jr conlin's ink stained banana

A wise friend once told me, "Everyday you learn something is a good day." Recently, i've been learning quite a bit.

1) Robopets creep me the hell out. i'm not sure if it's the fact that the head bears an uncomfortable resemblance to an Alien (and that i keep expecting a little battery operated face hugger to skitter across my floor), or the fact that it makes the same noises that one assumes a tiny version of the Terminator would make. i'm tempted to bring it in and let it loose on the floor, just to annoy the hell out of people. (Granted, i got it from Mom & Dad, and they agreed. Now i just need to figure out how to make it more eeeevil.)

2) Speaking of generally annoying, i mistakenly updated the firmware on my Zen and lost the ability to play Podcasts from NPR. So i replaced it with a Sansa. It wins on the Can Play Movies and Be Readable Outside and usable on things other than Windows fronts, but by Darwin the thing loses on a lot of other issues. Seriously, SanDisk, would it kill you to have auto-start when i turn the thing back on? For that matter, could you also come back on just a hair faster than 20 seconds? i won't even go into the whole uselessly proprietary connector thing, other than i'm going to have to grab a reel up cable online somewhere. Still, unlike the Zen, this one actually plays what i want it to. (And no, iPods don't play other things, so they're out too.)

3) Thanks to a coworker, i've come to the realization that:

• Spaghetti-O's were the product of an unjust and angry God. "i will smite thee with canned pasta in a cheddar/tomato sauce. Possibly with little bits of hotdog too if i'm feeling particularly rotton."
• SmallWonder was created solely as a means of torture for enemy combatants. (Although i have no idea if that's the theme song is what's broadcast by the Army to disable enemies troops.)
• That, like lead, i'm highly useful in a nearly complete passive state (that and even tiny amounts of my presence should be avoided by small children lest they wind up growing extra heads or something.)

4) Gump Worsley is Dead.

So, what did you learn today?