In October I once again journeyed to beautiful Dutchess County to visit the one and only Voidious Olicious, my brother, the legendary White Monkey. This was possibly my best visit yet. The Lumina held up well, despite averaging over 70 mph on the latter half of my return trip (a notable feat for this cruise-worn 14 year old vehicle). Smash was played, beers were drunk. Fine cuisine, eaten.

After an unforgettable meal Saturday at Japanese Steakhouse, Osho, my dear brother introduced me to a beer that has transformed my tastes and altered my whole approach to drinking–Leffe Blonde, one of several Belgian ales consumed during my visit. This seemed like an interesting new way to get drunk (and indeed it was, as we partied well into Sunday morning to the sweet sounds of Buckethead, Rush, Primus, and C2B3) but the experience made a lasting impression and gave us both a new outlook on beer.

A few weeks later, Voidious reciprocated, travelling here to Buffalo during the Thanksgiving holiday. Though I had to work a few days over his vacation, we had plenty of time for Smash, Trek, Samurai Jack, Chef Ramsay, Buckethead, Pizza Plant, multiple outings to Duff’s and Ted’s, and an incredible Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our gracious sister, Rachel and our brother-in-law, Jamo (who cooked a most succulent turkey!). And of course, there was Belgian beer. A lot of Belgian beer.

I’m not sure how much money we spent on beer that week and to be honest I don’t want to know. :) .. I can say that we sampled twelve new varieties, and indulged in quite a bit of Leffe Blonde and Hoegaarden as well (“old” favorites from my October visit).

I have since been propelled on a quest to expose myself to as many varieties of beer as possible, and have been trying to sample at least one new brew a week. I’ve begun a log to track my progress, though I currently lack the knowledge and experience to properly assess the qualities of each beer.

But that hasn’t stopped me from trying. :)

* Photos courtesy of Voidious

Lately I’ve been finding myself in an unusually pissed-off mood, struggling even to maintain the plastic, patronizing demeanor that normally comes so easily in social situations.

I figured the culprit was some combination of job dissatisfaction, inability to find the latest Star Wars figures, and frequent consumption of Bud Light. Then, as I was looking through my iChat status messages, it hit me–I’ve been having some persistant internet connection problems as well as problems with iChat itself disconnecting me. Given that I spend the majority of my free time on the internet, perhaps this is the cause of my malaise. I generally express my discontent via colorful status messages, and as you can see to the right, they are numerous and vulgar.

Phew! For a second there I thought I was going to have to give up the beers.

I’ve been following I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? for a few months now and noticed a high frequency of science fiction references lately. As fan of both cats and sci-fi, I thought these were pretty amusing. Hopefully you will too!

Oh, Hai, Dave
I Workin’ Fas as I Can Captn
Bring me Solo and the Wookiee
Teh Cloning Machine
Bein a Tribble
Kittehmus Pryme
Yoda Cat
Dr. Jekyl / Mr. Hyde
E.T. go home!!!

If you know of any other sci-fi related ICHCB’s please post them!

Well I decided to finally get an mp3 player in the form of a 4GB iPod Nano (pictured to the right with some of my other toys). I’ve been listening to mp3′s on my computer since the early days of the format, but just never felt the need to get a portable player.

A few months ago I started contemplating getting a Nano for use in the car, but what pushed me over the edge was listening to the same CD’s over and over during my first journey to Poughkeepsie this summer. So, knowing that a product refresh was coming soon I decided to wait until the new models came out, and I purchased one this past Friday. I got a cassette adapter to use with my outdated stereo system in the Lumina.

Being a Mac and iTunes user, it was a given that I’d be going with an iPod. I chose the Nano because I feel that having a (relatively) small selection of my music library available while driving will be sufficient, and I didn’t want to spend too much cash. So far, I love it. Such a beautiful, lightweight little piece of technology. Big screen, intuitive interface, and durable (as I sadly already discovered having dropped it on the hard floor one day after having the thing in my possession). The Coverflow interface, which I didn’t even realize was new in the iPods until my buddy Miker informed me, is really neat, and made me realize how much album artwork I was lacking. Fortunately, iTunes makes it really easy to retrieve artwork for albums they have on file. It remains to be seen how often I’ll use Coverflow in favor of the other navigation options.

Anyway, it’s a really cool little device. Looks like it’s time to retire that 13 year old Moving Pictures cassette. :)

Update: 9/10, 8:48 p.m. When I got home today and plugged the Nano into my computer, it wouldn’t connect (wouldn’t charge or mount). It didn’t even show up as a USB device in System Profiler. Didn’t matter which port I tried. I ended up taking it to the Apple store and they reinstalled the software. It works fine once again, but hopefully that’s the last problem I encounter. Oh and also, while I was there I dropped it again on the hard floor. I tell ya it’s kinda hard to get a good grip on this thing. :)

This summer’s activities deserve more than such a short post, but I must at least briefly commemmorate the awesome times I’ve had this summer. From June 29th to July 8th I was doadin’ it hardcore with Voidious, during which time we saw Rush perform twice–first at the SPAC in Saratoga Springs, and then at Darien Lake here Buffalo. Both shows were just amazing, and we had the honor of seeing the first setlist change at the Buffalo show. The best part of it all though was getting to spend some doadly time with my brother (even if he did repeatedly pwn me in Super Smash Bros. :)

About a month later, I made the trip to Dutchess County once again, but this journey was notable in that I completed it in my ’93 Chevy Lumina. The car ran like a champ, going to and from with no problems at all. I gotta give props to my Dad for having the muffler replaced a week or so earlier. I’m not sure what effect it had on the car’s performance, but the trip would have been much noiser without it that’s for sure. :)

With the addition of dead, outtahere, and felis, the overhaul of core glyphs in man@machine is nearly complete. Toggle to see the archived, crappy versions. :)

Also, you can still win a free man@machine t-shirt by posting the the best Buddhist quote relevant to computers and technology.

Act without doing; Work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; Accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.

Being on the telephone does not mean I’m working hard. The papers all over my desk don’t make me busy. Putting in overtime doesn’t mean I’m getting things done. Running around does not make me productive, and barking orders doesn’t mean I’m in charge.

If a routine job consistently requires extra time to complete, then there is something wrong with the job or with the way in which it is completed. “Overtime” is not to be admired–it is to be shunned as a salute to inefficiency. The best worker appears to be doing nothing at all. The best leader does not need to give orders.

And of course, the best “meeting” is one that never takes place. :)

A new version of Buddha (with much improved posture) has been added to Man@Machine as the overhaul continues. A free t-shirt to whoever posts the best Buddhist quote somehow pertaining to technology or computers.

Terms and conditions of contest subject to Mattdude’s whims. :)

Getting up and moving to the couch is just too much work sometimes. Pass out where you sit, I say. The overhaul of Man@Machine continues with an updated verson of Beat.

“Hey, it just sounds to me like you need to unplug, man. You know, get some R & R.”

Whenever I drive by the empty shell that was once a Hills department store, I have this powerful urge to pull into the deserted parking lot and peak through the large store windows. I have a strange fascination with this place, which I visited frequently when the store was active many years ago. I often wonder what it would be like to walk through the store if all of the shelves, displays, and products had been left intact when it shut down. I confess part of this fascination is the idea of seeing vintage Star Wars figures on the pegs just as they were back when I was a kid.

On a whim I went searching on the web for pictures of something like this, and I came across this website created by a guy who enjoys snooping around abandoned buildings. He has some really cool, creepy photos of abandoned building interiors, with accompanying summaries of his exploits. Have a look!

www.illicitohio.com