Monday 22 October 2001

Pic of the day: Autumn leaves. (Actually, autumn is just coming, but you know what I mean.)

Business as unusual

I came home from work and looked in my (physical) mailbox. There was a small packet, seemingly some kind of unsolicited product demo. I dropped it gingerly in the outdoors bin, unopened, and washed my hands thoroughly. It is probably no big loss. I hear that in Sweden, American Express has sent out ca 10,000 packets containing a white powder (fake snow) and a letter of advertisement. Heh. Verily I say, heh. Peccable timing.

In the USA, sales of sleeping pills and antidepressants soar. I read that there is some heavy advertising on the TV, hinting that if you experience replay of worst case scenarios in your head, you suffer from a general anxiety disorder and should ask your doc for a certain brand of pills. Heh again. Business as unusual.

In Salt Lake City, they are stocking up on antibiotics for the Olympic Games. (How can there possibly be winter games in the middle of the desert?) Several of our top athletes still consider staying home. It just ain't worth going risking your life for going to the Games. (As if they don't do that already, the way they run themselves.)

***

On a more peaceful note, I got the battery pack for my old portable. I killed the old battery pack because I had somehow got the impression that it would stop charging the batteries when they were full. Evidently the old rule still holds, that you should only charge them until they are fully charged, then use the batteries until they are almost flat. Oh well. Live and learn. The new pack seems to work fine.

I also bought a new external power supply to that machine a while ago, because the cord was broken (and is, of course, not sold separately). The machine only got power when the connector was pressed to the right side. Almost needless to say, it wasn't the cord. It was the machine. It is not really irritating any more. It is just too comical. I wonder what will fail next. The screen perhap? It already shows a faint inkblot-like pattern of weaker light. I don't notice it unless the screen is a uniform color, though. But I guess it may be a sign of things to come. Remember, when you see the word Toshiba, think "cheap and shoddy". At least it was cheap when I bought it, even though it costs a bit more in the long run.

I've had three computers now that were faulty from the start but the shops (three different shops) weasel out and insist the machines were OK when they sold them. I think perhaps God is trying to show me something. Such as that the local computer suppliers are lying bastards? Oh wait, that would probably not be God's job to show. I'm sure he's delegated that to a much lower instance. :)

Oh, and speaking of God, I went to the DVD store and told them that they had given me King of Dreams in the cover of Prince of Egypt, and I asked if they could now give me Prince of Egypt in the cover of King of Dreams. But they did not have Prince of Egypt. The entire batch they had received were all of the other movie, and they had not noticed until I told them. Heh. Glad to be of service!

***

Did y'all know that I have a book autographed by Grete Waitz, the famous marathon queen? Yes indeed, and I got it for nothing. And I certainly did not run marathon to get it either. I won it in some kinda lottery where, I suspect, there were very few other participants. It was during the previous yuppie boom. Well, actually more towards the end, I think, because the publication did not last all that long. Anyway, it's a funny little book. "Stress ned, kom i form" - that would translate "stress down, get in shape". Heh. Timely discovery in my dusty bookshelf!

The book contains lots of human thoughts, including some truly nifty aphorisms, such as: The sad thing about love is that it can't be bought at the drugstore. Or this one: The terrible thing is that when we seek the truth, we find it. And not least: Your enemies are not hurt by your irritation. You are. This one is even true, unless your irritation grows to something a lot more than irritation! I found it strangely relevant.