Personal

My coworkers haven’t seen me without my Morf stress ball since I got it at Staples. I constantly have to do something with my hands and it occupied them. squish squish I was sitting at my desk, listening to a podcast, and looking at my computer screen. All of a sudden, I heard a squirting sound and something touching my shoulder. I froze. What was that? I looked over at my shoulder and all over my shirt was a bunch of yellow goo. A tiny hole opened itself as I squeezed and the contents were now decorating my shirt. ...

I realized today that between a real lack of Apple/Mac news and having lots to do (relating to the mysterious piece of news I referred to in our last exciting episode) that I likely wouldn’t be posting much, though the supplemental is going to get regular updates. The good news is that once I get back into the groove, I’ll be adding a lot of content that is in a vein that this site hasn’t explored before. Stay tuned.

Those of you that I talk to daily already know why I’m ordering a new D-Link DCM-202. Please don’t mention it in the comments. I’m going to be all superstitious about it and write a big post about it later. {.float-right}Anyway, at about $40 with mail-in rebate at Amazon with DOCSIS 2.0, this was the modem to get. I won’t be posting a review for a while, but I’ll do all kinds of testing when I do. I’ll use Skype, Gizmo, Vonage (as I’ll likely be getting that too), Bittorrent, and so on. There won’t be anything too formal (as switching between a couple cable modems isn’t really an option, nor something I want to do), but I will be able to definitively say whether I think it sucks.

Fire up your TiVo (or EyeTV in my case). Monk is back. I love the show, but not the way in which they’ve been jerking me around. First it was just on USA. Then it was on ABC. Then back to USA. They changed the time around a couple times. They had finally settled on 10 PM on Fridays. Then of course that had to be upset by putting Kojak on at that time instead (I wanted to like that show too, but I just couldn’t bring myself to). I was afraid that the replacement of Monk’s nurse had been the death knell for the show. It wasn’t. ...

London has been attacked. Four bombs have been set off in their public transportation systems. My thoughts go out to them.

Twice this week someone I’ve met through the Macworld forums has passed away. I got the email a few days ago from a friend of his. It was by far the saddest piece of news to ever enter my inbox. Chris Breen, who knew him longer than I, has written an excellent forum post about it. Please read it. Chris has far more experience writing and his piece is really touching. One snippet hit me pretty hard. ...

Anyone that’s been a member of Macworld’s forums for a significant amount of time may remember the “Gabbery” forums. They were a haven of off-topic conversation with its own unique flavor. It ultimately had to come to an end. That story is for another time though. One of the leading contributors was a member named Passenger. He was passionate and believed in what he said. That’s a rare trait now. When the “Gabbery” forums were disbanded, one of the members, Kahloz, started a new forum at his own website. Passenger made the migration with a few others. For months (or a year, I can’t remember), we talked about all topics, routinely getting on one another’s nerves. ...

You’re going to want to head down to your local newsstand if you’re not a subscriber to Macworld magazine. The July 2005 issue features an article written by yours truly (it’s the sidebar on page 46). It’s already been published online, but there’s nothing like a physical copy right in your hands. I plan on buying a couple copies so I can frame it as it’s my first published work. It’s quite an exciting day for me. Hopefully I can make this a more regular thing.

So my good friend Allison invited me to her house in Worcester for a cookout. Good times. I went home in a good mood. The next morning, mother woke me up. Did you get in an accident last night? she asked. Now, I didn’t remember an accident. I wasn’t that out of it. It made me wake with a start though. It turns out that while I was parked on that side street in Worcester, someone managed to hit my car. This is the 4th time it’s been hit while it was stationary. Line right up ladies and gentlemen. See the car that only gets dented when not in motion. ...

I got home really late last night. It wasn’t because of anything even mildly exciting. Rather, my left front tire decided to die. I noticed a slow leak lately (like a couple PSI over a couple weeks) but it decided to shit the bed yesterday. I stopped at a gas station near work. Guess what. It was broken. I put 75 cents into a broken air pump. That flipped my Hulk rage switch. I had to put the donut on the car and drive home. ...