Month: March 2006

Low-tech

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Now that I have a short reprieve from economics, and I seem to have kicked my magazine habit, I’m enjoying reading an actual (gasp) book again. Not that I’ve strayed far from my school work; I decided to finally read Freakonomics.

.:.

After my work computer mishap last week a colleague sent me a utility from Intel that would tell me whether my CPU was running hot. That’s handy, I thought, and brought it home. I installed it on my machine. Didn’t run it, mind you, just installed it. Some message flashed across my screen about “Now checking…” and then my screen went blank. The computer just froze up, and I couldn’t get it to come back. I believe the Intel utility may have given my BIOS the black plague. Sigh. I should’ve known better. And right now, I’m just disgusted enough with computers that I don’t even give a shit. I’ll fix it tomorrow; it’s sunny outside, so I’m going for a walk once the Raptors finish coughing up this game to the Nets.

[UPDATE: unplugging the computer for a minute and getting rid of the charge seemed to do the trick. Booted right up after that.]

I have the sudden virus.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I seem to have come down with a cold in the last couple of hours. Bam, just like that. Stuffed up, sort throat, the works. Booo, colds.

.:.

Sometimes I like doing geek stuff again. Taking computers apart, setting up hard drives, creating databases, generating something. It’s nice to actually see a tangible result sometimes. Meeting minutes don’t count.

Victor Mancini

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I just can’t picture Chuck Palahniuk’s book Choke being made into a movie. But I’d love to see someone have a go at it. I read it a few years ago (my brother’s copy…it kept me occupied between London and Toronto) so I only remember bits and pieces, but what I remember would be challenging to film well.

.:.

If you live in Toronto and can think of something that another city’s transit system does that the TTC should, check out this post over at Spacing. They want to hear from you. I suggested something like Seattle’s Busmonster.

.:.

I have a four hour meeting tomorrow afternoon. Who schedules something like that on Friday afternoon? They’d better have Diet Pepsi on hand, or I’m likely to snaploseit.

.:.

That’s right, Girlfriend Du Jour is back. There’ll be a fresh new entry tomorrow morning, and each day for at least a month.

Certified & circumcised

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Hebrew Hammer (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was weird and dumb, but at least it was trying to be weird and dumb. Think Shaft, but (to borrow a phrase from Jon Stewart) Jewey. It was the kind of dumb humour that makes you groan, sprinkled with the occasional genuinely funny scene (like Adam Goldberg dancing or the WASP teacher trying to pronunce “Chanukah”). Avoid unless you’re a fan of Rob Schneider movies or you’re feeling ironic.

.:.

Hmmmmm…anyone for a little Girlfriend Du Jour? I’m bringing it back for…oh, I don’t know, a couple of months maybe?