Musings

I like that all you can see of the technician is the top of his hardhat.

We took a fast-paced stroll to the library this afternoon under bleak skies. The Guru, whose eyes are tuned to such things, noticed some major high-altitude wiring underway, probably associated with an upgrade in communications technology*. (Me, you know me, I’m most often keeping track of what’s underfoot—even if it isn’t icy!) Anyway, if those big black covers appear on the wires in your neighborhood, a barrage of advertising about bundling options may follow.

Ah, speaking of technology…yesterday began Year Six of this blog!!!

* U-verse, or something like it….

Posted at 5:21 PM | 4 Comments »

With all the typographic doodads, the official name is Logitech Revue™ with Google TV™.

The box arrived with a keyboard (and, I think, other hardware) to facilitate the computer-television content interface, the result of a Logitech-Google collaboration.

Somehow, the Guru wrangled it from Logitech without paying a cent.

Of course, one of the Guru’s first checks to see if the setup was working…showed that it was on the Internet, but, um-hem, Google’s own page…um, didn’t appear.

Needless to say, this made a very poor impression….

At least I didn’t think that Google has a new web address….

Posted at 5:07 PM | Comments Off on Uh-hem (failed test)

Just what do you think the world-wide annual sales are of horsefly earbuds?

Yick.

Oh, wait, “Play. Listen. Love.” is on the lips earbuds package….

And, my dictionary has earbud as a compound word….

BTW, horseflies: family Tabanidae. FYI.

Posted at 3:41 PM | 1 Comment »

UPS brought us a treat today! Clues: two users (both admin accounts), very light.

Posted at 9:22 PM | Comments Off on Presents/presence

The deadline we’ve been operating under around here eased today, and we escaped for a mid-day around-town wander. Of course, high on the list was a visit to the Apple Store to check out the new thin thin thin MacBook Air. Thin and light. The screen has seductive clarity. Flash drive, so quiet—I found it difficult to believe that they have the storage they do when you don’t hear the drive winding up.

No purchase today, but the appetite is whetted.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

As a kid, I was a bicycle rider. I still remember my dad repeatedly running down the driveway with me (downslope) holding the back of my seat to keep me upright until I learned to balance and ride alone. No training wheels at our household!

Somewhat later, we combed the nearby roads searching the ditches for returnable bottles, since we had no other income sources. These were organized expeditions, requiring care in wrangling the bottles once you picked them up, so they didn’t rattle together and break.

I also rode in college, when I couldn’t walk to class, but just around campus. (No money for a bus pass.)

Sometime after that, I quit riding. I think whenever I was on for a while, my tail hurt, so I moved on. I understand there are fancy ergo-dyamical seats nowdays, and probably other improvements that make riding far more comfortable than the ride my ca. 1968 Raleigh three-speed offered.

Anyway, here’s a door decoration on the door of a nearby bike shop. Also, visit the Marquis’s RegenAxe to read a real (bi)cyclist’s blog (and bird and flower pictures, and more!)….

Posted at 11:52 AM | Comments Off on Iron bicycle detail

I’m not big on Honda bikes, particularly, but this logo with the extra outlines (or whatever they’re called) caught my eye. And, so, I pass it along to you!

Photographer in sun-walking togs reflected above the “R.”

Reading Ivan Doig, this time Work Song (2010).

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Where’s the Rebel?

Now there’s a lotta ’maters!—truck we saw last week on Interstate–75.

Today, it was a microwave that died.

Some might argue that it had died long ago, and that we kept it going on the microwave version of life-support.

Here’s the deal.* J&R moved north to Indiana and took the microwave with them. But the lovely house they bought had a built-in microwave, and they stored it in the garage. We were visiting and mentioned that we needed a new microwave, and voila! we received the traveling microwave.

Happy with our replacement unit, we drove it home and installed it, noticing that the little readout screen had become, well, wonky. The Guru described it for years as displaying in Chinese. In short, you had to know what you punched in, because you couldn’t read the time-remaining.

And today it was microwaving away, warming some pod-peas for our luncheon soup, and I happened to be nearby and noticed that the sound changed, just a bit. That new sound lasted maybe two seconds, and the machine went quiet and the Chinese was replaced by pure black.

No breaker problem. No problem with the plug.

Scientific conclusion: dead microwave.

We are considering a combo countertop microwave-convection oven; anyone have any experience with the current models?

* This is how I remember it; others may recall the microwave tale differently.

Posted at 6:19 PM | 1 Comment »

I spent way too much money (maybe; depends on how you assess these things) and got fancy high-tech specs—both the frames and the lenses have options I’d not dreamed of when I began wearing glasses…. The frames even came with an authentication card!

Here’s the kicker: they weigh 0.30 ounces/8.5 grams!

Hint hint: note the similarity of this pair of eyes with the ones in the blog-header photo (behind the word “musings”)….

Geeezo, look at them eyebrows!

Posted at 4:20 PM | 3 Comments »

The other night I tried some flash shots, and given that the only flash unit was standard-issue, right on the camera body, the lighting was, mostly, just plain odd. This was among the “better” of the collection….

I give you this picture because the weather is pretty darned odd so far. Cracking thunder and rain overnight. No rain now, but overcast, windy, and…warm! Spooky warm.

Posted at 10:39 AM | 2 Comments »