Think Titanium

Time is running a piece about recycling old computers.  We send a great deal of ours to the University auction, especially old monitors and printers.  I send the 486 computers to auction, but the Pentiums I generally strip the good parts out of, and toss the rest in a dumpster.  We've still got a lot of them in service, and to keep costs down, I hoard the old floppy, CD-ROM, and hard drives.

We had an Apple demo today on campus.  They had free donuts, so of course I went.  Everyone I talked to was there to see the new Titanium Powerbook.  Unfortunately, there wasn't one to be seen, as Apple couldn't get one to their own reps to demo to us.  This would be a classic example of, as Steve Jobs put it, Apple "f***ing up" in the education market.

You've got a captive audience of people who have come to see a hot product, many of which are waiting to have a hands-on experience before buying, and you can't even get a demo unit to your own employees to make the sale.  This is why Dell is getting the bulk of our business.

The Eerie Canal

So I went to the dentist this morning to get a cavity filled.  He said we might have to do a crown on it, depending on how it looked.  Lucky me, I get not only a crown, but a root canal to boot.  I'm numb, I sound like I'm drunk, and I'm drooling.  I've never had a crown or a root canal before, and I"m hoping this isn't going to hurt too much when the novocaine wears off, but I'm betting it does. 

I think I'm going to find a new dentist, I just found this one, but he doesn't use nitrous oxide, which is a necessity for any work done on the left side of my mouth.  This root canal was on the right side, so I was okay, but I'm unable to be numbed completely on the left.  If you've never tried nitrous, and your dentist has it, ask for it sometime, you won't be half as tense...

Update: Yup, it hurts.  I can't chew on my right side at all, and my whole jaw aches.  These are the times I wish I had some narcotic painkillers on hand...

Catching Up

Al has done it now, he's gone and broken the screen on his iBook.  Ouch.  Reminds me of the time I cracked my Handspring Visor, only more expensive...

CNet takes back their 7 rating for Netscape 6, giving it a painful four out of ten points instead.  Netscape 6 does suck, but I think Netscape 4 is horrible too.  I'm installing Netscape 6 on all of the Windows 2000 machines I'm giving faculty, because 4.7x keeps giving me registry access errors if the user isn't a "Power User".  I tell them that they should use Internet Explorer, but a lot of them refuse to, for purely political reasons, in which case, they can suffer through Netscape 6.  I had high hopes for this version, but they've fallen flat.  There's no compelling reason to use it, rather than Internet Explorer.

Just as I reach contentment, something comes along to make me question my job.   An acquantiance here at the University will be hiring an underling sometime this spring, and he's been telling me about the position, and nudging me to apply.  It'd be in a new direction, working more with web stuff and less with hardware, but it would come with a significant pay increase.  I'll probably apply for it, but I'm not sure if I want the job..

I'm actually getting caught up here at work, it's a bizarre feeling.  I've still got some new computers to deliver, but no one is waiting on me for anything.  I've sent out e-mails, asking them when they'd like them delivered, so I just get to sit back, and schedule it all in, much less frantic that it has been for the last two months.

MUOTD

The score for this winter stands at:

Icy Sidewalks 2, Seth 0

I just had my second fall of the winter.  This was less scary than the first one, but more painful.  My first fall, a few weeks ago, landed me square on my back/buttocks.  This one landed me square on my left elbow and hip, the kind that can break bones.  Nothing is broken, but I'm betting I get a couple of bruises by Sunday...

It's snowing outside, and it had covered up some ice on a friend's sidewalk.  I came walking down the sidewalk, donuts in hand (don't ask), and wiped out pretty good.  At least I fell on my left hip, my right one has my pager and my Leatherman attached to it, it would have been an expensive and painful fall...

Microsoft's next version of Office may be called "Office XP", according to this article from News.com.  Anyone have a guess as to what XP stands for?

eXtra Pricey?

I'm playing with My Userland On The Desktop (not a catchy name) and I'll be the first to admit that I don't get it.  Okay, I get what it could do, but I can't make it work right for some reason. 

I can't even figure out how I'm supposed to get XML out of this weblog, and I can't figure out why I'd want to use it, because most of the other weblogs I read aren't available via it. 

I also get occasional errors, for no apparent reason, and I don't think I'd want to use it much, as I use many different computers, all running Windows 2000.  I log out of them when I'm not using them, so if MUTOD isn't available to run as a "service", then it won't be running, and these updates of content in the middle of the night aren't going to take place.

So what am I missing?

Update: Whatever I'm missing, Al is missing it too at least.  And Steven offers some insight into my frustrations.

CDNow & Geocaching

Microsoft is phasing out Windows 95, according to this article at CNet.  It's about time, really.  The next version of Office isn't going to work on Windows 95, you can't use most USB devices, and it can be a real pain to track down all the device drivers for the arcane motherboard resources which exist on newer computers...

This is a neat idea, using GPS receivers to leave secret treasures for others to find.  Now if I only had a GPS receiver...

Now that personal GPS units are more accurate, an intrepid group of people is using them for a new hobby. It's a game called "geocaching," but it's likened more to a high-tech treasure hunt. Players obtain the coordinates of a particular stash, or cache. They type the data into their GPS devices, then trek across the terrain to find their reward.

This really seems like it'd be a lot of fun.  Too bad there is only one cache in Iowa right now, according to Geocaching.com, the place where you go to find sites near you...

Maybe when it warms up, I'll buy a GPS receiver, and give this a try.  I could start a new cache or two around here with the miscellaneous "stuff" I've got in my closet...

Something like the Garmin GPS 12 would work great, and it's reasonably priced.  The Garmin eTrex looks okay, but from the reviews, I think I'd rather pay the extra money to get the GPS 12 with the better antenna...

A wind chill advisory was just issued.  The wind chill will be down to nearly -45°F tonight!  I don't think I'm going to go swimming tonight.  Last night, it was fine, but my hair would freeze before I made it back to my car today...

It must be my lucky day.  I just bought a bottle of pop out of the vending machine downstairs, and out came two bottles.  Of course, I've been ripped off a couple of times, so the machine still owes me a couple...

If you're looking for some bargains on music and movies, CDNow is offering 15% off all orders over $9.95 from now until Valentine's day. Maybe as a gift to myself, I'll order some of the Fantasia DVD's...