Pandora in my ears tonight

I imagine my hordes of adoring readers see me as a simultaneously gruff and sophisticated free spirit. The kind of guy who fells a tree with his bare hands, then carves a chair out of the trunk with his teeth so that he can sit comfortably while reading high literature and sipping San Pellegrino.
Sadly, this is not the truth.

I've been a geeky dude a long time. In fact, I can't remember a time when I wasn't lusting for gadgetry or wanting a spaceship. There are hints of this in the blog. Most notably when I write whole posts about a computer, or compare different blogging softwares. A keen reader will note that I seem to be more and more involved in internet-related projects. This blog is a prime example, my use of Twitter is another. I find the way these projects integrate people as participants and architects wonderful as well as intriguing.

Anyway, I started this whole post because I wanted to talk about Pandora. Nate put me onto this recently and, despite its foreboding name, I am really enjoying it.

--- INTERMISSION ---

(During this short intermission, we'd like to present a re-enactment of the scene in which NATE tells MAX about PANDORA)

Nate: You should check this out. Its this web-app called Pandora...

Max: Uh-uh! No way! No way am I going anywhere near, or having anything to do with this "PANDORA" of which you speak!

Nate: But it...

Max: Dude! I've seen movies! I know mythology! Anything with a name like that is BAD NEWS. Forget it, lets get a ham.

--- END OF INTERMISSION ---

Pandora is a web-based application, part of the Music Genome Project. It acts like an internet radio station that filters the output based on your selections. When starting a new "station" you're prompted to enter a band or song that you like. You'll then be fed a stream of songs, one after the other, that have something in common with the initial choice. These songs can be rated by the user, thats you, which changes the "content" of the "station." For instance, if you entered Frank Zappa as your initial favorite your ratings of the songs which followed could eventually have you listening to Rachmaninov or perhaps jazz quintets.

Its quite a fun little toy, and its letting me enjoy a wide variety of music that seems to be within the vein of things that I enjoy.

The whole thing is powered by the Music Genome Project, which seems to be an overly ambitious exercise in cross-indexing. But whatever, Pandora is fun and is giving me new tunes for free.

Go Ahead and Shake Hands

Say hello to a pal of mine.



Thats right, folks. We all thought he was gone but ATOMSK LIVES.

...

Sort of...

On Craig's advice I pried this sucker open (which took the better part of two days and ruined a new set of screw-drivers) and carefully applied some magical fluid (distilled water) to the nasty looking parts of the motherboard. A good dry and a few prayers, and POOF Atomsk is running again!

He's still a little jittery. Im concerned about some cooling issues, and some odd smells but its pretty likely that these are all in my head. He's still a little weird with booting, too. After a few tries, he's at least booting when the battery is in. I also feel like he's running slow, and the screen has for sure taken some minor damage.

But all in all, he's running again! Once again, I delay the purchase of a new computer.

A few related thoughts to this whole ordeal:

1. I walked to the Ace Hardware on Stadium (about 3mi) to buy the screw-drivers and the water. When I asked them if they had a "Spudger," a non-static pry-tool used on electronics, they looked at me like I said something dirty.

2. While checking out, I was accused of having brought the gallon of water in from another store. "Where did you get that?" the saleswoman asked.
"Aisle 11?" I suggested.
"Hm. We don't carry that water here..."
"Uh, its in Aisle 11...lots of it."
"Hmmmm."She was not amused with me. I'll bet she was glad when I scampered out of there.

3. While walking back from ACE, resplendent in my straw hat, Blues Brothers sunglasses and hawaiian shirt, I spied some young lads approaching rapidly by bicycle. When they got close the lead child called me a very rude name involving avian of the family Phasiandidae. The name-caller was about 10 or 11, short hair, skinny, and biked without an helmet in a bright yellow T-Shirt. His accomplice was pudgier, about the same age, and wore a plain white T-Shirt and a purple helmet. A reward is available for any information that leads to their capture.

4. When I called Craig and Julie in triumph, Julie asked if I was disappointed. I'll say maybe, maybe just a bit.

[EDIT: I also changed the Twitter thing. Does that work better for everyone?]

Last Ditch

In a last-ditch effort, im opening Atomsk's pretty alu-minium shell and will swab his gentle innards with water soaked Q-Tips.

I have purchased all the necessary equipment and with the aide of this guide I'll be playing computer doctor.

Farewell, Atomsk

Atomsk, my dearly beloved laptop purchased such a short while ago in large part from my loving parents, is (effectively) dead. When taken to the Apple Store, he was declared to be at DAMAGE TIER LEVEL 4. That's apparently bad. As in, DEFCON 4 THE SOVIETS HAVE GONE TO CONDITION RED bad. The man at the desk tells me it will run at least 1300 to repair him.

Though his data is still intact, I figure it is too late for him. I am exploring some options, but Im not too hopeful.

Right now, Im preparing for the worst.

The king is dead. We must prepare for succession.

THE MACBOOK
A solid choice. Small, cute, cheap and high-powered. However, it lacks any kind of decent graphics card and has an admitably small screen. Since I use my computer as a kind of entertainment center, this could be problematic.

THE MACBOOK PRO
Highpowered and wide (not thick), this is the heavy hitter of Apple's portables. A faster chip, larger screen and a nifty graphics card are its highpoints. But its price tag brushes past the WAY WAY TOO MUCH level.

THE IMAC
Best of both worlds, but stuck to the ground. A huge screen, a graphics card with more RAM and a hard drive the size of greate Milwaukee are just some of its dandy features which come at an equally dandy price. But its not exactly going to fit into my backpack.

PS.
I become E-FAMOUS! Try to find me on this page!

PPS.
As you can tell from these pictures, all the other bands were not nearly rocking hard enough. You ain't got time for gentle melodies if you rock so hard you have to wear a tamborine on your head! Go buy Mason Proper's album, or better yet see them live.

PPPS.
Also, get the new Wilco album. And see them live too.

Double Battered and Deep Deep Fried

Bonus points if you can identify the origin of this post's title!

So, I was going to update you with lots of super fun happy information that I have been saving for the past two weeks. I was going to tell you all about my new grounds job, about Claire staying with me, about my best friend Kris moving out west, about Spiderman 3, Shrek 3 and Inland Empire.

Instead Im going to tell you that I am an idiot. I am an idiot because I spilled black current and apple juice on the keyboard of my laptop. I lept into action trying to save him, but Im pretty sure it blew before I could get it turned off.

Right now, sweet sweet Atomsk is drying out in my room. I'll try to turn him on tomorrow, but Im pretty certain theres no hope. At least he went out in fiery battle - like a true viking.

More on the computer situation, as it develops.

Back to you, Phrank.

The Return of the Blog

Well, it's been a long haul since the last real post.

First came the ridiculous video problems with my computer. You'd be sitting there just dandy and then all of a sudden the screen decided that it was a modern art video installation made by a collective of art students with an overly clever name. "Bad Apple," "Äpfeln von Video," or "You Won't Be Finishing That Paper Anytime Soon." Something like that.
After that came the loss of RAM. I cannot stress enough how irritating it was trying to use this computer with only 256mb of RAM. I know it seems ridiculous - my last laptop had 64mb and was considered a pretty 'RAD RIG' at the time (I am lying) - but it's true. iTunes was basically off limits, and iPhoto was out of the question. I could run maybe three programs at a time before things started really slowing down. However, it really speaks to the power of OS X since the only software that actually rolled over and died was VLC. Not saying that VLC isn't awesome, because it really is, but it didn't seem to like the situation.
During the time the RAM was missing - which was basically up to yesterday - my dear uncle Mark died. It was a wonderful service, held in Kentucky. The best funeral I have ever been to. There must have been hundreds of people in attendance, and with the family at one time or another.
And I don't know what else to say about that. I've found that it's only the important things that are hard to write about. Stuff like the alliterative patterns in Beowulf, that's easy. Important things are hard.

I better write this paper, it's due tomorrow.

HEY!

You'll notice that some things are missing from the blog site, namely the cool stuff that I added to the sidebar. That was done in the old Blogger. The old blogger is dead, long live the new blogger.

I'm trying out the new interface that blogger has. Looks good so far. I really like the ease of editing, and what appears to be some kind of tagging system. I'd like to see more integration with Journler - my blogging app of choice, though I suppose that is up to the developer.

It's also interesting that Blogger is still resisting the Social Networking thang. If I want to read a blogger blog regularly, I have to go to it often or check it in my RSS FeedReeder (NetNewsWire Lite (I am cheap)). It's probably a good move on their part, as it does differentiate them from 'the pack,' as it were, and give Blogger a some kind of "legitimacy" which LiveJournal lacks.