I’ve always loved gadgets that expanded your life. GPS lets me travel to places I would never have dared travel by myself with only a map. Roomba and Scooba saves hours of my day by letting me do other stuff while it cleans the floors and mops the bathroom. And TiVo is a godsend that it allows me to fit in my TV viewing to those hours that I actually have free, instead of having to be home to catch the TV shows I want to see.
Now I’ve just added the Slingbox to the list of my own personal life-expanders. What does Slingbox do? It allows you to watch TV from your computer. Whats so nice about that? Well, if you have stuff saved on your DVR, and you travel a lot. You can watch and control the DVR in your house while you’re away. Thats right. Watch your home TV from an internet connection. Now I never even have to watch TV at home anymore. At least not the standard-def stuff. The HDTV of course still belongs to the realm of the home theater.
Now if I could only have a robot that washes and irons my laundry while I’m away.
Now, have you even heard about this movie? It’s from Danny Boyle who directed "Trainspotting", "Millions", and "28 Days Later". Its very modestly budgeted for a science fiction movie, at a paltry $40M, ut after a month of playing in the US box office, and months of playing overseas it still is in the red. Maybe it’s the title, maybe its the B-list cast (Cillian Murphy is playing lead here - he played Scarecrow in the last "Batman" movie. Maybe its the fact that it doesnt have the amazing action sequences that you expect in these sorts of films nowadays.
So why do I like it? Why do I really like it? Maybe its the solid plotting and editing. Maybe because it deals with the issues of duty and mortality. Maybe because it indirectly deals with the entropic death of the universe. Who knows? I like it. It’s a depressing movie. It’s a hopeful movie. It’s a box office dud. I bet it will make millions in DVD sales.
I cant believe it’s Thursday again. Unlike most weeks, I’m actually still in Detroit, with my flight tomorrow afternoon. And it looks like the weekend is going to be really busy. First off, I already lose 1 day because I arrive Friday. Secondly, my goods have arrived! 100 sets of fitted luggage to ship all over the world! That in itself would probably swallow my week. Finally, I still have that header to install - man, that thing has been waiting to get into my car for a month now, and I still can’t find any time to do it! This weekend will be gone before I know it. How do I even find the time to go see Stardust?
Well, while we’re at it, Stardust must have the worst promoters. The movie itself gets great reviews, but the trailer, oh dear. They should have just given me the money as it was such a turn-off!
But hey, against my better judgement, here is the trailer:
Well, maybe everyone is wrong and this movie is indeed as lousy as the trailer, but the proof will be in the pudding. Tomorrow.
If Friday was hectic, then Saturday and Sunday was even more so. I had forgotten that the next day I would be going to Cape May, NJ. In fact, I did not even want to go. First off, it was in New Jersey. New Jersey’s only claim to fame in my experience was that excellent ramen place, right? How nice could this place be?
Well, after a 4-hour drive, it turned out to be a nice place indeed! A historically preserved resort town and a beach, the place was really charming and an excellent, hipper, more intellectually satisfying counterpart to Martha’s Vineyard. I took the tour, watched the nightlife, bought some raffle tickets, saw the lighthouse and did all of the touristy stuff. It was a nice place to hang out, and everyone seemed to be really relaxed. The drive back was of course hell, but it was worth it. Another destination to add to those seasonal trips.
Just Friday, but the weekend had already started disappearing at a quickening pace. Todays schedule gone:
10am: Doctor’s appointment, White Plains, NY 1pm: Dentist’s appointment, New York, NY 3pm: Appointment with Corporate Immigration Lawyer, Iselin, NJ 5pm: breakfast/lunch/dinner 7pm: Bourne Ultimatum, White Plains, NY
11pm: fold laundry and pack bags
Almost 12 hours on the road and 130 miles on the odometer, with of course office conference calls along the way.
Tomorrow will be gone as well, day trip to Cape May, NJ. 3 hour drive! The weather is projected to be sunny, short top-down road trip? Yeah!
Its the end of Sunday already? Funny how the days fly so quickly. I guess it was because I had a short weekend, having flown in on Friday instead of the day before. Still, lots of stuff done under time pressure. Take Saturday for example:
I woke up at 9am. Prepped myself ready by 10am to start the day. First activity? Install some braces on the car. That meant going underneath the car, taking bits out, putting larger bits in. Now I have itchy scalp and rashes from insect bites from working so close to the ground. I only had up to 12 lunch to finish up, because I was using the same car to drive to the dentist for a cleaning appointment at 1pm.
Of course I made the deadline. Quick shower, drive to Manhattan and I was just in time for the appointment. After 1 hour of cleaning, I was on my way to a birthday party and arrived at 3pm.
6pm went home, wrote a write-up of my morning install and posted it on one of the car forums for complete strangers over the internet to ogle and swoon over.
8pm drive to another party until 10pm. Then catch the last showing of Harry Potter.
I cant believe he had a kissing scene! The last 15 minutes were in 3D! Kewl! Day ends at 1pm. A completely productive day.
Theres a Japanese sushi bar right up near the elevators to my hotel. Lunch today, I was getting a Japanese Beef Curry bowl but as I was about to order, I saw something that surprised me. Pocky! I’ve always liked Pocky, especially the Japanese kind. It came in a large box (chocolate flavor), and a small box (strawberry flavor). I was not really that hungry, so I told the vendor that I wanted to have the small Pocky.
I went up to my room, and hurriedly pulled down the wrapper, exposing the delicacy. Yes, unbenknowest to anyone I was about to eat Pocky in my hotel room! I tasted the tip delicately, and then wolfed the whole Pocky into my mouth. It was a while since I tasted Pocky so it felt really good.
I was interrupted by the housekeeper - I told her that I was busy and to come back later, and continued to eat Pocky until I was donw. After finishing, I threw the wrapper into the trash, of course the fate of all used Pockys, and had my lunch.
I’ve always loved gadgets that expanded your life. GPS lets me travel to places I would never have dared travel by myself with only a map. Roomba and Scooba saves hours of my day by letting me do other stuff while it cleans the floors and mops the bathroom. And TiVo is a godsend that it allows me to fit in my TV viewing to those hours that I actually have free, instead of having to be home to catch the TV shows I want to see.
