I Took A Pretty Good Picture

As many of you know, I like to take pictures. Im not a photographer, not in the least. I have only a rudimentary understanding of camera settings and very rarely am able to use them effectively (more often I just take the picture without monkeyin' with the camera).
If I ever get about $1k I could just throw at something, I'd probably purchase myself one of those nifty digital SLR cameras. They're all crazy with their manual zoom, manual focus, and no shutter delay. Basically, its a camera that makes all the pictures you take with it awesome. Its almost magical.

Here's one I took last night. I usually take about 12 at a time, and keep one or two that turn out well. Here's last night's good picture.




PS.
My computer worked for 12 hours last night, through jostling, heavy use and extreme heat. COULD ATOMSK BE HEALED (again)!?

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.

See? I am getting better!

Free Audio Book!

iTunes required for download. It's the full 6-hour abridged version of John Hodgman's book, "The Areas of my Expertiese."

John Hodgman sound familiar? Here, we can do some priming to get the correct response out of you.

"Hi, I'm a Mac."

"And I'm a __________"

(John Hodgman, portrayer of the PC on Television, noted author, humorist and blogger)