Tikkabik

We've had a string of weather that's most un-New England-like for late January. Today it was cold and gray, but raining. Ordinarily we'd expect the ground to be covered in a thick layer of snow by now, but it really hasn't happened. Outside of a few cold days and some passing snow, my area hasn't seen any significant accumulation practically all winter.

That's about to change, according to New England meteorologist Todd Gross, who reports on his blog that the "North Atlantic Oscillation," a well-documented phenomenon, is indicating that the weather will turn colder next week.

Perhaps that's not exactly a eureka moment. After all, it is February, one of the coldest months of the year.

Posted by flargh at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My new favorite iTunes ad.

Posted by flargh at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

to find a black toilet seat? It took us four tries before we found a place that actually carried them.

Posted by flargh at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So yesterday Bonnie and I made our way to the region's new Ikea store, located about 45 minutes from where we live. It's the first time either of us had been in an Ikea, although we've been visiting their Web site for quite some time, so we didn't quite know what to expect. I knew the lines getting in the store were long.

My mother told us to set aside two hours.

"Two hours?" asked Bonnie after we found a parking space (while waiting a half an hour in traffic to park. "I don't want to stay here two hours."

We ended up spending more than four.

Let me say at the outset that I'm a big fan of Scandinavian design of all types. I like the austerity and modernity of much of it, so that much was a big win for me. I was flooded with design ideas for our house, and it seems like Bonnie likes some of the ideas too -- which is a bit of a surprise, since her tastes tend to run a little more ornate than mine -- she like the intricate, baroque detail of Victorian-era architecture and design instead.

Most of our time was spent in the top floor showroom area, checking out cabinetry, bookcases, entertainment centers, kitchen tables and various accessories. About half way through we stopped for dinner at their cafeteria style restaurant, then continued downstairs, picking up some knick knacks for the kitchen (including a new faucet which I plan to install today, if I can).

Having spent much of my life using build-it-yourself furniture from stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Bradlees (when there was such a place) and others, I was really surprised by the fit and finish of the Ikea furniture. With a few exceptions the stuff seems sturdy and well-built -- a pleasant surprise, given the general nature of particle board/laminate products.

Perhaps the biggest surprise we found was a bedroom set that we'd both be very happy with, and that is surprisingly affordable.

Posted by flargh at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I've met my Waterloo.

As a DVR owner and user of EyeTV PVR hardware, I've had only limited interest in Apple's addition of video content to the iTunes Music Store.

That is, until today, when Apple and MTV Networks announced a deal that puts things like SpongeBob Squarepants, South Park and stand up comedy from Mitch Hedberg, Dane Cook and other talented comedians on the service.

Seriously, what video iPod is complete without classics like South Park's "Mecha Streisand" episode, which featured Robert Smith of the Cure? These are cultural touchstones for our generation, and I shall not be denied.

Posted by flargh at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every time we bring home a new piece of furniture, Max decides it's his. If anyone comes near it while he's sitting on it, he swats at them.

My father in law offered us two recliners and a plush couch he and my mother in law no longer wanted, that are both in fabulous shape. The day we set the gear up, Max took position on one end of the sofa and would shake his paw violently at any passersby. "This is MINE," the furious look on his face said.

Bonnie tells me that within moments of the new bed we got yesterday being set up, Max had perched himself on it longitudinally. If she tried to get anywhere near the bed just to put sheets on, out came the paw.

She removed him from the bed and started to make it. She got on the fitted sheet, and there was the cat, sitting in the middle and glaring.

She removed him again and laid down the flat sheet. Presto, there's Max. *swat swat swat*

Blanket. Max. *swat*

Comforter. Max. *swat*

Eventually Bonnie just gave up.

Posted by flargh at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

James had a Happy Meal on Saturday, followed by a bout of diarrhea on Sunday.

Bob had a Happy Meal yesterday, and missed his bus this morning because of the runs.

Bonnie had McDonald's for lunch today with Emme, and got really sick.

This is three different McDonald's locations in the span of four days.

I think it's time to swear off McDonald's for a while.

Posted by flargh at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happiness is a new bed.

For the last 12 years, Bonnie and I have been cursed with a bed that we didn't like. To this day, we contend that the Levitz furniture store we bought the bed from us didn't give us the model we'd tried out in the store. It was a Sealy Posturpedic model, and it didn't provide us with the back support or comfort level we wanted. And in recent years it had begun to seriously show its age, with broken innersprings and fraying cover.

But buying a bed is expensive, so we've been postponing it until we were in a position to get a new one without running up a credit account.

That day finally came yesterday when our new bed arrived, and it's magnificent. We got a Back Supporter model from Spring Air -- it's called the Admiralty, and it was on sale for a good price at Mattress Discounters (January isn't just for linen sales, apparently -- it's also when bed companies do deep discounts).

Last night we slept on it for the first time, and Bonnie and I both agree that it's like ... well, night and day. Today was the first day in years I can remember that I woke up in my own bed without lower back and leg pain.

I've been having fun getting linens, too. Bonnie has converted me after long years into understanding that it's worth it to spend money on sheets with high thread counts, as they wash better and last much longer than cheaper stuff, so I've been keeping an eye out on store sales and online sales, and picked up a couple of sets of luxuriously soft and dense cotton sheets, as well as a new comforter set. The comforter is down-filled purple microsuede, which is just too ghetto-fabulous to believe, and it arrived today via Amazon.com. Makes me want to raise a pimp cup to toast my new bedroom ensemble, fa shizzle.

Posted by flargh at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Leander, just shut the fuck up.

Posted by flargh at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I absolutely love Target department stores. We only got our first Target within a reasonable driving radius about a year and a half ago or so, and have made it a regular stop during our shopping travels since then.

It's a really easy place to shop: The prices are reasonable, for the most part, the store is well clean and well lit, the house brand products are reasonably well made, and they have a good selection of stylish men's clothes in larger sizes that I can actually fit, without having to resort to schlubwear like t-shirts and sweatpants. They even sell shoes I like, which is a rarity.

Bonnie and I were in there over the weekend shopping for necessities like new bedding supplies, and I had occasion to check out the clearance racks in the men's section. There, on the deep discount rack, I found winter jackets -- black, made from nylon, with a faux-fur lined hood that has a look and feel that's almost identical to my cat Max (so much so that when I brought it home and showed it to him, he sniffed it then glared at me as if to ask, "Is that someone I know?").

They also had them in green, but that was a little too Ice Station Zebra for my tastes.

The price? Normally $60, they'd been discounted to an astonishing $13.74.

Then in snowed today, so I had occasion to wear it.

I stayed furry, dry and warm.

Posted by flargh at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

James has expressed a desire to follow a career path that includes motorcycles, saving kitties, and being a ninja. If he can pull off the trifecta, good for him.

So far, he's honing his ninja skills quite well. The boy has developed an ability to hide in your blind spot. So you'll be walking through the mall or in a store, and James will suddenly disappear from view. Then you'll swivel your head around, and there will be no sign of him, as he's nowhere in your peripheral vision.

Then, in a panic, you turn your whole body around -- and find him standing there, not a foot from you.

Staring at you.

Close enough to kill you with his bare hands, if he had ninjitsu training.

Of this I am sure.

Posted by flargh at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe I shouldn't have stuck my nose in, but I was in EBGames last week when I saw a couple of kids pressuring their dad to buy them an Xbox. They were both about my boys' ages -- 10 and 5 respectively. The five year old, especially, was raising a stink.

The kids were trading in their broken PlayStation 2, and wanted to "upgrade" to a preowned Xbox instead. Here's the thing: Of any console on the market, the Xbox has the least suitable games for kids. The video game market has been skewing older for a while now, and the Xbox is the first console that was really targeted specifically to older gamers. A vast number of titles for the console are T or M rated. That is, rated for teens or adults.

Unfortunately, it seems that this is an afterthought in many parents' minds, if it's even a thought at all. A year ago I was at a birthday party for my daughter's schoolmate when I spied an Xbox in the living room. The father of the boy lamented that he hadn't realized what a dearth of kids' games were available for the Xbox when he bought it.

"Want some unsolicited advice?" I asked the father in EBGames. "Stick with the PS2. Don't let them get an Xbox. There just aren't as many games suitable for their age group."

The five year old glowered at me hatefully, but the dad nodded and stuck to his guns. There was an additional impetus to keep the PS2, from his perspective: EBGames offers pretty crappy trade-in values for software, which means the kids wouldn't get too much for their PS2 library. It didn't make much sense to throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.

Posted by flargh at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The first Macworld Expo I can remember in a while that I haven't gotten sick from. Usually I end up getting sick about half way through the show and spend the rest of the time miserable and feeling like utter shit.

Sometimes it's a head cold. Sometimes it's a stomach bug. Once in a while it's something more serious, like the flu.

Nope, none of that happened this year. I was inoculated. I got a flu shot. I got a pneumonia shot. I even got a tetanus shot -- figured I'd be safe from any rusty nails sticking up through the Moscone Center carpeting.

Got back, felt tired but good. Arrived to find half the family sick with cold and coughs.

Thursday rolls around, and I wake up to sniffling and sneezing. My nose was running, but running clear. I figured it was just my old allergies acting up -- dust mites, mold, maybe even a touch of the cat.

By Thursday night it was clear that it wasn't allergies. My nose was running continuously, irritated and sore. My body was aching.

Now it's Saturday and I feel like I have a wet gym sock stuck in my sinus cavity, and that little gnomes have been taking turns beating my shoulders and neck with sticks.

I hate being sick.

Posted by flargh at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So yesterday Bonnie and I spent a good hour and a half in a "wraparound services" meeting with the Mass. Department of Mental Health (DMH).

To bring you up to speed: Following Emme's diagnosis of bipolar disorder and especially after Robert's troubles in school last September, Bonnie and I made a decision to apply for assistance with the Mass. DMH. We felt that with two diagnoses of mental illness in the family that we'd likely qualify for state services, and we were right.

Following a mound of paperwork and an intake meeting, we met with them in mid-December and discussed what we were looking for. It was decided at that point that we'd try to get wraparound services for the family -- services that would provide us with additional support and access to personnel and facilities that are made available to qualifying families through DMH. Yesterday's meeting was to plot out that process.

I won't go into the particulars of what we discussed because it's still at a very formative stage and Bonnie and I haven't decided what we'll pick and choose or what will be a good match for Robert and Emmeline just yet.

But at the end, one of our principle contacts at DMH asked us to assess the meeting. And "shellshocked" is the word I'd use to describe how I felt.

Why? Because of the nine or so people present at the meeting, all of them seemed uniformly interested in helping us and looking after the welfare of our kids. This, after seven years of routinely being shot down for services and assistance through the local school system.

As much as that is a condemnation of just how useless our local schools have been in assisting us, it's to the DMH's credit that even though they're mired in state bureaucracies and inefficiencies, their staff is still genuinely concerned to look out for those people whose welfare they're charged with.

Only time will tell if Bonnie and I are just getting lip service, or if this interest is genuine and will be followed through with action. But so far, so good. And at this stage, that's the most I can ask for.

Posted by flargh at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The house


Originally uploaded by flargh.

Just to put it in perspective, this is what the yard looked like almost one year ago today.



Today's forecast? High winds and rain, with temperatures in the 50s.



Weird.

Posted by flargh at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello Corey


Originally uploaded by flargh.

Corey and I took a trip to the Sanrio store at the San Francisco Shopping Center on Friday, so I could pick up some souvenirs for Bonnie and Emmeline. He took the opportunity to try out the Hello Kitty edition Fender Squier Stratocaster in the window. He said that the guitar had a nice feel and was well constructed.



I could give him shit for playing a pink girly guitar, but the truth is that I have never, ever in my life wanted to play bass so badly, to justify wanting to buy the Badtz Maru bass that was right next to it. (Visit the link above for pics.)

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Peter, Jean Luc and Corey


Originally uploaded by flargh.

Photographic evidence that I actually was at the show, with Jean Luc Dinsdale and Corey Bishop. And if JL looks pissed off, it's because I asked some random passerby to take the photo with JL's hideously expensive and elaborate digital SLR -- I'm pretty sure he was worried that the guy was going to fark it up.

Posted by flargh at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm back home, safe and sound. Got home late on Saturday -- lost the whole day in the air, basically. It's a subjective nine-hour trip traveling cross the country, west to east: The flight is about six hours, plus the three-hour time zone change. Add to that that I live about an hour and a half outside the city, and it's a long day of travel.

Our company recognizes MLK Day as a paid holiday, so this is a three-day weekend for us, which is perfect timing -- I can really use the rest.

Last week was fantastic -- one of the busiest shows I can remember. Ironically, I had to do less writing at this show than any in years, thanks to our retention of a very talented freelance writer who covered most of the news releases posted during the show.

Still, I could have cloned myself three times and still been busy. There was a lot of new product to look over, a lot of people to meet with, and a lot of ground to cover. The number of vendors exhibiting at Macworld Expo went from 275 in 2005 to 350 in 2006. I admit, a lot of those new vendors were iPod accessory makers, but there were a lot of companies offering new objects of desire to Macintosh pros and consumers alike as well -- everything from enterprise backup solutions to new pro video hardware, unusual gadgets and more.

Regardless, I'm happy to be back home. I don't always travel well, so I'm always happy to get back to my own bed.

Posted by flargh at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry for the dearth of updates lately.

I flew into San Francisco on Saturday for my annual pilgrimage to Macworld Expo, which technically started today (with some conference sessions), but really kicks off tomorrow (Tuesday) in high gear at 10AM when Steve Jobs presents his keynote address to the throngs of adoring fans.

Some people will line up outside the convention center starting at around 3:30 or 4:00 AM to make sure they're the first in line to get inside for the keynote. That's how obsessive people can be about it. That's a bit weird, but whatever.

So far my trip has been quite busy even though there hasn't been a huge amount of work to do. Over the weekend I got to spend a night at a friend's place in San Mateo, and then I met my father and his significant other for a great dinner at a very modest Salvadorean restaurant in the outer Mission District. Monday was a work day, and while I started the day writing some articles, most of the day was spent either in the office or down at the convention center, getting my press and exhibitor credentials squared away and seeing colleagues who just happened to be hanging around the same areas I was.

The house lost power -- I got a concerned call from Bonnie first thing this morning. Turns out that some high voltage line somewhere went down, and left them without electricity for hours. That's unfortunate when that sort of stuff happens, but I did what I could to make sure that we at least knew what was going on.

Tonight I plan to turn in rather early, because I should be up and out very early tomorrow to make sure that everything is working and in place before the show gets started.

Posted by flargh at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The baker who beat McDonald's

Posted by flargh at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a week before Macworld Expo kicks off in San Francisco. Combined with the new year, it's enough to give me cause for some introspection. 2006 marks my seventh year doing what I do full time.

Explaining my career is difficult to lay person. My son's friends know I have something to do with video games, which I suppose makes me cool in their eyes. When their parents or others ask, I tell them I'm a technology news writer.

Those of you who know me as the games guy for Macworld should realize that gaming only makes up a small portion of my average week -- less than 20 percent of the hours I spend, as I figure it. As much as I wish it were more.

Given the flux in the Mac game market with the advent of Intel-based Macs and the general slow sales of Mac games in general, this probably isn't a bad thing. It's hard enough for people who make the games to eke out a living, let alone those of us who try to survive by merely observing the market and interpreting what we see for the masses.

The rest of the time, I'm writing news -- news about the Mac, news about the iPod. News about companies that derive some or all of their revenue by catering to people who own and use devices made by Apple. It seems to be a necessary service. It's something that's put food on my family's table for several years now, and hopefully will for many more.

I make a living working in a very narrow aspect of the technology field -- essentially reporting around an industry that's dominated by one company. I suppose the same comment can be made of tech news writers who make their living reporting on all things Microsoft, but as we all know, it's much bigger pie to cut up than the Mac market. Do I regret it, though? Not a wit. Although I may have specialized myself into a corner in some respects, it's a corner I dearly love.

In one way or the other, Apple has dominated my professional life since I've had a professional life: First, fresh out of high school, as a temp office worker who specialized in Macs, then later through a string of tech support jobs for Mac hardware and software makers that took me to both sides of the country, then, once I'd settled down and started to think about a family, as an IT professional who specialized in Macs.

What does 2006 hold? It's to be a year of fundamental change in the Mac business, that's for certain. The switch to Intel processors stands to change a lot about the way development is done on the Macintosh and potentially how Apple sells the Macintosh, and just as (or perhaps more) importantly, how the public perceives the Mac. I hope we're all still standing come this time next year. Until then, though, my plan is to take it as it comes, for better or worse, and try to enjoy the ride.

Posted by flargh at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hub's ugly duckling: City Hall deemed most unsightly public spot

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Grandma just dropped off the little hellions a few moments ago.

No sooner did they walk in the door than Emme came up to me with a stricken look on her face, complaining about her little brother's behavior; Robert went straight to the computer and started playing games online (without our permission) and James started interrupting and cutting into conversations asking where his toys (that he should keep track of) were.

Oh well. I guess the respite is over.

The cat's nowhere to be found. Last I saw, he was bounding up the stairs, ears flattened to his head. Probably to hide in the bedroom closet.

Smart cat.

Posted by flargh at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I won't miss ya. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Posted by flargh at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)