Party Time, Groundhog Style

The day after tomorrow happens to be Groundhog Day. Not much of a holiday, as holidays go. Nobody gets the day off, and by some accounts, even the groundhog isn't thrilled with it. But it does happen to fall on a Friday this year, and it is just about halfway through the winter season, a period we once called the "Dark Ages" back when I was a midshipmen.

So, it seems like just about the time when you need a party! Except that requirement is usually fulfilled by the Super Bowl. And Mardi Gras is just a little done, I think. I'm sure I'm in the minority on that, but I like Groundhog Day better. Next year, Groundhog Day will be on a Saturday, which works well for a party too, so it looks like I'm in a good chronological position to start an annual thing.

For the last several years, I've been living in places with bare walls because I knew I wouldn't be there long. As a result, I never really took the trouble to get to know my neighbors either. The previous owner of the place I'm living in now died in here, in what is now my bedroom. It was days before anyone discovered his body. I was renting a unit here at the time, not fifty feet from where I sit now. That story kind of prompted me to start to get to know the people who live around me. And, unremarkably perhaps, I liked most of them. In fact, it was liking my neighbors, as much as the location, that made buying this place feel like a good idea.

Well, now I live here, and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. And I've gotten to know some of my neighbors, and I want some more of them to get to know me better too. One of my neighbors had a party for her dog back in July, the 29th in fact. Groundhog Day is nearly six months to the day since that party. Another neighbor had a party just after Thanksgiving. And now I'm having one too. It's kind of fun, having parties to go to where you can walk there and stumble home!

I'd had some elaborate plans for this party, but the TV proved to be something of a distraction, and some of those plans probably required more preparation than I anticipated. But I did manage to acquire a couple of plush woodchucks as party mascots/door prizes. And of course there's Woodchuck Cider as a novelty beverage. I've got another copy of Groundhog Day on DVD for another door prize, I just haven't figured out what the gimmick is yet. I had intended to print cards with the face and name of a character from the movie, I think there are almost enough, and have everyone draw a card on arrival. Then draw from a box of identical cards and award the prizes on that basis. At the moment I'm not certain what I'm going to do, but I'll think of something.

I still have more cleaning to do. I got a lot done while I was waiting for EGL, but you're never done. Tomorrow night I do the floors, and I'm taking Friday off for the final preps.

I've ordered food from Sticky Fingers and Carrabba's, and I'm going to get the usual enormous veggie platter from Costco, and probably a cheese thing. Maybe a shrimp thing too. Some more chicken wings from a local wing place. There will be the usual assortment of adult beverages, in addition to Woodchuck Cider, bottled water and sodas. I figure I'm going to have too much food, but Sunday is the Super Bowl, so everyone can come back over and watch the game on the 50" and finish off the leftover food and beer, so it probably won't go to waste.

I'm spending what is, for me, a ridiculous sum of money on this. Of course, part of what makes it so ridiculous is me buying a lot of things most people my age already have, like glasses, or a corkscrew! Between the party and the TV, I'm going to be eating Kraft Mac & Cheese and watching my old DVDs for the rest of the year to recover from January! But that's okay, if this thing turns out to be a nice time.

I was hanging an old picture I got from one of the staffs I served on. Everybody signs it with some sentiment when you depart. Someone made a reference to the "NFL Club." NFL stood for "no fucking life," and it was a reference to the amount of time we put into the job. Me, not so much, as I left before the staff deployed. But still, the NFL idea kind of fit me back then, and still does. The thing is, if you want to have a life, you kind of have to make it, it doesn't just fall in your lap.

For quite a while, I've kind of been puzzled by the question of "Now what?" I'm past the point where all the readily identifiable goals and expectations have been achieved, or not. Went to school, got married, had a career, wheels kind of fell off both of those, had some kids, still have some kids, but, "Now what?"

It kind of brings to mind the final scene of Cast Away, when the young lady asks Tom Hanks where he's headed. "I was just about to figure that out."

Well, I don't know if I'm just about to figure anything out, but I figure having a party isn't a bad way to begin. And if I fall out of bed and bump my head some day, maybe it won't be a matter of days before anyone notices I'm missing. The anniversary date of my wedding happens to be February 1st; so, to me, February 2nd seems like a damn fine date to remind myself each year that I do have a life. And I better get busy living it.

Murphy and Online Retail, Part the Second

Had another unsatisfactory experience with Eagle Global Logistics. To make a long story much shorter, after many phone calls, I was able to persuade the Seattle EGL sales office that works with Amazon to make the Jacksonville office agree to pick up the defective TV today. Otherwise, it was going to be next week. So I was promised a 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. pickup window.

At 1:00 p.m., I called the Jacksonville office, and while I was on hold, listening to a commercial for EGL about their "core competence" and "solving my problems," the unhelpful voice on the other end of the line was not able to get in touch with my driver. I confirmed with her that I was supposed to have a pickup today, but they could not account for why the driver had not arrived, nor why they couldn't reach him.

By 1:30 p.m., after the Jacksonville office suggested that I just call back "later," I called Seattle again. Seattle got Jax on the line in a conference call, and I learned there had been a "mishap." I said I didn't understand what "mishap" meant, and they explained that the driver apparently went to some other location and made a pickup instead of mine. How this works, I don't know. I suppose if someone comes home and finds their 50" plasma TV missing, I may have some insight into that.

As a powerless consumer, I did the only thing I could do, I ranted and raved about their "core competencies," and how unsatisfactory this whole ordeal had been. From Seattle, I learned that indeed the driver and his assistant were supposed to unbox the set, assemble it on its stand, and verify that it worked. The Jacksonville dispatcher said they thought I meant I wanted the cables hooked up. I said that it might be helpful to hook up the cables, but in my case if they had simply stuck around long enough to remove the top of the box, they would have learned that the set was broken and they would have been obligated to take it back right then and there. Except that's not what my driver thought. He insisted if anything was wrong with the set, it was between me and Amazon.

Well, the Jacksonville dispatcher promised to call me back in 15 minutes, this at about 1:45 p.m., with an estimated time of arrival for a truck. She wanted to know how long I would be at home, and I told her until this piece of crap, I used another word, was out of my house.

At 2:15 p.m., fifteen minutes after the promised return call, I called the Jacksonville office again, to learn that the dispatcher was in a "meeting." While I was on the line making another young person's day less pleasant, the meeting ended and the dispatcher came on the line. She told me that she would have a truck at my address within the hour, and asked me if that would be satisfactory? I told her it would not. What would have been satisfactory would have been delivering an intact television. Failing that, what would have been satisfactory would have been taking the broken TV back at time of delivery. Failing that, what would have been satisfactory would have been arranging to pick up the broken TV immediately because they hadn't fulfilled the terms of Amazon's agreement with them, instead of making me jump through my grommet to get Amazon to issue a return order. Failing that, keeping their appointment time would have been satisfactory.

So no, "within the hour" was not satisfactory, and there was nothing about this whole experience that approached "satisfactory."

While we were on the phone, I got beeped that there was another call coming in. Seems the dispatcher was trying to cover her bet by saying it might be an hour before a truck could get to my location. It was the driver at the gate, needing to be buzzed in. (I really don't like gated communities, and now I live in one.) So I buzzed him in.

Imagine my surprise when one tiny man showed up in a van from another shipping company. He was a nice man. Eight years older than me, but a nice man. I am not a tall man, but I had five inches on this guy, and probably about 50 pounds too. I think the TV weighed more than him. I asked him if he knew he was picking up a 50" plasma TV that weighed 125 pounds? He said he didn't know that, and that he wouldn't be able to handle it by himself. He started to pull out his cell phone.

I wasn't going to stand on ceremony and insist they send a full crew, I told him I'd help him carry it down, and that it really didn't matter if we dropped it, because it was already broken! As it turns out, we carried it out the apartment, then slid it down the stairs. I kind of stood in front of it so it wouldn't go too fast, but we got it down the stairs easier than my son-in-law and I got the new one up the stairs.

From there he had a hand truck, and I helped him lift it into the van. He gave me a receipt, and at about 2:30 p.m., this particular little nightmare drove off into the sunset. Eagle Global Logistics sucks.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures. The first one is the broken set. I didn't use the flash so I wouldn't get glare off the screen, so it's a little blurry. The second is the new set on its stand.

"Life-changing experience," my ass.

HDTV: "Chain of Pain"

Back when Apple introduced iPhoto, Steve Jobs referred to the "chain of pain" when trying to get images from a digital camera into some usable, sharable form. Well, that "chain of pain" is nothing compared to the chain of pain connecting consumers to HDTV.

This is emphatically not a "life-changing" experience. It's a better TV picture for sure, and DVDs look great on that big screen. But for the most part, it's a not-ready-for-prime-time technology.

This is just a brief set of impressions. At some point, I may go through and do a more thorough enumeration of the all the various stress points of this experience, leaving aside the whole delivery issue.

First, the set-top box is a nightmare. The remote has more buttons than a full-size keyboard. That's an exaggeration, but not by much. The layout and use of the remote is not intuitive at all. To change channels, you can either do so incrementally, which I haven't done since about 1981 when I got my first Sony with numbers on the remote, or you can enter the channel number you want on the remote, it appears on the screen, and then you hit "Enter" on the remote. Hit "Enter?" What? Did I just randomly punch some buttons on the keypad? You want me to confirm I want channel 167?

And then, sometimes it goes to channel 167, sometimes it gives me some kind of TV guide entry for channel 167, and I have to hit "Enter" again to actually change the channel. Why two different behaviors? I'm sure I'm doing something "wrong," but the point is, this shouldn't be this hard!

Then there's the connections and formats issue, both with the set-top box (STB) and the TV. When you get an STB from Comcast, sometimes you get an HDMI box, other times you get a DVI box. The difference is that HDMI carries the audio signals along with it, so you don't need to connect audio cables. DVI requires separate audio cables. You can buy cables to accommodate either connection type on either the TV or the STB, but here we are again with an example of why this technology is not ready for prime time. Now, I have two HDMI inputs on my set, one of them goes to the DVD player, because if you connect the DVD player via the component cables (stay with me, this gets worse), it only outputs 480p resolution, which is not why you bought an upscaling DVD player. And the other HDMI input is used by the Mac mini. So I chose to connect my STB to my TV with component video cables.

I have to educate myself on component video. My impression is that it's an analog signal, but I could be wrong. And I'm not sure what, if any, effect it has on the quality of my picture. (Yeah, I know, "Digital is better." Spare me.)

So once you have your STB connected to your TV, you get a picture. Is it the best picture? I don't know. How do you know? Well, let's think about this for a minute. HDTVs have differing native resolutions. Unless you have an EDTV, which is different from both SDTV and HDTV! Again, too much technology being rushed to market too quickly, creating confusion and unnecessary waste. My HDTV has a native resolution (I'm probably not using the correct HDTV fanboy terminology here, but so what.) of 720p, that is, it displays 720 lines of video progressively. HDTV fanboys will tut-tut because 1080p is better. Unless you don't have a huge set you're sitting three feet away from, in which case it doesn't really matter. Except to fanboys who can see the difference, much the way audiophiles can hear the difference. (They have superhuman senses and discriminating taste, making them better than regular people.) I can also display 1080i, but we don't want to go into why that may not be such a great thing, because this is already more than you want to know and confusing enough.

Well, the STB can output 480i (SDTV), 480p (EDTV), 720p(HDTV) or 1080i(HDTV). What's it putting out connected to your set? God only knows. You can find out by delving into the manual, and then doing something like turning off the STB, then holding the "Menu" key down on the front panel of the STB. How intuitive is that?! Those guys at Motorola must be, like, geniuses or something.

Okay, so now you're relatively confident (Because, after all, who really knows? They could tell me it was anything, and I wouldn't know the difference.) that the STB is giving your TV the best signal. What does the TV do with it? I have no idea. I've read varying accounts about how the TV processes its various inputs. I'm assuming it treats a 720p input, if indeed that's what the STB is putting out, as 720p and simply displays the video. On the other hand, it's coming through the component video connection, which I think is analog anyway, so maybe it doesn't really matter what is coming from the STB? I have no idea. (Nor do I really care, except insofar as this is ridiculously more confusing than it needs to be.)

Then there's the matter of actually using the STB. The remote is a nightmare. With good ol' cable SDTV, I pretty much knew all the channels I wanted to watch, and I could fat-thumb the digits in blindfolded. Not only does digital offer more "choice," (chiefly, it seems, of shopping channels), but it's harder to get to the channels you choose to watch! So, assuming you don't run screaming from the remote, and choose to brazen it out, what do you see? Well some, very few, stations offer high definition programming. Some of that looks very nice. It's not "life-changing," by any means. Some high definition content is offered in 4:3 format, and some is offered in 16:9 format. "Wha?!" Yep, high definition pictures come in two, count 'em, two aspect ratios! That's probably because 16:9 cameras were more expensive than 4:3 cameras, I don't know. Again, more confusion. Why two different aspect ratios? All HDTVs sold for, I don't know, the last four years or so, have been 16:9 format screens.

Now, apart from this confusion, it seems as though some HD channels offer SD content from time to time, even if it's just commercials. So if your picture looks decidedly lo-def, it's probably not your set, it's probably just SDTV on an HDTV channel.

Now, on my TV, which gets pretty high marks for picture quality, you have another array of confusing choices. On my 27" inch POS (for "piece of shit") JVC tru-flat CRT TV, to change input sources, I just hit a button marked "Video" on the remote. One was the TV receiver, next was the GameCube, then the DVD player. Pretty simple. Now I have to hit a button on the remote, then choose the input source from a menu list on the TV. Which is the better way? I don't know. I'm inclined to think the old way was better, because it was familiar and quick and easy. I hate "scrolling" with those arrow buttons on the remote. If you want me to "point and click" give me a mouse or one of those ThinkPad nipples, or something. I hate those little arrow pads.

Anyway, I'm getting depressed. That's enough for now. I'm not even going to get into audio!

If ever there were a technology crying out for someone like Apple to come along and make it usable, it's HDTV. I don't know if even they can. It's a mess out there.

I can figure this stuff out. It's not that the technology intimidates me, I've worked with complicated technologies my whole adult life. The point is, I shouldn't have to. I don't need to prove my manhood by mastering the arcana of a better TV picture. And I guess I'm kind of pleased that my life is such that a better TV picture doesn't qualify as a "life-changing experience." And it frustrates me that our competitive marketplace, which prides itself at delivering "better" products and solutions and "experiences," is so competitive, at such a compressed time scale, that it's simply hurling this crap into the market without taking the time to get it right.

All that said, I'm very pleased with the way DVDs look on the TV. I haven't compared the picture from the Oppo with one from an ordinary DVD player, so it's possible I'm not getting anything I wouldn't have gotten from any other player, but they do look better than they ever did on the JVC.

I'll post a picture of my set-up, which looks disturbingly like an alter, a little later. I've got lots of stuff to do.

Murphy and Online Retail

I've been an Amazon customer for about as long as Amazon's been around. I like Amazon because I generally save money, and on the rare occasion when there's been a problem, they've been great about fixing it with minimal hassle.

Because of my experience, I went with Amazon for the Panasonic HDTV. Well, I think with large, expensive items, Amazon, or any online retailer, may not be the best way to go.

Delivery time with most products purchased from Amazon is a matter of a few days at most. As a Prime member, for an extra four bucks, I can have most things overnight. Large items aren't that easy. I ordered the TV on the 15th, and originally Amazon estimated about a week for delivery. It took 11 days. Not a big deal for something as big as a 50" plasma TV, but still, that's a lot of time.

I'm having a little get-together here at my place on Friday, Groundhog Day, and while the TV wasn't the centerpiece of that event, it was to be an attraction (or distraction, I'm not sure). But the main thing is that right now I'm pretty busy in party preps. I'm a one-man shop here, so I don't have a lot of time to mess around with competing priorities.

Well, the TV arrived on Friday. I had to take some vacation time to be here to meet the delivery truck. So "free" delivery isn't really free for a large item like this. I was given a window of between noon and 4:00 pm by Eagle Global Logistics, and naturally, they arrived at four.

I met the truck at the curb, when they opened the back of the truck, I saw my TV lying on an angle, against some wooden shipping pallets. I said, "That doesn't look good!" The driver insisted they had done that deliberately, as they didn't have any cargo straps to secure it. Needless to say, I was skeptical.

I was supposed to receive "White Glove" service. What that actually entails, I have no idea. I had the impression that the TV would be unboxed and set up before they left, but they insisted they were only to get it in the door, and they couldn't leave fast enough. I asked them what if something was wrong and I wanted them to take it back, and they offered that they wouldn't take it back and I'd have to take it up with Amazon. So I signed for the TV, noting that the condition was unknown, and no service was offered, other than delivery. The driver seemed peeved, and was at some pains to say that that would do me no good because they had done all they'd been contracted to do. Perhaps so, but I wanted it recorded that I had no idea what I was signing for and that I thought they were supposed to offer some service beyond putting the box in my living room.

I normally tip delivery people. I gave the two guys who delivered my dining room set last weekend $20.00 for lunch. Not a big deal, but those guys work hard humping that stuff up stairs, and I'm pretty sure they aren't making a fortune. I didn't tip the guys from Eagle Global Logistics.

So, while the truck was still sitting outside, I removed the outer box from the set and pulled the plastic bag down from it. Sure enough, there was an enormous crack in the screen. They were gone by the time I got downstairs. I should have waited because they got lost and they ended up driving by again a few minutes later. I called their office and told them they delivered a broken TV and they basically told me to take it up with Amazon.

I called Amazon (1-800-201-7575), and I've done this before with little difficulty, but for some reason, I couldn't seem to reach a human being. I grew very frustrated and went to the web page the automated messages kept directing me to. I entered all the information for the broken set, and then got an error message from the web site that they couldn't process my request.

So now I had an enormous box with an inert mass of electronics sitting in my living room, a delivery company - Eagle Global Logistics - that couldn't seem to care less, and seemingly no way to reach anyone at Amazon. It was throbbing vein in the temple time, but there was nobody to take it out on. I realized it was an opportunity to practice, but that wasn't happening.

I had to go get Caitie because it's our weekend, so I just put Bodhi in the car and went to collect her. We got back home and I tried the 1-800 number again, still receiving some "unable to help" message, tried the web page again, got another error message, then I had a beer.

I put the old TV back up on the stand, and hooked up the Comcast digital cable box, and at least Caitie could watch regular TV with the additional channels Comcast Digital offered.

I went to Amazon's site and the product page for the TV and wrote a lengthy review of my experience buying the TV, which they've posted.

I tried the 1-800 number again, and this time when I hit "7" I was able to reach a human being. In India. She was very nice, took my information, couldn't really do anything for me, but was very sympathetic. I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure I had been trying "7" in my previous attempts, and kept getting an "unable to help" message. But maybe I was hitting "9" or something.

At this point, I'm trying to think of what I want to do. After I finished with Amazon, I went online to see if this particular set was available locally, and what the price was. Well, it turns out that it was available from Best Buy, for about $110.00 less than Amazon's price at the time I ordered it. (They've subsequently reduced their price.) So that kind of made it easy for me. I decided I'd get a refund from Amazon and buy it from Best Buy. I put it on my credit card because I didn't want to do another credit application, even though that would have gotten me the same "no-interest" terms that Amazon offered. I'll just pay it off in three or four payments and forget about the interest. I have a pretty low rate on my card anyway.

While I was browsing Best Buy, I got an automated e-mail from Amazon, asking me if I was happy with my customer service call. I wasn't, so I clicked on the link they offered for unhappy customers. That page asked me if I would like to receive a call from Amazon regarding the issue, and I said I would, and "right now" was an option, so it was kind of neat watching the page update saying "dialing" and having my phone ring a few seconds later.

I got another guy on the phone, this one in America, and related my experience to him. I told him I wanted the pickup arranged at my convenience, or I'd just kick this piece of junk down the stairs and whoever they were sending around could pick it up at their convenience. It's not like it'll be any less broken. But because of the size of the unit, they have to deal with piss-poor delivery services like Eagle Global Logistics, so basically I'm going to have to sit on my ass for four hours waiting for these surly, lethargic, careless delivery people to come by and collect this inert mass taking up space in my living room. Hopefully we've arranged for that to happen on Wednesday morning when I'm going to be here anyway with an electrician, hopefully doing a little wiring job for me.

So I called my daughter, as my son-in-law has a truck and no way this thing would fit in the Montero, to see if we could take a trip to Best Buy on Saturday. They were great about it. My son-in-law is a firefighter, and he just got off work Saturday morning and spent the better part of his day helping me with the TV.

Best Buy was slammed in the TV department, with maybe three sales people working and customers lined up six or seven deep. There were easily 20 or more people waiting to talk to a sales person. I didn't need to go through them, but after looking at the size of the set in my apartment, I figured I needed a bigger stand. Well, that was an ordeal, the one I liked wasn't in stock, but I finally managed to buy a floor model at a modest discount.

We got everything safely back home and up the stairs. I put Bodhi in his crate, and we set everything up and it works great. It's far more complicated than ordinary TV. I have three enormous remote controls that are all very complicated. I hooked up the mini and it worked the first time. I may go back and download a utility to see if I can get the native resolution of the set, 1366x768. Right now the mini is working at 1280x720 with "Overscan" enabled. It works well enough as it is, but if I can get it a little better, that would be great.

I'll write more about the TV and related issues at some other time. It's hardly a "life-changing" experience. You have to kind of wonder what kind of person has a life that can be significantly altered by high definition television. Right now, I just want to point out that for large items, particularly items that might be damaged in shipment, buying from a local retailer is probably more advantageous and less aggravating, even if it costs slightly more.

I also want to reiterate that I think Eagle Global Logistics is a third-rate delivery company, though I seem to be in the minority in that opinion.

Now I've got to get back to cleaning.

Competing Messages: Competitive Strategies

Doc Searls pointed to this post at A Networked World, entitled: Competition - A Bogus Idea?

Since competitive practices are the source of so many social maladies, I took a look at the post. It's basically just a pointer to another article from Knowledge@Wharton, with a little snark for flavor, and a link to Doc. The Wharton piece is the thing you want to read.

It's not so much that competition is a bogus idea, that title is just an attention-seeking device in a world that competes for attention, it's that competitive strategies that focus on the other competitors are often unsuccessful.

I'd say Apple is a fairly relevant example of the "myth of market share," but the very existence of the idea of "market share" is a result of viewing the world through a competitive lens. So it's hardly a bogus idea. But Apple's recent success is due to focusing on their own vision of what a good product is, and not on what Microsoft is doing. In fact, where Apple mostly stumbled was back in the 90s when they tried to emulate their competitors with too many models, licensing, etc.

Microsoft is kind of a counter-example to the thesis of the article, inasmuch as they seem to be entirely competitor-oriented, having no internal vision of their own. Bill Gates wrote a book called The Road Ahead, which is an appropriate title because Microsoft never goes anywhere until someone else has paved the way.

Read the second section of that Wharton article, "Competition vs. Cooperation," and tell me if that isn't describing price fixing as a strategy to maximize profits? It's a summary of a longer piece, which is also available for download, and I'll see if I can find the time to read it and see if I'm misunderstanding something here. But if it is essentially price fixing, which has been understood as a profit-maximizing strategy for about as long as markets have existed, then it's not to say competition is bogus compared to cooperation, it just changes the nature of the competitive field. Instead of competing against one another, the companies are competing against their customers. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal for that reason.

So we have a provocative and misleading title to a post that really offered nothing other than a pointer to a mundane, run-of-the-mill business article. Color me unsurprised. I'll take a look at the paper, but there's really nothing new here.

Which is pretty much the entire thesis of Groundhog Day.

That, and basically nobody really reads anything, or, if they do, spends more than three microseconds thinking about it.

Cheese Sandwich: Cold and Wet

It's a balmy 44 degrees Fahrenheit out there, and drizzling. Not much fun for walking the dog. Did the Frontline thing with my neighbor last night, not sure we did a lot better than I do by myself, but it's always more fun to do something with someone else, even if it's just killing fleas.

I had a couple of great video chats with one of my high school friends, Sandy Bell. She has a new MacBook Pro, which has a built-in iSight camera, so I was able to persuade her to sign up for a .Mac ID and now we can see each other when we talk! I do love technology, I just don't think it's a panacea for anything, and I really have a problem with people who seem to think it is.

Cheese Sandwich: Flea Circus

The delivery company called and told me they'd be able to deliver the TV on Friday, the 26th. That's three days later than Amazon's initial estimate of the 23rd, and one day later than its subsequent estimate after shipping, of the 25th. Usually they under-promise and over-deliver on delivery, but not this time. Oh well, it's probably a karma thing.

The Red Cross called on Monday night and reminded me the bloodmobile would be at the base on Tuesday, and asked if I could donate. I told them I could, and then promptly forgot about it until the end of the day yesterday. I get kind of ticked off about that, because it's such an easy way to do something worthwhile, and I'm pretty lazy! I think I'll call them and find out when they're going to be back next, and enter the date into my Palm T|X and iCal.

The fleas are back. I think I'm dealing with a number of issues. The first may be the Frontline I put on the cats. I'd had it for a number of years, as I haven't had a flea problem since I moved here, the cats becoming essentially indoor cats. What I could find on the web suggested that as along as it is properly stored, it should retain its effectiveness indefinitely. But I recall this may have been the box that sat in my car for a couple of weeks between the seats. The high temperatures in the car may have had some deleterious effect.

When I tried to place the product on Bodhi, I was working alone and he moved, so most of it went onto his fur, and not his skin. Since they're somewhat insistent that you place the liquid on the animal's skin, I'm inclined to think that placing it on the fur impairs its spread and absorption into the pores. Bodhi has since gone swimming twice and had two lengthy baths, and he definitely has fleas again, so I think his last application three weeks ago is now ineffective.

Additionally, the Frontline I placed on the cats was not the Plus variety, which causes the fleas to lay sterile eggs. And I'm constantly introducing new fleas from the outside, hitching a ride inside on Bodhi. We have had a very mild winter this year, and conditions have been nearly ideal for fleas, so they're thicker than usual for winter. Finally, there is some mention of the appearance of fleas who may be resistant to Frontline.

So this time I've got new product for the cats, with the egg inhibitor. And I'm going to have a neighbor who has more experience applying it than I do try to help me apply it to Bodhi. The only problem is that Bodhi loves this neighbor, and trying to keep him still will be challenging.

Obedience school is going pretty well, though we made a necessary change last night. Basically, I can't control Bodhi with an ordinary collar. I can't control him at all with my left arm, and my right ought to be an inch longer by now. He's phenomenally strong for his size. Well, maybe not, but it seems like it to me. Anyway, we put a prong collar on him last night, which I've used before on my kids' dog, and the difference was night and day. No more pulling, and I walk him, he doesn't walk me. So that was pleasant, and actually a bit safer for him, as he's not trying to crush his larynx.

I watched the President's State of the Union speech last night. I don't really have much to say about it, other than we seem to worship "the economy." I liked what Senator Webb had to say when he offered, "In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table."

Not so much because I'm worried about the middle class, though I am, but because the sentence implies that the economy exists to serve the needs of society. I think the other party believes society exists to serve the economy, and I think many of the leading lights of the "Cluetrain" crowd believe that too. Who needs society when the market can make a product just like it and sell it to you? "Markets are conversations!" Win-win! High-five!

Well, that's enough about all that. On with the day.

Mac: mini Memory Upgrade

Okay, that was harder than it looked! Opening the Intel Mac mini is a non-trivial exercise. Getting the shell off is the least of the challenges. As an aside, I used the pizza cutter method, vice the putty knife. A harrowing experience either way, I'm sure.

The take-apart guide at Applefritter is pretty good, I would only note a couple of things. First, the black plastic frame is also connected to the motherboard by a riser card near the rear of the mini, so you want to be gently lifting up as you're gently lifting it out as if it were on a hinge. Also, when re-assembling the chassis, you want to make sure you're properly aligned when seating everything.

Also, on my mini, there is some kind of cover over the antenna, so you want to squeeze the two black plastic tabs from the bottom. The antenna will pop right off, as it's spring-loaded.

Finally, Applefritter notes you should check to ensure your mini still works before putting the cover back on. I would add that you want to do that before you've put the four tiny screws back in as well, as I learned from experience. I hadn't properly seated the upper memory SO-DIMM, so I had to fart around with those tiny screws in those dark, black holes again.

Putting the cover on seemed simple enough, but I had difficulty and couldn't seat the back right corner. I took it off again and inspected for obstructions or a mis-routed cable or something. I found nothing, so I just did it again, much more carefully and everything seemed to go okay. Plugged it back in and powered up and we seem to be in good shape with 1GB of memory.

All in all, I would say a do-it-yourself memory upgrade is not something the average person would want to attempt. I'd be reluctant to do it again on a machine that was not my own.

Competing Messages: "Merit"

Hugh MacLeod, with whom I agree about nearly nothing, wrote this today:

If your ideas have merit, bloggers will talk about them. If they don't, they won't. This lets you know what to expect when you finally unleash your ideas for real on the big, bad world. Without spending a king's ransom finding out the hard way.

Let's think about that for a moment, shall we? "Merit" is defined as, "the quality of being particularly good or worthy, esp. so as to deserve praise or reward." That's pretty straightforward, I don't think we need to get into a semantics argument here.

So, is Hugh MacLeod right when he says that ideas that don't have merit, don't get talked about? You shouldn't have to think too long about that.

No, he's wrong. And, this post is a minor example of that. It's an idea without merit, and here I am talking about it.

Dumb ideas will get talked about. Ideas that have no merit whatsoever will get talked unto death. Which is one form of attention-seeking behavior.

War in Iraq? There are still people who will insist it was a good idea, just bungled in execution. But I think most people recognize it was an idea without merit. Yet we talked about it a lot, and then we went ahead and did it. That wasn't attention-seeking behavior. That was just stupid politics, and hubris. When Scoble says he'd fire anyone not using RSS, that's an idea without merit as a form of attention-seeking behavior, because that's what Scoble is in the market for - attention.

"Markets are conversations?" They're not. The idea is totally without merit, even as a metaphor. Yet we talk about it all the time, because it's an appealing fantasy. And too many behave as though it were true, just like the folks who ordered and planned and executed the war in Iraq. Bad ideas can get just as much traction as good ones, if they appeal to your biases and fantasies.

"Merit" is no magic filter that ensures the cream rises to the top. "Merit" is only as good or praiseworthy as the critical thinking skills of people, and those haven't been showing any striking improvement of late.

You would do well to recall that someone is always trying to sell you something, and "the finger is not the moon." Hugh MacLeod is giving you the finger. So am I, but I'll tell you that, he won't; and I'm not selling anything.

Mac: mini Mine

The Mac Mini and the OPPO 971H arrived last Wednesday. The TV isn't projected to arrive until Thursday.

But I will have the Mini fully configured by then. I deauthorized my old iMac 400DV (circa 1999), and authorized the mini, a process that involved all of two trivial mouse clicks. Rather anti-climactic given what some people tell you about how much of a hassle it is.

I've installed a set of Widgets I think I would like to have readily available in the living room. Most deal with time, weather and tide information. I may add a local movie schedule as well, if it doesn't clutter the screen too much.

The Mini ships with only 512MB of RAM onboard, so I've ordered a pair of 512MB SODIMMs, which I will try to install today. I'll let you know how that goes.

I was pleased to find I could boot the mini, and have it locate and pair with my wireless keyboard and mouse. I'd wondered if I would have to use USB devices to get things rolling, but it came right up looking for the Bluetooth devices.

Because the Mini is so small, and easily pilferable, setting up security on the thing seems like a good idea. Since I don't really have anything on it yet, I went ahead and enabled FileVault, which I've never used before. We'll see how that goes. Most of my "content" will reside on another, equally pilferable, external HD. But that shouldn't contain any personal data.

It seems like a sweet little box. The plastic on the top is very soft, it scratches very easily. A microfiber cloth left impressions in it. But, it's not there to be gazed upon under bright lights, so I'm not worried about it.

Competing Messages: The Power to Choose

Gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces of the universe. Yet, it makes everything else possible.

The power to choose is a very, very weak power. Whether or not it makes life deterministic or nondeterministic, if "free will" really exists, remains something of an open question.

It's safe to say that those with something to sell would rather you choose to buy than not, so it's important for them to understand why you might not.

All of which is merely an aside to noting this article in the NY Times. Buying that Panasonic HDTV had a lot more to do with biology and psychology than it did with rational choice. We reason backward from our feelings.

It remains to be seen if we use what we learn about ourselves to strengthen our power to choose, or to strengthen competitors seeking to negate it.

DVD: Rocky

I watched Rocky again the other night. Probably the first time all the way through since I saw it in the theater in Baltimore or Annapolis about 30 years ago.

I enjoyed it very much. The final fight sequence was a lot shorter than I recalled, though I think the sequels' exaggerated orgies of pugilistic violence probably skewed my recollection. They certainly did much to diminish the achievement of the first movie, so I'd kind of forgotten how good it was. Not that it's a great film, some parts of it seem more contrived or forced to me now, but it's a really good movie. Best picture? Well, I don't remember what it was competing against, but I remember how I felt after I'd seen it in the theater. "Gonna fly now," was about right. I think everyone felt that way.

And Burgess Meredith! There are two scenes that have always stayed with me when I think of Rocky. The first is when Mick goes to Rocky's room to offer his service as his manager. I love that scene, especially Meredith's slow deflation, "I'm 76 years old...," and then when Rocky runs out and catches up with him, and the camera remains distant and we see the two shake hands. God, I love that whole scene.

The other is when Rocky goes to the arena the night before the fight, sees that his trunks are the wrong color on the poster, and the promoter tells him that it doesn't really matter, does it? Still no respect. And while it's not exactly part of the same scene, but when Rocky returns and tells Adrian he can't win. And just when you're thinking, "Oh, no! Don't give up!" he offers that he just wants to "go the distance," that he wants to know that he wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood. And he owns us.

He owns us.

One day I might look at Rocky against the hero's journey. He gets "the call," and there's a brief denial. He gets a mentor. He enters the wasteland, the night before the fight - doubt, no respect. And he wins a boon, the knowledge that he wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood.

"Ain't gonna be no rematch."

"Don't want one."

Probably should have stuck with that.

Just Another Soulless Consumer Drone

After reviewing the budget, making some fairly conservative estimates regarding the future, and struggling with the influence of "social proof, and marketing-induced desire (not to say "passion") for an HDTV, I've decided to take the plunge.

Now, I'm not so smart that I'm going to buy a 1080p set, so all the cool kids will still get to say, "Lamer!" Instead I'm going to go with a 50" Panasonic plasma set, with a resolution of 1366x768.

A buddy of mine at work wanted to buy an HDTV last year, so we did a lot of research on the current technology. HDTV is not a consumer-friendly technology at the moment, because there are many different aspects to it, and the products aren't standardized on a particular feature set. I won't say you need a degree in electrical engineering, but it would help.

So why didn't I do what all the cool kids do and buy an LCD set with 1080p capability? I'm so glad you asked.

Right now there is no 1080p content available outside of HD DVDs or Blu-ray DVDs. On the other hand, I have a few hundred standard definition (SD) DVDs. In general, plasma sets do a better job displaying SD material. I've also ordered an OPPO 971 upscaling DVD player, which garners some critical praise for being able to take 480i material and make it look really good on a 720p display.

The Nintendo Wii doesn't do HD at all! Forget 720p or 1080p, the best you can do is 480p. (Nor does my GameCube.) And I have no interest in a PS3 or whatever that thing Microsoft makes is called.

Most broadcast HD material is 720p or 1080i. With a 1080i broadcast, it's probably still useful to have a 1080p display, because you'll be able to display all 1080 lines of resolution. With a 720p display, the 1080i image is "downscaled" to 720p.

Then there's the question of how much of a difference you can see between 720p and 1080p. Like most things, it depends on a number of factors. A 50" TV sounds like a pretty big set, but my couch is about 10 feet away from the screen. For that distance, a 50" screen isn't really all that "large," in terms of what the eye can perceive. From what I've been able to glean from various sources, it isn't likely that I'd be able to perceive a significant difference between a 720p image and a 1080p image on a 50" set at that distance. So, to make a difference, I'd have to pay for a larger screen ($$) with 1080p capability ($$), which raises the price significantly. I would be "future-proofing" my purchase, but to no immediate advantage, and at much greater expense.

My thinking is that when 1080p content becomes more available, larger 1080p sets will also be much less expensive, and at that point I can consider whether or not it makes sense to buy a new set. (My couch won't be any closer, and my eyes won't be any better.)

By foregoing the marginal utility of 1080p, and keeping myself to a 50" set, I can budget a Mac Mini into the purchase for about what I'd pay for a 58" 720p plasma, or a smaller 1080p LCD. With this type of display, not connecting a computer makes little sense in terms of getting the most from your TV. I thought about getting the AppleTV, but a Mac Mini vastly more useful, albeit at about 4 times the price. To my mind, "vastly" is more than 4. (Update: I was relying on my fallible memory, thinking the AppleTV was only $199. It's really $299, which makes the Mini a much more attractive value proposition at only 2.5x (for the 1.83GHz machine - 799) the cost.) I won't have to eat up my local wireless bandwidth streaming content to the TV, I can consolidate all my iTunes video on the Mini, or an external HD attached to the Mini, so the only wireless bandwidth I'll consume will be for the initial downloads. And I can pop up Dashboard and see what time low tide is, or sunrise, or what the weather is supposed to be, without running up to the loft or breaking out the laptop.

Eventually, I'll mount the TV to the wall, but that's going to pose some interesting aesthetic challenges. For the moment, I'm just going to place it on the TV stand, while I try and figure out how it would look best on the wall.

I'm also financing this purchase with one of those "no payments, no interest for one year," promotions. This type of financing offers some significant advantages if you're in the position to take advantage of them. If you're not, you're setting yourself up for some serious financial pain, as the interest rate at the end of the promotional period is over 20%. So this is one of those cases where you kind of have to look at the budget and anticipate what sort of unanticipated problems might crop up. There's enough slack in the budget that I should be able to cope with some contingency and still make payments on the TV. (He said, hopefully.) But it could still come back to bite me in the ass, and it does move one goal back about six months into the future. ("Did he just say, 'back to the future?'")

But I watch a lot of movies, and I think I'll enjoy watching everything I own one more time on the large screen, so I think this purchase will offer a nice return on investment in terms of movie enjoyment.

Of course, sitting on the couch and passively watching a movie when I could be doing something else is a question I wrestle with regardless of what sort of TV I'm watching.

iPhone

Becoming officially an "old fart," means that I can reach back into the dim recesses of memory and point out the things that people emphatically asserted many years ago that weren't necessarily so.

For instance, today the iPhone is taking heat from the elitist digerati regarding what they perceive as its deficiencies.

I'm not as interested in defending the iPhone, per se, as I am in poking these know-it-alls in the eye. I'm sure there's going to be a karmic payback for me, but these guys just irritate the hell out of me.

Okay, let's think back to 1984 and the introduction of the Mac. I was alive back then, nearing 30 even, as were some of the know-it-alls who really ought to know better. What did the digerati say about that little development?

What?! No function keys?! What?! No numeric keypad?! What?! No slots?! What?! No color display?! And my favorite: What?! No daisy wheel printer?!

"It's a toy!"

"Not a real computer!"

Of course, the Mac later acquired all those things. Well, except for the daisy wheel printer. Though I think you could actually use one at one point. The daisy wheel was eventually put out to pasture by the laser printer, brought to the desktop - if not first, at least in large numbers - by Apple.

Nevertheless, the first little 128K Mac was a success. It wasn't a towering success, but it paved the way for all the Macs that came after; and later, all the Mac-imitators. And yes, Apple relied on the venerable Apple // as the cash cow to keep it afloat in those days, that doesn't mean the Mac wasn't a success.

The point is, many of the criticisms of the digerati were somewhat legitimate, but they weren't the barriers to success they ranted about. The people that the Mac appealed to didn't give a rat's ass about function keys, or a numeric keypad, or slots. They were excited about a 100% bit mapped display driven by an graphical user interface.

Now, do I need to remind anyone what the élitists said about the first iPod? Too expensive. No FM radio. Can't record. AAC?! Audio quality sucks! That didn't seem to do too bad either.

The things the elitists care about aren't the things "the rest of us" care about. Steve gets that.

What might kill the iPhone in the marketplace is battery life, user interface glitches, call quality, and OS stability. Not whether or not you can use Skype on it, or install an RSS aggregator.

As for locking the thing down, count me in favor of that. If Apple sells as many of these things as they seem to think they can, and it runs OS X, that makes OS X a much more attractive target to malware authors, and that ought to be a consideration even for the know-it-alls.

My guess is, barring the issues I mentioned two paragraphs above, Steve will pretty much laugh all the way to the bank. But the élitists will still maintain that it is a "crippled" device. Because élitists are never wrong, or they wouldn't be the élite.

Me? I'm just a peon. An authority on nothing. I make all this shit up. Which means I have to think about it a bit. You're encouraged to do your own thinking.

DVD: My Super Ex-Girlfriend

An Ivan Reitman comedy. It starts off slow, and I almost gave up on it, but I thought it finished well. I enjoyed it. It's pretty goofy, but a good rainy Saturday afternoon kind of flick.

DVD: Checking Out

I watched this movie last night. A wonderful little movie. Not a great movie, by any means; but a warm, funny little distraction, some great characters, and a reminder that everything is connected.

Competing Messages: Be Careful What You Wish For

But... But... But... Who was it that said, "Markets are conversations," exactly?

Sheesh.

Soon we'll all be going to relationship talk therapy with our vendors. Lucky us.

Connect. The. Dots.

Alternatively, get a clue.

Sincerely,

A Dispassionate Reader

Animal House

I've got to get the kitty litter problem resolved today. Ugh. Cats are finicky about more than just their food.

Went to obedience class with Bodhi has night, and I could tell there was definitely a difference between Bodhi after spending an hour or so running around the dog park, and Bodhi after spending all day stuck in the condo. Dog-park Bodhi is a much better student. Condo Bodhi just wants to play with all the other dogs.

Next week I'll try to run him around outside when I get home from work. I just need to keep him out of the retention pond, because I don't want to take a wet dog to class.

More Keynote Thoughts

Chuqi says, "Apple stopped being JUST a computer company a while back."

No duh.

The point is, Steve is now "changing the face" of Apple. The point is, how many dollars Apple brings in in revenue from Macs compared to iPods is no longer relevant. The point is, Apple will no longer be directly comparable to Dell or HP/Compaq. Maybe Microsoft, but then MS has to decide if it wants to be a software company or a hardware company. Apple has always been a hardware company that understands good software. Microsoft has, ever since the Mac, always been chasing Apple in terms of identity. It may have won the "OS Wars," but it still doesn't know who it is, because it really wants to be Apple.

I wonder if we haven't seen the last "Macworld," and will next year's show be called something including the word "Apple?"

I still think the phone is a large risk, but it's a high-value risk so I don't think it's necessarily a bad one. One problem is the unreasonable expectations attached to Apple products, promoted by Apple marketing and its "passionate users." The ability of some high attention-earning, attention-seeking, self-appointed, self-aggrandizing, consumer advocates (read: "bloggers") to direct negative attention to the product, should it fail to deliver in any area, adds to that risk. The product seems to be pushing many edges of the envelope, as the Newton did, but that won't mean anyone will cut it any slack. There are some people who are only too eager to see Apple stumble in the marketplace, and aren't above giving them a shove if they see the opportunity.

So I think it's an interesting development in the Apple/Jobs narrative. If the phone works well, I'll definitely consider buying one. But mostly this is going to be interesting from the standpoint of the Apple/Jobs narrative.

The Apple-TV "requirements" say it requires a widescreen TV. That pretty clearly implies it won't work on standard definition 4:3 sets, like my plebeian 27" JVC. That would kind of be a drag. His Steveness said it was "optimized" for widescreen, but "optimized" doesn't mean "doesn't work" with anything else. So I will be interested in hearing more about that.

Also somewhat interesting, and disappointing, is that the USB port on the AppleTV doesn't seem to support an external storage device of some kind. At this point, I'm wondering if there isn't a better case to be made buying an HDTV with a DVI input, and using a Mac Mini instead of the AppleTV? Not sure, I'll have to see how this shakes out.

Speaking of Mac Minis, hopefully we'll get a Core 2 Duo Mini with 802.11n support here in the near future too.

Truthfully, I'd read some speculation that Apple would be announcing a line of Apple-branded hi-def TVs, with AppleTV built in. Had that been the case, I was prepared to go ahead and add to my crushing consumer debt load and buy one. As it is, I'll wait and see if the AppleTV works with my "scum of the earth" set first, and test the waters with it if it does.

Macworld Keynote Thoughts

The following is what I shared with an e-mail correspondent earlier this afternoon, after correcting some grammatical errors, and some editing for a bit more clarity:

It's clear this was about Jobs changing the face of Apple ("Inc." not "Computer"). That's why he basically blew off talking about the Mac right at the beginning.

This has been kind of a trend for some time, given the success of the iPod, but the mobile phone market is obviously orders of magnitude larger, and success in that market would really mark the transition of Apple, Incorporated, into a broader consumer electronics company, with the cachet of say, Sony, whose star seems to be somewhat in decline of late. But it would enhance his reputation - and his legacy, if his mortality is on his mind these days - as an entrepreneur, and probably eclipse that of Bill Gates, the size of their respective fortunes notwithstanding. I think this is what drives Jobs. Not just his "art," but proving to everyone who ever doubted him, and all his critics, that they were wrong. Of course, this brings hubris to mind, and those whom the gods would destroy they first...

The phone appeals to me, but I see some potential problems. I'm going to guess that five hours of "talk/browsing" time is optimistic. Power consumption on that thing has got to be high, and the signature Jobs' small form factor limits the size of the battery in the device, so I'm guessing battery life is going to be any early complaint.

Basing the platform on OS X has some potentially very significant advantages, but it also imposes some vulnerabilities. How many people are going to be diligent about installing security patches on their phones? Plus, if it is successful, the relative ubiquity of the phone makes OS X a much more tempting, high-value proposition for the bad guys.

Hopefully everything stored on the device is encrypted in some fashion, a la File Vault or something. I'd hate to think about losing that thing.

Finally, how well is that screen going to work in sunlight? If everything is based on seeing the bit-mapped screen, and it's washed out or hard to read in sunlight, that's going to be a problem for everyone.

Then there are the usual Apple problems of blemishes, and if everything isn't "perfect" some people get very incensed.

So this seems like a high-risk proposition for Apple. It's not a cheap phone by any means, and people are going to expect a lot from it. If it fails to deliver, or if it just fails to gain traction in the marketplace, I think it will take much of the shine off of Apple's current reputation. On the other hand, it does significantly advance the state of the art, and it will drive competitors to offer similar capabilities.

I am more interested in the TV device at the moment, and possibly the Airport Extreme. I'm running on an .11b router now, and that seems to work fine for most of what I do. But I have been buying TV shows and a couple of movies from iTMS, and streaming them to my television seems like a good idea.

What we didn't hear about was a new widescreen video iPod, or anything about iWork, iLife, or Leopard. So my guess is there will be an event in February or March to announce some new hardware and software releases. My guess is there will be a speed-bump of some kind for the entire Mac line, and possibly a new laptop, as well as a strictly video iPod. (Who wants to watch a movie on their phone? They'd run the battery down! Plus, only 8GB of storage doesn't leave much room for video. There's another iPod in the wings, I'm pretty sure.)

So, for better or worse, Apple's fortunes are tied to Jobs' ego and psychology. I'm hoping the phone is a success, but I have reservations.

"Potpourri for $100.00, Alex."

Let's see... new litter is a bust. Why do I have cats again, exactly?

Did I say it wasn't cold yesterday? Well, I was wrong. It's a balmy 47ûF out there this morning. But a beautifully clear sky, lots of stars, a lovely moon and a couple of planets to distract me from watching Bodhi. I am happy I'll have the opportunity to wear the long-sleeved shirts I bought on sale the other day.

Hope to buy some wicker furniture for my little balcony/deck thing today or tomorrow. There's some on sale at a local retailer. It'll be nice to sit outside on something comfortable and watch the world go by.

The big event at Macworld is today, when Steve Jobs does the keynote and reveals what Apple has been working on lately. Lots of hype and speculation regarding new products. I'm not sure what to expect, though I am looking forward to Leopard, and a spreadsheet in iWork.

As kind of a late Christmas present to myself, I bought an iPod HiFi. I like the way the Airport Express works, I just don't care for the placement of the Zvox speakers. I'm going to have some electricity run to the ledge that runs above my cupboards in the kitchen, and place the HiFi and Airport Express up there. I bought an optical cable to connect the HiFi to the Express, and it does seem to me that the sound is much better, though I don't know how much of that is the different speaker design, and how much is a cleaner signal, or perhaps a difference in the D/A converters between the Express and the HiFi.

I'm very impressed with the volume of sound you can get from the HiFi. I am by no means an audiophile, but it sounds great and I'm sure it'll annoy all my neighbors, which is what being a consumer is all about right? Buying crap and ignoring the people who live around you? Just kidding.

My father, aka Sailor Jack, turned 80 on Sunday. He doesn't look a day over 72. He and my mom received cell phones from the kids so they can stay in touch with one another more readily.

And I'm sorry, I didn't offer my answer in the form of a question.

Animal Husbandry

Probably not something you want to read right before or after a meal. You've been warned.

We love our pets, and rightly so. But there are aspects of being a pet owner - or owned by your pets, I'm never quite certain which is the case - that aren't exactly, shall we say, fun and rewarding. The main one that causes me distress from time to time is managing their waste stream.

For the most part, it's simply a matter of establishing a routine, but no routine is ever ideal. Bodhi needs to be walked several times a day, and truthfully, he needs to be walked that often more for the exercise than for the opportunity to relieve himself; and the cats use a litter box. Most of the time. Walking Bodhi is mostly a pleasure for me, and I really enjoy the exercise. But it's not as much fun in the rain. I'd say it wasn't as much fun in the cold, either, but it hasn't been cold at all so far this winter. It was 83 frickin' degrees on Saturday! But yeah, when it's raining, it's not as much fun.

It's also not as much fun when my puppy, who has a tendency to ingest things he finds on the ground, gets an upset digestive system. I try to pay close attention to what he's doing, but sometimes I look at the stars or the moon, and I think he watches for that so he can grab a quick snack while I'm not looking. He got something Thursday night, and we haven't quite mastered "Leave it!" yet. At all. So, well, sometimes it happens and nothing bad happens. Sometimes I'm not so lucky.

I knew something was wrong when I came home from work Friday, and both of the cats were at the front door looking at me, as if to say, "You won't believe what that damn dog did!" The next thing that hit me was the smell. Ugh!

So much for thoughts of a Friday afternoon "happy hour."

Well, it seems Bodhi had a little case of explosive diarrhea. Apparently he stood the whole time afterward, and I have no idea when it occurred, because he didn't seem to have any on him, but it was everyplace else. I was thankful for at least one small favor. I took him out and let him relieve himself outside - more of the same - and brought him back in. I grabbed a couple of rolls of paper towels, some garbage bags, and this little hand-held carpet shampooer thing I have, that formerly only came in handy when the cats vomited something back up. I turned the ventilation fan on, opened the windows and the sliding glass door, and went to work. I probably should have donned a HAZMAT suit, but I don't own one, so there you go.

The plush toys went into the trash, I put the rubber ones into a garbage bag along with his comforter, and took that and put them all in the washing machine. It used to be a kind of tan and brown striped affair, now it's a much faded different color, since I bleached the damn thing. I ran it on the hot cycle, and everything came out very clean.

Then I used paper towels to sop up everything I could sop up while doing my best to suppress the gag reflex, which was pretty tough going for a while. I used to shovel shit in my uncle's barn, so it's not like I've got a delicate constitution or anything, but man that shit stank!

I had to pull the tray out of the crate, and I took care of that as soon as I pulled it out. It was perhaps the easiest thing to clean. Then I had to move the crate out, and flip it one one side to get at the wires on the bottom. Next was the carpet, probably the most difficult part of the whole endeavor. After I got the bulk of it up just using paper towels, I simply sprayed water on the area and then vacuumed that out of carpet - repeatedly. Once it got to the point where the water going into the tank was fairly clear, I sprayed it with a carpet cleaner and let that soak for a while. At that point, I still had a large stain, but the carpet cleaner had an oxidizing component that usually took care of the red dye stains from the cats' vomit. After a few treatments like that, and I was pretty sure you can't see the stain. I think I see it because I know where to look, but who knows? You do your best and move on.

Next was the wall. He only got one. The problem was it had dried, and removing it was removing the paint as well. I'd say it was a crappy paint job, but that would be a bad pun. I did the best I could, and I figure I'll repaint the damn place one of these days anyway.

So then I turned the ceiling fan on high, which I hadn't done earlier because I think cleaning the carpet was easier while it was still wet. But I closed the windows and turned down the thermostat to get the ac running to dry the carpet relatively quickly.

The cleanup effort took about an hour and a half. And not long after I'd finished, Bodhi was at the door again, whining to go out. So we did, and he had more of the same. And so it went throughout the night. We stayed up until midnight, but by the time I put him into the crate again, I figured I wouldn't be getting much sleep. I will say he was very reliable about letting me know. He'd whine, I'd let him out and take him outside, he'd explode, and then we'd go back upstairs and back into the crate.

By Saturday evening, it was beginning to seem as though the worst had past. My neighbors told me Immodium can stop a dog's diarrhea as well as a person's, and I'd bought some just in case, but it didn't seem we'd need it. He made it all through Saturday night, and kept making progress all through Sunday. I'd say we're pretty much fully recovered by now. Still a very soft stool, but little or no gas.

So that's the dog.

Then there are the cats. Well, the dog gets more attention than the cats. And when the dog is sick, he gets a lot more attention than the cats. So I neglected my routine with their litter box, and they rightly displayed their irritation by urinating outside the box. Sigh.

Sunday is litter-changing day, and I bought some new-fangled litter from Arm & Hammer, their conventional clay clumping litter being the brand I usually use. This new stuff supposedly clumps even better, is "all-natural," and you can flush it down the toilet, which you can't do with clay. So I figured I'd give that a shot. With the clay litter, the clumping is erratic. I don't know if one of my cats has significantly different urine from the other, or if it's just sort of random how well it clumps, but I get nice firm blobs I can remove easily, or a I get a kind of hard-packed mess I have to kind of break out and it just falls into pieces in the process. You have to bag the stuff, and then pretty much get it out of the house the same day, because it just stinks. So cleaning the litter box is pretty much an every other day affair, so I'm not trekking to the dumpster every damn day, and then on Sunday I have to dump the remaining litter and start with a fresh batch.

Well, with this new litter, presumably I can simply scoop out the clumps and feces and flush them down the toilet! And since I don't have to bag it and take it to the dumpster, I can scoop every day. Or, so I thought.

I noticed the new litter has a vastly different consistency than the clay, but it also has a very strong smell, kind of like cedar. I was worried the cats might not like it. Turns out I was right. Damn cats pissed all over the floor next to the box!

Gah!

I think I can solve two problems and still keep the new litter. One problem is the cats kick a bunch of litter out of their box when they try to bury their deposit. The litter boxes they sell at stores all just suck. They just suck. Before I got Bodhi, I was using a low, plastic storage box, which was nice and big for the two cats. But it was too easy for them to kick out the litter. They track a small amount on their paws, but that's relatively nothing compared to the amount they simply throw out. After I got the dog, I bought this igloo-type affair with a lid. The idea was to keep Bodhi out of it, because dogs sometimes enjoy eating cat poop. Don't ask me why, I have no idea.

The other problem is that I think the lid helps to concentrate the odor of the new litter, making it more unappealing to the cats. And I really never liked the damn box anyway. So I'm going to get a largish, deep plastic storage box, and try to put some kind of step for them to easily get in and out of it. If it's high enough, it'll keep Bodhi out since it's under the vanity in the bathroom, while still allowing the cats in. Without a lid, the odor of the new litter shouldn't be as strong, at least I hope so. And with the high sides, I should only have to be dealing with the litter that adheres to their paws on the bathroom floor. One with wheels will be ideal, though I have to watch the height.

We'll see how that goes. But dealing with your pets' waste stream is one of the less appealing aspects of having them in your life. I'm not sure this merited a post, but it seemed like I all did this weekend was deal with shit, and I'm a little frustrated, especially getting up this morning and finding urine outside the box. I will say I'm a much bigger fan of ceramic tile floors now than I ever was before.

And I think I now have a flea problem too. Thought I pretty much had that one under control, but the warm weather, Bodhi's frequent outdoor activity, and I think I've got a problem.

Sigh.

BSG: Rumors

This ought to please Jonathon Delacour. There's rumor going around that Starbuck is the next cast member to get it in the neck. Apparently Katee Sackhoff is tired of the role, the show having evolved into little more than a soap-opera, and wants to move on.

Ratings have been down this season, and it remains to be seen what the move to Sunday nights will mean, but DVD sales have been strong, and the show continues to garner critical acclaim (except from me), so a fourth season is likely. But the sense I get of the current discussion is that the creators will be looking to bring the series to a narrative end in the fourth season, which seems reasonable to me. There is also a rumor of a direct-to-DVD feature film to be made between seasons 3 and 4, which might be interesting.

While the strength of Battlestar Galactica has been its topicality and character-driven, serial narrative, this season has been something of a disappointment to me.

The strongest arc, by far, of any of the characters this season has been that of Col. Saul Tigh. The guy deserves an Emmy nom, and the award for best supporting actor. They gave him good stuff to work with, and he delivered in spades.

The death of Kat recently was affecting, but I thought the revelation of her semi-criminal past was a little gratuitous. Everything else has been rather weak, I think; and the time spent with the Cylons in the baseship was little more than a waste of time.

We'll see how the second half of this season shakes out. I still watch the show, but there are very few moments when I'm truly amazed, except for the story of Saul Tigh. Well, Galactica's return to New Caprica and the rescue of the colonists was pretty damn exciting, with the exception of a rather lame speech by Adama at the beginning. The whole Apollo/Starbuck thing, with each of them being married to someone else, is just a train wreck. I don't blame Sackhoff for wanting to bail. And the show has lost its narrative rhythm, in my opinion. It's like it's not firing on all cylinders.

Still, the mini-series and seasons one and two remain among the best television dramas ever made. I think if they get a fourth season, and they drive toward a conclusion, it can end strong. I'm already convinced it will involve the destruction of Galactica and the death of Adama. Not in some heroic sacrifice, just as a casualty of war, of bad luck. As much as I'd love to see Adama and Roslin settle down somewhere and enjoy their golden years together, I just think some people aren't destined for happy endings.

Noteworthy

Tinderbox 3.6 ships with a copy of Yojimbo. I'm not sure if it's part of a cross-promotion effort to help both products, or if it's a way to help bring some Cocoa-flavor to Tinderbox workflows. In any event, I've paid for my upgrade, and I suppose I'll be playing with Yojimbo now.

I have several of these information-management types of programs, "electronic notebooks," if you will. If anything, we suffer from an embarrassment of riches in this department these days. My interest in them goes back to Dave Winer's original ThinkTank, which I used to manage the command calendar at Fleet Combat Training Center over twenty years ago. In the "classic" Mac Systems, 7, 8, and 9, Arrange, later WebArranger, was the pinnacle achievement in electronic notebook applications, though choices were rather limited then.

Nowadays we have Omni Outliner, Notetaker, Notebook, DevonThink, Tinderbox, all of which I've paid for, and a host of others. I imagine it's a very competitive environment, and it's tough for these guys to gain "mind-share." I like all the apps I own, though I confess I use mostly just DevonThink and Tinderbox these days.

In other news, iWork '07 is rumored to be gaining a spreadsheet application this year, which I would welcome. I have my budget in Excel, and it works fine, but it's butt-ugly and I'd rather have something more pleasant to look at when I survey my vast financial empire. Well, it's not that I actually have a "vast financial empire," it's just that I need to pay close attention to my finances, as I'm usually only a half-step ahead of being destitute, and I'd like to try and gain a step this year. If I'd stop buying "electronic notebook" applications, I'd probably be in a lot better shape.

Speaking of money sumps, I just checked my Smart Playlist for "Purchased Music" in iTunes, and I've bought about 2000 tracks since the iTunes Music Store opened. Now, probably a dozen or more of those were "free music Tuesday" tracks, and a lot of them are compilations where the price per track is significantly less than $.99, (For instance a Best of Queen album contains 20 tracks and costs $7.99.) so it doesn't represent $2K spent at the iTMS, but probably on the order of $1.6K or so, since iTMS opened its virtual doors. Though I can't recall just now when that was. I must be an outlier, statistically speaking. Or I just like music and I'm too lazy to go buy CDs.

Which reminds me, is the RIAA suing public libraries for "sharing" CDs? I guess I'd have heard about that if they were.

Here's an odd thing. People complain about .Mac all the time. People love to complain. Myself, I like .Mac, but one of the main things I like about it is now broken. I have an account with a large enterprise network and a couple of years ago it went to some lengths to block access to web mail sites, so folks could no longer check their personal e-mail at work. That's not nefarious, but it was inconvenient, and we know how important some people regard convenience. Anyway, .Mac kind of flew under the radar, being so insignificant and what have you, so I've been able to check my personal e-mail all this time, even when Apple upgraded the web mail user interface for .Mac.

Well, something broke recently, and I don't know what it is. I can still access the site, so it's not blocked, but it doesn't render properly anymore. I can tell if I've received new mail, and even log in and see who it was from, but I can't really read or reply to it. (To be clear, it's the "Ajaxy" web interface that's broken. .Mac Home loads fine, and I haven't tried the other features recently, like my iDisk or Address Book.) We're using some version of IE 6.x on Win 2K, and like I said, it worked fine for the longest time, but it's broken now. Bummer.

DVD: Invincible

Lightweight, upbeat little number, relieved a bit by the fact that it's a true story. Good rainy-day fare.

Dog Days of Winter

Bodhi and I had our first obedience class last night, where a human tries to train other humans and the dogs all get a good laugh.

There were about seven dogs in the class, another Golden puppy who was much mellower than Bodhi, a Basset Hound, two Boston Terriers, a Shar Pei and a small dog I didn't recognize.

Last night's curriculum included "sit," "down," gaining eye contact, and coming when called, which involved a game of "Hide and Go Seek." Bodhi already knew "sit" and "down," but the eye contact training was useful and we'll be working on that one some more. "Hide and Go Seek" was interesting because the instructor said it stresses a dog to lose sight of its owner. I never really associated that with Bodhi, because if there's another dog or person around, he doesn't seem to know I exist.

So the instructor holds your dog while you go off and disappear around a corner in an aisle of the pet store. In Bodhi's case, he actually whined when he lost sight of me, none of the other dogs did that. So the idea is that once you're out of sight, you call your dog and he has to work to go find you, then you make a big deal when he does. We played three rounds of that game, making the dogs work a little harder each time.

He behaved himself pretty well in the store, only helping himself to one toy from a shelf. Fortunately the store didn't seem to have a "You bite it, you bought it," policy.

Since government employees had the day off yesterday, it was pretty dead (like, inert) at work yesterday, so I took off a few hours early and took Bodhi to the dog park to burn off a little energy before class. There was a pretty nice group of dogs there to play with, and he even did his first swim to retrieve a ball. Normally he'll wade out, but if he can't reach the ball he'll leave it. Yesterday he actually swam out to get it, mostly I think because another dog was going after it too and Bodhi was being a little competitive. He repeated that a few times, but he's still a little inconsistent on swimming to retrieve a toy.

He's a great dog, and we're lucky to have each other.

A Kodak Moment

It's marketing, yeah. But it cracked me up. It gets better as it goes on.

Disclosure: I like Kodak, the company and its products. Obviously, I'm not fit company to associate with the likes of Nikon and Canon owners, but there you go.

Low Hanging Fruit

I confess I think I heard this on the radio, but I liked the idea.

My New Year's resolution is to give up smoking! Since I don't smoke, this is one resolution I'll be able to keep!

Previously, I've relied on the Homer Simpson perspective: "Trying is the first step toward failure."

There's something very taoist about that, but I'll let it go for now.

New Year Notes

Another year. Seven is supposed to be a lucky number. Let's hope so.

Things have been rather quiet here. I didn't do much for the holidays. Decorating would have called for decorations I don't have, and then there would be the matter of ensuring Bodhi didn't eat them, or the cats wouldn't knock them over or climb them trying to evade the dog.

Next year I think I'll have a tree, and I'll probably have put some kind of a shelf over the fireplace to pretend it's a mantle, so a stocking or two might be in order. Bodhi should be a little easier to manage too, and I'll have a dinner table by then, so maybe I'll have a party or something.

Didn't do much Christmas shopping. My son wanted a Nintendo Wii, and of course those weren't to be found. Told him I'd get him one when they're more readily available. I did get him a book he wanted, The I Chong: Meditations From the Joint. I'm underwriting my youngest daughter's trip to Europe this summer, and that pretty much consumed all of the residual cash I had on hand, so that was her Christmas/birthday present for the remainder of the decade. Well, this year anyway. I did give her my white Nintendo DS Lite, having given her a blue original model last year. When the black ones came out, I had to have one, so I bought one for myself. I'm sure she'd have preferred the pink one. My oldest daughter wanted some money to go toward a piece of furniture she and her husband have their eye on, and I helped them out a bit with that. So, not much shopping.

My oldest daughter got me a GE toaster oven with a rotisserie, and I made rotisserie chicken the other night. Worked pretty well, though I think I may have left it in just a few minutes longer than necessary and the skin didn't brown the way I'm used to. My kids' house had a rotisserie built into the oven, and after a trip to Italy I came back a big fan of rotisserie chicken. You can buy it at the store, but it's fun cooking your own. The oven rotisserie eventually broke, and I didn't live there anymore anyway, so store-bought has been pretty much it for me until now. I'm going to experiment with it a bit more and see what I can do with it. At some point I may look into getting something a bit more substantial.

Took Bodhi to the dog park on Christmas Eve. There weren't many dogs there, but he was chasing one and they were both running straight for me. I didn't really know which way to turn, so I stood still thinking they'd brush by me. Big mistake.

Bodhi hit my left leg below the knee at full speed and put me right on my ass, eventually onto my back, there in the nice muddy field. Fortunately I didn't land on any dog poop. But he hurt my leg something bad. Didn't seem to phase him at all. I had a goose egg on my shin as bad or worse than anything I've ever gotten in TKD, and it felt as though my knee had been hyper-extended. I couldn't put any weight on it bent. I got to my feet rather slowly and found I could put weight on it straight, but bending it hurt like hell. It's getting better now. I can bend it with some discomfort, but I can't put much weight on it if it's bent very far, like if I were to squat to look for something in a cabinet or on a low shelf. So I usually just go to my knee and let my right leg do the heavy lifting. Chambering my leg for a kick is uncomfortable too, but it is getting better. The shin is still quite sore with a rather large knot on it, and a good deal of inflammation in the area around it. Bruising was minimal, though sometimes that doesn't show up until much later, and usually down in the ankle where it all seems to settle.

But wow. The dog only weighs fifty pounds! Probably a bit more by now. But I guess it all gets back to Napoleon's old maxim: "Mass times velocity equals impact." Make velocity big enough and mass isn't that important! (Actually, I do know that KE=.5mv^2, so energy varies as the square of the velocity.) I took him to the park on Saturday and, needless to say, made sure I stayed out of his way!

Earlier last month I mentioned I'd finally gotten around to hooking up my Airport Express to the second input on the ZVox speaker system sitting beneath my TV. Well, I finally got around to playing with the "multiple speakers" feature in iTunes, and I surprised that it works quite well. With Multiple Speakers enabled, the audio plays through both the JBL Creature speakers in the loft, and the ZVox down below. I thought their might be a delay from the streamed music, but if there is, it's not noticeable to me. It really fills the place with sound. Still not a great acoustic environment, but kind of cool anyway. I'm easily pleased.