$1564.37 Keyboard

07.27.2007

It's a keyboard that plugs into your PC, where each key is a tiny LED, so that you can program/change the image of the actual keys you're typing on.

For $1500.

For a keyboard. That you pound on with your fingers.

I've bought some stupid gadgets, but this one is still too far out there. So until they make a 90% price cut, I'll just have to be envious of those elite typists that get one.

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Retrospecting

07.24.2007

Went to a funeral for my uncle this past weekend who died after a long bout with cancer. One of those times that makes you reflect and think about life and how you're living it.

I think my primary motto in life is Don't regret anything twice. A silly way of saying I should learn from my mistakes, but that's the way I am. After 38 years, I don't regret where I am now: geographically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, even physically. Granted, I could be doing better in all those areas in one way or another, but I'm fine with how things are right now.

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Vista Mom

07.18.2007

Over this past weekend I gallivanted off to Lebanon (Tennessee) to see Mom. Somehow, Mom ended up getting a new laptop from Office Max, a Toshiba with a whopping 160 gig hard drive that's running Windows Vista. As I have zero experience with Vista, along with needing to leave within an hour and a half of getting the laptop to make it back home at a reasonable hour, I left Mom to fight with setup and installation of whatever else she needed or wanted on her own.

I know, tough love.

I left Mom with a little advice - read through the instruction book once before ever turning the computer on. Then turn the computer on and start going through the steps and reading again. That way you'll know what to expect. Mom has a history of frustration with computers and operating systems, so I was hoping that this time, starting from scratch, she'd be able to learn and get comfortable with the new computer from the get go.

Monday I got home and heard a message on my answering machine. "Guess what? I got Vista running and I'm hooked up to the internet!"

With that, Mom surpasses me as far has having the latest in technology and operating systems. She's also set up her first computer without me. My Mom is now a computer genius.

No no. Computer super genius!

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Not Quite A kd lang Song

07.10.2007

There are times when dieting that you find yourself prone to cravings. The key, I think, is knowing that it's ok to occasionally give in to those cravings.

Last year when I started my successful South Beach Diet, I was cursed on Day 2 by wanting a Zero candy bar and a Coke. I didn't cave in and had neither, and after Day 2 I didn't have a craving for either. Especially odd in retrospect since I liked the Coke. Over time there are a couple of things that I would crave off and on, but most of the times those cravings would be gone after a day.

But sometimes the cravings wouldn't go away. Sometimes they stay for days on end, always in your head, constantly (Constant Cravings - kd lang reference!). I read that if you have cravings like this it's best to succumb and get them out of your system, otherwise you'll do more small-step cheating for a longer period. The key here is to not overdo it. Don't give in to a daily craving - wanting ice cream every day isn't going to work. My first big craving was wanting a pizza. I still remember that pizza that I gave in to - thin crust, chock full of meat and sun dried tomatoes. And onceI had that pizza I was good and crave-free for a while.

My latest round of dieting hasn't been as fruitful as the last, and to be honest I haven't been 100% hardcore with it like I used to be - more 85-90%. But for the past 4 days I've been craving a chili dog with onions. I don't even like chili dogs with onions, but my brain was convinced it sounded good. So after 4 days I stopped at Sonic on the way home and ordered myself the craved chili dog with onions. Then I went home, watched an old Buck Rogers episode with Jamie Lee Curtis in it, and ate the craved chili dog with onions.

To never have really liked a chili dog with onions, that one last night was pretty good.

Today I am not craving a chili dog with onions. Today I am not craving anything. It looks like the cravings are once again out of my system. Wonder what I'll crave next? And when? Now I crave answers!

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But What's Behind The Porn?

07.05.2007

I know, I know, it's a weird picture, but there's a reason for its weirdness. There's a local girl who has, shall we say, a slightly risque website. Her gimmick is that she's supposedly underage or just barely legal, when in reality she's 22 or 23, been married since she was 18 (to the guy taking the pictures) and is able to make a nice little living off the website. I look at the site every once in a while because (1) it's well designed, and (2) she's just one of those people you stare at, mainly to try and figure out what makes her look different.

The pictures available to the general public aren't too blatantly pornographic, a few are evenly erotically artistic. I tend to get caught up looking at things in the background. These pictures are obviously taken at home, and being somewhat of an internet stalker (reformed) I get a kick out of learning about people, even people I don't personally know.

Take this picture as an example. It shows some of the DVDs that are owned by the picture taker & takee. A couple of seasons of Family Guy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and (if you zoomed in a little) For Your Consideration are on the bottom shelf. The top shelf has The Prestige, Ballad of Ricky Bobby, X-Men 3, The Break Up, and (I think) The Guardian. Stalker with a DVD collection can pick out those covers! But let's return to the bottom shelf.

The first movie on the far left is Hard Candy. Having never heard of it, I looked it up:

A mature 14-year old girl meets a charming 32-year old photographer on the Internet. Suspecting that he is a pedophile, she goes to his home in an attempt to expose him.

Are you kidding me? This is one of those times you look up "irony" and get a picture of what you're looking at. It's these little easter eggs that keep me looking at things (that I probably shouldn't) on the interweb. If nothing else, I get a good chuckle out of it.

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