Balmy

Now this is a strange article.  Apparently, there's something incredible coming from this inventor, but we can't tell you what it us until next year.  Hmm, based on this description, I'd guess it's some type of alternative transportation, or perhaps some improved method of tele-commuting, but that's just a hunch:

According to Dean Kamen, the inventor of "Ginger," his device will be an alternative to products that "are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."

This is from the same guy who invented the wheelchair that could go up and down stairs.  Apparently Steve Jobs is impressed with whatever it is, as is Jeff Bezos.  So, anyone got any guesses as to what "Ginger" really is?

Based on Dan's suggestion, I picked up a copy of David Farquhar's book, Optimizing Windows.  It just arrived, and it already looks pretty useful, with a lot of stuff that really makes sense when I read it, but that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.  The book is of limited use for those of us running Windows 2000, but, as I have to support dozens of old Windows 95 machines still, this will help in wringing a little extra performance out of some of them.

Bookpool had the best price on the book, as Amazon.com was apparently out of stock.  It's the first time I've ordered from them, and I've got to say that I love the way they display the shipping choices.  They have like 7 choices, and they display the price right next to them.  That's the way it should be, I'd probably opt for quicker shipping from more sites if it was done in this manner.  When I can't see, I figure I'm likely to get screwed, so I just got with the slowest and cheapest.  But, if I can see the prices ahead of time, I'm pretty likely to bump it up, as I did in this case, since moving from UPS Ground to UPS 2nd Day Air cost me only 85 cents or so.  Amazon, are you listening?

The ol' referer log shows that I've got a new reader.  Welcome Angelo/Preben Arentoft!  Good luck on that lotto ticket...

You can tell it's been cold here lately, everyone's walking around saying "What a nice day it is!" and it's only 34 degrees outside.

My new hard drive and copy of TurboTax showed up already!  That's one thing I like about Buy.com, and why I'm starting to order more stuff from them.  Even though their prices are generally quite close to Amazon.com, Buy.com has a tendency to get things to me overnight, even though I just opt for the standard shipping.  A lot of their stuff ships from just across the Mississippi river, rather than from Kentucky, Kansas, or Nevada, where Amazon apparently keeps its warehouses.