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"Don’t put it down. Put it away." -DM

9 year old boy to mother: “Mom, Dad doesn’t really work? He just fixes people’s computers sometimes right?”

Well now… I guess that sums it up!

Say Uncle has a post regarding pay phones that prompted the following memories and comment from me:

Several weeks ago my wife and I went to a restaurant to meet her parents and both assumed the other had brought their cell phone. The inlaws were late so we wanted to call and see if the plans had changed but didn’t know what to do. I pondered asking to borrow a cell phone. Finally I took a chance and discovered a pay phone near the bathrooms. I inserted my money–no I don’t remember how much but I think it was $.50–and suddenly was sucked back in time. The influx of thoughts was overwhelming!

How many rings before voicemail kicks in and takes my money? Remember the old collect call trick where you’d use a code name to jingle the folks to let them know you were ok? You know, the one where the operator says, “will you accept a call from Mr. I. M. Fine?” and they say “no” to avoid the charges but can now rest easy? The thrill at checking the coin return and finding change. The digust at finding moist, chewed gum. The scare of a prick of a need (ala pre-Internet urban legends). That smell! Holding the phone close to your ear and mouth but dare not touching it. Remember dialing numbers without using the dial or buttons? Anyone carry a pocket tone generator? Remember the secret combination of digits that would let you dial anywhere in the world for free? Remember the fear of the FBI dropping down on you? The unusual feeling of being tied down by the leash of the cord which is always positioned between two busy restroom doors.

One voicemail and a second call later reveals the inlaws to be in the parking lot and then we see them walking into the restaurant with cell phone to ear. Life is normal again.

A big special thanks to Tim for helping me clear up my stereotypical views of Australians and Kiwis. I will definitely bring some hobbits should I ever visit.

I read the article completely and could not come up with a more elegant summary than Ray Kurzweil.

Business 2.0, September 2005

A trail of hidden clues suggests Google is building its own Internet using WiFi blanketing major cities and might be looking to let everyone connect for free.

Maybe I need some calisthenics. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I’d like to take a full day, or better a week, and devote it to jump starting a physical fitness program for myself. Instead I’ll force myself to take several juggling breaks where I’ll juggle with my exercise balls–3 tennis balls filled with lead shot and wrapped in electrical tape.

…because I made cup cakes.

…because I got off my duff.

…because the sun is shining.

In a belated tribute to Douglas Adams, over 1,500 dolphins have recently gathered off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Echt has the picture.

I am not certain that I can live up to Michael’s challenge this week.

1. Go to Google’s Language Tools.
2. enter the following line into the translate textbox:
   Susan Hughes’s mom is nice and cool
3. Translate from English to Spanish
4. Copy the translated text, and translate it back from Spanish to English

With apologies to Susan. Thought you might enjoy a little Internet fame.

I am well on my way to becoming a bitter old man. Due to economics and time constraints I continue to see opportunities and be unable to act upon them.

I owned a beautiful domain name once and because I was dead broke at its renewal time I let it go. A squatter grabbed it up and sat on it for years until someone purchased it and turned it into a beautiful example of what I intended it to be. I should move forward and use it as a lesson to not procrastinate on developing the domain names that I do own. I still have a hard time not being bitter about it.

My wife and I were in Ohio and visited a franchised store that we thought would be extremely successful in West Town Mall and fun to run to boot. I even made a phone call on it however the startup costs were out of my league. That store is now in West Town Mall and I bemoan it.

I see a real estate oppportunity. I’d need tens of millions to make it work. I’d quadruple the money.

So why not get some venture capital? Why not find a backer or angel? Why not get investors? Because it takes money to get money. You have to be politically active and know people. You have to do due diligence and write business plans and presentations all the while feeding your family.

I don’t think I’ve made a big enough deal about Blingo. I now use Blingo 80% of the time reserving my trips to Google for speciality things like money conversions.

Blingo now has a blog. What is Blingo? Blingo is a search engine that returns the exact same results as Google (since it is powered by Google) but gives out prizes (currently limited to the United States, I think).

You don’t need to sign up to search. But if you sign up as a Blingo Friend when you win, so does your friend!

Spy Journal Tech Tips alerted on Blingo in December of 2004.

(reprinted from Spy Journal Blog Tips)

…because last night I had a date with my wife.

…because, disquieting as it is, I’m facing my demons.

Album is done and I nary made a dent in the mail. This Friday is an evil deadline. The world shall try to crumble under my feet.

Next album for productivity: XTC: Skylarking. Task: quote a job.

Got behind on the mail again. 

Let’s tackle the mail to the sounds of Black 47’s Fire of Freedom. When the album ends I change task. While the album plays I am not allowed to slip off task.