chuma.org

You ever have one of those days where productivity starts out high, but then trickles off to the point where all you’re doing is endlessly looking for cool writeups on everything2?

…yeah.

Oh, in other news., still no news on whether or not the car is fixed. I will be calling at 4:30 sharp.

So apparently now my photo (as captured by the NYT) is gracing the desktop of Grant’s computer and my mom’s cube wall. I thought it would be a little self-centred of me to frame an article about myself, but I think I’m at least going to seal that newspaper in a plastic bag. I wish I had asked the photographer to send me a copy of the original image (he was shooting with some Canon EOS digital). He probably wouldn’t have, but if he had it would have been nice.

The Move: we’ll be moving around April 29th or 30th. I’ll be calling soon to see exactly when is the earliest we can do it. Both Sandy and I can’t wait to move. We’re also going to be getting a whole bunch of new furniture as well! No more crappy mis-matched stuff. Our new couch is sweeeeeet.

I think I’ve found our new Internet provider as well, in the most unusual place: the Toronto FreeNet. Seems that they now offer DSL in the Toronto area, and at fairly competitive prices as well – especially that 3Meg service! w00t! I’m sold. 3 meg DSL… [Homer drool sounds] I used to have an account at the FreeNet back in 1994… when you used your modem to dial into their proprietary system, from where you could use Lynx to browse web and gopher sites (gopher! how I miss thee!). I remember using ARCHIE and VERONICA to search FTP and gopher sites for cool images – this is when I began my love for M.C. Escher as well, I found tons of his images online. Anyways, once I get the DSL question figured out, then I can call Rogers about cancelling my cable internet… and then signing up for Cable TV. Oh, joy.

Oh, and the car’s supposed to be done today, FINALLY. There was a chance it was going to be done yesterday but it wasn’t. They said yesterday that all the body work and painting was done, all that was left was to get the new lock mechanism (I guess that means they hadn’t gotten the part yet?), re-code it, and put the door back together. I was given “around noon” as an estimate for when all this would be done. It’s now 2:35pm and no phone call… must have faith… must have faith…

A Vintage Palmtop Holds Users in Thrall (GIF Image, 1326×906 pixels) – article about the Newton with my photo in it from the March 27, 2003 edition of the New York Times. Thanks to Al Muniz for mailing me a copy of that paper!

In addition, Al says that the article was also reprinted in some other large US newspapers – I can’t remember which ones. So far, a total of zero people have recognized me on the street 🙂

The freaky April ice storm on Thursday evening created an unexpected three-day weekend for Sandy and I – there was no way I could have gotten to work on Friday, and the University was closed for the first time in twenty years. Besides watching a lot of Six Feet Under this weekend (almost caught up – four more episodes to go), we went to a really cool place in Guelph called You’re Fired (article) where you choose pre-made pottery, paint it however you want, and then pick it up in a week after it’s been fired. Sandy made a pair of wine glasses, while I bit off more than I could chew (as usual) and chose a BIG water dish for the cats, one that Oliver can’t knock over, darn it. In the end, I was not quite finished (still need to do a second coat over much of it) and Sandy had finished the two glasses and even did a mug for me to take to work. Hopefully on Thursday evening I’ll go in and finish it off.

We also went and saw Phone Booth – a pretty exciting little film, actually. Seeing matinees makes me feel less ripped off by movie theatres, which is good.

I also played quite a bit of Zelda – The Wind Waker this weekend, while Sandy did some cross-stitch crafts. Apparently I can get quite abrasive and angry while playing video games… I blame this on my Atari 2600, and specifically its horrible version of Donkey Kong – the hit detection is so bad/unforgiving, I can still remember getting so angry that I would tremble with rage and yell and scream at the screen. But anyways, The Wind Waker is like playing a movie. the simple design and animations can easily surprise me, especially when I’m beating up a bad guy with my sword and Link suddenly does this amazing flashy sword combo. I’ve just got to settle down and finish all of the games that I have before buying any new ones.

sooothing music…..yes, with three o’s……. is good for forgetting about stupid contractors who trash our things and don’t plug in the refrigerator so that ALL OUR FOOD GOES BAD AND I WANT TO BE ABLE TO HIT HIM IN THE FACE WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER AND THEN GIVE IT SO SANDY SO SHE CAN DO IT BECAUSE IT DOES MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER, annoying claim adjustors, frustrating drives from guelph -&rt; toronto -&rt; guelph, did I mention insurance claim adjustors? oh yeah. I did. uhh, broken cell phone getting fixed, being cellphoneless (two years ago that wouldn’t have pissed me off, but it does now, grr [throws sharp things at Motorola]), the body shop was at 354 Richmond, not 254, and oh yeah Richmond is a one-way street, so fuck I have to drive around the block, and it’s 9:30 and I should be at work, not that my boss really cares so long as the work gets done, but fuck it I care, and this is going to take 2-3 days to fix and you can’t take it in until Monday?

slip into some comfortable relaxing house music, like a soft fleece robe after you get out of a hot shower. close eyes and just make everything go limp for a minute. think about moving to new apartment, not having to drive to get to work, man the TTC is like a cocktail party compared to the mosh pit of the 401, getting new furniture because you can afford it now, dammit, and this place is not going to be mismatched, it will be lovely and so much more room, with an actual tub that won’t be like showering inside a torpedo tube, and new floors and so much more room and being next to everything in a nice building that isn’t like a housing project, and is close or closer to everything important.

then my list of work doesn’t look so bad, I mean, heck, it’s a cakewalk once I sit down and do it. I think I’ll do that now, before sushi lunch. yes, sushi goddammit. i want sushi.