Entries from December 2001
Manor back-loop
Rode the Manor back-loop with Susan today. 35 miles. Couldn’t ask for nicer weather–it must have hit 80°F. Sunny, little traffic, light winds. Perfect. Really weird that it is supposed to get down into the 20s tonight.
Copy-protected CDs
So we’re starting to see Copy-protected CDs from one of the major media conglomerates, Vivendi/Universal. The point is to make it impossible to rip MP3s from them (which, even under the absurd Digital Millenium Copyright Act isn’t necessarily illegal, I don’t think), but the net effect is that copy-protected CDs simply will not play in [...]
Hic
Party at DuShun’s. Guiness. Rum. Pete’s Ale. Sangria. Oh yeah, I’m going to have the bedspins tonight.
Postscript
A postscript to that last entry:The next morning, I discovered I had a flat on my back tire. I must have been riding with a slow leak, I reckoned, since I didn’t notice low pressure when I was riding.When I patched the tube, I discovered a complete nail was poked all the way through the [...]
Three days in one
I love those days that are like two or three days rolled into one. Friday was just such a day. In observation of my b-day, Jenny took my out to a movie and lunch. First we went by Flight Path, where we figured out how to start up the wireless networking on her fancy-schmancy new [...]
Less-than-total recall
Brains are funny. Today, for example, my brain did something funny by recalling a moment from 9 years ago.
I had just moved back to Chicago from Tokyo, and was visiting with some friends. They had rented the movie The Running Man, and we watched that. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a [...]
Birthday reflections
My birthday has the funny tendency of coming near the new year, and so I get a double-whammy opportunity for reflection. With my birthday nigh upon me, I was in a reflective mood tonight, and in a rare moment, started feeling sorry for myself–this has been a tough year in some ways, and in some [...]
firenight: scary moment
Another Tuesday, another firenight. For the first time ever, I got tangled badly enough that I had to have my safety person put my wicks out–in a behind-the-back move, my right chain got looped around my left wrist and I couldn’t shake it loose. Somewhat amazingly, I didn’t get burned (at least, not in that [...]
The finger-wand design process
This morning, I shipped off a set of fire gauntlets to a customer. It’s a funny thing: in my fire-gear business, finger wands (which are sisters to fire gauntlets) have not been my most popular item, but have occupied an inordinate amount of my attention. I think I’ve gone through something like 9 design revs [...]
The $3000 scooter
The Segway. Gee. It’s a scooter. A $3000 scooter. Yes, it’s technically cool, but in terms of its practical applications, I am left wondering “so what?” What can this do that a bike, cargo trike, or conventional scooter cannot do? I guess it can save the rider from getting a little bit of exercise. Ooh, [...]
