Year: 2010
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Extended Warranties: Putting the ‘con’ in ‘consumer electronics’
At the risk of sounding older than my tender 43 years: They don’t make ’em like they used to. Consumer electronics, that is. Last month my TV finally packed up (and within a month of getting my surround-sound in place, FFS!). This is a Toshiba 50″ plasma flat screen, which I bought for the not inconsiderable sum of $2,000 three years ago (actually as a 10-year anniversary present for the wife – ever the romantic, eh?). About a year ago one of the HDMI ports stopped working, which was irritating but not the end of the world (it has a… Read more
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Soul Training
I’m two weeks into an eight-week residency in ‘beautiful’ Port Allen, Louisiana. For those not up to speed on their American cities and states, Port Allen is on the other side of the Mississippi from ‘beautiful’ Baton Rouge (and about an hour up the coast from New Orleans – you’ve heard of that, right?). Both Baton Rouge and Port Allen pretty much exist only for the petroleum industry (hence my being here), and both sides of the river are chock full of refineries, tank farms, and barge moorings. Both cities tend to prepend ‘beautiful’ to any mention of their names… Read more
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iTunes: What a crappy bit of software II – The SQL
After three or four years of pretty much daily usage, I finally ran out of space on my first iPod. This was one of the old (but not oldest) 60gb models, and I’d already taken the precaution of not ripping all of my CDs to it – leaving off dozens of Zappa bootlegs, but recently I’d run out off space and had to start removing stuff I just don’t listen to that often, such as all of my Orb CDs, and my early Stone Roses B-sides. But then of course I’d get a real hankering to listen to something that… Read more
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Corporate America is taking the piss
As a contractor, I’ve been fortunate to work for the same client for some 16 years. Admittedly this has actually been for six different legal entities, and via four different agencies / consulting companies, but always for the same corporation. During those years, I like to think that I’ve built up a good reputation as a solid, reliable worker. So I was somewhat miffed recently to find out that I was now – after 16 years – to be subject to a full background check and drug test. It turns out that this is an annual check, and was brought in as part… Read more
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Muse & Silversun Pickups, Toyota Arena, Houston
I’m not the biggest Muse fan (only owning Absolution), but I’ve heard they do a good live show, so when they came through Houston last summer I was going to go and give them the benefit. However, I then found out that they were supporting U2 and I’d rather have my ears piped with fresh dogturd than sit through a U2 gig, so I didn’t go. I guess I could have just left after Muse, but TicketMaster wouldn’t agree to my stipulation that none of my ticket price would go to U2 if I didn’t stay for their set, so… Read more