Arnold outshoots the masses in publicity

So, according to CBSMarketwatch, the amount of free publicity Arnold has received to date is something along the lines of $40 million. I gotta tell you, I still don’t really know what the guy stands for. From some, he’s a closet right-winger who’s more dangerous on his best days to abortion and gay rights than any of his republican counterparts. Then, I hear his “friends” like Martin Sheen call him a closet democrat who’s playing a republican because that’s what the party needs him to do to get him in the office. So, I’m reading and reading and all I hear is nonsense spewing from his mouth about taxes and how he hates getting taxed in CA for his lunch and his car, and that reigning in taxes should really do something special for the CA economy. But, and I’m being serious here, isn’t the real root of the problem in CA that they have no money to begin with? How, pray tell, will cutting taxes help in that situation?

Welcome to Oregon, my friend, the land of the two-legged tax stool.

PR, Public Relations

Japan Ready to Market Robot Suit

I’m in the middle of reading “Natural-Born Cyborg” by Andy Clark. It’s a fantastic look at how we’re already cybernetic organisms whether we like it or not, but he takes on the topic not from the perspective of a technologist, but rather a philosopher. I’m sure he’s going to talk about robotic assisted propulsion and I just haven’t gotten there yet. After reading this article, I think I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t.

University of Colorado at Boulder No. 1 Party School

CNN.com - Univ. of Colorado parties to top of list - Aug. 19, 2003

Wow. A lot has changed since I graduated from CU. It’s nice to see the place is still made up of people who don’t settle for number 4 or 5 — they fight for number 1.

New Computers

Ordered a new iBook today. Kira’s selling her Dell Inspiron and making the switch to the Mac by taking over my 700Mhz iBook with the 20 gig drive. I know, sounds crappy to give her the hand-me-down to start school with next month, but since I do all the music and photography on my computer and I was running out of space in a big way, we decided that it would be better for me to have the new guy with the 60 gig drive in it. I thought that was just about the only difference. Turns out, the new machine is also a 900Mhz with 32 mb of video ram. That’s not bad at all. So, let’s all raise a glass to slow and easy upgrades.

Piano

The piano has arrived.

For months, we’ve been saying we wanted to have it here. My folks had been talking about getting it out here, selling their house and moving to Oklahoma for just about ever, but now, they’ve finally done it. At least, they sold the house. And that meant, get the piano to Peter.

So, I get this call from mother on Tuesday morning. She tells me that they can’t find a mover that can get the piano out of their house in time for closing, and could I see what I can find on the receiving end. I call around a few places and get on the horn with Dan, from Mark & Dan piano movers. He only does local moves, he says, but hang on a second. He puts me on hold.

When he comes back, I hear the static of a cell phone en route.

“I’ve got Chuck on the line here, Pete.”

“Hi, Chuck.”

“Yeah, hey there. I’m in a big old 75 foot mover and I’m pulling out of Chicago. I have room for just about the one piano so if you’ve got nothing else to get out to Portland, I think I could swing by Colorado Springs by about 12:30 tomorrow.”

Short story long, he had the piano in the truck on Wednesday, delivered to my house today.

Chuck was pretty amazing. He got the thing out of his truck, up the driveway, into the house and reconstructed all by himself. A 6 foot plus grand piano, and I didn’t lift a finger. Not a bad days work.

Thanks, Chuck. Your kids are fantastic, piano sounds great. Have a great three weeks off the road.

From Lasagnafarm: “INTERVIEW WITH TWO YOUNG MANHATTANITES WHO MENTION, MORE TIMES THAN I CARE TO REMEMBER, THAT THEY Are GOING TO MOVE TO SEATTLE SOON”

Latent Irony

Q: The movie My Own Private Idaho portrays the northwest as a world of narcoleptics and people who speak in 18th century verse. Can you do either of these impressive feats?

A1: Meesmeeth ein shant approach such a boast unto thine snaggery! Does that mean anything?

A2: I’m a glorified version of a pellet gun