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My office looks as
My office looks as though someone rifled it. My G4 computer is gone, along with its monitor and a CD burner. My backpack spills its contents in the corner; cables and cords tumble from open drawers. A carpet of papers, CDs and office supplies covers the floor. Was I burgled? No. I made this mess…
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Tokyo Transportation Series City
Tokyo Transportation Series City bus (with advertisements) 4:14 pm
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Nothing strikes fear into
Nothing strikes fear into my heart like having to transport my computers around town. This fear is compounded when they are going by delivery service. It’s further intensified when I’ve just conducted the transaction to ship them in Japanese. I believe that someone from Pelican will arrive at my doorstep on Thursday afternoon to pick…
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There’s an entire field
There’s an entire field of study for human-computer interactions. I wonder if they study the odd ESP that lets computers know when I’m too busy to fix them. I swear my computers choose to break down when they can cause me the most headaches. I am leading a two day digital video retreat this coming…
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Utility monopolies [insert rude
Utility monopolies [insert rude scatalogical verb here]. I have one in mind in particular. Pittsburgh’s water and sewer authority has screwed up again. Instead of maling bills regularly, they wait for a year then visit the house to paste a termination notice on the door. When this happened in July 1999, I thought it was…
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“Good morning, what’s for
“Good morning, what’s for dinner?” is a favorite greeting on my online hanggout. My compatriot in Chicago is just about to start cooking when I wake up. Sometimes we trade menu ideas. Once in while we discover he’s about to eat the same dish I had the night before. Weird food synchronicity. This morning, we…
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I love reading. Curling
I love reading. Curling up with a novel at the end of a long day is a great way to escape the stresses of work. Nothing beats a good reference work when I need some assistance–even the Internet isn’t as reassuring as my trusty dictionary. Nonfiction challenges me to learn, sometimes in areas I’ve never…
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My desk is host
My desk is host to two towering stacks of papers & books. There are pens, notebooks and office supplies scattered evenly across it. An empty take-out cup has a place of honor near the mouse. My empty coffee mug rests on a coaster nearby. 14,910 yen is divided into two heaps. My arms occupy the…
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Tod surprised me with
Tod surprised me with a present of books. Actually, it wasn’t a surprise; he let the cat out of the bag a while ago. But he didn’t tell me what books he had ordered from Powell’s our favorite online book retailer. First he handed over Geoffrey Sampson’s Writing Systems, a dense tome, thankfully brief, on…
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If you peeked into
If you peeked into my genkan, you might think a dozen people lived in my house. The genkan is the entryway, recessed a bit, where you remove your shoes before stepping up into the house. It’s a relic from farming days when shoes and boots were muddy and keeping them at the door kept the…
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