You may have heard of the Amazon Kindle, the new e-book reader from the pioneering Internet booksellers.  While it promises ease of use and freedom from lugging around your physical books, it comes with some strings attached.  Mark Pilgrim sums it up best.

It seems that Rick Rubin thinks that the subscription model is the wave of the future - a “bigger idea,” says he:

“You’d pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you’d like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home.”

I haven’t met a single person who subscribes to music. None. And I can’t imagine not owning my new music. I bought it, it’s mine. I understand the evils of piracy, I know the extent of my rights to that particular copy of that particular song, and I’m down with it. I hate DRM, but I somewhat sympathize the industry’s reluctance to remove it - it’s hard to think straight with your collective heads up your ass.

Anyway, John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a good take on the DRM aspect of this idea:

But here’s the problem with subscription-based music: you can’t have it without DRM. Because without DRM, what’s to stop someone from subscribing for one month, downloading every song they might ever want, then unsubscribing but keeping the music?

That’s an excellent point, but not what jumps out at me as the craptastic part of subscription music. No, what I think is insane is the whole “you can listen to any song, any time” for the low low price of $20 or whatever. What that system neglects to take into account is that many people only listen to a very small subset of what’s commercially available.

For instance: I have a modest 3,700 songs on my iTunes. According to the playcounts on iTunes, I have listened to 781 of them since last Christmas. That’s a bit over 20% of my music collection - and that doesn’t count the hundreds of CDs that I haven’t ripped onto my computer yet, which I rarely listen to.

Now, the music industry wants to make available to me bajillions of songs, the majority of which are by artists I don’t know or don’t care about, or are in languages I don’t even understand. The songs that might interest me, and that I might want to purchase, are (you guessed it) a small subset of the total songs available.

So how much would it cost to listen to my 781 songs under the iTunes model? Tough to say - some were bought as parts of albums, and some of those albums were either less than $9.99 or contained more than 10 tracks for my $9.99. But let’s keep it simple: $0.99 per song. That means that my 781 songs cost me $773.19.

In the subscription model, at $20/month, that $773.19 would take me 38 months, or a little over 3 years, to pay. After those 38 months, I’m paying more to listen to the same songs. Unless I start listening to an average of 20 new songs a month, continuously, for the rest of my life, while not ever ceasing to listen to the ones I already like, I’m getting screwed.

But what about the kids, you say? What about a voracious consumer who is up on the latest pop trends, who downloads and listens to new stuff all the time? Sorry, I really think you’re getting the gas pipe as well. If you listen to 10 new songs a month, that’s still $2 a pop. Maybe it’s worth it for a teenager or pre-teen, when the latest HSM2 or Jonas Brothers just HAS to be on your player. But that’s a crazy expensive habit - nearly $1,000 to buy your kid music throughout high school, $1,500 if you factor in junior high as well. And it’s all disposable: think your daughter will be listening to Hannah Montana’s CDs in her dorm room in college? Me neither. But you’re paying for it. It’s like paying for the Netflix and not watching the movie for months on end.

But that’s not true, the industry tells you. Look at all the music you have access to, the industry tells you. Only $20, they tell you. Don’t believe it.

If I want to listen to a song, and I’m not willing to play hit-or-miss with XM, then I will buy the song. $0.99 is a completely reasonable price to pay for a song. If I want to take a chance on the album, I’ll pay the going rate - $9.99 on iTunes, $13 at my local indie records store, whatever. And thus endeth my outlay for that music.

Let’s face it: as we grow up, we buy less music. I buy less now than I did at 17, 22, even 25. I still pick up a few dozen albums a year - filling in back catalog or staying current with new stuff that suits me. Under my current, non-subscription plan, that works well. It’s discretionary spending. But under a subscription model, music becomes a utility, like the gas bill, phone bill, and (ah ha!) DirecTV bill. Wow, that’s a point of clarity: I already subscribe to my TV…why not music?

Except that I don’t. I pay for delivery, and once that TV signal comes into my house I can do with it as I please. And the signal is ephemeral: once that show is over, it’s over. In these dark days of scant reruns and endless reality shows, the chance I’ll see that episode again without buying it on DVD or Pay-Per-View is pretty low. I can pre-plan with TiVo, or buy the season on DVD, but how many of us constantly re-watch old TV episodes? I don’t. And my guess is that many people don’t, as well.

So what’s the bottom line? It’s easy: subscription is the screw job. It’s lifetime lock-in, a monthly tribute to archaic corporations who have ceased to innovate and instead treat their customers like criminals. And it’s a great idea, too. It looks great to their target demographic: kids and college grads with discretionary cash and huge appetites for music. But once they stoke the music addiction with a subscrption, they’ll learn in a few years that it’s money down the drain, a monthly payment for millions of songs they don’t like or don’t care about. By the time they’re in their mid 30s, instead of having a nice solid record collection that hits their musical sweetspot, they’re paying monthly dues to a club they don’t want to belong to any more. But if they stop, *Poof*! The 731 songs they do listen to go up in smoke.

It’s almost like Phillip Morris cooked this up.

The other site will be coming down soon. In the meantime, yes, I’m getting “back into blogging.” Again.

FYI, a little techie post today. If you’re looking for the latest update on the home improvement project, I’ll have photos and commentary up in the next few days. Think yellow.

They say that opinions are like, well, you know. Everybody’s got one.

For Mac enthusiasts such as me (and no, I don’t prefer the term “fanboy”), this week kicked off with anticipation over the “Stevenote” at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Since Monday’s pep talk, the Mac blogospere has been abuzz over such exciting topics as SDKs vs. Web apps for the iPhone, and Safari being available on the PC.

I’m not much of a developer, and I’ll probably never have an iPhone, so that discussion is about as exciting to me as interscholastic high school bowling. The Mac web browser on the PC, however, that has my interest piqued.

For the record, I use Firefox on my Mac and IE on my work PC. Firefox is my choice: I just like it more. I’m not crazy about Safari’s brushed metal look, and my old version of Safari had issues with some websites. Firefox “just worked” better than Safari, and I haven’t looked back. IE isn’t a choice, it’s a corporate standard. Sit near me at work, and you’ll hear me curse at it 5 times a day, minimum.

So why am I jazzed at Safari on the PC? Well, for one, I like the idea of another choice. The fact that it comes from Apple is gravy to me. More significantly, however, I have a feeling that this newest inroad to the Windows desktop is like me sitting down on the first step in the swimming pool. I’ve gone beyond getting my feet wet, but I haven’t really committed my sensitive areas.

What follows is pure speculation, and completely unsubstantiated, but I think it makes sense. First, I think (like many others, I’m sure) that Safari on the PC is a marketing tool for Apple’s look and feel. Apple is saying “Hey, you like iTunes? Like how we do media management? Think it kicks the pants off of Windows Media Player? Well then check out our browser. That’s right, we have a browser. We think it kicks the pants off of IE, and we think you’ll think so too.”

So iTunes and Safari are now on the Windows desktop. What next? I say iPhoto. Get iPhoto to the WinMasses, and for about 75% of the computing public you’ll have covered their basic needs: The web, music, and pictures. That’s all my parents really do on their computer (an iMac, btw), and all my in-laws really do as well.

So where from there? I think from there, Apple should sell boxed copies of OS X (oe XI at that point) for Windows. Not OEM, not licenses to Dell or HP. Boxed copies, with system requirements right on the box. Apple won’t have control over the whole widget, but they can at least make their suggestions. Sell the OS for $125, and make sure it includes a way to install as dual boot over top of Windows.

It won’t be for everyone. Installing a new OS, even an Apple OS, is serious business. But in a couple of years, the way HD pricing has dropped, a decent PC rig should have room for a nice Mac OS partition, with a dual-boot option at startup. It will give the types of users who downloaded and enjoyed Safari and iPhoto a new option for the whole OS. It’ll soothe the fears of would-be switchers by keeping their precious Windows functionalities intact and readily available. And, if the switcher blogs I’ve read are any indication, a good portion of those fols will use Windows less and less as they get more comfortable on the Mac. And when those folks are in the market for a new computer, they’ll be more likely to pick a genuine Mac than they would have been without that test drive.

I know there are flaws in my logic. Probably huge ones. But I think it’s do-able. Boxed Mac OS for Windows. No partners, no licenses. When it happens, you heard it here first. (Unless, of course, some other blogger posted it. Then my bad. Seriously. I’m good with second, third, fourth, whatever.)

To the gentleman driving the brand-spaning-new, all wheel drive, 306 HP Infiniti G35x, exiting the Turnpike at interchange 11 on bone-dry pavement, and driving well below the posted “caution” speed of 35 in the left lane of the ramp:

You wasted your $35,000. Next time you need to buy a car, please purchase a Kia and deliver the remaining $15,000 to me.

Thanks,

Me

![If You're sitting to the left, its sausage for you!][1]

As seen at Shea Stadium. Mets lose, 4-2. Good access to sausage.

[1]: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1013/534061315_0c9378dd63.jpg

Many thanks for the kudos on the lightswitch video.

Stay tuned for upcoming videos:

* Operating the new doorknobs.

* Raising and lowering the new windows (two part extravaganza).

* Using the new dimmer (rerun - no new episodes until autumn).

Well, the long weekend has drawn to a close. Didn’t get to the beach, though I did hit the pool club on Saturday. Lollygagged a bit on the project, but I still hit my mark. First, the den:

![The den, with primer on the formerly wallpapered walls][1]

And the office:

![The office, with primer on the half-wall][2]

In the office picture, off to the left near the lightswitch you can see one of my Problem Children: the tape joint between the new wall and the old wall. The dark splotches on the lower left are wet spackle spots - yes, still trying to get that one right.

One more treat before I go…you’ve seen the overhead lights in the shots, but I’m not sure if I mentioned the sweet digital dimmer I bought for them. Here’s a little demo: All I’m doing is turing the light on and off. The dimmer is doing the rest.

NOTE TO STU: Yeah, I know. But you’ll love this: the plate is over the switch because we were checking to make sure the crappy cutout job would be fully masked by the plate. I just left it there. I’ll boost it before I paint that wall, sucka.

[1]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/519219603_b0028f9b88.jpg

[2]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/519219937_085c4ff92f.jpg

So it’s been home improvement 24-7 around here, or so it would seem if you read my blog. Which, clearly you do. (Sucker.)

Anyway, that’s not really the case. Truth be told, I’m completely worn out from the construction. Week over week of wiring and hanging drywall and all that business really takes its toll. So, Memorial Day weekend couldn’t come too soon. My employer gives its people Friday and Monday off, so a four-day weekend sandwiched by two four-day weeks is just what the doctor ordered.

As if to prove my point, when the wife and kid shoved off at 9-ish on Friday morning for Emily’s class trip to a local farm, I had every intention of heading downstairs to sand and spackle. I just needed, say, a quick 30 minute nap. You know, just a little shut-eye to compensate for the early rise on a non-work day.

When I woke up at 12:30, I saw that I had missed two calls and slept through half of the brick-by-brick dismantling of my neighbor’s patio. It was the thud of bricks being tossed into a pickup truck that woke me up. “What the f**k is all that noise this early in the morning,” I remember thinking, not realizing it was only a valid thought somewhere in the Far East.

The rest of the weekend has been like that. Oh, sure, I’ve made progress on the room. Only a few tape joints need any more care and feeding (had the tape come up in a few spots, dammit), and my ceiling holes are all patched and spackled. My goal of primer by Monday is firmly within reach. Any mention of the previous goal of completion by Mothers’ Day, by the way, gets you a kick in the teeth.

So, what I really want to say today is that with the onset of Memorial Day and the Unofficial Start of Summer ©, it’s all about the grill. I’ve already done a burger night and some chicken this year, and I’m making a firm commitment to improving my burger recipe and getting it down on paper.

Speaking of burgers, for all you foodies out there, the Minimalist column in the NY Times served up a [nice piece on the trusty burger][1], validating some of my own thoughts while also advising against what I think makes mine a good burger. I’m keeping an open mind, however, and I’m going to give his ideas a shot.

So what’s in my burger? Glad you asked! As of Summer 2007…

> *The Nickburger*
>
> * 2 lbs. ground beef, 80% lean
> * 1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce
> * 2 tbsp. Colman’s powdered mustard, prepared
> * 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
> * 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped coarse
> * salt and pepper
>
> Mix all but salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl by hand. Divide into 8 oz. portions and
> press into shape with a burger press. Grill over medium heat, turning once. Season with salt
> and pepper at each turn. Serve on toasted buns. Makes 8 burgers.

Nothing fancy, nothing crazy. Prior to acquiring a [Pampered Chef chopper][2], it was garlic powder and dried onion flakes. Yeah, I know, but I have not the time for all the slicing and dicing. The chopper makes it all go so fast now. Also, I used to add more spices to the mix - cumin and chili powder, mostly. I’ve moved away from that too - I like the spicy and all, but not for the everyday burger.

So, here’s hoping you’re having (or had) a good Memorial Day weekend, and that you weren’t one of the suckas who sat on the Garden State Parking Lot trying to get to the shore. (If you were, here’s a hint: the back roads are clear, and free of your fellow bennies.)

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/dining/23mini.html?ex=1337659200&en=e37a7d513414d03f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink “For the Love of a Good Burger”
[2]: http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=240&categoryCode=CE “Yeah, I know, its cookware sold at parties. But this thing fucking rocks!”

So I was going to title this post “Conundrum,” because that’s what I thought I had on my hands. But as Se&#00F1;or Montoya so aptly put it, “I do not think that means what you think it means.”

> co·nun·drum (kə-nǔn’drəm)
> n.
> 1. A riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun.
> 2. A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma.
>
> *- American Heritage Dictionary*

I have neither a riddle, nor a dilemma. A bit of a paradox, maybe.

Call me crazy, but I like spackling. Seriously. I finished the first coat on the room the other night, and I have to say I had a good time doing it.

Sanding, on the other hand, is probably what they have the guys doing down at Git-Mo, at least until the Red Cross finds out. Holy crap does that suck.

Anyway, half the room is sanded and second coat applied. The rest of the room awaits the sanding of the first coat. I’m taking tonight off…I’m really beat, and have another early commute tomorrow. Tomorrow night it’s sanding for sure, and in case you didn’t know, Friday is supposed to be in the upper 80s and sunny: beach day!

Occasionally here at Phantom Eyes, we get offline comments, IMs and other items to which we feel compelled to respond. Lately, the most common has been “WTF? Where are the pictures of the renovations?”

As always, we’re here to help.

First off, for the lazy or those who just don’t care enough, [here are the before pictures][1], taken a few years ago during our first walkthrough of this house.

![The den, looking toward the garage door][2]
![The den, other side of the room][3]

On the window side, you can see the exposed ventilation duct. The windows themselves are like a non-picture picture window: two pairs of four windows, of which one window of each set of four would open, if not painted shut.

There is a sill around half the room - this is where the wooden wall ends and the concrete foundation wall ends. You can see the one electrical outlet in that window-side photo. That’s one of only three in the entire room. The ceiling light is plenty bright - 4 x 100 watts isn’t bad, but it cast horrible shadows.

The walls aren’t paneled. It’s wallpaper. No shit.

No photos of the office - sorry. But, now that you’ve been introduced to the room, here is what it looks like now:

![Holy crap, that's a lot of stuff in a work room][4]

Same basic view as the ones above. The vast majority of the work is on that outside wall. The old walls above the sill came off. We replaced the complete piece of crap “insulation” with actual insulation, and brought in a contractor to replace the non-functional windows with new energy-efficient ones. We’ve pulled the ceiling light and put up recessed lighting, adding a separate lighting circuit for lights in this room and the office.

Around the duct, we’ve cut about 5″ back from the ceiling to create a work channel. When we were trying to figure out how to wire up the lights, we first considered wiring through the outer wall, or using the trench that exists under the sill (it’s exposed in this photo - look under the new drywall). The problem with that was we couldn’t bring the wire up behind the duct and then over the duct into the ceiling.

Then, we considered punching holes in our living room wall (which is the room to the right of this one, up a half-flight of steps). Well, I considered it for about half a second, until the wife said no.

I had the idea for the work channel when looking in my crawl space at the wiring that was done when we upgraded our service. The electrician used these very cool brackets that nailed to the stud, and then had room for about 8 wires. I put them up on the joists, and was able to run the multitude of wires for outlets and lights around the room.

To close up the work channel, we’ll box it in roughly according to this diagram:

![Crappy powerpoint diagram. Sorry.][5]

The idea is the sit the plywood in the dado cut on the board, and then rest it on quarter-round. Should I want to ever get back up into the ceiling for additional wiring (surround sound, for example), all I’ll need to do is lift off the plywood and unscrew the board, which will be attached to the joists with L-brackets.

Anyway, that’s a quick overview of where I’m at. New lights, new walls, as I said the other day. I didn’t do squat with the spackle this weekend - I took the weekend off. So this week, got to complete the spackle and put up the prime coat of paint.

More photos of the renovation, including the office, are [here][6].

Onward!

[1]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/du_dragons/sets/72057594081745809/ “Flickr set: The Old House Back Then”

[2]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/112281463_c1c1707259.jpg
[3]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/112281500_86d7844824.jpg
[4]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/213/504728081_fd5464aa07.jpg
[5]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/507006582_6629c0bc74.jpg

[6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/du_dragons/sets/72157600231820164/ “Flickr set: Progress on the downstairs room”

You are not going to melt. Put it away and spare us all the horrors of you poking us in the eyeballs.

Same goes for the guy in the raincoat and baseball cap. What the hell do you need an umbrella for? Buy a waterproof or leather case and move on, you pansy.

So, I’ve been deep into what must be the biggest home improvement project I’ve ever attempted: converting our heretofore unused lower level into an office and playroom.

When we bought our house, in the pre-kid days, we used the downstairs for storage. Crap we either didn’t use, didn’t need, or didn’t care about just sat down there in boxes for over a year. Then we went through a huge organizational kick, and actually cleaned it out. What we were left with was two rooms: a large room, 23×13, and a bedroom we used as an office, 10×12.

Problem was, the office had paneled walls down to the foundation hip-wall, and then bare concrete to the floor. Ugly. The big room was drywalled, but covered with faux-paneling wallpaper. No lie. Ugly.

So, since we have the space, and since Emily’s toys are outgrowing their little home in our living room, we decided to renovate. Down would come the wall between the office and the big room, and in its place would be a half-wall lined up with the foundation’s hip-wall. Instead of junk-collecting closets, smarter storage in bookcases and bins. Painted walls throughout. New windows, new lighting, more power outlets, new networking, new floor. New everything.

So where are we? New lighting is up. New windows are up. New walls are going up. Networking is done, as are the new power outlets. I ran three new circuits to to the panel. Brought in a contractor to do the windows, but the rest of the work has been me, my dad, my father-in -law, and my friends Greg and Andrew. Oh, and Andrew Junior, who wired up the new power outlets in the office.

 It’s been tough work, but not terrible. Certainly more work than any other project I’ve done. But it’s nearly habitable down there. Drywall target is this weekend, paint late next week, and the its floor time. Put up the trim, and from there we can start using the rooms.

I need to take some photos of the work. For the before pictures, check my Flickr.

Onward!

Just got back from seeing the Tragically Hip at [Irving Plaza][1]. I’ve never seen them before. Most likely, I will never see them again. They weren’t bad…the music was very good, the beats and riffs were rockin’. What sucked were:

* The singer’s voice
* The fucking fans

Seriously, the singer sounded like [PiL][2]-era Johnny Lydon, and the fans were the worst sort of fans: overgrown frat guys who couldn’t hold their beers. Honestly, it was like a whole bunch of 7th graders at their first concert, standing in packs, jumping up and down, crashing into other concert-goers, constantly pushing their way through their jumping crashing packs to throw their drunken arms around their drunken friends and sing four words of the current song before resuming the drunken crashing jumping behavior.

Honestly. What fuckfaces.

And here’s the worst part: they were Canadian WANNABES! No lie! They had on Leafs hats and Canada hockey sweaters, said “eh” and “fuckin’ a!,” and probably woke up this morning having a wet dream about ass fucking Dudley Do-right on the counter at Tim Hortons.

It was bad enough the singer’s voice and delivery captured the worst parts of [Peter Garrett][3] without any of the enlightening social commentary. I had to endure it while fending off Labbatt’s-soaked poseur Canucks. Fuckin’ A indeed.

Anyway, it’s late and my music adrenaline has been completely spent. Work tomorrow, and then work on the downstairs room. And no stupid-ass Habs.

[1]: http://www.irvingplaza.com/ “Irving Plaza”
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Image_Ltd. “PiL”
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Garrett “Peter Garrett”

No, not those.

You may not know this, but I’m a Mac user. Not one of those trendy iPod owners; a Mac user. I’ve owned at least one Macintosh since 1992, and an Apple computer of some sort since 1983. There are currently three Macs in my house - two operable laptops, and one older desktop destined to become a storage server when I have time and money.

I mention this because I’m writing today’s post with a blogging tool for the Mac called MarsEdit. I’m a big fan of tools. I have tools for working around the house, and tools for working outside the house. I’m a believer in the axiom “the right tool for the right job.”

So it goes with computers and the Internet. I’m always on the lookout for the right tools. I use Flickr for my photos, del.icio.us for my bookmarks, and WordPress for this blog. In each case, I tried other tools (Blogger, PhotoBucket, the Yahoo toolbar) before settling on these.

To me, Apple has made the best computing tool on the market for the past decade, since the debut of the iMac and the “renaissance” of Apple. My PowerBook 12″ is my constant companion - I bring it to work, on vacation, pretty much anywhere I need access to my stuff or my electronic tools.

One of the best parts of being a Mac user is that there is real community among other users. Maybe it’s because our software isn’t sold at Target, or maybe it’s because there are so many niche uses for a Mac. Whatever the reason, finding new software tools for the Mac is half the fun of owning the machine. And there are great websites - TUAW, Macintouch, and MacWorld to name a few - that keep me up to date on the latest hardware, software, and Apple-related business news.

One of these sites, Daring Fireball, is among my daily reads. And it was by joining that site that I was entered into the contest that won me a free license for MarsEdit and the rest of the Red Sweater Software product suite.

So, like a symbiotic relationship, I contributed to the Mac community, and the Mac community has given back. So far, so good on the tool: it’s HTML-centric, easy to use, and I was up and blogging in about 2 minutes after downloading. No lie.

Anyway, requisite switcher pep talk: If you’re in the market for a new PC, look at a Mac. Seriously. It’ll change your outlook on technology. Remember: the right tool for the right job.

I guess monthly qualifies as frequently in some people’s minds…but not in mine. I’ve been bad blogger, for sure. Worse yet, I’ve been a bad blog reader. How bad? I’ve even fallen behind on my own wife’s blog…and she’s not exactly been a daily blogger either. And if you’re not related to me, well, I’ve probably completely neglected you for about 3 months. Rob and Monica, I’ve been a bad blog friend.

Anyway, I’m not here to say things are going to change…I can’t promise I’m going to be a better blogger, because the next month should be pretty nuts. What I am going to try to do is get back to what I wanted to do in the beginning of this blog…less huge posts, more update-y types of things.

So, to that end, here’s the latest update:

Last night, we threw a surprise party for my dad, to commemorate his retirement. He worked for the same company for 36 years, an almost-unheard of thing in these times. The surprise was a success: I watched the video today, and if he was faking it he did a great job. The party which my wife put together, was a blast, and in all it was one of the best nights I’ve had in a while.

My brother has been home for about 1 1/2 weeks, and he leaves tomorrow to fly back to Dublin. It’s always good to have him home, and this afternoon my daughter said that when Uncle Matt gets on the big airplane tomorrow, “I’ll be sad, and I’m going to miss him very much.” Matt spent some good time with Emily this week, and she really has taken to him. It’s all good.

Work on the family room renovation is moving at a snails pace, but it’s moving. Overhead lights are installed, and will be connected to the switches this week. Next up are some new wall outlets, and then it’s time to put up the new drywall. My plan is that in 2 weeks, I can put down the floor. We’ll see how that goes.

Not much else of interest yet, but the week is young.

…what’s your excuse?

I’d apologize for the lag in posts, but I know that empty words mean nothing to the four people who actually read this crap.

Instead, let’s catch up to my incredibly interesting life:

• New job.
• New commuting pattern - I’m a train commuter twice a week now.
• Wife still out of work (ish).
• Child getting bigger and exponentially cuter.

Honestly, that’s the bulk of the update. Not to say that things are boring…rather, things are pretty unboring. But, when the geek next to spends the whole train ride watching Faracape on his PC and dipping into his bag from the Nutty Bavarian, well, it doesn’t put me in a really chatty mood. (I just watched a hot alien chick lick Chewbacca’s brother’s beard. Seriously. Can you imagine what this guy masturbates to?)

Anyway, through the magic of BlackBerry, look for more semi-frequent updates. Till next time…

Poll: Americans want to keep dollar bill (Yahoo! News)

It’s been a pretty busy week for me. I’ve had more than the usual amount of drama and occurrence at work and at home. At the office, I gave my two-weeks notice that I’m heading to greener pastures (pun both intended and not). At home, my wife is being forcibly adjusted to Stay At Home Mommy-dom, and dare I say it, it’s not exactly her life’s calling.

So why, then, do I bring to the table a fairly pithy piece from the AP about another dollar coin being rolled out (pun definitely intended) to the public? Because I love the dollar coin, and frankly I just don’t want to talk about that other shit.

First, for my foreign visitors, it’s true: we do not widely use the coin equivalent of our basic unit of currency. I know that in many of your countries, the opposite is true: you can’t get a One Euro note, and there is no paper Loonie. But here in the States, you have what amounts to a option with one choice: a Dollar Bill that’s accepted by practically every vending machine or checkout clerk in the land; or, a dollar coin that’s so obscure that even the wino outside the local 7-11 will throw it back at you and scream “Fuck Canada!”

So back to the story: apparently, due to the success of the State Quarters (and I love me them State Quarters), the US Mint is beginning a new series of coins, featuring the visages of US Presidents on new Dollar coins. From the story:

The latest dollar coin will bear Washington’s image, followed later this year by those of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. A different president will appear on the golden dollar coins every three months.

And my favorite:

“I really don’t see any use for it,” Larry Ashbaugh, a retiree from Bristolville, Ohio, said of the dollar coin. “We tried it before. It didn’t fly.”

Thanks, Larry. God forbid we try anything again, right?

Anyway, I think this is both a great idea and a horrible one. It’s a great idea because the dollar coin, as a whole, is a great idea. Dollar bill acceptors are still wholly unreliable. More often than not, what you need from a vending machine is at least a dollar. So why not go to a coin? Except…most vending machines don’t even accept dollar coins! WTF!

It’s a terrible idea, though, because now some complete jackasses will get coins! In what world do Calvin Coolidge, Millard Fillmore, and Warren G. Harding deserve to have their heads on hard currency? Seriously. I predict a tremendous decline in the call of “Heads!” at a coin flip. Who wants Dick Nixon staring up at them when they win? You’ll feel like a cheater before you’ve even gotten the game on.

Anyway, I’m sure the naysayers like Blue Plate Larry from Ohio will still rule the day. My own wife said “we as a country don’t know how to use a Dollar coin.” So it’s got an uphill battle, to be sure. But let’s face reality: life isn’t getting any cheaper, and pretty soon we’ll be looking at $2 bottles of Coke in the office break room. Better make sure you’ve got some well-ironed Georges in your wallet.

You’ve seen the romantic comedy…now, feel the horror that is When Harry Met Sally.

So we finally had some serious snow here in the Garden State - and by serious, I mean enough to bring out
the plows, sand, and salt trucks. We got maybe 2-3 inches, and it was very light and fluffy. Nevertheless, it was enough to trigger what I like to call The Collective Lobotomy, whereby everyone on the road completely forgets how to drive.

In order to help society at large, I’d like to offer some Rules of the Road for Snowy Driving. Keep in mind that, as opposed to actual enforceable laws, these are mere guidelines that will make my life more bearable amongst the nitwits and knuckleheads on the Garden State Parkway.

1. Keep Right. Ok, so this is a law in New Jersey - as it should be in all other states. Here’s the deal: if the guy on your right passes you, move the hell over. And for heavens sake, if you’re going exactly the same speed as the person on your right, and there’s nobody in front of you, speed the hell up. You’re not the freaking Blue Angels, and nobody is giving you points for staying in formation.
2. If you’re unable to clean off the top of your car, you’re not allowed to drive it. I’m serious here: if you’re 5′3″ and you drive a Yukon, either get a long-handled brush, a sturdy step ladder, or a Prius. All that shit that blows off of your car is hitting mine, and it makes me hate you.
3. If you have no fucking idea how long/wide your SUV is, you’re not allowed to drive it. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Suzy Soccer Mom. I don’t care one bit that you’re able to drive Miffy, Bruce, and all of their classmates home from Country Day School. You’re a complete menace on the road, through toll plazas, and in parking lots.
4. Harley-Davidson stickers on your truck do not make you a badass. Nope. Not one bit. Want to prove to me you’re a badass? It’s 20 degrees outside: ride your fucking Harley, and you get props up and down. Until then, you’re just a little punk.
5. Four-wheel drive is not four-wheel stop. Actually, forget I said this. Go ahead and keep crawling up the ass of the guy in front of you. I hope to hell he taps his brakes, so then you can learn first-hand that 4WD doesn’t mean shit when you’re on your brakes.

That’s it for now. I’m sure as the winter moves along I’ll be updating this list. Safe travels!