A Good Imagination and a Pile of Junk

Happy New Year!

Oh to go out or not to go out…

Neither one will make me feel good unfortunately. I should probably just eat some protein, wait an hour and reevaluate.

Just a brainfart: I want tagging in iTunes. “playlists” don’t cut it.

I just hit a boppy little Imogen Heap tune that I want to slap a “Driving Music” label on to. (”Daylight Robbery” off of “Speak for Yourself”, fyi.)

It’s been driving me batshit.

I’ve got a reader, hopefully you know who you are, ’cause I don’t, who hits the site, this site with this url:

“http://www.mpwilson.com/uccu/#cooliris”

I’m not complaining. I mean hell, any and all as far as I’m concerned.

But I just don’t get it. I’ve never had a “#cooliris” in-page link and a google search turns up precisely squat.

Que?

UPDATE: I’m a dumbass. Helps when you google something if you spell it right.

My iPod is synced to my increasingly aged dual G4 in the corner. It’s now the only thing I use that trusted old box for.

I seem to recall that there was a time I could plug in the iPod to another mac and through iTunes, play from the iPod. Is the crack just interfering with my memory?

Because now, I just connected it to my mactop and opened iTunes and while I can see everything in iTunes, all the play controls are greyed out. Dirty Pool old man. Dirty Pool.

Now, I don’t have speakers on the G4. What I usually do is start it up (console-less) and start iTunes on the Wintel box and play that way. I loved my G4 but I just don’t ever use it for anything else. It’s loud and sucks an awful lot of power. I’d like to, I would. But I don’t have the desk space for two keyboards and monitors, which is the only way it would work. I’ve tried the KVM solution but even when those DO work, it’s insufficient. I need both machines up at the same time.

But increasingly it seems like the thing to do might just be for me to import all my music (which is all mp3) and subscriptions over to a wintel box, reformat the iPod and sync to that.

Excellent post by Mrs du Toit (which is actually a redundancy)

Mrs. du Toit - Personal Effects

There was an interesting documentary on TV last night about the FBI’s involvement with infiltrating the KKK. It wasn’t anything new (to me), but it was timely, given that we’re in a similar type of situation today, but with different players and different words… it is that aspect that I want to present.

In short: When you refuse to play by the rules you forgo the protection those rules provide.

best of craigslist : To the Man in the Motorized Wheelchair

T’was the week before Christmas and I was in Barnes & Noble at a strange enough hour that it was a sensibly low-key affair.

I picked up my whateverIbought and proceeded to the front of the non-existant line. The cashiers were all (three) occupied so I stood there at the sign that said “line forms here.”

I was standing there for a bit (there were returns or special order things going on at the counter) when a woman walked up and slightly past me and just sort of idled there, looked at me and smiled.

Now, if you’ve ever been in a B&N you know that 90+% of the merchandise is in the 15 feet around the check-out counter.

Logically I figured she was perusing instant gratification googahs.

“Next!” the cashier waved, and this woman proceeded to just walk up and put her things on the counter.

I was stunned for a second and my mind raced through a litany of “well, whatever. I’m not in a rush.”

But then I thought No! This shit isn’t acceptable and I got a good solid case of the fuckits.

“Holy Shit, you’re really gonna just walk right up in front of me aren’t you? That’s amazing.” I said with a kind of projection that people rarely associate with a voice indoors.

“Huh? I thought I was in front of you.”

“Well, no. I was standing here and you walked past me, THEN you were in front of me.”

She started collecting her things and babbled something about “well here, you go then.”

“That’s not the point. You go ahead. After all, you’re clearly in a rush.”

The checkout girl closest to me put her hand over her mouth and convulsed.

“you can…” the woman stammered.

“No no, go ahead. Fine with me.” I added in one of my more polite sounding LOUD intonations.

See now she still had to finish her transaction, which she did hastily and scurried out the door at which time the staff and I had a goo round of belly laughs.

Then on Friday I ordered my Pepperoni & Garlic pizza. (aside: P&G is NOT my favorite pizza. I know I’ve mentioned it in at least three posts in the last few days. It just happens to have been what I was in the mood for.) It was a really long line at My Little. No prob. That’s what happens when you go in there at primetime.

Dude behind me (now, I’m 3rd in line) watches one of the guys put a pie in a box and label it.

“That’s mine! I think that’s mine!”

I felt this facial tick trigger.

He whipped out a $20 and held it out over the counter. The guys took an assessment of the crowd and figured the expedient thing to do was get him out of there.

“So I guess you’re just too fucking important to wait like the rest of us then.”

He didn’t react other than to hurry out the door. Then again I’m not exactly a little dude and was probably a bit of a sight with my fingerless gloves, all unshaven face and shaved head.

I’ve had enough of this crap. It’s not ok.

Richard Pryor said that he could tell the real racists at a dinner table by sinking his hand in the mashed potatoes and scooping some on to his plate. The people who said nothing weren’t worth spit. (I’ve probably got some of the finer details wrong. But you get the point…hopefully.)

The people who let it happen are worse than the people being rude in the first place. SAYING something isn’t rude. Pretending it’s ok IS.

I lack the words…

Money: Real-world politics march in World of Warcraft | group, world, presidential, political, game - OCRegister.com

A New Year’s Day rally is brewing in Irvine, by way of Azeroth.

A group of Ron Paul supporters are using forums and a simple Web site to organize a march in the World of Warcraft computer game in support of the Republican presidential hopeful.

Azeroth is a kingdom in the mythical world of the massively multiplayer online game made by Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine. More than nine million players pay a subscription fee to play WoW.

The rally will be led from Ironforge to Stormwind by a group of players (a “guild”) named “RP Revolution”. Organizers used an online discussion board at ronpaulforums.com Wednesday to spread the message. Two days later they built a Web page for the rally on revolutioni.st, a site that claims to support Ron Paul’s beliefs, but that is careful to disclose that the candidate “does not necessarily support all the beliefs” on the site.

DAMN!

Ron Paul’s Army of Undead is really finding new and creative ways to accomplish utterly nothing.

I have broad but pretty damn eclectic musical tastes. One of my biggest frustrations is finding the great stuff I KNOW is out there. Recommendations from friends usually, well, suck (with the notable exceptions of Beth and Wood.)

A buddy of mine in work turned me on to Pandora. You go there, and put in an artist or song and it dynamically creates a “station” for you based on that selection. Then you vote it’s selections up or down as they come across and it tailors things to your liking.

The important thing I’ve found is that if you create a station based on a track and it offers a tune that you like but that doesn’t fit, down vote it. Otherwise the station will be a bit polluted.

I’ve spent a while working on a Southern Blues station that I started with a Mofro tune. (Anyone know if you can link to a station someone’s created? I’d love to share it.) I’ve gotten more great grungy funk blues from this new station than I’ve heard in the total of my life leading up to this point.

People like Tab Benoit who I’d never heard of (a goddamn travesty as I see it.)

Then this morning I heard this: Even Trolls Love Rock & Roll by the Melvin Taylor Slack Band

And became enlightened.

If you like music (don’t laugh I know people who don’t, poor fractured souls) definitely check out Pandora.

Just make sure you’ve got your pop-up blocker on.

UPDATE: woohoo! Thanks Hugh. I didn’t think of that. “Share” the station to my own email address to get the link.

Here’s my favorite so far: Southern Blues (was “Mofro Radio” but I had to call it something else.)

Food: The Most Difficult Addiction | Chubby Mommy

Ever since that prime rib Christmas dinner I’ve been waddling around in my least-restrictive clothing, miserable and bloated, feeling very much like some fat-riddled sausage crammed into a casing that’s three sizes too small.

Having bought a pizza yesterday that was supposed to last me until Sunday and finding it gone a bit less than 8 hours later. I can relate.

The minute I’m not working I’m in the danger zone when it comes to food. But we all know how that works. Accessibility seems to equal consumption.

The wonderful thing about where I work (47th and Madison Avenue) is that, while there are a metric shitload of lunch eateries, very few of them are at all satisfying. The ones that are have portion sizes that leave even me (me remember? The guy who woofed down a pepperoni and garlic pizza along with 6 liters of diet caffeine yesterday without breaking a sweat?) wanting to let out one of the staples in my stomach (it’s just an expression.)

The fortunate thing about them is that they tend to be a couple blocks or more away. No big deal. I’ll go cross-town during lunch time without batting an eyelash. But I’ll bias towards a closer option if there is one.

And there are.

I’ve figured out the way to beat the eating in this setting.

There are, within a block, a couple of “Corporate Lunch” places. One of them makes great sandwiches and the other makes pretty damn good udon noodles.

I’ve gotten to the point where, with rare exceptions I’ll go to one of these two places as a force of habit. I just show up at Food World and nod my head to the right guy and a bit ol’ spicy chicken udon appears in my hand. They’re good, lots of broth, some noodles, lots of chicken, some spinach (or something like that) a bit of tofu, mushrooms and some hot sauce thingie.

It’s very satisfying and doesn’t suffer from the portion madness of …say… Chicken Vindaloo at Spice in Grand Central (Mmmm :-)

The other option ’round the corner is a flatbread sandwich (think Cosi) with sliced chicken and pepper jack heated, then coated with some chipotle mayo.

For some reason I eat half of that and I’m pretty full. I usually put the other half away and much on it a couple/few hours later.

They’re two of the…uhm…two things that I know I can eat, feel like I ate something and NOT feel like Kate does after eating a prime rib, which to e me sounds like an appetizer. :-)

I took today off from work, which is why posting volume is pretty low (you figure it out.) Not for any reason other than the fact that I have three weeks accumulated to burn off.

Aside from getting some stuff done around the apartment I went out and dropped off some laundry (bag 1 of 6) and stopped in the pizza place around the corner and ordered one of my favorite things:

Large Pie, Pepperoni and Fresh Garlic

Yes, it totally buries most of the pizzaness, and the garlic pretty much relegates the pepperoni to the realm of “added texture.” But DAMN is it good.

Now, I wouldn’t hold this place up as being the be all and end all of pizza (despite the fact that it’s in Brooklyn Heights.) But these boys can sure make a damn good pie.

So if you’re in the neighborhood check out: My Little Pizzeria. You’ll be glad you did.

Sorry, no reviews yet. Just asking the question.

Now that I’m all Nokia n810ed and n95ed and I’ve FINALLY got a working data cable for my camera, I’m planning to do a bunch more picture taking and uploading (hell, who knows, I may even keep my iPhone around for the process. Turns out I’m actually using that for stuff even though there’s no phone.)

But I’m not sure if Picasa or Flickr is more well suited to what I’m doing, which is really nothing complex. I just want to upload batches of pics, make some of them publicly viewable, some not and add a bunch of tags to them.

Thoughts?

From the “Damnit I want it the way I want it” files:

It looks like I’m going to have to buy a heavy-duty sewing machine off some kind. I know impeccably little about such things.

What I want to do (well, ONE of the things I want to do) is sew pockets into a heavy denim vest with absolutely no aesthetic appeal that will then be worn between my hoodie and my jacket so that I can keep my digitalia with me. The pockets themselves will have to be sized to the gadgetry in question.

How do I find such a beast? It’s going to have to create some really strong seams and sew through some potentially strong fabrics.

I’ve got a couple other ideas kicking around in my head that make such a purchase seem worth while.

Any ideas? I don’t need some auto-pilot thing with 456 million decorative stitch patterns. Just something stout and easy to use that will eat up what I throw at it.

Love it :-)

Nokia N810 review: Page 1

The N810 is the latest addition to Nokia’s Internet Tablet lineup. The Linux-based mobile device offers an assortment of new features and drops some of the familiar functionality found in the previous model, the N800. The N810 also ships with Internet Tablet OS 2008 - the new version of Nokia’s Internet Tablet operating system - which is built on Maemo 4.0.

But my boss brought up an interesting point.

I NEEDED one of those. That invalidates it as a frivolous Christmas Gift to myself.

So the hunt continues.

Bink, FTW:

• Homemade baguettes and boule.
• Dates and Pineapple wrapped in bacon
• Blue Cheese spread on French bread with toasted walnuts.
• Barbecue pork ribs (baked in sauce.)
• Twice baked potato skins.
• Japanese steak wraps with asparagus and scallion.
• Stuffed mushrooms.
• Lamb rack ribs with garlic and green herbs.
• Pan seared sea scallops (lemon and butter.)
• Filet mignon slices with brandy reduction and caramelized onions.
• Cr

I love shit like this:

Man Finds Birth Mother at his Workplace

Steve Flaig has worked as a delivery driver at Lowe’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the last four years. Every day, when he enters the store, he walks past the cashiers’ stand, saying hello to his co-workers there. One of the women there, Chris Tallady, always greeted him with a friendly smile - but two months ago, he realized they had a lot more in common than a uniform.

Good thing it went well though. Could you imagine if they hated each other? Ooh, awkward you stark raving bitchqueen…err… I mean… Mom.

Then again, I suppose that’s not SO odd :-p

This is just the easiest way for me to insure I won’t forget to download this:

Nokia Europe - iSync - Download software - Get support and software

Get organized with iSync. If you’ve got a compatible Nokia phone and a Mac, iSync helps you synchronize your data. Take the hassle out of managing data across devices by downloading changes and updating your phone or Mac when required.

Slick stuff!

Hackszine.com: Lecturefox: free university lectures

Lecturefox is a free service. You can find high-quality classes from universities all over the world. We collect without exception lectures from official universities, and we have a special interest in lectures from the faculties physics, chemistry, computer science and mathematics. In the category “faculty mix” you can find miscellaneous lectures from other departments like electrical engineering, biology, psychology, economics, history and philosophy.

I tend not to do so well with lectures in general. There’s too little going on for the breadth of attention that needs to be occupied. This is one of the major reasons that I only went to college for a couple years. I just really couldn’t take it.

My company put together a five week intensive on statistics a couple months ago. I figured it’s be a really great idea to sit in on it.

So on the Wednesday afternoon at three, I reported dutifully to the conference room, jacked up on caffeine with a notebook ready to go. Besides, that was all 20 years ago. I’m pretty sure I won’t have any trouble mustering the attention, especially for a topic I’m actually interested in.

“I’d like to welcome you all here today. We’re going to start with a brief talk about set theory…”

…and I was out. Snoring in a conference room with 12 other people as we set out upon the longest three hours of my life.

I didn’t go back.

I’m left with the inescapable conclusion that my body fundamentally rejects classrooms.

As I implied in the last post, I’m a VERY bad student. I always have been. I won’t learn a thing unless I particularly want to learn it and if someone tries to teach me even that I won’t be able to do it until I dive in on my own terms.

It’s one of them thar double-edged coin thingies and it’s starting to bite me in the ass more than benefit me. (The fact that there’s a palpable balance shift over the last five years is a relatively new revelation to me, one that deserves some blogilicious exploration.)

When I started taking personal productivity and goal setting (note I didn’t say “achievement.” Let’s not get all crazy now or nuthin’) I started tracking down all kinds of resources on note taking, goal setting, etc. All the GTD goofyness.

Relatively recently I came upon the Study Hacks site. It’s a wonderful take on the whole self-improvement-psychosis thing from the perspective of the learner (”school” aside entirely.) I highly recommend checking it out.

Now today I saw four words in a row that flicked a switch in my head, a rusty frozen switch. Klaxons blared, seized gears squealed and stank as a cacophonous conglomeration of machinery started moving for the first time in several years.

“The Grand Project
Challenge”

Check it out.