Idlewild is supposed to be playing the Bowery Ballroom the week of Thanksgiving, but so far the tickets haven’t gone on sale and the show hasn’t even been announced on the Bowery Ballroom’s website. Idlewild released the information, so it’s not just speculation and wild rumour, but the lack of further information is making me nervous.
I’d really like to reserve a hotel room sooner rather than later, because that is the week of Thanksgiving, and it is New York City we’re talking about, so rooms are going to go fast and be expensive.
I hate waiting. It makes me angsty.
Posted in My Woes, Travel
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My contract with AT&T is up at the end of August. The contract for Kitti’s phone is up at the end of December. I’m in a quandary about what to do. Do I stay with AT&T and upgrade my phone? Do I wait until December and move us both to another carrier? Is Verizon seriously offering Netbooks for $20.00?
I’m sort of leaning toward Verizon because they have a phone that’s essentially what I’m looking for — phone, camera, and text capabilities. Although I suppose what I really need is something that just lets me send/receive texts only, since I don’t actually call anyone and use my phone just for quick texts.. and Verizon offers a text/web only package for a reasonable price.
Hm…
Aside from being hot and miserable through most of it, at least.
Accomplished the knitting of a heel in a toe-up sock. Apparently the 37th time is the charm. Actually, it’s still not perfect. The picking-up of stitches didn’t go so well, so there are gaps. Also, maybe using size 1 needles wasn’t the best idea. The foot of the sock is fine, but it stretches pretty thin across the heel (and I didn’t do a narrow heel at all). But the important thing is that it worked, and I made it a few rounds into the start of the leg of the sock. I think I’ll get it eventually.
Killed my TomTom again. I think this time it’s because I have this habit of leaving it in the car and it’s been so insanely hot that the poor thing got overheated. I thought it was the adapter at first, because the light didn’t seem to be on (and the light for my cellphone adapter came on, proving that it wasn’t the plug that was faulty). It’s been replaced once before because it got fried (apparently if you plug the adapter into the car before you attach the adapter to the TomTom, it can short out the device). So I just bought a new one. Exact same kind (Amazon even told me so). It’s been exactly what I’ve needed, so I didn’t see a reason to consider anything else. I just have to remember to not leave it in the car all the time.
NOT having the TomTom made getting to Downs Park fun. We’ve only been there once before and I only had recall of about half the route. I got the directions from Google Maps and handed the iTouch to Kitti and let him navigate. Unfortunately the Google Maps directions didn’t give things like exit numbers, so we got lost. But I got things sorted out pretty quick and we had plenty of time to let Cardiff go mental. There are a lot of pictures over on Flickr.
We left almost in time to avoid the rain. I had to pull over at one point and wait out the worst of it because on 695, with traffic and pouring rain, the windshield wipers were essentially useless.
Cardiff got a bath at Dogma before we went home. Then Kitti and I got cleaned up and went to see Interpol. Really great show. I’m looking forward to the next CD. The new stuff they played really got my attention.
And now it’s Monday and back to work and all that jazz.
Read.
Specifically, spend several days reading The Alienist, followed immediately by The Angel of Darkness, and then go right into The Cabinet of Curiosities.
All three are set in New York City. The Alienist is in 1896, Angel of Darkness is 1897, and Cabinet of Curiosities involves a case that started in the 1870s or so.
Combine it with the fact that it wasn’t that long ago I read The Beautiful Cigar Girl and a slight fixation with Steampunk and it leads to a lot of sitting around going “wait, what year is this again?”
I’d also like to say that I’ve been disappointed by the Internets. Searching for “Teddy Roosevelt fighting a robot” gave me nothing.
However, “Theodore Roosevelt fighting a robot” gave me this…
Which only proves that you can count on Cracked for just about everything.
A book can contain racist ideas, but a book itself cannot be racist.
Things like this make me hate humanity.
I refuse to go along with this week’s warm, feel-good celebrations of Harper Lee’s novel (published fifty years ago today), To Kill a Mockingbird. Simply put, I think that novel is racist, and so is its undying popularity.
Protip: If your 50-year-old uncle is racist, it’s a problem because he should have learned better. A 50-year-old book is a 50-year-old book and can’t learn new things.
Actually, that right there is the first reason I think this novel is, in effect, racist — it allows, indeed encourages, today’s well-meaning white people to think that “America is a very different place” than it was when Lee wrote her novel, and thus to think that widespread and deeply entrenched racism died a long time ago.
America is different now than it was when Lee wrote her novel, but I don’t think that anyone honestly believes that widespread and deeply entrenched racism died a long time ago. I think it’s very much the opposite. I think we’re aware that it still exists and we’re aware that it shouldn’t, but it’s obviously a lot harder to get rid of than just saying “it’s gone”.
If I see any animal of any sort left in someone’s car I will do some combination of the following:
- Tell someone in the store closest to where the car is parked.
- Failing that, I will call the police.
- If the police or car owner doesn’t show up within 5 minutes, I will break the car window.
I do not even care that breaking your car window is illegal. I’ll stand right by the car and wait until the cops show up and explain why I did it.
“I left the window open a crack” is not acceptable.
Posted in Bird, Cat, Dog, Weather
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All the pictures are here.
They’re mostly just of the parade (which was shorter this year) but there are some crowd shots. I tried to get video of a guy lip synching and doing the entire dance routine from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” but I was using Kitti’s camera, which apparently doesn’t get capture sound. Or there’s something weird with the format that’s not playing audio. Anyhow, right now the video has no sound and I don’t know if that’s permanent or not, so there are still pictures instead. The guy was just a guy in the crowd, too. Not like a scheduled performer or anything.
We were only there for about an hour and a half. It was just too damned hot — especially with the crowd. Next year we might skip the parade and go after the sun sets, when the party really gets going.
In 2008 we went late and stayed until the bars closed. Last year we didn’t go at all because they were talking about severe thunderstorms (complete with flash flood warnings). It never did rain at all that day. Kitti is still bitter about missing it.
I keep telling Kitti we should just go to The Hippo any ol’ time, but that’s mostly because they have bingo on Wednesdays and I love me some bingo.
Posted in Photos, Travel
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Last night I got my “Clearspot” — the device that turns my USB connection into a hotspot, or for using Clear for things what ain’t got no USB connection (like the iTouch). After the Spot was charged I plugged in the USB and started wandering the house looking for a signal — sort of the non-Stargate version of a lifesigns detector.
My house is dead, Jim.
Seriously, out in the back yard I get a decent signal. Out front, the third step down from the porch, I get a fantastic signal.
Daffydd suggested I get an antenna, but they’re kind of pricey. I’m also not sure if it would really do any good. Somehow I don’t see myself attaching it to the telephone pole on my street and running several hundred feet of cable to my house. Okay. I do, but what I don’t see is me getting up the telephone pole.
I think what I really need to do is clean up the computer room and get the nest of wires straightened out. Then I can figure out of there’s a better position for the modem. Closer to the window and maybe the ceiling, perhaps?
Edit: the modem is a Motorola CPEi 25150
