Nate Beaty's Brainfag

The Blurts of a Closet Apple Junky

posted in Home Jabber on May 02, 2006

Tis the season (SUNSHINE!) to BBQ here in Portland, and we have been doing our citizenly duty in contributing to the growing urban pollution that Rose City belches into the sky and Willamette. Hallelujah. Grilled chicken is mighty tasty.

Is it me or has there been a recent resurgence in blogging among the geekpool of Apple-addled folks out there munching on sparkly XHTML CSS Rails Textmate cereal? Seemed to be a quiet spell, with quick blurts of apology sprinkled with "I'm overworked" and "whats-the-point-anyway." It made me feel OK that I rarely get my own blog updated. Of course, this could have just been ME who's Apple-addled and overpondering the point of tapping away at the blog. Very very possible.

Another emerging trend among geek bloggers (it's the only ones I read, sorry folks -- funny that I don't write my own fulltime) is learning to keep it short. In lieu of longwinded blatherings posted twice monthly, you get focused posts of a few paragraphs on a regular basis. A great idea I say, and something I feel I should subscribe to. It's strange to watch a new writing genre emerge: blogging is among many things computers have awkwardly introduced into our pulsating culture-on-the-edge-of-doom. One of my favorite contributors to this new genre, the incisive John Gruber, has quit Joyent to write Daring Fireball full time. I join the chorus in applauding this. (See? Who reads John Gruber as well as Brainfag? Raise of hands? Hello?)

As to the title of this junket, my recent elder iPod acquisition (20gb 4g: fun lil' toy I'm loving like a good American) has spurred my consuming boots into ordering another. Which was broken. Bad hard drive. (And I choked up $112 for it: ouch). So I bought a cheap AS IS replacement hard drive in an attempt to rectify my poor purchasing habits. It hasn't arrived, but I have this deep-down feeling I'll soon be sad owner of another pretty paperweight: this time sized at 15gb of technology gone silent. If you've had the pleasure of gutting a coveted iPod and witnessing the size of their teensy tiny 1.8" hard drive, you'll realize they're even more worthless as paperweights: 15gb doesn't weight much these days.

I'm not that much of an Apple junky, though, I feel inclined to point out. I only dip my Guilty Cheapass toe in the foaming broth of ancient Apple toys, buying used and failing models three years or older.

My dad is finally ready to let go of his biggest house-building project to date: a beautiful giant overlooking the oh-so-fun-to-draw Yaquina Bay bridge and harbor. I helped him put together a simple real-estatey-website newportviewhome.com. Check out that snazzy javascript fade-in. Ooh-lala.

I finished Deadwood. (Well the first two seasons.. it will continue in June I hear.) Embarrassed to even relay how many episodes I've gone through in the last week to issue that statement. A lot. Hence my jingly-jangly manner of speech in this post. As much as I love(d) the show, the dialogue often staggered my brain with it's roundabout way of explaining anything and everything. And much like when I read a good book, I've found my thoughts adapting a similar structure to the show's language. (Maybe it was my head start with "cocksucker" already being in my regular conversational habits.) But what a doozy. Deadwood is a seriously fun show to watch.

Well, I was determined to stick to ONE idea in this post and start a trend for myself to write quick and focused blog entries so as I could update it more often and less painfully. But, much like the latest Brainfag comic, it's all over the place. I go with what god has inserted into my brain. Excuse me now while I go sit in the sunshine and shut up for a spell.