Author: RTOlson

Things are pretty quiet around here. I haven’t spoken to anyone in person in more than a day and a half. Sure, I’ve talked to people online, but I just haven’t ventured outside to chat with others.

I’m going to remedy that in a few minutes, but I just thought it interesting that I could go so long without talking.

I was fascinated by tonight’s episode of Scientific American Frontiers. Host Alan Alda followed up on several people who undertook several techniques to lose weight. It was very interesting to see how some coped with different types of weight-loss surgery. While stomach stapling is the most popular surgery, there were some interesting other ways to medically aid dieters.

I think that’s a big difference between commercial TV and PBS. Commercial shows, like talk show Maury Povich, love to show people who are excessively overweight. Maury likes to showcase chubby kids when he’s not trying to find out the fathers of other children. PBS, and some commercial news programs, can provide some insight into these conditions.

Nova is focusing on the history of the Concorde (in the episode “Supersonic Dream”). Amazing to think that we had a commercial SST airplane that could fly a mile every three seconds.

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Note — I saw Desperate Housewives for the first time. Interesting show, but I didn’t think it was as “scandalous” as some make it out to be. Am I the only who thinks the disembodied voice of the narrator is akin to the one in sci-fi series The Outer Limits?

I know, in the case of Desperate Housewives, the narrator is the wife who apparently committed suicide at the series premiere.

Well, now that I’m back in Michigan, it’s time to hunker down and get some real work around the house. I’ve already gone through a lot of magazines, old clothes, old Gazettes, etc.

Still there’s a lot of stuff that I have to go through and cleaning to be done. High on my list is rooting through all the newspapers I’ve accumulated over the past few months. I can’t bear to separate from them without at least skimming through them. I’ll probably keep notes so I can refer to them at some point while recycling them.

Anyway, life goes on.

There’s a discussion going on at TrekBBS about the contents of people’s wallets. The thread was entitled “What’s in your wallet?” like the Capital One credit card commercials.

I cleaned my wallet out last August, but I’ve still got a bit of clutter. Here’s what’s inside:

* Michigan driver’s license
* MetroCard (one-day pass to use NYC mass transit)
* SmarTrip card (electronic pass to use Washington DC Metro mass transit and parking lots)
* San Diego City Library card (with SD County Library sticker). Long expired.
* Blockbuster Rewards card
* First Class Phone Card (U.S. Poster Service/AT&T phone card)
* Wells Fargo cards
* Bank of America card
* University at Buffalo Library Work Station Access Card (to access UB library computers)
* A mini-map of Washington DC from Knight-Ridder (a media company)
* A business card for a Wells Fargo personal banker
* Holiday Station Stores Milk Club card (Buy 12 gallons, get one free). Only bought one so far.
* Directions to get to a friend’s mother’s house in Elkhart, Ind.
* A piece of scrap paper with an e-mail address of Hancock’s photographer on it.
* Certificate of no-fault insurance from State Farm. Expired last Sept.
* Ticket to attend opening reception of Unity 2004 at Union Station in DC on Aug. 4. Unity was a convention for journalists of color.
* Business card for a Philadelphia school official that I met at the Unity reception.
* Punched MARC rail ticket (although it says Amtrak) to travel from BWI Airport outside Baltimore, Md. to DC’s Union Station. Used on 4 Aug 2004.
* Dental insurance card. No good.
* Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance card. Again, no good.
* State Farm car insurance card. Expired in 2002.

There’s lots of memories in my wallet. Much like my dwelling and life itself.

So what’s in your wallet?

HANCOCK, Mich. — I don’t know why this has happened, but I’ve been on the road for President George W. Bush’s two inaugurations. The first time was in 2001 when I was traveling from Poway to Hancock to start work at The Daily Mining Gazette.

This week, I was driving across the Upper Peninsula heading back to Hancock after an extended trip. I got to visit Virginia, DC, New York, friends in Connecticut and Toronto. All-in-all, it was a good trip.

I listened to Bush’s inaugural speech yesterday over Central Michigan University’s radio network. Throughout the entire speech, I was thinking that the message of the speech was “Do as I say, not as I do.” Still, we do live in interesting times.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Apparently, the servers at the University of California, San Diego hosting alumni data has been hacked again. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, this is the third time the servers containing personal data have been hacked in the past few months. Officials were quick to say that this breach was a minor one quickly resolved, but three intrusions doesn’t sound awesome (even if the first big one was just a hacker using the server to host warez or movies or something).

I’m happy that a recent credit check showed my info. to be safe, but geez, maybe they should switch their server platforms to Mac OS X Server. 😉

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — I haven’t forgotten all the little things I was going to write before, but I just was thinking about the different TV shows I watch with my friends. One group of friends I watch BBC’s The Office with and others it’s Coupling.

Interesting that people have different viewing interests and yet I can share them with others. Just thinking out loud, something I do a lot from time to time.

Edit — I also meant to add that very few of my friends want to watch science-fiction programming with me. This is especially evidenced when my friend says, “You can watch anything you want but Stargate.”

It’s sad, really. My sci-fi watching life is a solitary one. 😉

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The cult of Apple seems to be very strong in New York. The vast majority of headphones I see on the subway are iPod headphones and the SoHo Apple Store (two floors!) is packed to the gills. Speaking of Apple, I like their new product releases (the Mac Mini, the iPod Shuffle and iWork). However, that’s at first glance. I’m sure I’ll have a more informed opinion as time goes on.

There’s so much to write about, but not enough time. So until I can correct this in future posts, here’s some thoughts:

– Getting lost in cities.
– Obscure landmarks that only I’m really interested in.
– The irony when Rush Limbaugh says “The problem with listening to complainers is that you’ll eventually become one.”
– Roadside eats.
– Doing stuff for free in NYC.
– Why don’t people put addresses clearly on buildings?
– Not enough time to do stuff.
– Getting places when they’re closed.
– I’m sure there’s stuff I’m missing.
– The Mac Mini — The next low-cost Macintosh LC (generally pretty good) or the next Performa (astonishingly awful)?

More later.

LYNCHBURG, Va. — It’s a really wonderful thing that I don’t gamble very much. If I had money on this past weekend’s NFL games, I would’ve been signing up for the poorhouse (or whatever anyone does at a poorhouse). I went oh-for-four on the weekend’s four games.

It’s true that I was rooting for my favorite teams (San Diego, Denver and Green Bay) to win, but San Diego and Green Bay was favored by many to win. Instead, with Seattle, they were all sent packing (probably not to the poorhouse).

It was an excruciating time to listen to these games on the radio driving down from Michigan. Oh well, that’s why they play the games right? By the way, I’m picking Atlanta to lose all the way to the Super Bowl. 😉

It seems like I just got home and I’m taking off again for parts unknown. There’s a ton of stuff that needs to be done around the house, but I’m basically just throwing my unpacked luggage back into the car and departing.

Good news is that the roads look clear and hopefully there may be opportunities in the path before me (or something like that).