So here I am, 33 years old, and I’ve never had cable TV before.
Until now.
Not sure why we finally ordered it, but my wife and I were just sick of fuzzy-blurry reception on our TV channels. We were tired of adjusting the rabbit ears every time we changed the channel. And we dreamed of HGTV and Food network.
So, we got satellite TV installed, which also happened to come along with a DVR. Now I can not only pause and rewind live TV, the thing will record programs for me automatically. And there are so, so, so many channels to surf. I can’t stop flipping channels. It’s all so… overwhelming.
Hopefully the addiction will wear off soon. Friends say that after a week or two, I’ll only be watching a handful of shows that the DVR captures for me.
So a lot of people have heard about how Google engineers get a couple of 24″ flatpanels attached to their machines. But a co-worker turned me on to the idea of rotating them vertically. It’s amazing that the X.org server can do that!
(photo by Jon Trowbridge)
I mean, man, look at the length of that Emacs! I can see entire files now without scrolling!
Dad had a lot of stuff. I mean, a lot of stuff.
Mom has been busy trying to clean out 30 years of accumulated objects, and the sheer quantity of things that dad “collected” is overwhelming. I guess the best way to describe it is that he collected collections!
What’s on my mind is: what does all this stuff say about somebody? What made this person tick?
- At least 25 different kinds of collector’s pocket-knives
- Ten very fancy pairs of binoculars
- Eight shortwave radios, spanning 1980 to the present
- More than ten different types of walkmen and portable CD
players
- More than ten different types of fancy headphones
- A huge coin collection
- At least 25 nearly-mint overcoats and fancy outdoor jackets
- At least 25 nearly-mint luxury sweaters
- At least 25 perfectly-cared-for pairs of shoes and boots
- More than 50 J. Peterman catalogs
At first glance, my thoughts were, “why so much stuff? Is there any point?” But I’m starting to see a pattern to all of this. I wonder if it all plays into some sort of fantasy he had, maybe something from his childhood. He used to talk about how, as a kid, he wanted to be a cowboy, then later a spaceman. Look at the list of things above: they all play into the idea of adventuring and exploration. Sweaters, coats, and boots of all kinds to brave the elements. Binoculars to spy on the enemy. Pocket knives to survive the wilderness. Radio & communications equipment to signal back to base. And the J. Peterman catalogs… well, let’s just say they’re more like fantasy/adventure novels than clothing catalogs!
All I can say is: thank goodness for ebay.
So most everybody’s listened to NPR’s Car Talk, right? I don’t have one whit of interest in automobiles, but their talk show is still immensely entertaining to me. I guess it’s all about the personalities.
If you’ve heard the show, then you probably are familiar with their opening theme song, which is a bluegrass tune mainly played on a banjo. (According to their website, it’s a live recording of a David Grisman tune.) Ever noticed how great a tune it is? It’s just this perfectly smooth stream of eighth notes coming from the banjo, perfect pull-offs and hammer-ons, and the melody just stands out in the cascade of sound.
When I first started listening to Car Talk years ago, I remember thinking, “dang, it must be so hard to play banjo… listen how insanely fast that banjo is going!” The stream of notes where just a blur, and all you could do was just sort of listen, slack-jawed, and wonder how the guy was performing such a feat.
But as I practice my banjo more and more, pick more licks and pick up speed, the magic has gradually dissipated. Over the last year, every time I hear the theme song, the banjo seems to be playing slower and slower. I actually did a double-take this morning when I heard the song. I mean, I can actually visualize what the banjo player is doing. I can hear the exact notes he’s playing, understanding every arpeggio and run and lick. In fact, I’m sure that if I had the recording in front of me, I could transcribe the tab now, and learn to play it myself.
Honest! He’s just not playing as quickly as he used to!