LaserBlog.com

Photoblog updated, Photo Friday entry posted:
laserblog.com/photoblog

Watching on Tivo tonight:
* Thursday’s Daily Show
* Friday’s Daily Show
* Real Time with Bill Maher

Whoa, tired. Just woke up from a nap. We got home around 6-ish. Decided to come home cuz we were spendin’ too much money over there. It’s so easy to spend money over there, cuz they have places we don’t have here, like that HUGE mall, Comp USA, even restaurants we don’t have.

The final straw, but the best one, was that Comp USA had ipod mini’s in stock, and all three were silver, which is the color that M wanted, so we grabbed one so that M could stop coveting mine.
But do u believe that? After me having to wait 3 months and 18 days, we find a silver one IN STORE today! If I had seen even ONE mini in-stock ANYwhere, I’d have bought it and then sold it when my pink one came in the mail. But I never saw one, so it was amazing to see one today. Even the sales people were like “oh wow, A MINI?!?!? Oh, those’ll be gone by six.”

Ever wake up from a nap and feel weird? I always have weird dreams when I nap (I always have weird dreams anyway), but alot of the time if I nap hard, I wake up feeling weird, like… sad? lonley? Like I dreamed that everyone was dead or something. I don’t think I dreamed that, but I’ll dream that one person died and the other left me or something. I’ll wake up feeling all… strange. Almost depressed… or lonely… or creeped out. Hate that.

Comp USA in Sunrise, FL (near Sawgrass Mills mall, near Ft. LAuderdale, etc.) right now has 2 silver minis IN STOCK (it’s 4:45pm on *FRIDAY*., 7.30.04). They had 3, but we bought 1. (just in case anyone who reads this is looking for one.)

M just coined a new term:
“Noskers” : The whiskers in your nose.

This is as good as it gets with the pencam from last night, I have yet to look at the video though:

Nice drive in to town. Went to dreamy Swiss Chalet. Went to hotel, sat in parking lot for a year, went in to find that SOMEBODY made a reservation for the wrong month, and since nothing is ever simple, we had to CALL and 800 # to change the reservation because god forbid we just check in since we were, you know, STANDING AT A CHECK IN COUNTER! Because of this fiasco we were almost late to the concert. As we crawled over people to get to our seats, the pre-must was starting, so it was weird because we had like no time to get psyched up. Walk in, find seat, Geddy Lee gets on stage. I’m glad we weren’t late tho. Show was GREAT. I love love love Geddy Lee. Boy are they getting old. Geddy doesn’t look it, but the other two guys do. Then on the way home, and the hotel was probably a freaking hour away from the hotel (!), they took the four lane freeway down to ONE lane for construction, which in turn caused an accident, and it took an HOUR to go TWO miles. So it took forever to get back to the hotel.

OH, and what REALLY made me mad was the tickets said NO CAMERAS and
also said (on the wesite i think) that there was no way to “check
items” so it was implied that if they saw a camera on you or in your
purse (they look) they’d take it away, so I took the
pencam, but YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN all the “real” digital cameras there
with zoom and lcd screens! They weren’t confiscated, and security
said NOTHING to them, AND security was eyeballing us closely during
the whole concert. Makes me SO MAD cuz if I had been as bold as them
I’d have some AMAZING shots w/ the huge zoom on my fz1!!! What I coulda done with 12x optical zoom as close as we were! Grrrrr.

We were in row 15 I think, but since we were to the side, there was only 5 rows in front of us. So it was a very close sideways view, and when they came to our side of the stage it was a true 5th row view.

Lots of stoners. This bitch in front of us spent the whole concert yelling in her boyfriends ear instead of watching the damn concert and TALKING on a cell phone! Not just calling a friend and holding the phone up to the stage, like alot did, but TALKING, no yelling into the phone. She must have been stoned.

Tired, tried to sleep in, housekeeping woke us, and then I found that the damned in-room coffee was decaf. What sadists!!!!

We got “continental breakfast” caffeine coffee, and are going to do some shopping at the mile-long mall before heading home.

Wheeeee!

I’ll post a photo later, the photos didn’t turn out that great w/ the pencam. I thought they would, since I was closer to the stage than the last concert where I used the lower-res camera-phone, but the pictures really suck.

We’re going out of town again. To the other coast again. I’ll be moblogging for sure, but most of the photos will be the same as other trips to the other coast. Alligator Alley, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale highway signs, the mile-long mall. But tonight will be the best, we’re going to see RUSH in concert! I love them! Yeah, they’re still around, it’s their 30th anniversary tour. I’m SO psyched! I don’t know if I’ll moblog the concert, it depends. If cameras are not allowed, the huge LCD screen on my camera phone may be a risk. But I WILL bring my pencam, which is more stealth, so perhaps after the concert I’ll have some pix. I have no idea. I’m not even sure how close we are. I think we’re pretty close, as I got tickets before the general public could.

Of course I’ll be online via my Clie UX50 anywhere there’s GPRS cell signal and my teeny P1120 laptop [link|category] anywhere there’s a wifi hot spot.

I want to take a gnome w/ me to Ireland. Yeah, I know it’s been done before (gnomar.com || gnomes.textamerica.com), but *I* have never done it. That or a leprechaun, so that I can tell this guy that yes, there ARE leprechauns on every corner and I have photos to prove it! I need a small one (obviously), and preferable resin rather than breakable ceramic. And cheap.

A while ago I had more gmail invites than I knew what to do with. Now I wish I had just one. My brother that lives up north keeps switching ISP’s and he could use a good web-based email account so that he doesn’t have to keep changing his email addy. He’s ISP-hunting and will probably change his email addy a few more times before he settles on one isp that he likes. I’d love to give him a gmail acct, but I’m out of invites. If anyone has a spare for him, I’d appreciate it. I have a feeling they’re scarce tho’, nobody I’ve asked so far has any to give out. They come in waves I guess.

Apple needs to make some ipod mini’s in “man colors”. I’ve talked to some guys who refuse to buy any ipod other than the silver one because the colors are just to girly. I don’t really agree, but hey, everyone is different, right? I wish they did, though, make ipod mini’s in like a metallic deep royal blue like the U30 [link|category] camera that I have:

I still maintain that these are the best ear buds (ear phones) on the market, “Koss: The Plug“.

From another post:
“I was unhappy w/ the volume of my new mp3 player, so I went looking for a volume booster, but they were too big (especially considering how small my mp3 player is) and then M told me that different headphones are louder than others, and when you look at the specifications, you want the highest “sensitivity” you can get. So I went to Best Buy and the headphones (well, earphones) that had the highest sensitivity were the Koss: The Plug ones.”

They go in your ear and are surrounded by soft rubber, so they lock out backround noise, and the sounds is just incredible.

It is funny, though, to be eating food with them in. Ever put in really good earplugs and realize you can hear your heart beat, and all sniffing, nose-rubbing, chewing, etc is amplified? Same thing here, but it’s not too bad cuz w/ the music playing it’s not distracting, at least once you get used to it. Chewing, though, is the loudest, and it was very odd eating at McDonalds with them in.

I was at Radio Shack the other day and they have their own version (I have no idea if they are the same w/ just their name on it or if they are copies, I have no idea if they have the same really good “sensitivity”) … and this kid/guy was telling his friends that those are the BEST earphones he’s EVER used and was going on and on about how awesome they are. I have to agree w/ him.

Gee, u think the KOSS website is messed up? -photo-

I’m reading all these books on Ireland in preparation of my September Ireland trip. Each book goes over history extensively, so I’m like overloaded w/ history. I got one typical Ireland guide book, three books written by guys who walked or hitchiked around Ireland, etc., a book on irish customs and etiquette and just about all of them reiterate the same history over and over. I want to know the history, but not over and over and over. And two of the books intersperse the history, so you can’t really skip over it. It’s a bit mind-numbing and making it hard to get thru the books. When it’s just names and dates and events, I tend to nod off asleep. I want to finish the books cuz I never finish a book and also cuz I want to pass them on when I’m done to M, mom, my brother, etc. all of whom are going to Ireland either in September or March.

What’s new…

Friday night went for chiiiiineeeese. Was going to see the Screaming Orphans at the irish pub but it was SO BUSY you could not even park, so we’ll try to catch them next month.

Saturday… can’t remember, maybe went shopping or something, but I ran laser shows at the planetarium Saturday and Sunday night. Two of my friends showed up for the Saturday night laser show then we all went out for a bite afterwards.

It’s been rainy.

Had to meet a client this morning early, in the next town, and early is a bad word for me, since I’m a night-owl. I went to bed “early” (early for me) and laid awake, and then when I got up felt like death warmed over.

Took TWO naps today.

Photoblog updated:
laserblog.com/photoblog

UPDATE: And the backyard photoblog too:
www.laserblog.com/mybackyard

It’s not just me, then.
Photos of ipods from around the world:
http://gallery.ipodlounge.com/
Submit your photo.

From Slashdot:
“Use an iPod Mini to Broadcast Pirate Radio”
Excerpt:
“StJefferson writes “Ever want to silence the urban assault vehicle beside you at the stop light, pounding out gangster angst at orthodontia-rattling volumes? Now you can, and here’s how, courtesy Engadget.”
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/01/1855251

From the register:
“Kyocera offers iPod Mini-matching digicams”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/22/kyocera_ipod_cam/

Excerpt:
“Kyocera is preparing to cash in on demand for Apple’s iPod Mini digital music player with a range of digital cameras that will ship in similar metallic pastel shades as the hard-to-get-hold of MP3 machine.
The Japanese company today unveiled the Finecam SL400R family in its home market, and said they cameras will only be made available in Apple’s Ginza store and the Mac maker’s online shop.”

More Sony DSC-U30 pix:
.:PHOTOS:.

I realized tonight that I have not been good about putting photos on the web.

Here is a batch of Sony DSC-U30 photos from around 5-12-04:
.:PHOTOS:.

Great, I wait over 3 months for my ipod mini to show up and then once it’s installed, my damn computer won’t talk to the network (where my mp3’s are). Nice. Not like I really wanted one more thing to keep me from USING my new ipod before it becomes old technology.

There’s an ipod moblog, show us your ipod!
http://ipods.textamerica.com/

I love it! One of my sushi chef’s has a newsprint clipping of this hanging up behind the sush bar [she told me she cut it out of a chinese newspaper]:
Cat Massage

[photo removed, click link to see photo on website.]

I watched this on tv, it’s kinda hard to watch:
Tsunami devours 53 hot dogs in 12 minutes

Today I am a prisoner of UPS. My ipod mini FINALLY shipped after three months and sixteen days, and of course it’s coming the dreaded UPS, AND on a Friday. This means that if I miss UPS, I have to wait for them to attempt redelivery on Monday, and then only after that on Tuesday can I go clear to the other side of town, down a nasty road which has given M more than one nail in the tire, to the dingy, hot UPS warehouse to stand in line for more than half an hour to get my damned mini which I’ve already been waiting over three months for.

So I get up at the crack of dawn to be sure I am by the door lest I miss it. I can’t go anywhere. I’m a prisoner of UPS.

When I DO this, they come like 7:55pm and leave it on the doorstep. When I say “F*ck UPS, I’m going for sushi!“, they come at 1pm and put a note on the door saying they need a signature and they’ll come back on Monday, then the whole thing repeats again and I have to go thru the whole long drive nail in the tire stand in non air conditioned dingy dirty ups office thing on Tuesday.

Fun.

UPDATE: Yeahhhup. It came after 5, left on the doorstep unceremoniously. I really thought they’d have had a camera crew and a guy dressed up in a King outfit to hand me the long-awaited high in demand back-ordered gem. But no, a ring, a knock, and the sound of a UPS truck starting up. That’s fine. But if only I had known that I coulda been out doing stuff instead of trapped in my house. But… I GOT IT! It’s here! YAY!
UPDATE 2: Let’s see, it took a total of 3 months and 18 days from the day I ordered it for it to show up on my doorstep.

Cool. Nice pic of green flash:
http://www.icstars.com/Mad/Astro/GreenFlash.html

Holy cow, what is this???

“Laserblog, girl with lasers”
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/suzanne/ That’s not me!

Now, I knew from day one that I was not the only “Laserone”. Even back in ‘96 when I first got online, I wasn’t able to get laserone@ either yahoo or hotmail, and often that nick was taken on IRC and other places.

But this is a first, I’ve never seen another laserblog!

photoblog updated for photo friday.
http://www.laserblog.com/photoblog/

must… get… off… ….computer… !

Round Ireland With a Fridge showed up yesterday, the last of the 3 books I ordered from my fav site AbeBooks.com.

“On his only prior visit to Ireland, English songwriter-comic Tony Hawks had seen a man hitchhiking with a refrigerator. For years, he was wont to tell the tale during late-night drinking matches, and after one particularly heavy-duty night of partying, he awoke to find a bet scrawled pillowside: a friend wagered 100 pounds that Hawks wouldn’t travel Ireland for a month with a refrigerator at his side.”

It’s a riot.