New Waste of Time

Good times.

One Down

It took a lot of beatings.



But the rubber bands finally won out.



Guess we'll put up a new one.

N800: iPhone envy?

I've been an Apple user since 1983 or so. I still have my Apple //e. I don't stay on the cutting edge of Apple technology, I run a little behind. I bought my first Mac (a 512K e w/SCSI) used. I bought my Newton OMP when the 110 came out. I bought my G4 on closeout and my first generation 5G iPod refurbished when the next generation came out.

Well... now the iPhone is out. I've played with it and it's slick. In traditional Apple fashion it's has a user interface that's a joy to use. It's also a bit expensive and I have at least a year left on my current T-mobile contract. It's also a closed interface that you can't really expand or add anything to unless you hack it and then you've got to deal with Apple "fixing" it on each new release and then you have to wait for someone to figure out how to break it again.

I also considered the new iPod Touch. It's an iPhone without the phone but it still has WiFi capabilities. However you're still in the same boat as you are with the iPhone when it comes you doing your own thing with it.

So I looked around and ended up getting a Nokia N800. The N770 had been taunting me on and off for a while with low low pricetags so when the N800 dropped to $230 or so I snapped one up.



It's a slick little device. Not as small as something like an iPhone/Touch but definitely more more portable than a lappy. It runs linux and is pretty quick. There's all sorts of ongoing development going on for it through the Maemo development environment. It's a snap to jump on a WiFi network, browse the web, watch a YouTube video, stream from Shoutcast etc. I've already had to figure out how to install ntpdate, get root access and set the clock on it. I guess that part of it appeals the my inner-geek. The new 2008 OS is out any day now... so this should hold me for a while.

The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon

Dave and Danielle came through with another amazing tiki find from last weekend's garage sales. It's a pretty nifty hand carved tiki-fork. At over 28 inches long it dwarfs my existing tiki-carved fork and spoon set. What's odd to me as that it didn't have its matching spoon. I've seen bunches of similar carved fork and spoon combos at yard sales, Goodwill etc. and they always come in pairs. Dave said they asked about the spoon and got two different answers: 1. "It already sold.", and 2. "There never was a spoon."

I guess the dish ran away with it.

It has no markings that I can make out but is about 28" x 4.5" x 1". If you happen to spot the matching spoon somewhere, let me know.

I've never seen a set with a knife... but I've heard they are out there.

Scariest Sight Known to Cable Customers

If you see something like this at your house and you haven't called... expect your cable TV or internet to be out for 3-4 days (when you can get them back out to fix the problems that they've caused.)

There's a Moon in the Sky

(it's called the moon)

Today was a really crummy looking day. I went out to the Apple Store at lunch with some of my coworkers. I've been an Apple user since 1983 or so but I've never been to an Apple Store. I was less than impressed but I guess maybe I expected something more. I was also disappointed that they wouldn't replace my friend's broken iPhone holster because it has been "more than 14 days." I'll just stick with mail order. It's less personal but you expect that.

In any case the day cleared up a bit and by evening things were looking much nicer.



Nifty clouds.



Here's the moon.



All in all a better day than it looked like at lunchtime.

I'm behind on blogs entries and such. Dave & family found me a cool tiki fork over the weekend that's bigger than any of my current tiki forks. I'll post something about it soon.

Tonight's featured beer: BridgePort Black Strap Stout
I kind of like this one despite it not being as sweet as I normally like a stout to be (I like sweet stouts.) I thought it would be as it was talking about black strap molasses and all. I sometimes forget that it's the lactose that makes a sweet stout and there's not much of that in molasses. It all ferments out. It does leave a nice hint that something really sweet used to be in here though. It smells wonderful.

Welcome back to Xenon!

I have a small town called Xenon that lives in my Nintendo DS. I hadn't visited my town since last December. I went by for a visit late last week and found that my house was full of roaches and the town was chock full of weeds. I spent a few days cleaning up and all is well.



Seems like the townfolk haven't forgotten me at all. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Pisco Sour

I finally picked up a bottle of pisco a couple of weekends ago.



Pisco is a fairly clear brandy made from various type of grapes in Chile and Peru. The history of it is pretty interesting as both countries claim to be the origin of the beverage and both seem to claim it as their national drink. The Alto del Carmen that I picked up is from Chile (as the person who introduced me to pisco was also from Chile.) This one has the faint aroma of a light rum and the taste of a really mild brandy. It's a little bit slippery too.

It seems that the most popular drink to use pisco in is the pisco sour , made with lemons or limes and sugar. Most of the more traditional recipes also call for some egg white and a dash of bitters. I made mine with lemon juice and some simple syrup that I had previously made from turbinado sugar. I totally forgot about the bitters and didn't feel like buying a bunch of eggs just for a drink (though I think doing so would really add to the body of this one and make it something special.) If you want a traditional one, go look it up. Otherwise feel free to try mine:

Grant's Pisco Sour

• 3 oz. Chilean pisco
• 1 oz. lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
• 1 oz. simple syrup (turbinado)

Shake all in cocktail shaker and pour in tall glass over lots of ice. Good times.

I'll go back and try this with the bitters at some point. I'll probably also give it a shot with lime or a mixture of lemon and lime. Who knows... I might even use some egg white if I have some handy one day. Maybe I'll also get a bottle of Peruvian pisco and see what the deal with that is.

Thanks Maribel and Barbar!

Update 10/13/07:
I just made the the above with lime instead of lemon. I think I like this better. I keep forgetting the bitters... I'll have to try harder.

On the other hand...

Same hand actually. Different room.

Ow that hurts. I can't wash my car. There are still tikis.

I hope my recent pictures from my Las Vegas trip weren't too boring. I was too busy to say very much and never hit the internet with the laptop... just my phone. So you go what you got. At least I made out about $25 ahead from the Tiki Torch slot machine at Bally's. I generally only play slots with tikis or Martians on them. This usually works out well for me.

Today after lunch I got an MRI done of my wrist. I figured they'd want to inject something but I didn't really think about how much or where. They put my hand under the x-ray machine and went at it for maybe all of 3-5 minutes yet it seemed like 20. They only made 3 insertions but kept turning my hand to do different ways inside each insertions. I guess they had to get into all the nooks and crannies. It hurt like heck. At least they didn't leave many marks.



After that it was just 20 minutes of laying outstretched on the MRI machine's table with my hand out in front of me. Not exactly comfortable but better than being stabbed to death repeatedly with a needle. Maybe I can find out what's wrong with my wrist next week. I really miss foosball.

On the way home I found out that all outdoor water usage in our area has now been banned. I'm one of the few people left on the planet that still washes their own car. I don't do it very often but I do a good job and prefer to do it myself. I don't trust automatic car washes at all and don't want to pay someone I don;t know to do it by hand. I'm annoyed. My car is very dirty and I was planning on washing it this weekend. I guess I'll try to go to one of the DIY carwashes and try to do the best i can.

Undercover Funny sent me a picture to cheer me up:



I hope to go there soon. We shall see. He also got stuck on Space Mountain today. I hear they were giving pony rides.

Overall I'm very grumpy right now. I'm going to Rocco's to have some chili and see/hear Cry in the Sun. Maybe that will make me a better person. If not, the worst it should be able to do is give me heartburn.

Bellagio 3