Happy Birthday to Me!

Okay, that sounds really pretentious, but that's not how I mean it. You see, I have a new computer! Big deal, you might say, but this is my first new computer since I was 18! That's not to say that I've had the same computer for the last 12 years, but every machine I've had since the one I bought with Aunt Lucille's college money has been a hand-me-down, bought for a couple hundred or pulled back from the dumpster. That's not counting the tabletPC I have, but I'm not counting that, since it's more of a tool than a computer (albeit an expensive one), it was a refurb, and it broke right when its very short refurb warranty expired. Boo.

The current hand-me-down was a maxed-out Sony that had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, and it was beginning to fail in frustrating ways. So up rolls my birthday, and Kim green lights me to build a new one.

Since Todd's thinking about building a new computer, too, I documented the nativity:

"Silence is Beautiful"

I wouldn't say I did a lot of research before buying the pieces of the computer - I just went on a few review sites and got a sense for what brands performed well consistantly. When it came to cases, Antec seemed to be a class leader, so I made them my first choice. They had cases ranging from $60 to $200 (all including at least one fan and a power supply with the case), but I chose this guy for $120. He's a looker with his black piano finish and clean lines, and he's modest (no see-thru panels on the side, not too much bling on the front), well built (solid metal construction, except the door on the front), and has plenty of room for expansion.


Take a look inside. Three 5.25 bays, two external 3.5 bays, and 5 internal 3.5 bays. Even better, the internal bays (in the bottom right) are unobstructed, face outward, and are rail mounted. I've changed hard-drives more than anything else in past computers, so this was a big selling point for me. In the upper left is a 450W powersupply, which is more than generous to supply even all 10 bays, if necessary. The big black thing on the left is an adjustable exhaust channel that sits over the CPU and funnels the heat out of the box instead of letting it loiter in the box.

And they're right! The box is very quiet. I had a server before that was noisy - it had two large fans that let you know they were running, but when those SCSI drives spun up, it sounded like a jet engine! That put the steady background hum of the Sony in a reasonable perspective, but this computer - he makes them all seem like chatter boxes. The refrigerator under my desk, with its gentle breeze of a radiator, drowns out the new computer.

Running Total: $120.

No Guts, No Glory

This is the real computer. I was planning on getting an AMD chip (cheaper, better performer than the Intel by popular acclaim) and an Asus motherboard (another class leader), and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted - I wanted one of the older boards and chips, which would keep the cost way down and let me use my old dual monitor video card (which I had plunked nearly $300 down on a couple of years ago!). But while I was at Fry's, I realized that violated my plan of getting a long-term upgradable computer, so I ended up deciding on the newest mobo (this one is an AM2, as opposed to a socket939 or socket754) and entry-level components to go with it. The Asus was out of stock, so I chose this Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G (AMD AM2, 800 Mhz FSB, Max 16GB memory support, onboard video and audio, IDE and SATA support, etc. etc.: $100), the AMD Athlon64 3800+ CPU ($200), and 2 1-GB OCZ memory boards (800 Mhz, Dual Channel, PC6400: $210). For an additional $9, Fry's put it all together and ran a POST on the build, to make sure none of the compents were bad. Since the thermal paste needed to seat the heat sink on the CPU was $10 by itself, but included in the POST test, I was quickly convinced this was a good idea. (Plus, it would have been a tragedy to get all of the pieces home only to find out something was bad and had to be returned!)


Even though the board had onboard video, it only supported one monitor, so I swung by Best Buy with a gift card in one hand and a 12% off coupon, and picked up this sweet little video card (256 MB, ATI-clone: $70 ($40 after discounts)). With drugs and violence advertised on the front panel of the box, how could I go wrong?

One last cost to keep me legal: an OEM license for Windows XP Professional ($149).

Running Total: $820

Putting It All Together

Word quickly spread through the house that the computer room was where the excitement was at, and I soon had more help than I knew what to do with.





At least Jenny was willing to stay up on her perch and keep a respectful distance.


For awhile.

I hit a few minor snags putting it all together, but nothing too bad.


I tried to get a little too clever snaking the IDE ribbons through the case, and ended up stripping one. But between the hard drives and the mobo and my box of supplies, I still had about 10 extra ribbons. No problem.


I spent a few minutes scratching my head over machine screws that didn't fit the threads until I realized the case had come with two sets of screws of the same color and size in the same bag - one set for mounting the mobo, and one for mounting the hard disks. No problem.


Before I knew it, I had it all together!


Since I'm tracking costs, I should mention that I pulled a 250GB IDE Hard drive from my old machine and bought another one last month from Best Buy when I saw it on sale for $70.


I did a little rearranging in my room, and fired it up. The POST (Power-On Self Test) passed, and I was into the BIOS. Huzzah!

Running Total: $890

0x0000007e:wtf?

Now it was time for Microsoft to join the party. Microsoft's pretty cool; I like to have him around because he knows a lot of people, but sometimes he's a real dick.


This was one of those times.

I kept trying to start windows, and I kept getting the blue-screen of death. Reboot. BSOD. Reboot. BSOD.

Luckily, I still had my old computer running; I hooked up the KMD Todd gave me a few birthdays ago, and scoured Second Brain for answers. this stop error, 0x0000007e, could mean all sorts of things, just like most of Microsoft's cryptic whispers. One site said, it's USB - unplug all of your USB, even if you're not using it. I did. BSOD. Another said, no, unplug PCI cards. I did. BSOD. Microsoft winked and said, hold the F7 key. I did. Microsoft smirked and gang-signed "BSOD". Bastard. The worse thing was, the parameters on the 0x0000007e error kept changing, so I couldn't lock onto a single driver that was causing the stop. Bastard! Then someone in the back said it could be the memory. I took out one of the chips and rebooted. BSOD. I swapped the chips. Wha???


Hooray!

Of course, this wasn't the end. I still BSOD'd a couple of times along the way, and once Windows had copied files and wanted to start installing, I was poinked on the head with a forefinger, and a 25-digit Product Key was demanded of me. What? This is OEM windows. I don't have one! I looked at the documentation; it said, "Look here for your key." I looked there. It said, "Your product key has already been removed and affixed to your computer by the manufacturer." Nice one, Microsoft. I'm the manufacturer, and I didn't put the key there. You suck. No more parties for you.

So, I went to Fry's again the next day on my lunch break, memory and OEM windows in hand. Fry's was very cool about taking back the memory, but they were pretty sure they couldn't take back the copy of Windows. "Maybe the product key was on the shrinkwrap?" they suggest. "That's where it usually is." "No way!" I boldy declare. "I would have seen it if it was there." After all, who's more likely to be wrong - Microsoft's five levels of quality control, or my eyes as they danced like merry lawn gnomes over the blizzard of shrinkwrap and packagine while I was preparing all of my shiny new components?

So I take my copy of Windows back with me to pick out new RAM. The salesguy suggests I step down a grade in speed, which ended up being a great idea, since the new 2GB of 667MHz chips cost $150 instead of the $210 800MHz chips! I decided to share some of the reclaimed wealth with my friend the new computer at home, and I bought a 3.5 floppy drive. Just in case I need to flash the BIOS, or something. (Some have suggested that flashing anything with your 3.5 inch floppy is rude and likely to get you slapped. I don't know what they're talking about.)


So now I have cool new "Turbo!" memory and a better pricepoint!

Final Total: $845 (plus tax)

Happily Ever After

The new computer works fabulously! Photoshop loads in 2 seconds instead of 2 minutes. I can run Firefox and iTunes at the same time without making either stutter! Even things I didn't expect to go faster, like uploading the images to this post in blogger, go in half or quarter the time. Yay! I can't wait to load up SimCity and see all of the shiny buildings!

On behalf of Albion (old computer/new server), Gaul (old noisy server), Tristan and Iseulte (defunct twin laptops), Taliesin (tablet), and Mabinogian (iPod), and ... "Kim" (laptop), welcome new computer Artoris!

Update

I fixed some formatting problems in the post. I also forgot to follow up on the Product Key for windows. It was in the trash, stuck to the shrink wrap, just like Fry's had said. Sorry, Fry's!

Politics aside...

...this is an astounding piece of video editing.

Religion: Divine Infinity

People tell me that God is infinite. Infinite in power, scope, beauty, presence - many different things. When I was younger, I heard it in church; I don't think the idea is biblical so much as Platonic, but appears to be a fairly universal belief within Christianity. I still hear it, from Christianity and Judaism and New Age religions, and I understand it to be a tenet of mono- and uni-theism.

People would tell me that I can't comprehend what it means to be infinite, even when I told them I could - I'd spent enough time thinking about it maths that I could understand it as well as I could understand the concept of 2 or red or yesterday - that is to say, vaguely, but enough to move on to other topics. (But it's really, really big! Yes, I know. Really BIG! Yes - it's much more difficult to understand exceptionally large non-infinite numbers than it is infinity, because then you have to reference a scale.)

But I had a problem with God being infinite - I understood it to mean that we must necessarily be a part of God. If God is infinitely everywhere and infinitely powerful, all places and powers must be caught up in him, including my power, right now, to do evil. Right?

But I had fallen into the trap of understanding all infinities equally. It's the same trap that some writers have made when they say: given an infinite number of worlds in an infinite universe, it is statistically impossible that we don't exist an infinite number of times simultaneously, or: give enough monkeys enough time on enough typewriters, and one of them will produce Hamlet.

But there are different kinds of infinities. There are an infinite number of numbers, right? You can keep counting forever. Infinity. But if you take away all of the even numbers, how many numbers do you have? An infinite number. But a lesser infinity, right? Yes. No. No. It's still infinite, though it's a non-comprehensive subset of the first infinitity. You could only count factors of 10: 1, 10, 100, 1000, ... and still end up with an infinite set that is not any smaller than our original set, though as a subset it's rather limited. Then, of course, we have all sorts of infinities squeezed into each member of our infinite set. Take all numbers: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, ... There's an infinite number of them, though they all fit between 1 and 0. Even if we add them up, we don't any smaller of a number than if we add up any of our other infinities.

I'm no maths expert (even though I once thought I was), but I can only really distinguish two types of infinity - infinity and pleni-infinity. Perhaps there is a better word somewhere than pleni-infinity, but I don't know it, so I resorted to crafting a new word. Pleni-infinity is not an infinite set, but the complete set of all sets, infinite and otherwise. It's every single number, ever. All of them. Thought of one that's not in there? Nope, it's in there. Hah!

What does all of this have to do with religion and God? Well, God can be infinite in characteristics without including all aspects of those characterstics. His power could be infinite in might without being infinite in scope; it could be infinite in scope, and still not need to include those regions of power which involve flicking your sister's earlobe until she loses her temper. Infinite, but not pleni-infinite. Not every possible aspect of power need be in his scope of power for it to be infinite.

This comes to mind as I'm reading the Urantia Book, and it describes in very minute detail the infinitude of God - in this chapter, the infinity of his personality. And instead of being put off by the word "infinite", I say: Oh, why that means that his personality could be delved without reaching bottom - you could get to know him for as long as you like and still have more to learn than you know.

So maybe I get infinity a little better now.

Religion: The World as Equipment

I used a mailbox example in a previous post - I had said that even though the mailbox was a tool, we need to treat it with an appropriate amount of respect. The last few days, I've had reason to think further on this idea

When my philosophy professor was teaching me about Heidegger yesterday (through the convenience of my car's CD player), he talked for a few minutes about the "World as Equipment". As we go through our day, driving to work or the store, doing yardwork, staring at our computer screen, we rarely think about the world with which we interact. The steering wheel, the car, the road, the leaves, the yard, the computer keyboard and our desk rarely appear to us as objects, but as equipment. Think of equipment as the fencer's sword, the carpenter's hammer, or the artist's brush - in concept and practice they are extensions of our own body and intention. They are temporary modifications to our features and abilities. We rarely think about our car when we drive - it's just the new body that gets us there faster, we don't think about the road except as our goal in progress, and we don't even think about the cars around us except as vague participants in the formal dance of which we are the spotlit.

Really the only time we think about our surroundings as objects, rather than as equipment, is when something goes wrong. We think about the car when our CD player skips or the engine has failed to satisfactorily conserve gasoline; we think about the road when it presents traffic, disrepair, or some confusion in directions; we think about the cars around us when they aren't doing what we want or expect. Sometimes we even think about the dude in that Mitsubishi Montero, rather than the Montero itself, as an actor.

So, the appropriate amount of respect for our surroundings begins with the objectification of our environment - that is to say: the mailbox is an object, not just equipment. It is discrete, with its own purpose, needs, story-arc, features and flaws. It can be equipment, too, but never as less than an object.

For a fencer to equip his foil without first objectifying it is dangerous. If he doesn't have an understanding of it's balance point, of its tension limits, of chips in the forte and a loose connector in the circuit clip, his blade might come unplugged, out of his hand, or even break and hurt someone. A very good and experienced fencer might objectify and respect his blade with only a few swings and lunges and quick inspection down its length, but he would not wisely pick up an unknown blade and take to the strip, nor would he fail to inspect and heft a familiar blade to look for any changes in its character.

The nature of our busy, far-travelling, pleni-connected, wealthy lifestyles make the mindfulness required for proper surrounding respect impossible. I cannot truly respect every object I come across and still hope to make it out the door in the morning in time for work, or even before I should return home. My toaster needed a little more consideration, before it broke last week. My computer keyboard has 9 buttons on it which are clearly visible but I had completely forgotten they were there.

I cannot acheive the perfect moral stance in my environtment, any more than I can perfect my personal relationships. But I don't know that this should keep me from trying.

Philosophy: Philosophy:Science ; ...

Is anyone having standardized test flashbacks?

Remember those questions:

Music:Note ; Literature: ...

Anyone, anyone? Anyone who said "word" gets a gold star!

And the answer to the titular question?

I say it's "Judaism:Christianity".

Christianity is a cult of Judaism, or a theological and philosophical child and purported successor. Christianity replaces Judaism as a new paradigm, but Judaism is valuable for historical and educational purposes. Modern Judaism is obsolete, and is sort of an unfortable embarrassment - they've heard the news, but they just haven't gotten it. (That was my understanding as a fundamentalist Christian.)

Science is the daughter of Philosophy; originally one of Philosophy's aspects, it's matured into its own discrete field of study that is often at odds with the Philosopher's approach.

Science attempts to understand, categorize, and possibly manipulate the material world, including our own selves. Philosophy questions whether this material world and our own selves exist, undermining Science's legitimacy.

What are the implications of this? I dunno. Just thought I'd point out the comparison.

Politics: Secrets

When it comes to the government and secrets, I'm of the "You show me yours and I'll show you mine" philosophy. It's not really reciprocal when our secrets, whatever they may be (For example, I might tell someone over the phone, in confidence, that I don't care for macaroni and cheese or baseball - they would retort that such a stance is quite unAmerican, and now the NSA knows the whole thing), are plucked from our fingers, while the government decides to classify and reclasssify more data, claim state's secrets exceptions, etc. It's not really fair.

Seriously, the point of the War on Terrorism is, ostensibly, to protect the American people, not America or the American government. There is a difference. But if the American people become less and less informed about the American government, that government becomes a large "unknown unknown", that is, a larger potentiality for threat vectors. Anyone who dismisses the idea that a government could be a threat to their own citizens apparently has forgotten the stories with which we were inculcated during the Cold War (and countless other periods of history).

The less the government allows any group to know about it, the more we have to assume that it represents a threat to one or more of those groups. And unless it can provide some proof beyond vague assurance that the groups of which I am a member are not those under threat, well, then I have to feel threatened.

Politics: Our CEO president

As I recall, Bush styled himself as the CEO president when was running back in 2000. He would run the country as a business, cutting out the fat in our bureacracies, and give us a leaner, meaner, better-performing government.

One of the hallmarks of modern businesses is the desire, or even need for growth. Not the size of the building, or the number of employees - I don't think Bush intended to bloat the size of the government, it just kind of snuck up on him - but its marketshare, number of customers, and overall heft in the market place. When a company has reached a plateau of natural expansion based on current assets, products, and customer needs, it expands through acquisition.

So, that's kind of what we're doing, right? A sort of 21st century ideological imperialism is allowing us to expand the marketshare for American-style capitalism by acquiring failing countries and rebranding them as American satellite democracies? Now it makes more sense to me.

But, I'm worried - usually companies who have recently gone through a merger/acquisition become profitably operational by trimming mid and low-level staff. I expect some of Afghanistan's and Iraq's population to be laid off, but what about us? Even the purchasing company is not immune from redundancy. Perhaps some of our positions in the democracy will be outsourced to third-party organizations and contractors who will promise our American executives sweet kickbacks for bad contracts. Err... Hmph.

Politics: The Nation as an Idol

I've been listening to my philosophy cd's again. The professor today mentioned Nietzsche in passing (the professors and I covered Nietzsche in depth several disks back, so it's okay that it was only a passing mention), and in particularly he spoke about Nietzsche's presponse to Nazism and fascism in the form of a criticism of the Idol State and the Mass Man.

That got me thinking about Nationalism as Idolatry. We use the term "idol" and "idolatry" loosely these days: We have our American idols, and pastors warn about excessive TV watching as a form of idolatry. Now the American "idol" is really more of a shorthand for superstar or cultural aristocracy, and TV idolatry is more of an addiction or obsession, though the case can be made for the extension of the original meaning of idolotry to include addiction, and not just false-god or icon worship. But Nationalism, particularly in the extremes that it's taking in this country now, does not need any kind of help to fit into the definition of idolatry. There is worship, both of symbols (flag, eagle, etc.) and of a metaphysical force/god (America, or the mythological Christian America ideal), we have priests (in the form of pundits like Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, etc., and in the form of politicos like Bush, Frist, Cheney, etc.). Fighting for the American way is beginning to smack more of jihad than a defensive position.

Of course, simply saying that nationalism is idol-worship or a false religion does not make it so, but neither does saying it is not make it not so. I'm interested in any contrary opinions while I form a supporting argument. In the meantime, I find this an interesting counterpoint to the likes of Coulter's accusation that liberal moonbats are godless, or rather their liberalism is their god. It seems more plausible that nationalists have a few too many gods, or at least more than the 10 Commandments allow.

---

Nationalism has been concerning me for a little over a year now, since I began to be alarmed by the things coming out of the mouth of my self-described NeoCon co-worker. I've wondered what the proper response to it is, beyond identifying it and discussing it with friends, interested parties, etc. I don't think it bears outright defiance, certainly not yet, as the sort of Nationalism that worries me is only an extreme on a spectrum, not an inherently bad thing. Rather it bears subversion, and I think Nietzsche's concept of the Mass Man is informative. The best form of subversion is to be authentic, unique (if that is the authentic you), and unapologetic about it. Whether the authentic you is taking beautiful pictures of waterdrops on flower petals, submersion in the joys and frustrations of parenthood, or something more political or philosophical, reinforcing the authentic you does not put you in opposition to Nationalism, but normal (at 90 degrees) from it. It marginializes it. Fervor and debate are the fuel that Nationalism burns, but unselfish self-interest is a non-reactive environment. The Mass Man - the non-discrete result of an assembly-line education and culturalization - is not himself a fire of Nationalism, but he is very much dry kindling. Does that make sense?

---

Since we've brought up the Nazis and Ann Coulter already, let me direct you to this quick quiz, which I surprised myself by doing poorly on. It seems like the best advice is, if it sounds intelligent, it was probably Adolf. If, on the other hand, it sounds clever, it was probably Ann.

Today I had an idea that may actually be good.

You know those little paper cards you get from subways or bus systems with the magstripe on them? They can't be too expensive to produce, or the MTA's couldn't afford to use them.

What if credit card companies gave you a couple dozen of those each month, maybe in a little tear-out booklet? Each would be numbered differently and be good for only one use, but they'd be tied back to your card so they were charged to your account, against which the CC company would authorize the charge, just like they do now. The benefit would be that you could use a credit card without giving out all of the information a person needs to be able to make unauthorized charges against your account. They'd be perfect for pizza delivery guys or little artist stands in town-square faires - they'd scan like normal or could be keyed in, but would prevent you very little liability.

For identification purposes, you would probably need to countersign the card when you used it, but that's not too much work.

Basically, they'd be like a check, but go against a credit card and they wouldn't take so long to fill out.

What do you think?

I had an eventful week!

Let's see...

In no particular order:

• Last Sunday I cut down the leaning bush-tree in our front yard. It was attracting bees and causing me to have to make funny patterns to mow the yard, but otherwise the services it provided were all negative. ;) (I don't have a good picture of it because it wasn't picture-worthy, but it's the bushy-looking thing which is to the right of the box in this picture - of course, the box isn't there any more, either.) This Sunday (today), I dug out the stump. I'm getting pretty good at that.


• Friday night I went to a concert. My friend Kevin from Vans is now the roadie for the very good band, Rock Kills Kid, so he got me into the show free, so I could visit with him. He took time from a very busy schedule to just hang with me, and that was quite cool. The band was excellent, too - I bought their album earlier, and it's one of the few albums I can listen to twice through without a problem, and don't skip through any of the songs. They were fronted by another band called Big City Rock, who turned about to be pretty darned good as well, and apparently all stand-up guys from the several of them that I met. Both these bands were headlined by Morningwood, but I don't see why they should have gotten top billing - they were basically a mediocre punk band fronted by a pair of singing boobs. Generally I like female lead singers, but Morningwood's wasn't that great, and the talent she was flaunting was a disproportionate pair that were girdled up to provide as much cleavage as possible without falling out. Though she did try to make them fall out - which she made very clear to us by telling us just that while she shook them. I have nothing against breasts (beside my own), but after hearing a pair of great bands, it was quite a letdown.


• Mom and Wood took Kim and I out today for a multi-birthday dinner and movie, which was quite a treat.


• I've had two job interviews already, and one job offer. The first interview produced the offer, and it was quite lucrative, but it would have meant a long commute and lots of overtime for a job I wasn't terribly interested in, so I declined. The second job interview hasn't produced an offer, and wouldn't be quite as lucrative, but it's with a small, stable, family-owned company filled with pleasant people who say hello to new faces, and it would lead nicely into my career goal of being the manager of a small IT department at a Medium-sized company. I really hope it works out.

I'm sure there were other things of note that happened this last week, but for now they don't rate the list in my memory. So that's all you get.

Kim likes her pillows...

...and I like this picture. I think it's funny.

Link: No More Cavities

So, what happens now? Thousands of Dentists across the country just pack up shop?

If

If anyone feels like going through Cheating Life (because it's finished, a complete story, and you may even have read it before), or the rough draft of the first act of A Diamond in Snow (because you haven't read it, or because the subject matter of Cheating Life isn't really your cup of tea)*, I couldn't imagine a better birthday present**.

---

*I know that this can be a very difficult undertaking, because whenever I try to read an author I like to analyze their writing style, I get caught up in the story and forget why I'm reading it or to look at the details. Hopefully, my stories aren't so very dull that they force you to analyze the style.

**Seriously. Most of you know that somewhere in the back of my head I've always planned on being a writer of dubious quality or better, but I'd really like to be a writer of high quality - the kind of writer who would be read even by people who don't know him. But my mirror for determining my own writing quality is very dull, so I need people who are willing to take the time to detail particulars about what works for them and what doesn't, if surprises in the story are transparent, if the sentences are a struggle to work through and too dense, or too wordy and superfluous, if the characters are believeable, if the subject matter is trite or already overly saturated.... You know - things like that. That kind of analysis takes time and attention, which is the worst thing to ask of anyone who doesn't offer it, but if you're so inclined, it would be an amazingly outstanding gift.

Link: Treaty with Tripoli -1796

Given the current debate over the Christian underpinnings of our nation, I'm surprised I never heard of the Treaty with Tripoli before. Or perhaps I did hear of it and simply forgot. Plausible.

If you follow the link to the text of the treaty, look for article 11. That is the section that rates the most discussion.

It reads:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Wikipedia link on the treaty

From Wikipedia:

The prime significance of this article that is often misunderstood or downplayed is that it stated categorically that the United States of America is not founded upon the Christian religion, and that this treaty, with that statement intact, was read before and passed unanimously by the United States Senate, and was signed by the President of the United States without a hint of controversy or discord, and remains the earliest and most definitive statement from what could be called a fair and representative sampling of the "Founding Fathers" regarding the secular nature of American government.

It's worth reading this short essay about the treaty as well.

Very interesting!

We did some things this weekend.

In addition to celebrating Kim's birthday (which is a fun and festive occassion in its own right), we went to see Rent at the fabulous Fox theater, and The Breakup at the better-than-mediocre Regal theater.

Rent was somewhat of a disappointment, and we were disappointed about that. Kim is a bit of a theater person, so we try to go to a show every few years or so, at the very least. This particular production is only in town for 3 days, and it seems like they may have rushed it (or stopped for too long). For a college performance, it was reasonable - entertaining, but poorly staged (the sides lost about a quarter of the stage because of big booms sticking out in front of the stage, which completely blocked the view of one of the back quarter arcs, and since there was no stage change, every square foot was used to represent some area in the story; the parts of the story represented by the back corner we couldn't see were simply lost to us; and the same was true on the other side of the theater), and poorly mixed (the band was on stage with the performers, and drowned them out when they were doing anything less than belting out their music, so we lost any dialogue or moderated singing, as well as most harmonies, etc.). The problem was, it wasn't a college performace, either by advertisement or price. Oh well.

The Breakup was a pretty good movie. I like it when they give both the guy and the girl reasonable and understandable excuses for doing what they do, and make them equally culpable in relationship problems. It makes the movie less preachy or vindictive. I feel I can safely recommend the movie, but you won't miss anything if you don't wait for the DVD, either.

For those of you interested in holes...

Here is another hole I've created recently. This one actually took a long time to make (5-6 hours over 3 weekends) but very little time to repair. While I was making the hole, I managed to find, chop up, and remove the very nasty stump, which is labelled in the picture, and which was right in the middle of where Kim's garden is going to go. But now it's over in the wood pile.

Also, you may notice in the upper-left corner further proof of what I've long suspected.

We have some kind of mutant soil which will grow anything you throw even near the ground. How else can you account for me being able to grow grass from seed in the front yard without watering it, and when I barely even used a cultivator to break up the ground. How else can you account for the dirt beneath the birdfeeder becoming a lush grass jungle?

If anyone has some magic beans they'd like to sell me, I'm listening.

Invention: Bug Collector

Above is a hasty, messy Photoshop mockup of an idea I had last night. The purpose of the bug collector is chiefly to remove bugs from the house (spiders, wasps, beetles, or whatever other crawly things you may have that you are not too interested in handling, but don't want to kill). It could also be used to capture bugs for study, feeding pets, feeding younger siblings, drowning in the toilet, or whatever other cruel, heartless intentions you may have.

It works as follows: The plunger with the red handle depresses a piston and compresses the spring, and is held in place as it is depressed by ratcheting action controlled by the red button. The air displaced by the piston is blown out primarily through the compression vents. When the red button is pressed, the spring quickly decompresses the piston, and air is drawn in through the bug bell and the bug trap beyond (motion of the air is controlled by valves in the compression vents and on the far side of the bug bell (though that is a two-way valve). Any bug in the bug trap is quickly sucked into the bug bell, and held in place by the valve trap at the far end. The bug is protected from being drawn into the piston by a dish at the near end of the bell, and a wire screen covering the sloped air vents leading into the piston (so the bug is caught in the dish, not the screen). If you wish to eject the bug from bell, you can turn the tube around the shaft to close off the compression vents, and push the plunger in quickly to force air through the bell. (This is best done when the device is bell-side down, as a bug still in the dish will be protected from the rush of air. The traps screws on and off so you can use it only when it is convenient.

That's my idea! It would probably sell for $19.99, I figure, but I don't think I know anyone who would pay that much for it.