Chicago: Totally hands-free!!!

I have switched to my PC. My Mac is making louder noise than I have ever heard it make. Clicks and whirrs. This must be the birthing pangs of an OS. I wish I could tape it.

I wish my Mac screen would stop telling me so precisely what it is doing. I look over every minute or so, and it says something like, "Installing German." I don't speak German, but this is not optional.

Oh great, now it's "Installing Norwegian." I am not kidding.

Ok now it's installing GarageBand, and I want it to finish so I can play again!

I ARE BUILDING COMPUTER

http://fairview.lansingschools.net/pictures/20011020_fairview_playground_02.jpg

Jodie Foster movie, not so good. Good actors, shot in high-def, but not very satisfying.

Scene pre-installed in "Screenwriter 2.0" software:

*If the main character is in the rear of a bodega, then: a) the rest of the store will be empty and b) someone will enter and hold up the cashier.

That's just the thing with Jodie Foster, though... good actor? To be taken seriously? Still? Really?

I can't believe her anymore.

My playground building is running into snags and taking forever. If this happens again, I will resort to my usual "scratched DVD" remedy and wash the disc with soap and water.

It keeps installing "iWork '06 Trial," which I don't want and it has to download. You can tell it's not reading from the disc anymore... everything gets really quiet. And slow. And useless. And not optional.

How so, K., re Jodie? She acts poorly to you or you're distracted by the context of her past performances/other stuff?

Oh, and Plastic Bertrand: I had a French teacher play some of his songs in class, and I used to have a record of his called L'Album. In case they're out on the Internet somewhere, the songs "Stop Ou Encore" and "Rock and Roll Je Te Hais" are the keepers. Worst nasal voice ever, but "Stop Ou Encore" is kind of like "Rappers Delight".

No, she's not a poor actress, but I just can't stomach her anymore. Make of it what you will.

http://i9.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/9f/a0/138b_1.JPG

I will pass on him, but thanks. :)

Ok I had to call tech support. Still installing. His suspicion was my own: I had not fully wiped the drive. So he talked me through that. Cross fingers for me, ok?

Sorry I didn't see you guys at the show last night. I got there at the end of the first band, and I was like "I should get a beer." So I got a beer but as soon as I drank about half of it I got really tired and woozy. This, combined with the heat, smoke, and the fact that the show was crowded (sold out) combined to make me feel really claustrophobic. I just wanted to sit down but there was nowhere to sit. Then the second band, Endless Boogie, played, and they were AWFUL, basically just guitar solos over blues chords. Reminded me of Blueshammer from Ghost World. All these hipster dudes who would never listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan nodding along like it was righteous. I wanted to leave but made myself stick around for the first couple of Circle songs. They sounded pretty good but at that point I just didn't want to be there anymore so I went home.

so when are you coming back from austin? I can pick you up at the airport.

Then the second band, Endless Boogie, played, and they were AWFUL, basically just guitar solos over blues chords.

When you listed the lineup for the show I saw that band name and that is exactly what I pictured them being -- with Mesa Boogie amps.

The DJ thing was... I dunno, kind of lame. The music wasn't awful, but I am not really into dance music so I don't know. The problem was the location. Again, not awful, but just not the kind of place where you'd expect people to be dancing. It was strange.

Jesse, tell Tim I'm dead.

Oh god, Sample just puked, then Ed ate it, then Ed just puked.

Now he is trying to buy it on the hardwood floor.

bury it

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/genericv2/1179/52/01AwcAXyKPAw0AAAABAAAAAAAAAAA:.jpg

I think I'm going to see Eastern Promises today.

is anything fun happening tonight?

man, wish I had checked this yesterday as I was totally at the Om/Circle show. sorry I missed you peeps. Circle is great, and played a great show, although it's funny because it was definitely a metal audience, so most people probably just assumed Circle always plays metal, which is definitely not the case. also there was this one dude up in the front who was flailing around during their set, a little too drunk probably, and he accidentally hit this other guy in the face, and then THAT guy totally put the drunk dude in a choke hold, and then the drunk dude's friend, who was this tiny woman, grabbed the choke hold guy by the hair. that was kind of crazy, but it sorted itself out and the friends of the drunk guy calmed him down.

anyway, Shana and I are going to see Bill Callahan (Smog) and Sir Richard Bishop at Lakeshore tonight. be there!

I've decided to go back to NC at the end of October. The last time I was there was December of 2004. This is going to suck.

come to the smog show, you said you wanted to!

Okay, buy my ticket.

sorry bro. already buying too many tickets these days.

I'll ponder it.

It was packed outside the LST last night.

yeah I was assured that tonight would not sell out though. but i bet parking will be awful

Parking will be impossible, I wouldn't even attempt to drive. There is a 24 hour garage a little up Broadway, but it ain't cheap.

hmm, I guess I could take the bus to the red line again. but I wanted to go to a birthday party in Logan Square later. seems like driving would be the easiest way to get to all the points.

Your best bet if driving will probably be to park further west, by ashland maybe?

that's pretty far west!

oh ffs what a morning. I have been to the Apple store and back in order to do something that took 5 minutes. Wiping the drive went great, but disc 2 of the installtion software was messed up. Not scratched or anything, just a bad burn. So it was either wait 2 weeks for Apple to send me another disc, or put my ass and my computer in a cab down to Mich Ave.

Well, at least I couldn't have picked a prettier day to be angry. :)

Advice for the young at heart: soon your computer will be dead. Or a dinosaur. And at that point, getting all your important stuff off it will be a giant pain in the butt. Two very simple things you can do to ease the pain:

1) use gmail. Don't keep all your email on your own machine, that's madness. Gmail is better than most POP mails apps, and more searchable. I guess yahoo or hotmail or something will also do in a pinch. Point is, let someone else store and back up your email, someone who will will do it far more reliably than you will.

2) use del.icio.us. You never know how much you miss those hundreds of stupid bookmarks until they're gone.

It's amazing how much those two things alone can take the sting out of losing a computer. It's the web. It's the future. It's where it's all happening. BELIEVE.

Don't be the dude who has his laptop stolen and posts to Craigslist begging, "My whole life was on that machine!" No it wasn't, dude.

3) Daily backups to an external drive
4) Secondary backup of important documents to Box.net

Wow, I hate bunting in baseball.

Bunting only looks pussified.

Not that it ever makes the highlight reel or anything.

I also hate the phrase "manufacturing runs."

sounds like eating a bag of prunes.

and the phrase "Ryan Dempster."

1 out away baby!

high heat!

redepmtion is dempster!

It matters not, he is always on the cusp of a total collapse.