SwampLog 3.0

Just A Liquid Crystal Wound

Alright, first things first. I'm a compete fucking moron.

Marty and I provided the music at the New Year's Eve shindig, at No Frills Grill Saturday night. It seemed the easiest way for us to have as many people as would show up over, and the bar's manager, Dave (a.k.a. The Big Ball Of Fun) said we could jack our iPods into the house system to provide a specially selected mix of music for the night. (I'll post the playlists later, once I stop fuming.)

I'm fairly certain that the final tally for the evening's debauchery was:

* four bottles of Shiner Bock
* five pints of Shiner
* eight shots of Maker's Mark
* one chintzy plastic glass of champagne
* one bottle of champagne (Dave likes me)
* one shouting match with Woody (never discuss business when you're soused)

* ...and one cracked iPod display

As near as I can figure it, I put my iPod into my front pants pocket once my playlist was complete. The same pocket where my keys were.

When I woke up New Year's Day, I discovered the display was ruined on the right-hand side -- the one where the battery remaining is displayed.

It's still useable, and I'm going to have to use it, as I'm working at Gator's this evening (another emergency fill-in gig, but I'm still retired, dammit!) and need it for fill-in music.

My options at this point are: 1) Have the display repaired, which will run me around $120; 2) Buy a refurbished iPod of the same model for $200; or 3) get a new 30 GB video iPod for $300.

Anything I pay will be a stupidity tax. Dammit!

It Is The Future You See

While waiting for another trouble ticket to come in, so I can hop in the Sportage (now named Chandler, just because) and go save the day once more, I'm watching a documentary on Ali vs Foreman in Zaire on my Mac. It's being broadcast by some outfit called Independant TV, and I'm picking it up with a Dashboard Widget called Widget Television. There are about 50 digital streaming boradcasts you can choose from, and it's a really cool diversion. Nothing major-market yet -- the closest they get is a Seattle public access station -- but it's damned groovy.

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Real Networks thought they would have a hit on their hands by reverse-engineering Apple's DRM so songs bought from Real would work on the iPod. They then posted a petition online so people could line up and tell Apple what they thought.

Real got a little more than they bargained for. Delicious.