_____ as a goat

sunday is grocery day, the day we buy groceries. after the groceries have been bought, the day becomes ice day, the day we buy the ice. the ice we buy is at the convenience store, convenient because it is on the path back to home. this ice we buy is good ice and it makes me happy.

what does not make me happy is being judged by the person behind the counter at the convenience store.

not because i believe that person inferior to me, in any possible way. they are filling a position at that moment that i need the position filled. to exchange legal tender for goods and/or services. not to be judged.

ice day should have been uneventful, but today it was not to be so.

entering the store i arrive at the case where the ice is to be retrieved and i retrieve the bag that i will buy. i move to the counter and place the bag of ice onto the counter and reach for my wallet, in the pocket of my jeans. the store is empty, aside from myself and the store's clerk who would appear to be a reasonably pleasant fellow.

knowing the post tax purchase price, having bought ice from here on previous ice days, i retrieve two one dollar bills from my wallet and after the clerk states my total i extend the cash toward his hand. he acknowledges my remitted total and states my change as being sixty cents.

he then asks me: "would you like to donate your sixty cents to the Children's Miracle Network?" motioning to a plastic cup with a hot-air balloon donation certificate pasted onto its side.

"no thanks," i say, "not today," and reach for the bag of ice while putting my sixty cents into my pocket.

and then the clerk replies "have a good day with your sixty cents."

not very much, thanks.

(please note: this post originally drafted September 9, 2006)

so wonderful, glorious Apple presents their big hoodoo and orchard master, Lord Steve Jobs offers his keynote speech. the bulk of the speechifyin' announced a plethora of news for everything iPod. of course this was expected (months ago, actually) and by most considerations the news was good for all parties.

for starters, Apple are holding to their new naming scheme, as officially as it can. the iPod with video, widely referred to as the "video iPod" or "iPod with video", is simply the iPod. (i say screw that - and proffer this nomenclature: "the macro")

the nano is all-new, but not-so-all-different. they're now more like the old mini of yesteryear rather than the sleek, glossy nano of yesterday. everyone is already being cute by saying the "nano mini" but I won't succumb to such prattle. the colors are nicer, though.

actually, having fondled one of the new nanos, I have to say that my desire for an iPod-with-display has been all but squelched. given that, apple should have redesigned the nano "from scratch". ba-dum-bum.

and the shuffle. oh, they gave the poor shuffle the shaft, the worst of the bad. gone is the clean, simple white stick. in its place is left a crappy, silver magnesium clothespin. no more USB charging or synching, and no more file storage partitioning. this is a real sorry move on Apple's part, as they apparently don't want you to have an apple-esque USB drive, which would only complete your shiny white plastic gadgetry collection. this has to be the lamest move they made on this go-around.

that is, unless they also butchered the general functionality of iTunes...

which they did.

but i'll go into that another time. and maybe I'll come up with some significant social commentary on the importance of podcasting and its role in our modern, modern world.

but that's doubtful.

too much shiny black plastic, sleeping in paper.








i need a new stylus.

(gotta love babel fish)

earth's first ambassador was launched into orbit this date, 49 years ago. the first true volley of the US v. Russia Space Race, this shiny little orb (but quick, pointy in parts!) set both nations into unprecedented oneupmanship and deep pocket spending sprees. despite it's grenade-like "power button", it's legacy is a positive one, and culminated in a most humanitarian gesture, prompting the inclusion of the ultimate gold record (ignoring RIAA thresholds) into earth's first interstellar satellites, Voyagers 1 and 2.

for more semi-related clicky, please see Sigue Sigue Sputnik, definition 2, and of course, V'ger.