2006-03-17
Finally... a post!
For the 1st time in over a week� 2 weeks? I�ve taken my laptop to Starbucks at lunch to write. Finally! And� I waste half the time playing with my phone and getting it to locate � sign in with the hotspot here. Technology is great, but it�s starting to use me, instead of me using it.
Driving out here was a blast. It wasn�t a long drive from the San Jose airport to here in Livermore, and was very pretty (the hills are all green from recent rains� in 2-3 months, they will be uniformly brown and ugly). But what really made it a blast was that the rental car had a GPS navigation system in it. It was the first time I�ve used one� and I�m now a raving fan!
Not only did it give me unerring directions, it even recovered very well when I was forced to pass it�s turns up / turn left instead of right / etc, etc (lots and lots of construction in some places). It�s even smart enough (or polite?) to tell me which lane to be in (i.e. exit right and stay to the left). And it does this all with voice, so I don�t have to be peering at some little 3� x 3� screen. Tres cool!
A friend of mine has one of these gadgets for his smartphone� the maps are loaded up in his phone, the satellite receiver sits on the dash and connects via Bluetooth (so no wires), and it does voice as well. Once again, tres chic, but personally I can�t justify the expense. Technology is fun, and convenient� but $400 convenient?
Well, I don�t have much written here, so will have to finish later this evening.
( and time passes� and passes )
Well, its 28 hours later, and I�m just now getting back to this. Once I got back to the room last night, I made a call and then simply crashed. Yeah, I was tired, but I�m suddenly suffering from a malady much worse than simple exhaustion� I channel surfed.
Yes, yes� I�m man enough to admit it� I watched TV, and in the worst possible way. It�s happened twice (ok, maybe 3 times) this week. Each time, I spent literally 2-3 hours with the remote in my hand, and couldn�t tell you a damn thing I saw.
This from someone who normally doesn�t watch TV� it has me worried. I�m so grateful to be getting back home, where there IS no TV. The cycle of addiction will be broken (and my apology to anyone truly fighting an addiction� I�m being rather flippant about the whole thing� but hey, it�s TV).
I�m presently at the San Jose Airport. I think I�ve ranted before about the fact that in a city that bills itself as the �capitol� of Silicone Valley� they don�t have free wireless access here. Hell, towns in my area (Tempe and Chandler, specifically) are in the process of providing free wireless access by the square mile (Tempe and Chandler are wiring their downtown areas to provide free wireless access� pretty cool!). Phoenix Airport provides free wireless access. Hell, even Moncton Airport, way up in isolated (and frozen most of the time) New Brunswick Canada provides free wireless access. But� not in the �capitol� (or should that be capital� the hungry money grubbers!) of Silicone Valley.
I�ve also been kicking myself for not writing lately. To be honest, I haven�t had anything that has been burning in my soul lately, just dying to get out on paper. But, I have sorely missed the ACT of writing� the joy of seeing the result as a series of letters, spaces and odd punctuation (I use ellipses way too often!). I tried to describe it to a friend the other day� and the closest I can come is to equate the feeling to how I imagine someone in a manic state to feel. Not that I truly know how that feels� and please, I�m not trying to make light of anyone in a manic episode, but there is a definite high that builds as I write, and a release� no, a plateau that follows. In fact, when I write because I have to, I find it extremely difficult to proof read whatever I created� these writings I do with glee because � I just like to read them :p
OK, I�ve rambled on about little of nothing for well over a page. I�ll see if I can�t upload this before I get on the plane, and feel like I�ve accomplished something as of late.
t85225 at 4:07 p.m.
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