Thursday 4 January 2001

Pic of the day: There are countless computers in the world, but only one is my Cassie!

Commuting with Cassie

I woke up to music blaring from my clock radio. My six hours of sleep were over. After a couple minutes, the news came on. Today: The labor unions don't do enough for immigrant workers! Duh.

The news ended, and I sat on the edge of my bed for a while I gathered the strength of will and body to get to my feet. I also gathered my Cassiopeia E-125. (I had been writing in bed again.) A bit later, I was at the PC, checking my online planet and e-mail while Cassiopeia in her cradle downloaded the AvantGo pages. I guess I could let Cassie take my e-mail too, but then I would have to use Outlook. I prefer Agent. It was just mailing lists and spam today again. (Then again, I haven't sent much lately either.) After feeding body and brain (and handheld computer), I went off to work.

***

There's a 12-13 minutes walk from where I live to the bus stop. Again I was amazed by the fact that I could walk straight up the little hill, where half a year ago I had to stop and catch my breath at least once while I waited for my heart to slow down. I don't feel more healthy now, only half a year older. Could 5-10 kg really mean that much? I'm sure I sometimes carry that much groceries home on a Saturday. It's not exactly weight lifting, and when it was distributed all over my body it should be that much easier to carry. Strange, strange.

Was it all in my mind? Where does indeed the mind end and the body begin?

***

Reading the newspapers on the bus will not be the same again. Newspapers made from dead wood attract attention by their sheer size. Cassie lies lightly in my left hand, and I can scroll with the little thumbwheel. To follow a link, I just tap it with a fingernail. (There is also a stylish stylus, but I have these nails anyway. They are nice for scratching.) The AvantGo pages are normal HMTL (web) pages, so there is no learning curve.

The big news of the day was of course the US Federal Reserve's sudden lowering of the interest rates over there, and the stock market rally that followed, particularly on Nasdaq. I was surprised to see that the papers wrote as if this was the end of the downward trend. To me it seems obvious that this is just a slowing of the fall. A welcome break for a bear market on the verge of breaking into panic. But the broader indicators say that the markets shall further down. I wish that could happen in a worthy manner, but it is hard to think of any way to get down to realistic share prices without triggering some kind of recession. So many people have so much of their savings in shares, it is bound to shake consumer confidence.

The USA has had a long boom, and to young people and those of short memory, it may seem like this was the natural state of things. But even the Energizer Bunny can't go on and on forever.

Oh, and incidentally, the Wall Street Journal. I'm sure it is better than nothing, but its conservatism is a bit on the zealous side for my taste. They are certainly entitled to their opinions, which I largely share (tax cuts, if given during a recession, is a Good Thing) but there is no reason to use emotionally loaded words all the time. Once or twice is understandable. But again and again? If you cannot talk about your political allies or opponents in a factual tone, you destroy your credibility and become a preacher to the choir. Or at least to the church. Go read The Economist to learn how to do this thing right. Backing up with fact and logic beats sneering disdain any day, and particularly when you actually have a case.

***

Having to work really eats up a day, you know. All too soon the bus trip was over, and I had to at least look useful. My work is not exactly taxing, but I still get sleepy after some hours of reading, writing and thinking. Some brief walks and streeetching helped. Another alternative of course would be to get enough sleep at home. Yeah, very realistic.

At least I'm not bound to my chair. In fact, part of my job is going around to the computer users and help them with their problems and give them advice. Formally I am a consultant ("konsulent" in Norwegian) but almost all bureaucrats are that now. Many of my coworkers are even "premier consultants". Heh. I guess it beats giving us more money. But for me the name actually is pretty apt. I am often stopped on my way to or from a coworkers office by someone else who also has a problem. It's nice to have Cassie in my shirt pocket, to take down notes. I could even talk to her, but it looks even cornier than jotting down notes and to-do items.

For lunch I went out to McDonalds, for the first time in weeks. The Asian girl wished me a happy new year, and I bought a McRoma. Never seen them before. It's Italian Weeks at our McDonalds now. And despite lacking the advertised cheese, this burger was quite tasty. One of the better I have ever tasted. Then again, I overall prefer Italian food. Don't ask me why. It just tastes better. The herbs dressing was so much better than catsoup, and even the bread smelled of herbs. Yummy. If I don't get sick shortly, I am likely to return for more. Too bad it won't be a regular part of their menu. I made a quick keyword on Cassie to make sure I remembered. Old people do grow forgetful of details, you know.

After work I went to the supermarket and bought some yoghurt and cookies. I also looked at some meat. There is lots and lots of meats now. For some reason, much of it is turkey. It seems turkey has really made it to Norway big time. It is supposedly a leaner meat, but I bet it must be cheap too, or they would not promote it like that. Several kinds of turkey sausages??

I looked at all the food and thought about energy density in our food, and history. But that's really a whole topic in itself. Perhaps later.

I still had some unread news on Cassie, so the bus trip home went much like the bus trip to town. Usually I fall asleep on the bus, but this time I was too interested. I'm sure that won't become a habit. I can only stretch a fad that far without refreshing it in some way.

***

There sure won't be much new parts for Cassie this coming month, at least. In my mailbox was the monhtly letter from the credit card company. You may remember that I used that during the Christmas shopping. Well, well. It was approximately as bad as I had expected. Nothing that should get me blacklisted or dragged to court, but I won't be able to pay it all off at once. That's OK - SuperWoman won't be back for a few months. :)

And in the meantime, I guess Cassie could get a small keyboard and a micro disk and ... and ...