plan on switching to T-Mobile shortly.

The phone comes loaded with about a dozen songs or so from musicians I've never heard of mostly, so I felt I should listen to them. So I've got my headphones on, quietly fiddling with my phone and not-really-jamming-out to music that's not really my scene, when I start getting that morse-code-from-God that tells you you're about to get a text message or phone call or something. And I start thinking, shit, I don't know how to answer the phone! So I wait for something to pop up ... and nothing happens. And then I think gosh usually the buzzing doesn't last so long. And then it dawns on me- some doofus made a techno remix of GSM handshake interference, and some other doofus thought it would be great to include it as a bonus track [and also ringtone] on the phone.

[Ali Spagnola: Radiation]

Also I am apparently the only person in the world who hasn't seen this.

- Z

Permalink: earshot.html
Words: 244
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/07/10 07:31 - 20ºF - ID#50985

i'd like to meet

the guy who invented 'I'm only watching it for the commercials.' Any ad exec that can make a couple million hipsters not just sit through but pay attention to ads for Walt Disney World and Kentucky Fried Chicken -during a football game nonetheless- and admit it deserves that Ferrari in his living room

I'm sitting this one out, but I'm rooting for the Saints - their fans are crazier than Bills fans, and that alone deserves a trophy.

I see Google's stepped up advertising on the Nexus One, and I'm trying to convince myself it would be dumb for me to get one. My first-generation iPhone is still up to the task, except for that part where the maps take their sweet time loading every time I get lost in Hamburg again.

The specs

are better than even the current-generation iPhone

almost across the board and the service through T-Mobile tends to run about $25 per month cheaper than AT&T.

It doesn't help that I'm not too thrilled with AT&T right now .. the data/text plan for B's new iPhone runs about $15/month more than my old one. We're also paying about $30/month in overages, but adjusting our plan to cover our usage will only save us $10/month. If I switched to T-Mobile, we'd both have individual plans that would end up costing what we're paying now. If she didn't have a year and a half left on her contract, we could both switch to T-Mobile, save $35/month, and still not have a contract.

Of course, I could get the Google Phone and stick with AT&T but that would be kind of dumb, since I'd still have cruddy data rates and that's really the only thing that bothers me.

Or I could put $500 in an envelope and leave it under a rock.

- Z

Permalink: i_d_like_to_meet.html
Words: 337
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/04/10 10:01 - 25ºF - ID#50969

nsfw: feed your head

I'm not entertaining questions about how I found this. Suffice it to say, if you look hard enough on the Internet, in just the right places, you can totally find pictures of naked people doin' it. But that's besides the point.

If you've got an hour and a half to spare and are looking for either a good laugh or some exceedingly challenging JO material, go ask Alice

- Z

Permalink: nsfw_feed_your_head.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/30/10 08:55 - 5ºF - ID#50944

hap hap happenin saturday night

I'll give 150 inter nets to the first person who can find me a copy of the Law & Order CHUNG CHUNG that doesn't sound like crap. Papa needs a new text message alert.

- Z

Permalink: hap_hap_happenin_saturday_night.html
Words: 35
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/20/10 08:59 - 24ºF - ID#50869

bunnies!

Got my new work computer, first thing I had to do [naturally] was change the wallpaper. Apple's stock selection of wallpapers is kind of crappy, so I was surprised to see that they've snuck in The Great Wave off Kanagawa [which blew my mind at 2560x1440]:

...reminded me of this great one I saw in someone's house:

...and, somewhat less directly, this commercial which I swear I've posted before but now I can't find it again:

- Z

Permalink: bunnies_.html
Words: 101
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/15/10 11:05 - 33ºF - ID#50827

bug report

I have noticed that the small icon which indicates that I am online is not animated as it should be. Please to rectify the situation, that I may terrorize other pages on the site rather than just my own.

- Z

Permalink: bug_report.html
Words: 41
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/07/10 10:53 - 26ºF - ID#50768

opinion

I'm working on a new cross-stitch design. Am I as clever as I think I am? or is this waay too esoteric?

- Z

zobar writes at 12:15:11 01/09/10 - Comment #54313: Whaat?! I truly thought Sesame Street was everywhere. A childhood without Oscar the Grouch is miseducation.

- Z

tinypliny writes at 11:24:39 01/08/10 - Comment #54312: Wow, I didn't realize the trash can is like a copy cat version of Tardis!

----------
Wikipedia:

"While appearing to be the size of a normal trash can, Oscar's residence is actually larger inside than the exterior would suggest, as evidenced by the fact that Oscar has noted through the years that it boasts such amenities as a farm, swimming pool, bowling alley, and a piano. Other items include Slimey, Oscar's pet worm; Fluffy, Oscar's pet elephant; Oscar's shoes; and a dimension gate to Grouchland, Oscar's homeworld."

tinypliny writes at 11:21:21 01/08/10 - Comment #54311: Ohhhh... :::link:::

You can't blame me. They never showed Sesame Street on Indian Television. The other creepy oscar was waaaay more frequently on.

tinypliny writes at 10:52:01 01/08/10 - Comment #54307: Who the hell is Oscar? Oscar - as in the weird gold alien-looking bloke who is on those things that loonies from hollywood hold and cry?

zobar writes at 10:11:02 01/08/10 - Comment #54306: 'Non-computer related,' hm.

1 point for recognizing Oscar the Grouch
1 point for recognizing the classic Mac trash can
3 points for recognizing a line from Oscar's song 'I Love Trash'
5 points for remembering the doohickey you could get to make Oscar pop out of your Mac trash can and sing when you Empty Trash :::link:::

Yeah it's a bit out there.

- Z

tinypliny writes at 09:25:34 01/08/10 - Comment #54305: Ohhhhhhhhhh... I get it. As opposed to a recycle bin??

24 hours too esoteric or still off the mark?!

paul writes at 09:11:12 01/08/10 - Comment #54302: I like it. I wish I had the crafty determination you have to do something non-computer related with your creative energy.

tinypliny writes at 12:12:16 01/08/10 - Comment #54293: Of course not. It's clear as day :::link:::

Permalink: opinion.html
Words: 26
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/05/10 10:13 - 16ºF - ID#50741

run to the hills

Correction: now it can't get any worse.

I got a million dollar idea and audible.com can have it for free: Ben Stein reads a Conservative Compendium: Going Rogue, Atlas Shrugged [unabriged]. [Edit: need another title here.] I would buy the hell out of that shit.

Anyway. Ever notice, after you've quit your job but before you've left, every dumb little annoyance becomes cause for revolution? And the whole time you're thinking to yourself, 'man, this is totally the reason I'm quitting. This is bullshit! It doesn't seem like a big thing but it's an indication of the corporate culture here, man. When you go to the office supply closet for a box of staples, they shouldn't be all broken up like this! Man, this is never going to happen at my new job.'

It's triple-annoying because first, you've got the initial annoyance which you may not have even had in the first place. Then you're going all Norma Rae in your brain. And then on top of that, you're getting annoyed that you're getting so much more annoyed than you would have been in the first place. [And then you start blogging about it rather than getting your work done...] Maybe it's just me.

But there's also the serenity that comes with the knowledge that it's just not your problem anymore. Somebody else gets a broken-up box of staples and you just kind of look at them, sigh, and say 'Yeah. That sucks.'

- Z