meta-blogging again: at what point does the recursive loop of a blog discussion of blogs and the state of blogging rip a hole in the spacetime fabric and produce a black hole?

hey, what's that sucking sound...

~~

So I had mentioned to a friend of mine (when the subject happened to come up, re: blogs, updates, how it can get to be a pain in the ass) that the only way to build up an audience-- even just a small blog audience-- is to update daily. I call this the "Tayler Principle", though of course I invite Howard to come up with his own name for it.

Howard Tayler is the guy that writes/channels/draws Schlock Mercenary (I know I've dropped a link or two to that one around here somewhere) and he has updated that comic every single day since June 12, 2000.

Every Damn Day. For 5 Years. And Counting.

You want an audience? You gotta do the same damn thing.

I forget when I first stumbled across Schlock, but I remember writing about it for tabulas, so it's been within the past couple of years. I read a couple of the (then) recent comics, then went back to read the whole thing from the beginning... oh my, it was rough. But he stuck with it.

so the first corrollary to the Tayler Principle is:
It doesn't matter how rough things are, if you're doing the same thing every day, then you'll improve despite yourself.

Howard has gone from something that looks like it was coughed out of MS Paint, to some very solid artwork (I might even call it pretty, in a web comic-y kind of way) and is now in the final stretch of self publishing his own graphic novel.

A small media empire, built one day at a time.

##

Some blogs have themes, or missions, or agendas. These folks are determined: they have their own domain name, slick formatting, pages and pages of updates and archives, they link sources like crazy. This small fraction of the entire bloggomass are what might be termed "web journalists" (A Journalist in the newspaper/radio/tv/reporter vein, as opposed to merely 'one who keeps a journal')

However, the vast majority of web logs are set up and run by folks like me (and you, likely) and we're just posting crap. (at least, I'm posting crap. If you want to delude yourself about what you post, go right ahead.)

Even at that, if I were to update everyday, crap would eventually turn into content. I'd develop regular features. Folks would see fit to comment on my drunken rantings. A one-off rant would turn into a regular column. A joke dialog added to the bottom of one post would become a recurring 'character' in later entries. A stream of consciousness entry would become a fiction project. Eventually I'd have my own lexicon, turns-of-phrase that I coined, and re-use, to the point that people are throwing the same bad puns back at me in the comments.

I think Wil Wheaton's blog is a fine example of an evolved personal blog. (Granted, he had a hook to draw in his first readers, but IMO he succeeded despite that. I think when they eventually write his obit, they will mention the impact he had on blogging, maybe even before they get around to that role he had in a so-so syndicated TV show... or not.)

I'm thinking, I'm somewhere in the middle of this process. I need to figure out why I waste my free time typing missives to the uncaring internets. Then I should emulate Tayler-sensei a bit, and take whatever it is I'd like to do, and do it every damn day.

well, it seems the coffee is finally taking hold, which is good because I've been awake for six hours already and I'd hate to sleepwalk through the entire day.

I'm somewhere in the middle of my first lunch break-- when you're scheduled for a 13hr. shift, there are all kinds of breaks, first and primarily, because they don't want to pay me overtime, and second, mostly to keep me from going nuts. ("ah, but don't they realize that you're nuts already?")

This one is the longer break. I had shit to do around the dept. this morning, it had to be done before we opened, so I was there at 7am-- not quite bright and eager, but there. I managed to sneak out before 10, I'll be back around 1ish to work the mid-shift, and with a bit of luck I'll be home at least 30 minutes before my systems crash this evening and I fall asleep (on my feet, if I happen to be standing at the time)

The fun part of work today? The department is a mess, every display changed for the new May promotions (they just changed; that's what I was doing not more than a couple hours ago) and as a super-happy-fun-bonus, the district manager is going to be spending the afternoon in our store. If I were less tired, I might be more worried, but I am channelling a very spectacular strain of apathy at the moment.

##

I was going to write fiction during this little block, but I can't seem to access that chunk of my brain this morning. Well, I suppose I could always write something, but I want to let that scene ferment a bit longer before popping the top on it-- anything I wrote right now I'd just be re-writing tomorrow.

I've been spending my bar time writing outlines. ("Bar time". mm yes. I firmly believe that the time one spends drinking beer in the pub will not be deducted from your total lifespan. It's free, beautiful, and separate from our humdrum everyday usual crap.) (The liver damage and second hand smoke kinda cancel out the increased life expectancy, tho, so...) So I'm knee deep, brain-wise, in the little adventures that I plan to put our fantasy heroes through. I should be good to go. But in the back of my mind, I'm also getting these ideas for the other project, Busted Seventh. I like the idea of taking that one towards a full-blown noir direction; maybe I'll even go so far as to read a couple of 40s pulps just to get the tone right.

It could be that the next fiction update will be a chapter with Mitch, while we leave Trey out of the loop for a bit. (I should be doing both, maybe. I should be writing something, anyway.)

In an effort to get more done on this front (I'd like to get to the end of one of these damn books sometime this year) I think I just need to put ass-in-chair and write. Even if I'm just writing excuses like this to the blog. Since I know that fiction ends up being only a small fraction of my output, the only chance for more fiction is more overall verbiage.

##

one last observation before I post:

I had occasion to pick up a copy of Maxim the other day, for the first time in quite a while, and it occurred to me whilst reading the articles, in particular the short reviews and other 'boxes' that tend to populate its pages, (as opposed to real articles, of which they have a few) that Maxim is just a blog.

It's a blog with an editor, true. And an art department. And pictures of mostly naked young women. But the content, topics, tone, and overall quality of the writing?

I caught myself saying, "Hell, I could write this crap" followed immediately by "wait. I think I'm already writing this crap."

This is why I think eventually, Maxim may become obsolete. If it isn't already. There is no journalistic reason for it to exist; if you want album, movie, and game reviews you can find much better info on internet sites. The pictures are OK, though the main draw there is the psuedo-celebrity status of most of the models ("as seen for five minutes on that show over on that network that no one has heard of!"). I think that no matter how good it may have been (or seemed) when it started, it's now just a third rate, dead-tree blog with no focus, limited usefulness, and a $8 price tag.

Maybe some read it for the wardrobe suggestions that crop up in the last ten pages or so? (never understood that)

One item of note: interview tomorrow with the DM re: something. Next step up, I guess. The thing is, I like running the music department. I like the team we have in place at the bookstore, and I like my current commute (and by extension, my current apartment). I don't know that I'll make much more money (at least right away) if I do make the move back to the bookfloor, particularly if it means moving to a different store.

...so I find myself considering going into a job interview to say "thanks, but um, maybe next year?"

There were no clean coffee mugs this morning (I only own three; note to self: buy more coffee mugs) which I only remembered after brewing a pot of coffee (starbucks verona, not that I'm recommending it, but hey if they want to give away samples I'll take 'em). So rather than do dishes, I just got out a pint glass.

mmmm.... pints of coffee. I'd be drinking at least 2 cups anyway, right? Besides, I own like 3 dozen pint glasses. For, um... milk. Yeah, that's it. does a body good.

This is all just a setup for the rest of the entry.

- Normally on my day off I'd be popping open a beer around this time in the morning (because I can, dammit) but alas, today we have no beer on hand. So, coffee. The caffiene is not a good substitute, but I needed a little something to get the engines revving.

- Normally on my day off, I'd be sitting in a back corner of the local coffee shop, enjoying a cuppa or an iced coffee or the like while I check email and take care of various online odds and ends.

These two premises are not contradictory; much like the deal with schrodinger's cat, both statements are equally correct. Beer vs. Coffeeshop: The only way to know which outcome obtains on a particular morning is to open the box. To carry the analogy one step further (can one make an analogy with a metaphoric thought experiment?) today's results would be like opening the box and finding a puppy.

First, today isn't my day off. Or at least, it wasn't until yesterday. I swapped shifts so I could be in the store this upcoming Friday (one of the Lord High Muckety-mucks from corporate will be stopping by) (note to self: do not use the phrase 'Lord High Muckety-muck' this Friday) so it'd likely be best for me to attend in person so I can spin apologize excuse present my department's sales inititives. Yeah, sales inititives, that's what we're doing.

Second, I likely would be having a beer this morning if I had something more than say $5 in my checking account. As it is, well, I haven't had any beer in a few days because some drunk bastard drank them all this weekend. (oh wait. that was me.) My liver is enjoying the respite, I'm sure, but we'll take of that soon-- likely Friday night after work. (heh heh heh. It has no idea what it's in for. ) Oh, I suppose I could afford to waste this morning down at Caribou Coffee, but why pay 2 or 3 bucks when I have the coffee here? I don't usually stock coffee in the cupboard, but these free sample packs are great, they make one pot each. And hey: free.

(I better do something with the rest of that coffee before I drink the whole damn pot)

I was going to write this morning (write the novel, smartass, I realize that *this* also counts as writing) and I hope to get to that this afternoon, but instead I've been wasting time. I've mentioned before that I suffer (as does my book) from world builder's syndrome, where one spends more time on the setting, background, etc. and not-so-much with the actual novel writing. Instead of writing, I've been reading-and-halfheartedly-updating a few of my notes. If I get really ambitious I suppose I'll work on the world map.

How is the novel going? Hm. How to phrase this? I have a small problem, that frankly is trivial and dare I say, invisible to the reader. My setting is urban (a medieval/renaissance sort-of urban) and I likely will send my MC to at least two cities; anyway, there will be two main cities. He and his friends will play a role in how these two cities will be interacting in the future story, if not in this novel then in the next. It doesn't really matter which of the two I start in, to an extent, and the story will progress in more or less the same fashion either way. I could flip a coin. But there are a lot of details (ref. world builder syndrome) that will need to be corrected and aligned depending on this one decision.

"oh, just pick one. you can rewrite it later."
Easy for you to say, bub. This isn't like a name change you can do with a global-search-and-replace. The details are subtle, and will be woven in all over the place.
"you whine too much. how hard could it get?"
shut up, you. I know what I'm doing.

My task for today is to pick a setting. Did you want to know the options? Eh, why not:

Pontis
Principality, with a loose hegemony over 3 client cities
Location: On the island of Altis, commanding an excellent bay leading into the Amphital Sea, grid x6.2 y5.4
Population: 641400
NDF: Greek word for 'sea', Latin word for 'bridge'
Pontis is the closest thing to a major power the region can boast of, not because of its area of influence (the Capel Merchants League would get the nod here) or because of its military power or population, or even the Academy that exists here. Pontis is, quite simply, the largest port and most important trade city in the world of The Middle Seas. Everything, from commodities to finished goods to contraband, makes its way through the warehouses and wharves (or back alleys and black markets) of Pontis. Pontis has only one true ally: Avensis, ruled by the cousin of the Prince of Pontis (though Avensis isn't even on the same island). Two nearby seaports, Demos and Scala, have been pulled into the Pontesian sphere of influence, though these are not allies, being subject to involuntary 'trade agreements'. Pontis has forced these seaports to close, and in essence, pays they to keep their harbors closed and warehouses empty. The enterprising merchants of Demos, restricted by treaty from trading with ships, are running teams of wagons on all the major roads, becoming a common sight on the Island of Altis. This novel approach is actually working, and the Teamsters of the Dem may soon corner the market on the agricultural trade on the island (and increasingly, on several nearby islands as well). Scala is mounting a different resistance, one with military implications. Small groups, led by the waning merchant houses, are contemplating terrorist acts to break the trade treaty. Pontis, as a large trade and cultural center, is home to one of the major schools of magic.

Tifalis
Independent Duchy; the Duke's seat is in the city of the same name.
Location: The city is on the southern tip of Altis, facing into the sea of Tigal, grid x5.7 y4.2
Population: 101100
NDF: original.
The Duchy of Tifalis is a wine producer of some note, and because of the patronage of its duke and other notables, also known as a haven for the arts. The duchy itself is largely bucolic, with no cities of major size other than the seat, but it does enjoy the benefits of some rich farmland and has a sizable population. The duke maintains a palace in the countryside, where he spends much of his time, but the House of Government in Tifalis is home to his council of advisors, and that is where the day to day ruling of the Duchy takes place. The city of Tifalis is known as the Evening Star, because the city comes alive with the lights of taverns and the lanterns on every street. Unlike most (nearly all) cities, even some shops stay open late, to keep up with the crowds. Tifalis also has two open air theaters, the sort not really seen this far away from the old Imperium, and an odd sort of structure not seen anywhere else, an enclosed building (also called a theater) with a raised stage for the performance of drama and comedy. Some conservative types look askance at Tifalis, with its nightly entertainment and the abundance of wine, but most others look forward to making port here, and Tifalis is alone in being a site for tourism, not just immigration or pilgrimage. (Quite a few sea captains will make up some excuse to stop at Tifalis if they happen to be within half a day of sailing by.)

I've noticed a tendency (won't call it a trend, not that widespread) for some folks who get into the blogging thing, and get some benefit from it, to withdraw after a time to either private web pages or some sort of friends-only option (which Roy kindly provides us here on tabulas) as they notice that folks actually read the crap they post.

The blog, much like nicotine, is something I can take or leave. The occasional long gaps between entries as demonstrated in this very space should be proof of that. I can't speak to the experience of others, but I know that the internet, the connected-ness and immediacy of it, can prove to be powerful draws. --World of Warcraft, et. al. actually tap that feeling and manage to charge you $20 a month or so for it. (I can't comment, my current laptop won't quite run WoW.)

For me, I know the option of blogging something as opposed to internalizing and obsessing over it ends up being very handy, and likely good for my emotional health. A paper journal might serve the same purpose, but I like the idea that all this is public-- even if 'public' in this case really only amounts to a very small (infintessimal) subset of the actual available audience out there. It combines a journal with the confessional, an opportunity to absolve sin by sharing sin.

I write about all kinds of shit. The 'jokes' about alcoholism, for example, might get me fired in some contexts, because I ride a very fine line on that one-- and if someone chose to take my statements at bald face value, if nothing else I'd find myself in some sort of probationary situation. I use exaggeration as a literary device; even so, I drink an awful lot -- on my own time.

Let me note here an unfortunate trend amongst employers to increasingly conflate personal time with professional time. What I do to live should never be confused with what I do for a living. But here we are. The 'performers' at the Disney theme parks can likely speak to this point, in spades.

I should also say that I'll persevere in posting my private life to the general internets even though I know [*gasp*] that my parents are reading this.

aside: OK, at this point, I can't say for sure that my parents are regular readers. Let me just say that, my Dad works for a particular company, and the hit logs are telling me that I'm getting repeat business from one of that company's IPs... and if he were to email Mom with a link, I'm also getting hits from an email client running on the ISP I know they subscribe to. So. I'm no detective, but

Hi Mom & Dad!

How does this change what I write? I don't know that it ever will. Given the emotional dynamics of my familial relationships (and I'm not gonna knock it) it may be years or decades before some sort of conversation takes place where one of my folks starts off, "hey, I was reading your blog the other day..."

How public can I get? I write under an obvious 'pseudonym' but even so, my picture is posted a couple-three times around here, I wouldn't be that hard to track down...

eh. whatever. At least for me, in my life, in this context, Conan O'Brien could read my blog entries each Monday night to a national TV audience and I don't think I'd give a shit either way.

I've been listening to a fair amount of funk recently, particularly stuff without vocals (Afroskull, LaFayette Afro Rock Band, Brick, & some AWB, BS&T, EW&F, and of course any 12min. version of a song is going to be about 8min. worth of instrumental break...)

It occurs to me that this stuff really has more in common with Jazz than with either Rock or R&B; some of the huge, 15+ piece funk groups like P-Funk may have a legitimate claim to being the true heirs of Ellington and Basie, particularly since mainstream jazz decided to go down the small trio/combo route instead of embracing the 'orchestra' concept.

When I have more time, I might expand on that thought a bit. I could add links or upload samples... nah. too much work.

Here's an interesting little link:

an excerpt from Kingdom Coming featured on Salon

(Salon is a subscription site, but you can get a free one-day pass just by clicking on an ad-- the ads usually aren't that bad, either)

So here it is again, and this time I have a label: Christian Nationalism. I don't like these folks much, and in my flawed interpretation of the bible, I don't see anything political in it. In fact, when presented with the options, Jesus chose to die rather than get mucked up in the local politics.

(for reference, Judas was the Zealot among the apostles; the Zealots were the nationalists of the time... anyone recall how that played out?)

It's interesting to come across this topic again, so soon after I blogged on it. And of course the book does a better job than I could in pointing out (annotating, documenting, w/ sources) what the problem is.

It's not like I work at a bookstore or anything... oh, wait. I do work at a bookstore. For those of you who feel like reading a bit more into the debate:

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century


And one for folks with open minds and a desire to find consensus rather that that which divides us:

The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions


(these are easy ones to recommend; I mean, they're all on the NYT bestseller list right now, it's not like I had to dig deep into the stacks for any of 'em)

Odd to be sitting here at the old poker table (the roomie has a poker table that we keep in the dining room-- it's a nice one, homemade) waiting on any number of things to roll over so I can get out of the house for the day. The two most vital:

- The #2 battery is charging. Dragging the laptop with me to the bar today. Even if the second (actually, original) battery is crap, it is still an extra hour and change of on-time. I'd rather have it, than not.
- The paycheck needs to go ahead and clear. I am *not* compulsively checking my balance every five minutes... I'm just now noticing all these nice features on my bank's website. [*cough*]

Plan A for today is to pound out 4 hours worth of lovely, lovely novel. Plan B is to instead do the bulk music review, and post that here. Before I get around to writing either, I have a few errands to run, which shouldn't take more than a couple hours... which means if I've timed it right I'll be pulling into a bar right as the lunch crowd is going back to work. And this is just where I'm starting...

I have two days off, and I plan to make the most of them. I haven't had a weekend off in forever (and I won't for another month, if memory serves) so I just have to make the most of what I've got. Today I'm writing/drinking the the afternoon, then this evening I'm meeting up with friends to play trivia at the local Jocks&Jills (with, I'm sure, some more drinking) then tomorrow night I'm paying a call at the local to remind myself that it's only a bunch of assholes that hang out there (um, why do I hang out there again?) but at least I can smoke my pipe and haunt a dark corner for an hour or five.

this is how I spiritually recharge. and to be honest, I've been pushing it pretty hard for work and I haven't had nearly enough beer to counteract that. yet.

I made a couple of pot roasts the other day (2 because it's just as easy, and if you're going to heat up the house with the oven you might as well get some value out of it)

I used 'disposable' aluminium roasting pans, because I don't own a roaster. (no real need for one with as often as I bake/roast-- you might have noticed, a lot of my dinners are of the one pot/skillet variety.) And hey, they sell the things in 2-packs, handy.

Shop:
2-3 lb. pot roast.
1 lb. carrots (baby carrots, pre-cut & -washed)
1/2 lb. of celery
a large onion
(x 2)

It's almost criminal how easy this is. Brown the meat on both sides, dump it into the roaster with the cut veggies, cover with aluminium foil, and bake at 325 for four hours (well, maybe less if your only doing the one pot roast)-- I did add about a cup of water at some point, say halfway during the whole process. Don't know if it really needed it, but there ya go.

I pulled the meat out and was able to 'carve' it with the back of a spoon. With some flour I was able to turn the pan drippings into a decent gravy, though because of the liquid I added (and my impatience, since I wasn't gonna stand around all night waiting for a sauce to reduce) my gravy ended up a little thin. (The gravy was for the mashed potatoes.)

The carrots came out quite lovely. The onion was a little mushy, not really caramelized, but still nice and sweet (pro'ly helps when you start with Vidalias) but the celery gave it's all-- there's no point in eating it unless you really need the fiber. 'Cause that's all that's left.

I was enjoying the fruits (meats, whatever) of all this labor when I got to thinking, is this what they refer to as Yankee Pot Roast? Maybe I'll look that one up.

A slight play on words, and thoughts of my grandma's barbeque sauce poured all over this lovely tender beef got me thinking about doing a Dixie Pot Roast. which is what I'll work on next.

You think this is the weekend. From my point of view, this is "Tuesday". I don't really wanna go to work today...

Plans are illusions. How did I actually spend my days off?

Thursday I went out for a couple beers in the afternoon (local sports bar) but then just kinda gave up. I hung around the house all night. (by general consensus, my friends and I blew off trivia as "just not worth it tonight". For those who know me well, this is some kind of black day, a turning point. I used to go out for bar trivia three nights a week.)

I finished up an anime series instead, Initial D, and believe me, this is one of the reasons I still bother with Netflix-- no way I really wanted to spend the cash on a 14-disc series that I'll only watch once. It was OK, but I doubt I'll ever go back to it. For those of you who think anime is all chicks-with-guns and giant robots (well, I guess the best of it is ) this series is different, in that it's set in the present day (late 90s, anyway, it's an older show) and no one has any superpowers and nothing transforms into a robot and it might even be called ordinary, if it weren't about a bunch of kids who do these near-suicidal downhill street races in the mountain passes of Japan.

Friday was more of the same. Just me hanging around the house drinking the beer and watching the DVDs. I'm turning into a boring old man. w/ annoying habits, possibly.

I was tempted to go out, and again after work on Saturday, but as a money-saving initiative I just stayed at home. (not that I'm "saving" money, really, since I went out to buy beer, but a six pack and leftovers are a lot cheaper than a bar tab gets to be). Even if I'm boring, I guess I'm happy-- at least when I have a day off. Maybe I'll find some cash and go out to the bar tonight after we close the store.

As we all know, Netflix is run by a bunch of greedy bastards, but maybe even bastards can read internet posts.

I've been a bit harsh on netflix in the past (but continue to give them craploads of my hard-won cash anyway) but there are a few changes I just now noticed on my queue that may reflect either a new customer service ethic, or maybe just damage control and caving in to public pressure

The change: an extra movie slot.

I don't know if I qualified for the extra movie because of the class action settlement (be nice if I did, that'd be an extra movie for a whole year) or some other noise I've been making-- but I'm getting 9, count 'em, 9 movies at a time. (Even at that, we still can't manage to beat the postal service, though. Nothing to watch tonight. *sigh*)

This is a hardwired change (if I can use the term for a UI), an addition to the interface & processes that will also account for discs reported as lost or stolen, so when they ship your replacement discs, it doesn't knock something else out of the queue-- and also discs that ship before a return is completely processed. (faster processing = more DVD goodness, I hope)

I'll keep an eye on it, let you know if this is all just smoke, or if they've done some good things over there.

the second worst thing a blogger can do is post an update, saying the next update will be all that and a bag of chips [insert better, funnier, longer, on topic, etc. etc. any and all that apply]

the worst thing a blogger can do is post an update on why they aren't updating.

and now, please allow me to do both:
I've got a migraine headache that's sitting behind my right eyeball and, near as I can tell, after a three-day visit is settling in and looking to redecorate. I can hardly keep my eyes open, let alone stare at a computer screen long enough to write something.

"Pray tell: why don't you take a pill and be done with it?"
well, smarty-pants, you know those warnings on pain relievers about how if you consume such-and-such-and-so-many drinks a day you should consult a doctor, etc etc liver failure and the stomach and the bleeding and oy

Guess what? a lot of those warnings are aimed at me.

So, after I work through this, possibly after consulting my doc, you should see another better post, in length, in this very space. Until then, I need to try and evict a migraine from the back of my eye socket before it can pick out new curtains.

I'm not going to knock my cheap-ass Dell laptop. After all, the cheap-ass-ed-ness is one of the reasons I was able to afford my current beloved laptop. Among the many uses I'd thought I'd use a computer for, as luck and the inevitable march of time and Murphy's Law would have it, the last use is the one use I've ended up using the most.

[parsing the last sentence... seems OK. let's go]

I had never thought to use my laptop as a DVD player. As it is, I've actually forgone my TV (and cable) and now just watch all the available opiate-slash-pablum-via-DVD on my laptop. (well. I'd like to think I've graduated a step above the standard american TV crap, in that I'm only watching movies and foreign films and Japanese anime. Which only means, of course, that I've gone from mind-numbing crap, to mind-numbing crap in a language I can't understand)

In the year-and-some [edit: 21 months, I went back and counted] that I've owned this particular computer, I've run about 1400 discs through the CD/DVD drive. It should be no surprise that the sucker gave out on me. (some CDs, a lot of anime, a few CDRoms and other computer stuff-- but mostly DVDs. I'm not sure that this particular drive was designed for this. Actually, since it failed, I guess I can be sure...)

So, I could buy a new laptop
"Ha! You win the lottery and forget to tell us, numbnuts?"

...or I can fall back on some sort of temp, quick-fix solution. Iomega is my huckleberry, in this case.

The new drive is a USB 2.0 Tank, same sort as what's currently in the laptop (CD-RW/DVD) but about 4 times faster, with its own power supply, and in a case that makes my notebook look flimsy. This sucker may survive my current system and its next two successors. It looks and acts like it could run on the bottom of my beer cooler, and would only complain that the beer cans knocking around are causing the DVDs to skip. (note: metaphorical hyperbole. I'm not about to sink the new drive in a half gallon of ice water, no matter how confident I am of it's abilities.)

It's the best $100 I've spent in quite some time. YMMV.

(My circumstances are unique; I'm not saying anything about Dell components, per se. And the Iomega external drive isn't even a week old yet. But if you find yourself with a similarly failing DVD drive, here's one solution; and if you plan on watching an absurd crapload of DVDs on your laptop, you might want to mention that to Dell when you place your order...)

A couple of friends of mine have decided that I should write a cookbook/guide of sorts, a how-to-survive manual for bachelors.

The one problem that occured to me this morning: this is a market segment that typically doesn't shop the cookbook aisle. I think I'd need to pitch it as more of a gift item, for graduation and the like.

The tone would be humorous. The advice would be practical. And I seem to have been drafted as the author. Maybe I'll do a little research, whip up a book proposal, and spend enough postage to shop the idea around to a few publishers.