strange bedfellows

Because of XM Radio's well-publicized financial problems, I haven't been surprised to see changes in their radio lineup (wreaking havoc with my preset buttons, but it's not all about me). So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the traffic and weather channels would change.

But what a change! Looking for the channel with Seattle traffic while stuck in same last night, I found that it now combines Seattle and San Francisco traffic and weather. Well, that would be quite a commute.

Curiosity led me to listen to the other traffic stations and discover additional weird combos:

Atlanta and Miami
Phoenix and San Diego
Chicago and St. Louis
Pittsburgh and Minneapolis
(my favorite) Las Vegas and Detroit

Not to mention the fundamental weirdness of listening to a traffic report for San Francisco while driving in the dark in Seattle.

Yes, I can see that broadcasting the Calendrier Sportif reduces the number of weather and traffic channel space available. Did XM acquire this along with Howard Stern when they combined with Sirius? I hope they received something more useful.

the real reason that dinosaurs became extinct

Their eyesight was too #*%*% crappy to use text messages effectively.

Really.

I have been trying to use this thing called Twitter (where I am, creatively, "tdgor"), and my texting ability is severely limited by my inability to see the buttons on the damn phone.

This is sad.

what ARE they teaching them in school?

I believe I understand what the school is getting at here, but I'd like to see schoolteachers speak more clearly than this.

col. mustard, in the pantry, with a lead pipe

I actually am beginning to think that it would be interesting to be a network administrator.

Nothing in my training or experience to date has given me the tools to solve this conundrum:

Our server has Windows Server 2003, which is (of course) not quite the same thing as Windows Small Business Server 2003. SBS 2003 has Windows Server 2003 as one component, but it also has added stuff (if you trust the word of Wikipedia). SBS 2003 is not automatically compatible with Windows Vista on the client OSes (speaking of clients in the network sense and not the legal sense here). There is little material available on Server 2003 compatibility with Vista, but by inference it might need the same patch. But I'm not sure.

Our server also has SQL Server 2000, which is apparently also not compatible with Windows Vista for client OSes (if you trust the word of Microsoft).

Our network includes at least four Windows Vista machines, one of which is Home Premium and not Business, a bunch of XP machines, and a Mac running Windows on a VM. I sincerely hope no one is still using Windows 98, but I wouldn't be too surprised.

If we upgrade SQL Server too much, I'm concerned it will not be compatible with Windows Server (is anyone still following me?).

And what's going to happen when people start upgrading to Windows 7?

Maybe I should just quietly switch the server over to Ubuntu.

May I please go back to practicing law now?

full circle

First, there was the Walkman (circa 1979 or so). It was cool. But I owned a turntable (and an 8-track tape deck). I was in law school and poor. So I didn't buy one.

Next, there was the Discman. It was cool. But by then I had replaced my turntable with a cassette tape player, and I didn't want to replace all my replacement cassettes with CDs. So I didn't buy one.

Then, there was the iPod. It was cool. But I had started buying replacement CDs, and hadn't emotionally accepted the notion of buying my music in electronic format (because I didn't have the capability to rip CDs at the time). So I didn't buy one.

This Christmas, my family gave me a 120 GB Zune, which I might note has more storage capacity than my workhorse office computer (and probably is close to the capacity of our server). It is way cool.

Fry's is now advertising a turntable that plugs into one's USB drive to enable one to convert one's vinyl records direct-to-digital. (Meanwhile, thirty years have passed.)

Now, where did I put that copy of Tommy?

why i don't do numbers

Why was a first-year associate doing this kind of stuff with Excel? Who was proofreading?

How embarrassing, but there but for the grace of God go I.

if i haven't posted this before, I should have

this is sad

Florida judges think intuitively, not logically.

It's so hard to be a logical person in this world (says the INTJ).

kali sara

Saint Sarah is venerated by the Roma. The name Kali Sara is a reminder that the Roma's first origins were in India. I could go on and on about this.

I was very excited to find this clip on YouTube. "Latcho Drom," the source of this clip, is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Oh, I can't resist.

Here's another one, though it has nothing to do with Kali Sara. It's just another clip from "Latcho Drom." Enjoy.

how many times do i have to tell you?

As reported by law.com this week, more attractive lawyers make more money.

Look! I reported on this on 6/20/2005! Get with it, people!

forgiving versus forgetting

Back when I was just a young dakini, and the prime rate was 20%, I found myself partway through Columbia University School of Law with a reduced scholarship for my third and final year.

I put myself through law school. My parents were both retired, and my dad was old and sick, when I entered law school, and the only financial support they were able to give me was $200 when I set off for New York City. By my last year in law school, I had no savings left, despite having a nice job in Manhattan the summer before my third year in law school.

I knew the score. I'd met a cab driver who told me he'd completed one year at Columbia Law School, and I had no reason to doubt him. I needed to finish my law degree to get a license to practice law.

When I protested to the financial aid director of the law school at the time (one John B. Snook), his response was, "Have your parents sell their house. You can buy them a new house after you graduate." The timing of this "advice" was particularly bad, since my dad had just had brain surgery, and was diagnosed with a previously-undetected case of prostate cancer immediately after the surgery.

Of course, I didn't even ask my folks about selling their house. It wasn't like they owned a palatial estate in Westchester. It was a modest three-bedroom house in a little factory town where no one lives unless they have to. I worked during the school year my last year in school, which brought my grades down, but I did finish with my class. And I made a solemn vow that I would never, ever donate a penny to Columbia.

I've made peace with this over the years--to some extent--but I will not break my vow. It was the only action that I felt I could take at the time to fight back against an interaction that I felt to be downright cruel. I've certainly seen greater acts of cruelty than this over the years, and in fact I'd now downgrade this to "callously insensitive." Nevertheless.

Now I am in receipt of a letter from the 25th Reunion Committee from my class at Columbia telling me that I have a "responsibility to give back" to Columbia. To which my politest possible response is, "I don't think so." I will forgive, but I won't forget.

feeling cocky about being technosavvy?

The picture above was taken by a 10-year-old. With a cell phone.

"smelly fan blows wind on pirates. run!"

Everything you need to know about the new international radiation symbol.

subversive cross stitch update

I hereby certify that the foregoing item is, in fact, currently on display in my office.

It is, however, arranged so that clients cannot see it easily.

why computers are occasionally pounded into their original components of silicone (or silicon, thanks Jay)

Palm has finally created a version Palm Desktop that is Windows-Vista compatible.

But it isn't compatible with my Treo 650.

I do not want to purchase another gadget right now.

I would really, really like to pound my laptop with my Treo right now.

That wouldn't be very mature.