raleighnet.org

Those who read this site (or just those who dig through my archives) will know I’ve been trying to get a cell phone for about a year now.

I hardly ever need to talk on a phone, so I’ve been trying to find a phone that will let me do data. I think I would certainly use data if I had it - particularly if I could synch it with my PowerBook through Bluetooth and have a modem with me at any time. The thing is, all of those cutting edge phones get panned by critics. The sidekick, the Sony Erricson T68i, or P800 all looked promising but I could never bring myself to take the plunge.

So here I sit, the gadget freak to end all gadget freaks, and I don’t have a cell phone.

I was in Best Buy tonight, and I noticed the Virgin Mobile Prepaid Phones. They’re aimed at kids with a bunch of extra crap I’d never use. The rate plan seems to make a lot of sense for somebody like me who doesn’t expect to use many voice minutes though. You only need to spend $20 every 3 months (or just under $7/month). That $20 will get you 80+ minutes of talk time. (or about 26 minutes a month). Of course, you can purchase as many minutes as you need. It’s basically $.25/minute. $20 every 3 months is just the minimum required spend. And, there’s no contract. You can walk away whenever you want.

All in all, that seems like a solid plan for somebody like me. I think I may have to pick one up tomorrow. I would have gotten one tonight, but I wanted to see what people had to say about the phones. Basically, it looks good. Stay away from the super model as the screen seems to crap out after about 6 months. The other two models get good reviews (on Amazon anyway. There aren’t enough to be sure, but the price and commitment is so low, there’s virtually no real risk/barrier).

All that time trying to go up-market. I should have been looking down at the bottom of the barrel.

Ahhhh… Wireless high speed internet, big screen satellite TV, comfortable bed. It’s good to be home.

I just got back from a few days in Seattle. It’s a cool city. There’s a very strong art vibe. They have statues on every corner, and interesting architecture. Naturally, I took loads of photos. Here’s a bunch that are mostly my family. I also set up an ofoto.com album since some of my family prefer prints and aren’t sure what to do with these screen images.

In a few days, I may comb through the images for the more interesting and artistic shots.

Google is the coolest web site EVER! They’ve built in the most wicked cool calculator you’ve ever seen. I don’t know how long it’s been in there, but it does the most obscure conversions you could possibly imagine. Say for instance if you wanted a parsec expressed in inches. So cool, I’ve been playing with it for literally seconds. Thanks MeFi.

Expect postings at this site to slow to a trickle for the next few days. I barely have an internet connection. I think my ping times would be higher if I got a line of people to relay a shout.

What’s worse (and if you know me, you know that’s saying something) is that the TV speaker is totally shot.

No TV, barely any internet. I am in media hell. Weep for me. Weep a lot.

I’m not a huge Gore fan. In the last election, I thought he might be marginally better than Bush (if only because of the possibility of Supreme Court retirees), but not substantively different. Still, in this speech, he nails everything I’ve been feeling about the plague on the face of American ideals that the current administration is proving itself to be. I’m not sure Kyoto would have been a good choice for us, but everything else is exactly spot on.

It should be required reading for all Americans.

There’s something deliciously unsettling about the art over at the Maboroshi Cafe. Thanks for the point everlasting blort.

Oh, and as long as I’m lifting creepy links from Blort today, is Meat Shake real or parody? I seriously can’t tell. This must mean I’ve been on the internet too long (or not long enough).

Oh Yeah… They claim this is “An astronomically-enchanted 5th grader gazing at the completed Galactic Mobile.”, but that’s not what it looks like to me.

Thank you Google Random Image Generator. So much fun. I could kill hours refreshing this page.

Of course, I’ve seen a bunch of links to Blogshares. I know what it is and kind of how it works. I haven’t paid much attention, because it didn’t look very interesting, and I’m not playing.

I saw a link in my referrer logs though, and it seems that my blog is being Publicly Traded. How did that happen? I certainly didn’t take it public. Or at least I don’t think I did. There was that night with the Indian, and the strange flower and the talking wolf (I don’t remember much from that night).

Is every blog that’s getting indexed automatically available for trade, or is some nefarious person out masquerading as me? If there is evil afoot (and really, how could there not be?), I suspect eyeballkid. He always seemed kind of shifty. Plus, it looks like he’s been doing a bit of the old pump and dump lately if you know what I mean…

Why is MTV running a Spider-man cartoon? I know they stopped playing music videos a long time ago, but I thought their programming was at least about a particular life style. Spider-man doesn’t make any sense at all.

But then Five gay guys for a straight guy or whatever it’s called doesn’t seem like a good fit for Bravo either. I guess now that all the stations are owned by the same company they’ve decided to stop pretending that stations have any kind of distinction or cohesive programming any more.

It’s sad in a way.

Oh, and PS - as Spider-man cartoons go, this one kind of sucks. Bring back the ice dude and the girl who was on fire. I’m sure they were at least as sucky, but it’s hard to argue with nostalgia. Or, bring back the end of the Electric Company. Those spider-man skits where the only reason I ever sat through the Electric Company. Yeah, Spider-man and the Bloodhound Gang. Let’s have show that is nothing but the entertaining last few minutes of children’s programming. That would rock. Somebody should start a station or something.

So, I’m working out. You know, because what else are you going to do on Friday night (I’m so lame). I have the computer pumping out some groovy workout tunes. At least, I thought I did until Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” came on. I guess I just had my iTunes library on total shuffle play. I was getting into it for a second because it’s kind of fast and aggressive, and I thought hey, maybe I should add this to my workout play list.

That feeling didn’t last long. As I listened to it more, I started getting into the feeling of being back in high school, and I wanted to go drive around really fast or sit in my friend’s basement playing pool while all of them got high. I never got high (I’m so lame).

That song totally sucked the motivation right out of me. Man, if I wake up tomorrow with a body like Eddie, I’m going to be so pissed. “I now posses your body and I’ll make you burn” indeed.