Kurtopia

A Target run last night yielded this little treasure:

The best part is that it’s an "athletic" fit, meaning that I won’t be swimming in it like I am in most Target tees.

Who ya gonna call?

My web host, DreamHost, is carbon neutral!  See?

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Originally uploaded by Kurtopia

I like the view from the floor my new (temporary) office is on.

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Originally uploaded by Kurtopia

Can you believe that they do this on their own?

Back in January, I received a notice from the Philadelphia Parking Authority advising me that I had an unpaid parking ticket, along with a subsequent late fee attached.  The ticket was apparently issued at 10:17 am on Friday, December 14, 2007, for an expired meter on the 1500 block of West Cecil B Moore Ave, which is way the hell up in North Philly.  Looking back at my calendar, I was 99% certain that I was at work that day, and even if I wasn’t, there’s absolutely no reason why I would have been in that area of the city.  Thinking that there was some sort of clerical error, I ticked the checkbox to request a hearing to dispute the ticket, and letter received a letter indicating that my hearing was set for Friday, March 7, at 9:45 am.

I arrived and checked in for my hearing, then I waited nervously (because unfamiliar situations almost always make me nervous).  When it was finally my turn, I met with a hearing officer, who after a few basic questions asked me if I was there for a refund.  I hadn’t paid anything, so I told her that I was there to dispute the ticket.  I didn’t have any evidence, but explained to her that I believed the whole thing to be some kind of clerical error.  She explained that I couldn’t get a refund without any evidence.  Confused, I told her that I hadn’t paid anything, to which she replied, "Well, someone did, because it’s paid."  Huh.

I assume that whoever got the physical ticket that fateful December day eventually paid the fine, and did so online, else how would he or she have known that the late fee had been assessed?  Regardless, I had no idea that it was, in fact, paid in full, and that I was, in fact, completely wasting my time.

Oh, bureaucracy.

I’ve been a little obsessed with Emma Bunton’s recording of Crickets Sing for Anamaria.  (Yes, I’m talking about Baby Spice of the Spice Girls.)  Pete Glow put it on a mix CD he made a while back, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it ever since.  Turns out that the video is a lot of fun, too.

I have Netflix.  I have a Vista Media Center PC.  So I’m stoked to try out the MyNetflix plugin, as described over at Gmedia.

I need to use my media center PC more.  And by "more," I mean at all.

I’m a little late posting about this, but something amazing happened a few months ago — I achieved my Holy Grail of integration.  I’m referring to using my Samsung BlackJack smart phone not only as a phone and PDA, but also as an MP3 player.  Now, this may not seem like such an impressive feat, but getting the MP3 functionality to work just the way I wanted required finding just the right device.

That device turned out to be the Motorola MOTOROKR S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones.  The first thing to note about these headphones is that, through the wonder of Bluetooth technology, they are wireless!  No messing with annoying cords from the headset to my phone.  Second, the headphones have controls, allowing you to stop, pause, advance the track, go to the previous track, adjust the volume, and even answer a call, all without touching the phone.  Glorious!

This simple device has revolutionized my commute.  When I once would bury my head in my phone playing solitaire (which gets old pretty fast, let me tell you), I now rock out to my favorite tunes!  Okay, so I don’t “rock out.”  I’m sure I look just as miserable as everyone else!  But it’s what’s on the inside that counts.  And on the inside, I am indeed rocking out.

The only drawback is that the Bluetooth communication seems to almost cripple my poor BlackJack.  Trying to do anything else on the phone while listening to music can be painfully slow, and can also make the music stutter at the same time.  And while the performance is generally great while I’m on the subway, above ground is a different story.  I don’t know if it’s a result of my phone trying to check email or the collision of various wireless “stuff” flying through the air (or both!), but the music tends to stutter a lot when I’m on top of terra firma.  While the execution may not be the best with my particular setup, I still love the technology.  It may push the limits of my trusty BlackJack, but I’m sure a slightly beefier phone would handle it without breaking a sweat.  Besides, it works best when I need it most: when I’m being shipped around underground from Old City to University City.

My mom sent me the video below.  Leave it to my mom to send me videos of animals doing things they’re really not supposed to.

Seeing as how I last posted on January 10, I’ve decided to designate the month of March as “A Post A Day” month!  (Cue thunderous applause.)  As you may deduce from the name, I will come up with something to post every day, no matter how meaningless, boring, or just plain stupid it is.  (And believe me… posts will be stupid!)

To start off, I want to draw your attention to a t-shirt on ThinkGeek:

This must be mine.