from "the waiting is the hardest part, part II" dept.

So... I wait and wait and wait all day Thursday for FedEx to deliver my new MacBook.

The FedEx website confirms that it's on the delivery truck and heading my way! Yay!

Imagine my surprise, hours later, when I check the package's online status again and it notes that a delivery attempt was made. And there was no one home.

WTF?!

I run downstairs and... nothing.

I check the buzzer by the front door. My note, telling the driver to call my mobile if there no answer, is still there.

It's not like I went anywhere. I was too scared of missing the delivery person to even take a leak, much less go gallivanting around Deep Cove.

And there is no "attempted delivery" sticker at the front door.

My initial conclusion? The moron driver either was too scared of the rain and didn't get out of his truck... or he couldn't find a multi-story building in Deep Cove.

There are two.

And only one with an entrance on Gallant Ave.

So I call FedEx. The customer service rep, who is likely in Bangalore, repeats what the website says.

No, I say, no one has been here. Yes, I say, that's the correct address.

So now I wait for customer service to provide some customer service.

And where is my new MacBook?

Likely having a gas in the same black hole where Canada Post redirected my mail for the past three months.

I'm having a Scotch.

from the "itchy finger" dept.

The nutbars at Gizmodo (a tech blog) were up to no good at this week's Consumer Electronics Show. Armed with tiny TV remotes, called TV-B-GONE , they shut down monitor walls and more.

The video is hilarious. Watch it here.

Want your own TV-B-GONE? Adbusters has 'em for $25.

Look out Future Shop!

I would have loved one of these things in Ghana.

from the "fill your boots" dept.

Wired has an interesting piece on leaving your wireless network open. I tend to agree...

"To me, it's basic politeness. Providing internet access to guests is kind of like providing heat and electricity, or a hot cup of tea. But to some observers, it's both wrong and dangerous..."

The rest of the opinion piece is here.

from"the waiting is the hardest part" dept.

If you've been following along, you know I've been suffering with some serious computer problems.

I have three laptops, neither of which works properly. One has no sound, one has no picture and one is little more than a doorstop. Guess which is the PC!

So... after much consideration and time pressure, I've decided to purchase a MacBook from the folks at Apple.

While I would have preferred to have made my purchase at a local outlet (Discount Mac) or from Craigslist, Apple's online store was offering fully warrantied refurbished MacBooks for several hundred bucks off. Plus I saved $30 on my .mac renewal.

I may regret the decision a wee bit if, on Tuesday, Steve Jobs introduces something skookum at MacWorld. But, hopefully not.

As I write this I am waiting for FedEx to deliver the new toy/tool.

As Tom Petty sang... The waiting is the hardest part.

from the "time machine" dept.

Here's some VTV promo stuff from 1998... ah, memories!

from the "I wanna rock" dept.

Free air guitar

[h/t: JG]

from the "run, mitt, run" dept.

American politics are so much fun:

from the "loofah" dept.

The Bill-O - Olbermann battle continues.

Submitted for your laughter, Olbermann's recent O'Reilly Puppet Theatre spoofing loofah-man's recent troubles at a Barack Obama event.



[h/t: C&L, REW]

from the "lacktop" dept.

One of the things that I liked about living in Ghana was that my cursed electro-hex did not follow me overseas.

For those of you who don't know about my electro-hex, it is simple to explain: While I love technology, it doesn't necessarily love me. I am able to corrupt computers, shut down cash registers and generally wreak havoc on anything digital -- simply by my presence.

In Ghana, everything worked. Now that I'm back in Canada, not so much.

A small example: my laptops. I have three.

Laptop 1: A used 12" iBook I bought for $100. It is slow but perfect for dragging around to coffee shops. It worked like a charm until about two weeks ago: the screen is dead. Usually. Sometimes the screen works but the computer locks up during the boot process.

Laptop 2: My 2002 vintage Mac PowerBook. Expensive and still robust after all these years -- it is speechless. For whatever reason (perhaps one too many tumbles to the floor), the speakers don't work. Thankfully the headphone jack works and I can listen to melodious beeps and error pings.

I could live with this state of affairs except I can't run some PC-only software I use to do my CBC work. It allows me to work remotely saving me from commuting to, say, Saskatchewan!

For that I use:

Laptop 3: I bought a little Gateway PC especially for my CBC work. It was inexpensive and has served me well for several years.

It's now dead. It won't run off AC power. It won't run off the battery. The battery won't charge. It smells funny. I even tried a new charger - but that didn't work either.

So now I have three laptops: one without a display, one without sound, and one without anything. And it's the PC I really need the most (see reference to Saskatchewan commute, above).

There is a solution: a new MacBook. I can boot in Windows and run my CBC stuff. I can boot in OS X and run Final Cut Pro et al. Perfect!

Except the $1600 price tag. And the fact that Apple is announcing new goodies next week. Damn them! I don't want to wait!

Anyway... as I was lamenting the fact that I have three computers that don't suddenly don't work... I found a funny video to cheer me up.



Cheers!

from the "reset" dept.

Wow. That was some year.

And now a nice big blank canvas awaits for 2008.

What will it bring?

Cheers!