The Gripes of Wrath

Getting a new computer is like buying a new house. Yes, your quality of life will improve (one would hope) but not for several weeks while you move and unpack all the boxes of stuff from your old house, not to mention putting all the dishes and books on the shelves in the way you liked them before. Oh, and this perfectly good couch will have to be replaced because it doesn’t go with your new living room. Trying to get this beast up to the point where I could go about my daily routine has ruled the weeknights of Joe and I for the past 3 days. I’m going to have to reset literally scores of passwords, but the worst of it is that I no longer have a working scanner. It’s a good thing I got such a good deal (thanks Joe) on the basics, because here’s what I’ll be buying in the near future:

A bigger scanner
A studeo quality microphone
Some kind of interface for the mic (and possibly other instruments like a keyboard), which may or may not be called a preamp (clearly I have more research to do)
A TV card so that I can convert my VHS tapes to DVD (maybe this could be the same device a mic plugs into?).

If anyone has advice I’m up for it.

I did have the bonus of getting a larger moniter for free. Hooray! So as soon as I get a new scanner I’ll be posting some new The Horribles. I’ve had a few good ideas over the past week, and have been catching up on my Cat and Girl.

I shouldn’t talk about work too much because I’m always on this site clicking my fave blogs to the right (notice that pz myers has been added) but I had a conversation with the woman next to me like this:

Lady to the left: Do you know what animal reproduces without sex?

Me: Uh…the amoeba.

What’s an amoeba?

A tiny single-celled animal. It reproduces by splitting up into two animals. But the two animals are basically clones. There is no variation like there is with animals that reproduce sexually.

Oh. But there is another one.

What is it?

The peacock.

No, that’s not true.

Yes, when the peacock sees its legs, it cries.

(a telephone call interrupts the conversation. The call ends, and this travesty resumes)

Me: You were saying about the peacock?

Lady to the left: Yes, when the peacock sees its legs, it cries. The teardrops fall onto the ground and then the peacock eats them, and it gets pregnant.

Where did you hear that?

I just heard it.
Uh…that may be in a book somewhere but it is not reality.

Somebody told me that.

Well somebody was not telling the truth.

This is a person who lives and works in Canada and is older than me and raises children.