The Thompson Twins? Where did that come from? Probably the bottom of this beer can?

Oh no, I just remembered.....Christmas..NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Camera moving outwards and upwards from my mouth, passing first busy stores, then streets, then countries, then into the calm and serene haven of space). Which I guess is where I would like to be until about February :)

Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger! I cannot believe it! I am having an amazing amout of trouble (read "guilt") about having to get rid of the kittens. I am already seeing them in my dreams for goodness sakes! I thought I was made of harder stuff, but I guess there is some fluffy-valve or something, that these little bundles of innocence have managed to open somehow.

Now where was I?....Oh yes, BUGGER! BUGGER! BUGGER!

A quick thing.. try mixing laser pointers with cats and 5 new kittens, for hours of endless (if a little childish) fun for all concerned.... FEEL THE POWER!

Wow, this is a really good idea! Can you imagine having your OWN personal broadband connection to everything, without an ISP?

AND IT WORKS!!!!

Oh I am so clever, tee hee hee. Instead of going for something like this. I am going to make a whole house video experience with one of these and a bit of this. So everyone can enjoy any channel anywhere in the house, anytime. And if we get one of these (yummy), it means we have whole house video on demand.

I expect, as in all these things, I will find out why you have to spend thousands ripping out major sections of the house to pipe your cables through floors and walls. All so you can sit in a chair and ask the house to switch on the coffee machine downstairs.

One reason to get this set up is that we have a dish on the house, but it's just too much bother to try and watch it. Not one for tv much anyway, but when we do catch it, we seem to never be near the main one. Also with my recent experiences with these nice people (see archives somewhere for gory details), this is a definate drive to take back command of the TV viewing experience. How very Ricky Lake of us. We are going to televisually empower ourselves, right on!

Oooo nearly forgot, I should get a couple of these, otherwise watching in a different room would be a bit useless if I had to run around the house everytime I wanted to surf during ad breaks.

Today there was news of something that has been long overdue. I am referring to my homeland's free and easy access, is finally going pay. The founder outlined the major details of what was to come in Jan of 2003.

Personally I think it is long overdue. I am amazed they have kept the place running for free as long as they have. The founder claims it is funding for the next stage of evolution, but I think it is more to do with straight operating costs and we shall see little (if any) changes over the next year or so. I like the fact that people will have to keep their multiple nicknames down to a minimum or it's going to get seriously expensive for those concerned.

The place changed a couple of years back, by introducing lots of municipal employment, ability to make cash, as well as adding Clubs to the city. This was in my opinion part of the overload of the whole place. Once people realized they could trade there (in virtual cash only) they went beserk, making countless clubs to store items in, multiple nick names to store items in their Back Packs, the place seemed to lose it's way somewhat... The blocks, which is where most of the people start out in their first payed employment, became not the place to be. With all the clamouring for exclusive titled jobs in limited areas of the city, the blocks seemed to become rather eroded, which is odd seeing as everyone had to go to their houses regularly to avoid deletion!

Perhaps now that people have to commit (i.e. with their money) to the city, they will be more inclined to follow through on events and less able to vent on others, as access to the whole city is restricted to paying customers. The only area visitors will be permitted is in the plaza. So no more logging in as a new member to blast your enemies from a seemingly anonymous position.

The first few cases for unfair dismissal for breaking the rules, should be juicy reading, due to the not too insignificant fact that cold hard cash is now involved.

I wait with interest to see what paying members of this brave new digital society should be able to expect from their not-very-futuristic dollar...

By the way, isn't it annoying when you read an article on something but havent the slightest clue what it is referring to :). Tough luck, go there and see it for yourself, I have posted enough links to the place here, and you better hurry as you will have to pay by next year......

Oh and another thing....the one time we tried this
at our least fave entertainment outlet. They told us that the lists which make
up the guarantees are store specific, and after checking it seemed that that particular
title (the one we found on the shelf actually standing RIGHT ON the bit of card
telling you about the scheme) was not currently listed as part of that scheme.
Wow what a shocker! So perhaps the computers reasoning goes something along the
lines of...

10 IF movie = instock THEN ADD TO raincheckList

20 IF movie = outofstock THEN REMOVE FROM
raincheckList

30 GOSUB RecoverLateFeeRevenue

40 GOSUB EmployYetAnotherUntrainedEmployee

50 GOTO 10

60 DEFSUB RecoverLateFee

70 Victim=CustomerDb Random (all)

80 LateReason=NonReturn OR LateReturn

90 RETURN

100 DEFSUB=EmployYetAnotherUntrainedEmployee

110 If attitude<3 AND MovieKnowledge=0 AND
StorePolicy=unknown AND ProjectedLengthOfEmployment<3 weeks
THEN Employ

120 ELSE lookForCheaperOption

130 RETURN

Decided to get rid of these people, as it turned out we were apparently NOT returning movies when we HAD. Furthermore the infomation about the alleged status of aforementioned movies changed hourly! I'm sure it would make a great movie! Don't you just hate it when it's your word against the company that has your credit card number, the right to use it, and the ability to make your entire credit rating a big fat zilch. Anyway, after the ever evolving story of non-returned/late/found in-strange-places-in-the-store stories, we simply decided to pay a one day late fee (although no movies were outstanding) and keep the "final" receipt from them to prove any further non-dealings with them and look at somewhere a little different. Time (and this blog) will tell if we suffer the same weird treatment. BB even changed the rules of a promotion half way through! And before you say, in a whiney, mocking, smug tone, "But you should read the small print and it would say they COULD change it any time they want to". Firstly, WE DID, and secondly, the new "terms" made little or no sense at all, just a seeming way of making you either return to the store on EXACTLY the same day each week, or risk losing the movies owed to you, which WE HAD ALEADY PAID FOR!

Steam!

Of course I should be working right now, but well....er..... moving swiftly along....

The other day I went to the local food emporium. Now I don't know if this is a cultural thing, a store policy, or just one of lifes little HUGE ANNOYANCES but, it takes for ever to get through the checkout in this (and other) stores around here.... And people don't believe me when I tell them that I take along a book to read when I am there, for this very contingency. And in case you weren't wondering, I actually DO take one, in fact, about ten currently. Back to the plot.... It was an evening time, and there were already a lot of people in the store, and waiting (so nothing wrong there) as usual at the checkouts. I must also mention at this point that the deli counter is exactly the same. You wait for an eternity at this counter too for anything to actually happen. It seems to that no matter how quickly you reach the front of the line, you still spend the required amount of time AT the counter/check out. So by now perhaps you are thinking, "Well, why don't you look to see what is going on and then you will know why things take so long?". I have done and there are a few conclusions you can reach just by observing the apparent non-activity behind these counters.

Not wanting to bring too much on myself in the form of any legal proceedings, suffice it to say, you yourself have probably thought similar when faced with a zen like shop worker, who doesn't so much scan the food, as encourage it to scan itself. I feel sometimes that it would be quicker to train the plastic bags to catch the food coming along the counter, rather than wait for the transendental like manner in which they are allegedly "packed"...

All this lead to a newer (i.e. less leagally risky) theory, which goes something like this....

If you ever stand in line at one of these fine food establishments (and believe me you will:) notice the majesty of the lines as they arc away into infinity. This is all to do with time and space and those dimensional aspects of all things like that, you know what I mean. While you are in these lines you are in fact in such a LONG line that it exhausts all the usual three dimensions and strays into the fourth. The fourth being TIME. So time begins to slow as you enter the line, and at a certain point, stops all together. So it's nobodies fault really that the wait is about 20 minutes or so to serve about three other baskets full of goodies. It just APPEARS that way due to relativity. It only LOOKS like the shop worker is moving at a pace resembling a performance art piece, on the interpretation of how mould spreads. They of course are moving along at a brisk work-like pace whistling a happy tune as they merrily meditate your goods into the bags.

I was unfortunate enough to be involved in what one can only describe as a near death experience. Similar to being ejected from a space ship in a fully functioning space suit, but with only a limited amount of oxygen to sustain my pitiful existance for a few more hours. So you are perfectly safe, but doomed anyway. The incident was being in my part of the trans-dimensional wait for the holy blessing that is the electronic scanning device (with what seems a hit rate of a Star Wars storm trooper on the first take of the day) when the check out person decided to savagely cut us loose in our stasis! Meaning that with 5 more people still to go (roughly 90 mins by my calculations) she said that she would no longer be serving (and I use the term loosely) any more customers. Horror of horrors! Now I think that this must have happened before. So while the different shopping carts were being manouvered in the tight confines of the docking area around the check outs (sounding much like sighing and tutting although I knew it was really the thrusters making the noise) having to travel even FURTHER back in time to some other distant line, I was slightly relieved to find we did have food on board, which would last about a week if need be. Then I shuddered to think of all the lost souls which must drift around on the uncharted currents, sliently floating to some massive trans-dimensional store graveyard. Harbouring a secret treasure trove of uncashed in coupons for cat food etc. The reason no one has DIED in these lines is that they sell food, and as such can guarantee the fact that everyone will survive long enough in just the aforementioned situation.

So you enter the store and immediately all sense of time is on some special rule. Then you join the line, where you go back in time slightly and THAT is why, from the great distance you see the check out person (speed of light does not apply here, as you are so far from them light just gives up and has a cup of tea instead of travelling all that way) they only APPEAR to be standing virtually still. Then as you get closer it is not the renewed looks of complete satanic bad karma, cast from the shopper onto the shop assistant that spurs them on (EVER so slightly) but the fact that relative to them, you are matching their time in space. Therefore, they begin to match your speed once more. The fact that your watch retains this time-lapse is merely your own fault for not correcting it later on.

With this knowledge in mind, it still makes the trip a long one :(

Looks like my crusty old Windows 98 is getting the final cold shoulder from Microsoft. The Update page has gone all this millenium on me..... thinking more and more about getting XP you know.

Seeing lots about the Tablet PC, which would appear to be doomed from the outset. However, it is a lot like a jumbo PDA, with the seemingly obvious advantage of being able to pack a lot more into it's box. You have a bigger screen, so the thing it's attached to can hold more goodies.

To take notes at meetings and use it as a main computer, is really a bonus when it comes to being what they cringingly call a "Corridor Warrior".

But (and you knew this was coming) there is little point for me (and I am allowed to be this selfish, as this is MY blog:) diving in and splashing out around $2,000 for one, for two main reasons....

1 I can't afford it

2 I use a PDA anyway, which has nearly all the benefits of a tablet pc, with little of the draw backs.

If there was a fight between the Tablet PC and a PDA, who would win?

The tablet PC comes swaggering out of it's corner. A mightily impressive looking beast, with it's custom made fighting outfit and huge posse waiting in it's corner. The PDA nimbly steps forward without the glitz, but has more experience under it's belt.

DING! Round 1. The Tablet takes a lunge with it's HUGE hard drive but the lighter PDA was expecting that and easily dodges. Then the Tablet tries a little bit of computing power, it out performs the PDA easily, but has to take heed from it's corner when they shout that it can not do that for too long, otherwise it's out for the count before the small fella has gotten a slap in. The PDA realises that it is beat on size, but knows it can go the distance when it comes to outlasting the Tablet, so it keeps it light. It shows off it's ability to be always on and available to continue working EXACTLY where you left off, with no waiting for boot up or loading. The PDA also demonstrates (to the Tablet supporters) that it too can easily perfom the corr... (no I just canNOT say that again) ...er.. the office worker apps needed to keep the boss happy. And (ladies) it can go for HOURS and HOURS. The Tablet needs to think a little more here. It goes for the "Wow look at that new kit" move, the crowd just groans. After a little more light shuffling around the ring, while our two protagonists decide what to go for next, the Tablet suddenly breaks into a full on multimedia extravaganza, much to the disgust of the crowd. They KNOW this already, and want something MORE. A smile spreads across the PDA and it goes into a full on what if scenario.... It shows how you can use it while in the car, bus, plane, tank, or where ever you are without doing a full on security sweep, or needing help from three people to be able to hold the thing up while waiting in line in the super market! The Tablet reels from this one. After all, this is what the Tablet was supposed to be for... Then the killer blow...The PDA shows that if it is lost, stolen, dropped in a bucket of donkey urine, it is a relatively cheap solution to get another one, and within minutes you are back in business. Not the usual 3 month support meetings for when you lose a new expensively sexy piece of hardware with ALL your personal data on.

I admit that this is coming from someone with a lot of experience using a PDA and not a Tablet PC. But the PDA is VERY convenient due to it's size and what it is able to do. If I was working in an office going to lots of meetings, or maybe a doctor seeing patients in a particular way, then yes, a Tablet would be nice. However I cannot see me being able to use the Tablet PC to read in bed, or use it to check TV listing while wating in line at the local super market. I do go to meetings, but usually just a scrap of paper and someone else's pen suffice, as then I can jot it into the PDA when I get time, or simply put it straight into the desktop at home. The PDA is a discreet gadget you can use in public without drawing attention to it. It's great while waiting in line. You can read the news or a book on it, or if you are in for a longer wait, play some sort of game. A Tablet PC is not something I would try and balance in my arms while waiting, as apart from getting the thing going (after unfolding the screen) the weight would soon trouble my pathetically useless muscles. Then of course you have the thing of not being able to quickly flick it off and put it in your pocket, so you can deal with what ever it was you were waiting in line for.

My PDA supports hand written note taking, and it appears as notes in my Outlook, so I am still not sold on the Tablet thing.... Apart from possibly being able to play GTA3 on it....hang on, I would need a mouse and keyboard wouldn't I? So that puts an end to fragging while waiting... I think I must be missing the point somewhere. I need to talk to someone who thinks they need one, and I could get a different perspective on it.

Still got the kittens, and they seem to be eating and playing with everything! Have you ever seen a cat take on the mighty ironing board. Or better yet, the undefeated (get it?) floor tile? Chortle

And it was a good one too....

I thought of something but now I've forgotten it :(

Lately I've been what me and the missus have began to call Examining our prejudices. Which means (if you haven't guessed) looking at long established no-no's and dipping your toes back into them, on an experimental basis. You know the sort of thing..... "I really hate MacDonalds cheese burgers, and I haven't had one in YEARS". So you might go and take a look in one of their fine establishments, as apart from the burgers, there is bound to be lots more you were not aware of.

It doesn't always work, but lately it seems to have been.

One of my pet peeves was the amount that stores charge for branded PC's. Usually I wouldn't even bother looking in those places, but my usual treasure troves decided to charge a similar price for one. So I checked it out and got a not so great deal on a new PC. Fair enough you might say, but today was looking through one of those very same sale magazines you get in the weekend paper, and there it was...... An offer to supply the monitor and a printer with it for FREE! A quick call to the store unearthed the fact that we could return in the morning and pick up the monitor and printer for no cost! Oh my, I sound like a piece of spam.

If that wasn't enough, during my initial look at the PC (tower only) I was going to wipe away the pre-installed Windows XP and reinstall a nice solid version of Windows 2000 Professional. But then it happened, and I was won over by the smoothness of it all. The oh so clever and well thought out features of it all. If it was a person, Windows XP would be Leslie Phillips.

The one prejudice I didn't examine was buying an open box PC :)

Anyway I needed a printer...

It's a funny old game..