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July 25, 2005

Summer With Molly

It's been a long, long summer. Molly's increasing energy and demands have left little time to read or relax, but her schedule has insured every day is fully realized--up at 6, two naps, asleep by 9, and moving, moving, moving all the time.

A return to work will be a relief.

I'm planning on commuting home on my bike. I rode the ten-mile route today in about an hour. I figured I would get my exercise in and help save the planet in my own little way by parking the Bug and pushing pedals to get home. My weight loss has held steady all summer at about 45 pounds because, hey, summer's for grilling and imbibing, right? I plan a return to a strict diet with school's beginning. 220 by this Christmas and I get a reward!

New summer pictures after a long drought.

Posted by tat at 10:33 PM | Comments (3)

July 02, 2005

Triumvirate of Coolness

I have, after many years of careful, methodical plotting and scheming, achieved the triumvirate of coolness. I possess, with great pride and geekness, a Tivo, a Roomba, and, as of yesterday, an iPod. Possession of these gadgets by themselves is a geeky achievement, but to have all three in the same room creates a Zen Zone, an insular cocoon of technological gooey goodness.

Other stuff I'm geeking out to:

I bought an older iMac in order to play with OS X, which I'm using to type this very entry. I must say I'm very impressed. Linux is nice and Open Source, but it still requires too much effort to run on the desktop. OS X *just works* and is still NOT Microsoft. Kudos, Steves.

I watched an *ahem* early DVD release of Episode III in order to fulfill my pledge to never give another dollar to The Bastard George Lucas, who, with Episodes I and II of Star Wars, mangled my generation's religion and Source of All Meaning into mind-numbing sci-fi twiddle. I have to admit--to my pleasant astonishment--that I liked it. The Bastard actually produced an enjoyable, Star-Wars-esque movie without the maddeningly expositional, purposeless tangents (pod race, Jar-Jar, everything young Anakin says, etc.).

The magic movie marketers Netflix have supplied a non-stop stream of movies I have to recommend. First, Appleseed. Coolest anime since Ghost in the Shell and Akira. Stunning CG backgrounds with cel character animation. Astounding. The Returner, essentially a live-action Cowboy Bebop, was a cool Japanese sci-fi. If you like blood and violence, John Woo's Hardboiled and A Better Tomorrow (the superior film) fit the bill. Netflix is essential for the breadth of their DVD selection.

By the way, the iPod, with the FM transmitter attachment thingy, will play on the stereo across the room as well as the car radio. Oh my god. Can it be any cooler?

Posted by tat at 09:32 PM | Comments (7)