Ups (. . . and downs)

At least today wasn't boring.

I got a follow-up on some ActionScripting work. I've been working on it all day and I think I've got a pretty good start. It should bring in enough money that I can eat this month. Yay for eating!

I also got email from my buddy that we're getting closer to some of my writing going up on MSNBC, which is a big deal for me. Moreover, I may get to write stuff that's more complicated than what I've done so far. I choose to view that as a "promotion". On the other hand, I also choose to believe that I'm hanging out behind the Gas 'n' Sip alone on a Saturday night by choice, so maybe I'm not the best judge (who spotted the reference? Anyone? . . . Okay, anyone other than Helen?).

On the down side, I had to go to a nearby restaurant with M. today and this restaurant is a haunt of the local oldies. It smelled vaguely of urine this afternoon and made me sad, so sad. It's a restaurant where you absolutely order with a whimper rather than a bang. I feel I should get a menu to hang on my mirror to remind me daily of the dangers of aging, to remind me not to go gently into (this eatery whose name I've redacted), but I'll be damned if I'm going back there ever again. Ain't happening.

Finally, I got a CD (I know, how quaint right?) that I ordered through the pony express. It's by a band called Lexicon and contains the song "Rock". It makes me happy just to hear it and the chorus makes this song one that many people love but few know the name to. I'll do you all a favor and point you at their MySpace page. Play "Rock". You'll thank me. (however, it's the only song I like on the album)

The fourth of July

After two mojitos each, M. and I are in a festive spirit. We just ate chips and salsa out back, M. all the while lamenting that if we ate any more we'd spoil dinner. Well, dinner is spoiled and now we're having melon with prosciutto and then corn on the cob.

We're listening to a newly created Pandora station that I seeded with "sousa". M.'s more interested in this application of the Internet than anything else we've seen thus far.

It played a Sousa something or other, followed immediately by the can-can, the theme to Star Wars, and something from the Nutcracker.

It's a totally absurd sound-track to a funny evening.

Happy 4th everyone.

M. and technology

M. just crushed me at Wii bowling. I'm not even sure what to make of that. He's 83.

On the topic of being 83 and thinking about technology, educating M. about the web and how to access it has been very instructive. It's also been like trying to teach a camel to knit.

I remember my friend Anne telling me about an article she read that talked about how IQ is actually increasing. Apparently, younger generations are taught to do a better job of abstraction - and IQ tests favor that skill set. I'm not sure I buy it, but there's something going on here. An example she repeated is that if you ask someone of my generation to name similarities shared by a dog and a rabbit, we'd tell you about quadrupedia, mammalian attributes, and so on.

Apparently among some older generations, the question is nonsense. You use dogs to kill rabbits, so they're sort of diametrically opposed.

As I say, I'm not sure I take all that as gospel, but I've been trying to explain the Web to M. using first principles. However, he's approaching it very practically. To him, it's not important what programs are open to allow him to see his email. I'm much (much) less interested in getting something done than I am in understanding how it works.