So my powerbook is dying. I can’t complain; it’s five years old now. I’ve had it for four of those years, and I haven’t been easy on it. It’s been eaten over, spilled on, dented, knocked over, scratched, dropped, shed upon and clawed by malevolent cats. I’ve taken it into the bathtub with me, used it in the rain. It’s been the novel I curl up in bed with. It’s been my boombox. It’s been my shop manual. It’s been my cookbook, which is a particularly bad idea when baking, since sifted flour and electronics don’t really get along. It’s had a hard life, and the battery is gone, the screen has been going for a year or so, the fan’s been dicky since last fall. In the past few days, I’ve been getting more and more beachballs, and even Firefox is a challenge to run. So it’s time to think about replacing it. My little powerbook has been good to me, and I’ve been happy to own it. Never gave me a moment’s trouble in its long life.

The thing is, I don’t particularly like any of the current configurations Apple is offering. The macbook is pretty, but expensive, and it seems underpowered. $1200 is a lot to spend. The white macbook seems like just as much power, for less, which is closer to my price range, but even at $1000, it’s a bit spendy, and it seems like the macbook line has had more than its share of problems, everything from hinges to chipsets, and the thing I liked most about my old mac was its indestructibility.

Speed and power aren’t immediately important to me, although I do want something fast enough to stay useful for a few years. I’ve switched jobs, so I don’t need to run design software, and while I might want something for music editing and mixing, I’m not likely to need that any time soon, and can probably borrow what I do need. For the next two years, and probably past that, I’ll be using internet apps and a word processor and probably iTunes, and that’s about it. A netbook, then, is looking pretty attractive. I prefer OSX to Windows, but I am given to understand a netbook could be made to run OSX. There’s also linux, but my limited experience with it (using scott's partitioned machine) has been a bit off-putting; it seems like there's always a driver missing, or some damn thing. Customisability would be a fun diversion, but it's not something I particularly need. Mostly I just want something that will work whenever I turn it on.

It's a choice, then, I think, between dropping $1000 on a white macbook, or dropping $400 on a netbook, probably the Asus eee 1000H. Thoughts?

this, among other things for which i presently lack the time.

though i'm going to be out of town during the convention -- and, indeed, will be going in quite the opposite direction from denver -- i'm probably more likely to watch parts of it, since i will be in a hotel room which will probably have a TV. i wouldn't have watched otherwise. i have a feeling i'll try to avoid watching, if i can.

but seriously, though. biden? BIDEN? mr joe my-life's-work-fucked-up-the-lending-sector-and-the-US-economy-just-for-some-constituents biden?

i've refrained from talking much on my blog at all, and i've tried to refrain from talking politics. i know most everyone who reads this is at least sorta-kinda pro-obama. i'm wondering, though, if people are still so into him. you don't have to respond, of course. but i'd be curious, either way.

so i got a tattoo.

on my forearm.

it's odd, but i'm actually thinking the possibility of employment difficulties may actually be a net benefit. plus it looks really good. like, really good.

i've wanted a tattoo for more than a decade now. now that i have one, though, i feel like i may want more. i designed this one myself. it's quite simple and fairly small. i think i might design a bigger one for the future. the artist i had was quite sweet, and if (or when) i do get another, i'd definitely go to him again.

i'm tired of these motherfucking obama emails in my motherfucking mailbox!

seriously, it shouldn't take three fucking attempts to unsubscribe to a mailing list that i never asked to join in the first place. i realise that my email's collected every time i try to contact the obama campaign. i realise that they've got my email and my contact information from the clinton campaign, and that they've got greg's contact information from the DNC, but jesus! stop with the fucking emails already, or at least make it opt-in! this is the third time since i contacted them about FISA that i've tried, unsuccessfully, to unsubscribe.

at least they don't have my phone number anymore, since i changed it when we switched to CREDO. i changed numbers mostly because someone in town's been using my old one as a fake to pass out to dudes at bars, at least going by the voicemails i get. the digits were also just slightly off those of an opthamologist's office, and i was at the point where i recieved more calls for a dr. isaac than i did for myself. so far, reception seems pretty decent, they're like twenty bucks cheaper for the same plan, and in a week or so we'll get to vote for the organisations they'll be donating to.

i will miss the slightly scandalised reactions i'd been getting from obama callers, though. declining rally invitations, even politely, seems to be somewhere past loudly farting at a dinner party on the scale of Things One Just Does Not Do.

good thing nobody listened

told you so.

told you so.

ahem.

will probably get to say"told you so".

happy damn fourth.

so tell me about Realities of misty eras past. what were your favourite themes? what themes sucked hard? i want to hear stories.