jr conlin's ink stained banana

Every year about this time i ask myself one question: If i had the chance, would i live this year over again?

Granted, i really wouldn't like to do that since i'd continually have some weird sense of deja vu followed by a bout of killing my own grandfather (which, since he's been dead the better part of 20 years would be quite a trick), but hey, that's just how these sorts of time paradoxes inevitably work out.

Just in case anyone is curious, the current answer i'd give is "Yes." Hopefully the greater majority of you feel the same way. If not, may next year be so filled with awesome that the memories of this year spend the rest of their existence pouting in the corner of your brain.

Oh, and look, someone's discovered an exploit on the 605 that lets me run a shell. That, tied with the GPL'd 605 source code means that i just may be able to run an xterm on it. Hmm… 2008 is off to an interesting start already.

Anne Marie is reading an article about how Court TV had decided to become Tru TV. So instead of providing the sort of legal proceedings and action that were the hallmarks of the OJ Simpson trial (the first one, at least), viewers will be treated to a real life version of Baywatch without the custom cut swimsuits and implants (or the thriving "plot" that draws so many in).

Mind you, i'm not really surprised. Of course, i was among the many that never watched CourtTV when it was on the air so switching to the new format doesn't really bother me, but it's nothing horribly new. TechTV G4 went from being a tech heavy geek channel to being a lame rip-off of Spike TV which in turn changed from being a showcase for reruns to being some sort of direct targeted market for Star Trek nerds who drink beer on the sofa all day watching NASCAR.

This, of course, is driven by the inherent need for owner companies to Make More Money. It's not enough that some channel (or some company for that matter) fills a niche that gets consistent, reliable income, they want more. Kinda like strip-mining an orchard because you thought there might be gold beneath it. And much like said strip-mining, unless there actually is gold, you lose a lot more than you gain by trying it.

The funny thing is that there are some companies that don't follow that trend. Places like See's Candies, In&Out Hamburgers, and a few others that resisted the siren call of "Expand and Conquer". They do one thing, exceptionally well, and thrive accordingly. i'm positive that they're regularly deluged with suggestions on how to "improve" their business with latte bars and chicken tacos, but they realize that adding that extra crap means compromising the thing they do well and losing what gain they have.

And yeah, i know that there are times when a business just loses the glamor they once had and folks really aren't into bright orange leg warmers anymore, and those businesses either adapt or die, but that sort of business decision is fairly easy to note fairly early on in the process.

Ah well, if it wasn't for folks thinking like this, i suppose that Ronco would never have gotten off the ground.

It's "raining" out.

There is moisture and it's coming from clouds overhead, but it's hardly actual rain. It's more like the sort of thing you get if you walked under an errant mister. We need rain. Real rain. Angry god with a firehose kinda rain. The sort of liquid ablution that makes one wonder if that was a salmon you just saw go by the window. Creek filling, Reservoir replenishing, torrential flows of aerated aqua pura.

Rain. Real rain. i want to hear it not just tap against the roof but ricochet off of it and ring against the gutter. i want to open my front door to a miniature version of Niagara falls as the water sluices between the gables. i want streets bordered by twin rivers as it collects into the gutters and drains giving the rats and raccoons a lesson in surfing through the estuaries along San Tomas Expressway. i want sputtering weather reporters wrapped in newly purchased rain garb reporting live from the scene as they interview residents previously unaware that they were in the midst of a major catastrophe.

But i'm not getting that.

i'm getting "rain". Mother nature's equivalent of a spit-take, only with out taking a sip of beverage first.

It's California. It's Winter. It should rain.

i wonder if the clouds prefer if i did the cha-cha or meringue?

Some crave the seek and kill of shopping before the holidays. Of finding the right gift at the right price months before the stores roll out the holiday crap (which i believe will be starting in February of 2008).

Not me. No, for me the joy comes in figuring out exactly what to purchase that exactly zeros the gift cards i've acquired. Should i go for the higher ticket items only to load up on batteries? Should i divide things into multiple shipments in order to zot that pesky $6.00 under balance, or should i shoot for in store pickup? It's like playing a combination of fiscal Tetris with the old version of Wheel of Fortune's Prize Gallery.

While it's nearly impossible to hit it on the dime, i generally limit myself to $5 overages, and within 14 days of receipt of gift to limit the amount of interest that the store/bank/whoever can accrue.

So, how do you deal with giftcards?

i think i figured out pretty early that what i find most bothersome about Christmas is getting gifts. Mostly because i feel horribly inadequate afterwards (i love to give, mind you, but that's different and generally something much easier to do anyway.) For things like homemade gifts of pure awesome, i'm speechless. For gadgety gifts, however, i've got a few more words.

In a pure Gift of the Magi move, my parents sent me a Magellan Maestro 4000 GPS. Of course, i kinda already have a GPS (which is kinda good news meaning that even after doing this for five years, my parents STILL don't know about this blog). Having two GPS (GPSii?) is a bit excessive, so i'm weighing between the new one (with 30% extra Guilt) and the one i got myself. Good news, both are within their return period, and i've got receipts. Here's the breakdown, since i've not been able to find a good one on line.

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