Kurzweil; Ted Leo; Easter

4/2

Dan DJs at the Prole...

4/3

Got a hair cut in advance of my return home for Easter, and yes, that does qualify as news, since it happens, oh, thre times a year. Band practice that night...

4/4

Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and post-humanist, was speaking at U of H, so Cindy, lab-mate Martin, and I went to check out the talk. It was good and Kurzweil makes a compelling case, except... well, he doesn't really seem to be a detail guy. Which I suppose is true of most people predicting the future of humanity. But in this case I think a lot of the details that he leaves out and presumes can be easily overcome probably can't. For example, he mentioned RNAi as a way to inhibit individual genes, except it doesn't work consistently or predictably. It may never. There may be other approaches, but just because there are a few examples where we can selectively control the action of genes doesn't mean that we're guaranteed an age where we exercise complete control of our genomes. Nothing is guaranteed until it's working.

As a corollary, he tended to rely on volume of evidence rather than quality. Still, it's hard to deny that the evidence he presented made a compelling case that the human race is on the brink of a singularity, a time where technological progress happens so rapidly that our very nature could change. It will be interesting to see what happens, but just remember, futurists: where are our flying cars and underwater cities? And why can't we teleport yet?

We return to find Cindy's car has been towed, despite previous experiences where U of H didn't tow in the evenings. Handily (?), their tow lot is on site and a walkable distance away, and the fee is a comparatively reasonable (?) $60 or so, far better than the $250 my last towing experience cost me.

We drop Martin off, I call Dad to wish him a happy birthday, and we pick up some Whataburger and watch some TV.

4/5

We go to #s to see Ted Leo play. It's good, high energy rock, but I never quite figure out why I'm just not all that crazy about him. Enjoyable show, but I'm not inspired to buy more Ted Leo & the Pharmacists albums. I do buy a t-shirt with a sort of caduceus on it which I thought was cool, and which, at a med school, seems to frequently confuse people.

4/6

Headed to Waco. Establishing our new tradition, we go to the Claypot with the Hoffmans. I enjoy my tea, spring roll and jalapeño clay pot.

Mom & Dad had recently completed a remodel of the house. Closed off a door from the kitchen to the dining room, added a pass through, all new appliances, new countertops and extended counters, new cabinets, new tile floors in the kitchen/den, and hallways, new hardwood floors in the dining room, new carpet in the bedrooms, new paint everywhere. It's definitely a bit disorienting. Still recognizable as the house I grew up in, but it certainly takes some getting used to.

4/7

Mom and Dad haven't yet unpacked everything that had been removed for the remodel, so we worked on that. Amazingly it was snowing, which made the trips to and from the storage shed cold and wet.

That's right. Easter snow. Never had a white Christmas, but we get a white Easter. Some since of humor that God fellow has.

Steak for me and Dad for dinner, some kind of shrimp pasta for mom and Rebecca. Becca and I head to Cricket's for a couple of beers.

4/8

Church for Easter, a quick Easter lunch, and then back to Houston for me...

Susie; Shoes; Symphony; Jana Hunter; Chili

3/26

Band practice came a night early due to plans on Tuesday night; this may have been our first time attempting to record.

3/27

So right before South By, Dan had found himself a new girl. She's out of the picture now. But back then it looked serious. She was from San Francisco and thought she was moving to Houston, but then (oh, a couple months ago), she decided she wasn't. But in between, things seemed to be going well.

Anyway, she was in town for a visit, and Dan wanted all his closest friends to meet her, so we met at traditional Sharber gathering point Mi Luna (thankfully on happy-hour-priced Tuesday) for dinner.

The Proletariat was hosting a meet & greet with David Arquette, promoting his new film, with the Black Math Experiment, who had written a song about him, performing. We showed up, but it was too crowded and not really all that interesting, so we left for Poison Girl instead.

3/28

Char had recently gotten some Chuck Taylors, and Cindy was looking for shoes too, so we went shoe shopping. I ended up buying a pair at Urban Outfitters before we dashed off to Goode Co. Burgers for dinner. I've covered it before, but I really dig that place...

3/29

I realized that my size 11 Chucks didn't fit. The boss was out of town, so I took that chance to return them to Urban since they didn't have a size smaller. That and some school stuff made me feel somewhat ineffectual, so I made a run to Target to kill a few birds with one stone (new plastic cups for water, a record crate, presumably something else as well). Then I got back, found out that my friend from the MM list that works at shoes.com had sent me a nice coupon code, so I ordered a pair of Chucks in size 10.

Turns out, they're a bit tight. I can wear them, but prefer to do so when alcohol is involved because I don't notice how uncomfortable they are. I guess I can suffer for fashion sometimes.

3/30

I had to give my yearly talk to the students in our program, which was, as usual, a lame situation. Thankfully, almost no one showed up.

Afterwards, Cindy and I went to the symphony. I honestly don't remember what they played. I seem to recall enjoying it, though, as I usually do.

3/31

Jana Hunter played a good set up at Rudz to promote her quite good new album. Cindy and I were in attendance...

4/1

An e-mail had gone out from my funding agency that the local health sciences trade group was having a chili cookoff. Since I'm rather proud of my cooking, I quickly got in touch with Char and then got us in charge of things.

The fact that the event included lots of free beer didn't hurt.

Anyway, the budget allowed for a couple of test batches, so Char and I started our first one, basing it on Alton Brown's recipe. We did the first batch pretty much by the numbers, browning stew meat (beef, pork, lamb) with peanut oil and salt, then deglazing with beer, adding salsa (although we did a mix of salsa and pico to get some freshness in there), crushed tortilla chips to thicken it, tomatmo paste, homemade chili powder, smoked paprika, canned chipotles, and fresh peppers. Since this was a test batch for our consumption only, we also included some corn and black beans, which is heresy for a contest (a rather silly attitude, I think), but quite nice in my opinion.

Anyway, it turned out well, and Char made some honey cornbread to go with it. We had a good start on the contest...

n over 2 + 7

Way back when, I wrote a post about the formula that determines the lower (and, consequently, upper) age limit that someone can date without it being "creepy". I attributed this to Graham, but he never claimed it originated with him. Based on this comic, I think it's more widespread than I previously realized

Shafted

Apple to loyal customers: "Drop dead."

Addendum, 9/10/2007: I'll expand on this a bit.

Technology both improves and gets cheaper over time. It's almost always true. I recognize this.

However, Apple's pretty predictable in terms of how frequently products get updates, when they get updated, and whether they just get better specs, or whether they are redesigned to some extent. Beyond that, especially with their "consumer electronics" items, i.e. iPods, prices rarely change; you're more likely to just see better capabilities at the same price point.

So if you buy something from Apple the day after it comes out, odds are that it won't be getting better for at least 6 months if not a year, and probably not any cheaper, but if there are price cuts the time frame is similar.

But in the case of the iPhone, after an unprecedented 2 months there was a 33% price drop. $200 off is huge, especially after Apple made it very clear that they didn't want to have a cell phone that gets given away in cereal boxes and such. It's still hard for me to believe.

So I took a gamble that six weeks ago was a good time to buy, and it wasn't.

Beyond those who argue that you can't bitch if you take a risk and it doesn't pan out (which is false), there are those who argue that if you can afford a $600 phone then $200 shouldn't matter to you. That's horseshit. I can manage to afford lots of nice things, but that's only because I try to maximize my money, and that includes not throwing away $200 whenever possible.

There's also the claim that two months of iPhone use and bragging rights were worth $200. To those people, I say that I would have gladly waited it out for $200.

Further, there's the issue of whether this price cut was planned or not. If it wasn't, well, that's the market. But if it was, Apple fleeced their best customers. Not only do they buy the most stuff (I've had 5 macs, 6 iPods, an iPhone, and countless software packages and accessories), but they also are influential in their friends' purchases (I'd have a little more money in the bank if I had a commission for every Mac and iPod I helped sell0. They also fleeced some of there newest customers, who they should be building a trusting relationship with.

So, thankfully, they practiced good business and apologized and gave use $100 in store credit. That's pretty good.

I'd prefer to have the $200. And in cash. That doesn't make me ungrateful. $100 and an apology went a long way toward restoring my faith in a company that makes great products and has yet to screw me over.

Those who complained about the early adopters like myself bitching either a) didn't pay $200 more than they should have or b) have enough money where $200 doesn't matter. Those people can all go fuck themselves.

Idiots who talk about something they can't understand aside, I want to thank Apple for making an overture toward their best customers, myself included. It's not perfect, but I'll take it. And willing or not, I'll probably figure out a way to get that other $100 out of you. Now I just have to figure out whether to take the sales tax from you or form the government.

Expensive drinks and meals with recruiting; Sabrina's birthday; house party

3/19

Another recruiting dinner at school, followed by more free drinks at the Volcano. I don't know why I didn't think about going to an expensive bar on somebody else's tab sooner.

3/20

We had one recruit who ended up staying an extra day, and Merry-Lynn and I were asked to take him to dinner. Since it was only a few of us, I figured it was a good time to go somewhere nice, and selected Benjy's, which I had wanted to go to for a long time, but due to the expense had never actually done so.

It was nice, and had good service. I was most impressed with the appetizer we ordered, tuna steak spring rolls. My steak was enjoyable, as steak always is, but unremarkable. I'd probably try to order something more adventurous if I went there again.

3/23

In celebration of her birthday, Sabrina got a group together to go to Lupe Tortilla. After struggling through the throngs of children that had infected the place, and wandering around its maze-like interior, we eventually found Sab & co. at (where else?) the bar, and so started in on margaritas.

Dinner was good; they had pretty good fajitas. The menu seemed to be making fun of Mexican accents, which struck me as odd.

After that, we moved to Absinthe, down Richmond from the Proletariat. The interior was nice; the bar itself hard little to recommend itself and the crowd seemed fairly midtown. A nice time was had, and perhaps the bar would be appropriate to return to for certain situations, but it's not somewhere I see myself going often.

I do remember there was a beautiful car in the parking lot, though. Either a Ferrari or a Lambo; I can't remember and I don't really pay much attention to car models that I'm very unlikely to every be in the market for. But it was beautiful.

3/24

Dan had lined up a house party for us in a neighborhood near me. It was a benefit for someone; maybe medical bills? I dropped a ten and sort of forgot. Seemed like a fair exchange for access to the keg. It was a pretty cool house, and a pretty cool neighborhood, and a pretty cool party. Thumbs up all around. And Cindy drove so I cut loose a bit. Also cool.

I want to go to more house parties. Maybe I need more friends with houses.

3/25

I continued my 24 DVD addiction, something which would soon fall by the wayside, despite the fact that I have a couple seasons to go, at least.