Hoovesq.

honeymoon pictures

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We need to talk about Las Vegas.

Last week I enjoyed a splendid Bachelor Trip to that fabled locale, as orchestrated by Fleeg - the Best of Men.  It was also attended by Lee, another comrade from the ancient days.  I find it refreshing to spend time with friends from before we all had drivers’ licenses.  I think it’s because such people are simply not impressed by you.  As I see age 30 approach, friends seem to fall in two categories:  Professional-type friends, who only see social relationships as vectors towards new clients or new sales, and Churchy-type friends, who I can’t go gambling with.

And gamble we did.  With a distinct lack of success.  I recall that at one point, Fleeg went on a franctic spree of good hands, winning money as though the chips themselves were replicating by mitosis.  After this, he was only down $20 for the entire trip.

I was modest in setting my limit, having reasoned that if I lost too much, I would come home to find the justification for having a Bachelor Trip suddenly null and void.  I think this was prudent, as I had a lovely time in Vegas and to my knowledge the wedding is still going forward.

Whilst in Vegas, all of our furniture for the apartment arrived.  I did not plan for this.  Rather, I explicity planned contrary to this - lest the angelic hands of my maiden be soiled with the labor of mortals.  But apparently this is the nature of cross-county moving services.  I wish I were exaggerating when I say that Magic 8-Balls are more reliable.

“When will the truck arrive?”  Outlook not so good.

“My desk isn’t here… where is it?”  Concentrate and ask again.

These people lost a desk.  Well, not so much a whole desk, as the 5’ x 3’, half-inch thick slab of solid glass that serves as the top of the desk - like, the part where you put things.  It weighs something like 70 pounds.

It is gone.  Broken?  Stolen?  Delivered to the wrong location?

Reply hazy, try again.

I’ve called several times about it, and I always get the same response:  “Huh.  That’s weird, man.  I dunno.  I’ll backtrack and ask around.  Give me a call tomorrow or sometime.”

Dude.  This isn’t a spatula we’re talking about here.  It’s not some trifle little nicknack that, “it’d be cool if you could look into that for me bro I’ll check witcha later”.  It’s a giant slab of glass!  How do you lose something like that?  Maybe someone just cleaned it really, really well.

So other than my flattened carboard box desktop, the apartment is coming together nicely.  If you haven’t bought us a gift yet, it’s not too late.

innovation... Microsoft style

As a devout Macvangelist, I could never have imagined better anti-PC fodder than this:

The Windows-focused campaign attempts to turn Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads on their head. A new TV ad set to debut during “The Office” on NBC Thursday evening begins with a Microsoft engineer who looks like the PC character in Apple’s ads saying “Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” He’s followed by a montage of real-life PC users, celebrities and Microsoft Windows engineers who all repeat the “I’m a PC” mantra. CNN.

Let’s unpackage this:

In 2006, Apple began their unique, informative and entertaining “I’m a Mac” ads.  They were so popular that, A) they’re still running, B) one of the stars became popular enough to write a book, C) one of the stars became popular enough to be in a Die Hard movie, and D) they created lines-out-the-door at Apple stores across the country.

So here it is, late 2008, and Microsoft needs a new ad campaign.  Maybe they could just, I dunno… INVENT THEIR OWN unique, informative and entertaining ads.  But no - like some Madison Avenue tapeworm, they only managed to latch themselves onto Apple’s intestinal linining, hoping to sustain themselves with Steve’s leftovers.

And let’s not forget that the the last time Microsoft made a clumsy attempt to copy Apple, they created Vista.