Oil hits $142 a barrel

I can't even feel all that superior (by walking or riding the Metro to work), because the cost of fuel affects everything. I so wish I was wealthy enough to have a freestanding house in this area that I could have solar panels installed on, and at least have a small garden. Remember when Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House And then Reagan took them down. Yeesh.

Digital TV

So you all know about this digital TV thing coming in Feb, right? My ancient 1st gen TiVo will stop working soon after (the story is that Comcast will keep sending the analog signal 'for awhile' after the switch). I don't want to get another DVR/tuner for the bedroom. A friend has Verizon Fios, and since I already have Verizon DSL and landline, I may just switch to a package of all 3 (switching my DSL up to Fios also) and dump crappy Comcast (I am paying them almost $100 a month for service--no premium movie channels--and a DVR). Unfortunately, as regular readers know, I hate Verizon almost as much as them (remember when they cut my phone/DSL cable last year and denied, denied, denied?). But you can get a DVR that will play shows on any TV in the house, and people say the Fios picture is better than Comcast, no pixellation. Comcast will only get worse as more and more people share bandwidth. The trick will be to get everything done in one day, because I certainly don't want to take two days off just to sit around and wait for technicians...

Supremes overrule DC Gun Ban

I have to say that I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I certainly am not a fan of guns; I can't imagine having one around the house 'for self-defense.' But I live over the river in relatively safe North Arlington. (Arlington County Cops seem to be more fit, better loong and better paid than DC cops; but there's a running joke that half of them are 'afraid of the dark.' When there's any kind of incident, literally 4-5 cars appear out of nowhere.) Anyway, here in VA I think you can even carry a concealed weapon, and college student Seung Hui-Cho can get his hands on 2 guns, go practice, then go on a killing spree. (Some pro-gun whackos actually said that if some of the other students or faculty had been packing heat, then they could have shot Seung; that whole idea just terrifies me.)

Meanwhile in DC, it's illegal to have a handgun, yet it seems like 2-3 people are shot every week. Enforcing a gun ban in such a small jurisdiction with VA and Maryland bordering it seems ridiculous. Still, I'm not a big believer in 'more guns make you more safe.' I'd prefer a country where no one was allowed to have a gun besides law enforcement... though there have been a few times during the Bush Administration when I thought maybe it was time for a revolution...

'Boys' Spin Mix v. 2

So I've been trying out a new version of my 'Boys' spin mix. I took out the 7 minute long dance version of the Backstreet Boys song

If You Could Read My Mind / Stars on 54
Ooh Boy / Real McCoy
Trouble with Boys / Loreta
New York City Boy / Pet Shop Boys
Wild Boys / Duran Duran
Dance Dance / Fall Out Boy
Boys of Summer / DJ Sammy trance remix
If yah getting down / 5ive
Favorite shirts (Boy Meets Girl) / Haircut 100
Let's Hear it For the Boy / Katty B (Dance version)
Living a Boy's Adventure Tale / a-ha (cool down)

Afterwards today one of my regular guys came up and said "I never knew there were so many songs with 'boy' in the refrain."

Somebody got it! I better play 'Girls' next week.

Software Updates

As fellow Mac users know, Apple is frequently updating its software. I've been clinging to 10.4.10 for months now, because—after having been a Mac Tech for 8 months--any kind of update brings risks with it. (On some things, I have learned it is not best to be an early-adopter). And when I updated my work Mac, Safari 3 went all crashy for awhile. My iMac at home is also the very last version of the PPC Mac before they went intel.

But Apple changed .Mac to (the all too cutesy) MobileMe and along with that, apparently changed how you connect to your iDisk. I mounted it last night to make a few changes to my web site, and when I tried to unmount, I got the Spinning Rainbow Beachball of Doom for like 10 minutes (I try to be patient, really). I finally had to do a hard restart, which I hate. Then I read that you have to be using 10.4.11 to have MobileMe work properly. Well, crap.

So I gritted my teeth and ran the update, muttering the mantra "It takes a lot longer to boot up after an update... don't panic... It takes a lot longer to boot up after an update... don't panic... It takes a lot longer to boot up after an update... don't panic..." And I reminded myself I have my whole startup disk cloned onto an external drive should the worst happen.

Well, it seemed to come up fine (though for a few minutes the fans went into full-power wind-tunnel mode, which can be a bit alarming, because it means your processor is getting way hot, and I lost a bunch of widgets, what's up with that?) Tonight I'll see if the iDisk connection works okay now. And Repair Permissions of course.

Dubai 'shape-shifting skyscraper' unveiled - CNN.com

This is just crazy. I guess the floors would rotate around a static elevator/structure core. It seems like you would rarely get options 1-3; more like the one on the right unless a computer was controlling them to move in a staggered sequence.

Sigh.

I'm still watching clips from the American Idol Finale! When will it stop? (You can skip to about 3:45 in this one to get to the beginning of Get Ready, and see the cute dancing boys fling themselves about.)

Introspective

Last night's spin class was actually not bad; though the highlight was actually seeing once again the guy who subbed the class right before mine: this cute, tall, dark-skinned Chinese guy, L. He's always nice enough, but he was friendlier than usual yesterday; even chatty. I haven't seen him much lately; I used to see him every Saturday because he taught a kickboxing class right before my spin class, but now he is in grad school out of town somewhere and I only run into him once in awhile when he's back for the summer. Anyway, though he is pretty butch, I always had a feeling... so I did a little Facebook research and sure enough, there are pictures of him looking all cute with his (white) boyfriend.

Sigh.

Ugh

I feel crappy. I want to go home and go to bed but I really can't be out of work. And I have to teach tonight. Yuck.

More Dreams

I wonder what is causing these dreams lately. Last night I dreamed of John R., my (very hot) half-Japanese former co-worker. It was a better dream than last night, but still weird. After watching 3 episodes of Battlestar Galactica last night, you'd think I'd dream of Gaeta...

Phoenix found Water!

Well at least water ice Check it out!

Dreams

I had the weirdest dreams again last night. Weird travel dreams. Ugh.

Google Maps Street View

OMG, I can see the house where I grew up!

How did they do this? Have trucks with 360° cameras drive all over? Or invisible hovering spy drones?

I am an Archangel

I quit my job, dropped my spin classes, and all I do is watch the American Idol finale over and over and over again! Okay, the first two aren't really true, but I do keep watching all the cheestastic group numbers. I even like the chicks with Donna Summer!

But the George Michael medley was absolutely brilliant. Everyone looked great in their various formalwear. And the lyrics assignments were totally inspired, from alleged gay stripper/lap dancer David Hernandez on Father Figure singing "For just one moment, to be bold..." and then whispering with a huge grin "... and naked." then back to singing " At your side." Like 'You know I was a lap dancer, and I know you know, so let's just have fun with it!'

And even better, on Freedom, Archedorable wiggling his hips and belting out "Heaven knows I was just a young boy,
Didn't know what I wanted to be," and Cook following with "I was every little hungry schoolgirl's pride and joy, And I guess it was enough for me!" Then turning on his heel and strutting away from the camera.

Brilliant!

So anyway, the Archuleta fans are called Archeys, or Archangels, according to rickey.org, self appointed expert on all things Archuleta.

Idol Withdrawl

Ever since the Idol finale, I've had songs from that episode stuck in my head. First it was Donna Summer's Hot Stuff, then it was her new single, Stamp Your Feet. Then it was Bryan Adams, and now it's George Michael's Freedom.

Gah! I'm sleepy, and I have to teach tonight and do grocery shopping.