Wednesday, October 29, 2003

I rode to Sonic for lunch today, because I was seriously jonesing for a Route 44 Cherry Lime-Aide, and Sonic is the only place that fits the bill on that one. I parked the bike in a drive-up spot right on the outdoor seating area and pulled my gear off, and I saw that one of the waitresses inside was staring at me. After hanging my gear on my handlebar, I took a seat at one of the tables and ordered. I forgot about the waitress as I buried my nose in a book, but a few minutes later she came out with my food.

She was about my age, brown hair, cute. She called me "honey" twice, "sweetie" twice, and "babe" once--like, "Okay, honey, here's your tater tots..." and "Can I get you anything else, babe?" Then, I paid with my credit card and she went in to run it, and when she came back out, she talked to me for a minute and worked in several other cutsie names. She told me that they're going to have some kind of new mega-tater tot dish next month that includes chili and jalapenos and that she can't wait to try it. I was pretty freaked out by her name-calling, so I just nodded and smiled, and she left.

I told the wife about it, and the wife agrees--I was being massively hit on. I'm not really sure why this happened, either, because I *NEVER* get hit on.

I'm just a little weirded out right now.

Posted by Keeper @ 11:24 AM CST [Link]

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

This is what my forehead said when I banged it against the keyboard

hjnbuyhynnnnm m m m kk

I found this suprisingly eloquent, so I tried it again:

kjmmiunn

I think it's trying to tell me something.

Posted by Keeper @ 02:24 PM CST [Link]

Thursday, October 16, 2003

I am officially a believer in iTunes. Released today for Windows, iTunes has already granted me access to some songs that I've been unable to find acceptable copies of on the various filesharing networks, and also replacement copies of some songs I have crappy copies of. The software itself is free, and, as I'm sure anyone who knows anything already knows, tracks are ninety-nine cents apiece. Most full albums are ten dollars.

In my opinion, the best thing about iTunes is the ability to preview a song before downloading. I've spent the past forty-five minutes listening to song previews various and sundry, and now I'm jamming out to the built-in radio streams.

Total amount of money spent today: $7.50

Happiness at finally being able to pay money to support a music distribution system I believe in: Boundless.

Now, the bitching:

I dislike the iTunes application because, like the Windows version of Quicktime, it refuses to take on the skin attributes of the host operating system and instead has its own crazy user interface.

Whenever the application wants my attention, it just grabs the focus, even if I'm currently working in another maximized application. This, frankly, is annoying as fuck. In the time it's taken me to type this entry, my internet radio stream has required re-buffering three times, and each time after the rebuffering finishes, the iTunes app jumps to the foreground on top of my browser window. I'd prefer it just blink at me from the taskbar, like a well-behaved application ought.

SLOW. SLOW. SLOW. The UI is slow and jerky. On one hand, I run in 1600x1200, so perhaps I should expect some jerkiness. On the other hand, I don't experience this kind of UI sluggishness with any other application currently installed, so I don't think it's just my computer or anything.

Also, not only did installing iTunes install Quicktime--and I was getting along just fine with Media Player Classic and Quicktime Alternative--but it also installed some retarded useless iTunes "helper" background app. No, you don't need to run that. It's my computer, thanks.

Finally, iTunes is highly modal. Doing one thing stops whatever else you're doing. Like, you can listen to a preview, but clicking on another album, even to just get a track listing, stops your current preview from playing. I don't like that.

So, I suppose my preliminary verdict is, iTunes good, iTunes application bad.

Posted by Keeper @ 05:14 PM CST [Link]

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

I just got back from the gym, where my personal trainer hurt me like I have never before been hurt.

We did lunges.

With a 25 pound bar across my back.

FOR ONE THIRD OF A MILE.

(For you metric folks, that's about five hundred meters.)

My entire lower body is jelly. My ears are pounding.

I...am...dead.

In other news, today is the fifteenth, which means that today is the day to pay the car note--or, in my case, motorcycle note. I popped onto my bank's web site to make the payment and noticed, with no small amount of confusion furrowing my brow, that my bike note balance was higher than it had been last week--in fact, it was more than a thousand dollars higher than it was last week. In fact, it was higher than it had EVER been, even when I took out the loan. I was, in short, perplexed.

A check of the account history showed that there had been a $1,300 debit applied against my loan's principle. Curious as to why they would increase the amount of my loan--they certainly didn't have any of that $1,300 on my person!--I called the bank. The nice lady to whom I spoke told me that the bank had been notified that my motorcycle insurance had lapsed, and that the charge was the bank's underwriter charge for insuring my bike.

Excuse me?

In spite of the feelings of boiling rage, I did my usual bit where I act helpless and befuddled, and the lady took pity on me and told me that the charge could be removed, if my insurance company would fax to the bank proof that I was actually insured. Since I had just paid my insurance company not a week previous, I didn't think this would be a problem, and, fortunately, it wasn't. I talked to the nice lady at Progressive, who assured me that everything was fine, I was still covered, and that Progressive had certainly not sent my bank a notice that my coverage had lapsed. She faxed the requisite paperwork, and I called the bank bank and they confirmed that they'd received it.

So, we'll see how that shit works out.

Now, I have to go take a shower and then some ibuprofin, before the Deep Hurting(TM) sets in.

Posted by Keeper @ 04:52 PM CST [Link]

Sunday, October 12, 2003

People are, generally, crazy. Like, here's my friend Zor. He's crazy.

Crap. Something requires my attention. More on this later.

Posted by Keeper @ 05:02 PM CST [Link]

Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Well.

My Asian friend, the How-He-Get-The-Oracle Lady, turned out to be a SQL Goddess, and wrote for me a query that solved all of my problems.

I stand suitably chastised.

Posted by Keeper @ 02:23 PM CST [Link]