Saturday, January 24, 2004
Seeking Repair Advice
My trusty Dell laptop has come apart at the hinges. Well, one hinge actually. It is only precariously connecting the monitor screen stuff to the keyboard/computer half. Dell sent me the replacement hinge and about 25 other curious parts but no instructions. You know how the call to tech support went.
Anyone know of an honest and good computer repair shop in Manhattan or Brooklyn?
Kudos to Mr. Frankenstein
Many thanks to the fabulous Paul Frankenstein, who organized last night's blog bash. I met some very smart folks at the party before tacky AZ threw us out into the cold. Special kudos to New York Bartenders for the tip on Jeremy's Ale House to take care of the 8 a.m. morning bracers.
Regrettably I bailed out and didn't follow the others up to Siberia. Reports and pictures abound - as you'd expect, I suspect. Try these:
Tien Mao: Big Apple Blog(Ger) Bash
BlueJake: Blogger Bash
RachelleB: Nerd Party
Gothamist: Bloggerati
For the Political Bloggers
For you political blogger junkies, I heard on WNYC this morning that they're doing a national call-in show tomorrow night about political blogging. Details here.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Blogging AZ
The NYC Blogger bash was too good for regrettable little bar/restaurant AZ on 17th which threw us out after the first round. Apparently too many people. Odd, since when I got my drink at the bar the bartender mentioned they usually aren't very crowded. You'd think they would have enjoyed the business, especially since we were paying $10 a drink. Some weird rules about ordering us all to put our drinks on one tab. Then we weren't allowed to order drinks from the bar. Then we had to sit. Then we all had to leave. I was there about an hour before we all got thrown out. Really I had one glass of wine and can honestly say I didn't see one bit of remotely rude behavior except from the management.
Did I mention that you can review the establishment at Citysearch and Zagat?
Brooklyn Dodgers
Last night I started reading "The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, The Dodgers and Their Final Pennant Race Together," by Michael Shapiro (a tome that made it on my Christmas list after getting rave reviews from Henry Copeland.) I figure it was a good time to dig in since my current borough may soon be getting its own pro team. The book is starting strong and reminds me why I used to love sports writing. When sport is good, it tells us something about life, usually our own life. Here's a passage I liked from the prologue:
A losing team has fewer admirers, but their allegiance endures, year after year. It is a relationship built upon hope and disappointment. And then, in the spring, that most romantic season, longing again. Losing teams are like potboiler novels, predictable but addictive in their capacity to sustain the dream that one day the clouds will part. The relationship between a losing team and its admirers is more complex and compelling than the simple delight in conquest enjoyed by the winners' fans. Winning teams are grand and heroic, qualities that lack a human dimension. But losing teams are all too human. They are cursed by chance, by their own limitations, by failures of will and desire. But when they win, their victories speak to fans who, having witnessed so much misery, can draw lessons from those triumphs.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
I am Monkey
Welcome New Monkey People!
People born in 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956, 1944, 1932, 1920, and 1908 are monkey people, soon to be joined by a new monkey-people generation. Monkey people are considered to be agile, creative, of good memory and very sociable.
Better than a New Phone Book
My fancy Hugh MacLeod blogcards arrived in the mail yesterday -- just in time for me to be the belle of the ball handing them out at the Big Apple Blogger bash tomorrow night. Though more than 80 people have already RSVP'd - I find that a little scary for a blogger bash since I can only hold about five new names in my head in one night.
Spam for Dummies
I got a piece of spam yesterday that I think I'm perfectly fine with, even though it got through my spam filter. This one is from "City Bank" in Lagos. Pretty routine except it has a Sept. 11 twist.
ATT CEO,Why am I OK with this scam? Because anyone who answers it deserves to lose their entire retirement savings. Not only are they gullible but they're trying to profit from Sept. 11 victims. Real classy. And by the way, who are the people buying stuff from spammers? If those three in a thousand people never bought anything from spammers, this whole e-mail junk mail would drop off considerable.
I am the manager of Foreign Account Department of the City Bank Plc. I am writing you this letter to ask for your support and co-operation to carry out this transaction. We discovered an abandoned Sum of US$20Million (TwentyMillion U.S Dollars) in an account that belong to one of our foreign who died the recent terrorist attack in UNITED STATE of AMERICA. Since this development, we have advertising for his next kin or any close relation to come forward to claim this money, but nobody came to claim To this effect, I and two other officials in my department have decided to look for a trusted foreign partner who can stand in as the next of kin to the deceased and claim this money. We need a foreign partner ... .
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Used Car Bargain
A friend just sent a link to a great car deal at Auto Trader. I was trying to figure out why a Lincoln with only 32,000 miles was selling for $1,200. Used in a murder? Nope, something else. (Thanks for the link, Toi.)
UPDATE: Seems AutoTrader got wise and took the ad down. You can get a few of the details at Fleshbot.
State of My Union
My husband is trash-talking me in my Buzznet photo comments regarding his crushing loss in a snowball fight this past weekend.
State of the Union
Here are two takes I particularly enjoyed today about the Bush speech last night. From Hit & Run at Reason magazine:
One of my favorite moments during the State of the Union address came when President Bush noted that "key provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire next year." Critics of the law applauded. Then Bush added emphatically, "The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule." Supporters of the law applauded: Let's hear it for the terrorist threatAnd from Matt Welch
I don't remember a State of the Union speech so overtly, snickeringly partisan. But then, I have a bad memory, I missed about eight speeches a row there, and maybe "partisan" is French for "Matt doesn't agree with it." More drug testing for teens! More PATRIOT Acts! Less gay marriage! More centralized databases, for everything! More abstinence! Less separation of church and state! More God, o Lord, much more God!
Wind + Chill = (Insert Profanity) Freezing
For my science inclined readers, (both of you,) check out the scientific formula for calculating wind chill, courtesy of Howard Sherman.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
A Few Other Things ....
How can a legitimate blog awards competition totally ignore Tony Pierce?
How to wrap your friend's apartment entirely in tin foil.
Get Your War On attacks Mars.
CD review that will get me in trouble: Analog Bootlegs might be better than Fought Down. I like grit. So sue me.
The Prague Business Journal goes the way of Prognosis. Details at Generation Expat.
"The Straight Dope" declares "The Mole People" is legit after talking to the author. (via NYC Notebook) However the column doesn't address many of the concerns brought up by readers of this site. I would have been more pleased had Mr. Cecil Dope opted to call the police officers, transit grunts or social workers who actually spend time in the tunnels to see what they say about her book. What did he expect her to say? "Oops, I lied."
100,000 and Counting
Hello 100,000! The Site Meter visitor monitor just clicked over like a reliable old car ready to take even more of a beating. Thanks to Gawker for the extra mileage today.
Flying Chimp Poo
NY1 had footage this afternoon of Gracie the chimp, who got out of her cage at the Los Angeles Zoo and forced evacuation of the entire park. While I was working for the LA Daily News, I had the pleasure of meeting Gracie - or rather her poop - which she hurled in my direction because I was foolish enough to interview her keeper near the cages, thus keeping said keeper from getting feeding time started on schedule. I was standing there with a photographer, the chimp keeper and the zoo's main PR person (who was there because the zoo was still getting a lot of bad press after almost losing its accreditation.) Gracie's hot steaming poop came in a powerful lob that managed to nail the PR woman's expensive shoes. If only Gracie knew how many reporters would have paid to see her throw her poop at their favorite flak.
Work for Free!
For about the past month or so, it finally feels like the economy might really be getting ready to improve in New York. The tourists are back, there seem to be more businesses opening rather and closing and the media want ads are filled with fewer of those funny unpaid intern "jobs." Oh but whoops, today's MediaBistro has a gem from "Mr. Foreign Affairs Writer" who is seeking "an intern-associate to help him, part-time, with fascinating articles for major publications, and with preparation for a book. After an initial orientation period of 1-2 months, modest compensation will go into effect." Maybe you also get to hold his mirror for him so he has one hand free while typing.
Primary Blog Aggregator
I have no idea who I dislike the least among the presidential contenders, but I'm pretty impressed with the spirit of this Howard Dean BloggerStorm site. I followed a Friday link from Dan Gillmor's site, which referred to it as an "aggregation of weblogs covering the Iowa presidential caucuses."
I clicked this morning and it's already shifted focus to "Live from New Hampshire." Here's the introduction:
After January 19th, the eyes of the political world will turn to New Hampshire's January 27th primary. As New Hampshire approaches, Blog for America will provide this roundup of blogs either based in the Granite State or whose authors have made the trip to New Hampshire to cover the race.
Not all of the bloggers below support Howard Dean -- the idea is simply to provide a clearinghouse for in-the-trenches coverage of the primary fight, as only blogs can provide.
I'm very keen on a site that will treat me like an adult, giving me facts and opinions from both sides and trust that I'm smart enough to reach my own conclusion. Also, I don't like being shouted at or told that a certain point of view is idiotic. I'm a 35 year old voter and news junkie who increasingly tunes out political rhetoric because it's getting more difficult to find the facts among the screamers. Figuring out who I want to vote for shouldn't be a full time job. I can't imagine I'm alone here.
I'd love to see someone - or heaven forbid even a bigtime news organization with gazoodles of money - build me a site that gives me the issues, the facts, the opinions, the blogs and links to primary documents where I can follow this election with a little less pain? Actually, I'd prefer to see several such sites.
Please use my comments section today, readers. Let me know where you get your news these days. Am I right about the screamers?
Monday, January 19, 2004
Sledding Etiquette Question
Being a native Californian, there are still some things about this weather I don't completely have down. Granted, I was mighty proud that we're now sturdy enough to spend a couple hours out in the snow for no other reason than building snowmen, engaging in snowball fights and sledding - but I was really surprised how few other people were doing the same in Prospect Park yesterday afternoon. It was actually in the 30s with no wind - one of the nicer days we've had this week. There were people in the park playing football, jogging and walking their crazy dogs, but we only saw two other people with sleds the entire time we were out.
So it got me wondering - did we violate some sort of snow etiquette about going out too soon? We had full reign of all the best hills - but were we supposed to let it get more packed with snow before sledding down? Or are we just that much tougher than the pansies in our neighborhood?
Sunday, January 18, 2004
NYT Blog Ad Strategy?
I just clicked on a Google text ad that appeared next to one of my pictures at Buzznet. The text said "Blog News January 2004: the latest news on technology from the NYTimes." The link took me directly to the New York Times story My So-Called Blog, about teens blogging.
Elementary, My Dear
I need to serve up a rave about Watson's Adventures, the company that organized a scavenger hunt at the Met Museum yesterday. We signed up for the family event and took the 7-year-old. Each team gets a list of clues that send you to the far reaches of the museum to figure out the answers. The team with the most correct answers at the end wins. (We tied for first but then lost the tie-breaker question.)
It was definitely aimed at the kids, but still challenging for the grown-ups. Sometimes you'd get into a gallery and had to start examining the art and its written descriptions very closely to figure out the answer. Loads of fun. The little lad couldn't figure out why all the other people at the museum didn't sign up for the scavenger hunt and were merely left to wander around the museum aimlessly. It was $25/per adult, which includes museum admission. Apparently the company has several full-time employees but makes it money mainly by running the hunts for corporate groups. We weren't allowed to keep the clue sheets or the answer sheets when it was over -- apparently they're very competitive with the other "hunt" companies in town.
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