Sony's new e-book reader: $350

According to engadget, Sony has released pricing info for their e-book reader that is supposed to be based on E-ink technology. The device should be available for $350.

I would really like to get my hands on one of these. If the price were $99 and the books were half the price of their printed equivalent, I'd be all over this. However, paying $350 for a digital book, however cool and practical for avid readers, is a bit crazy. The best use I can see would be the possibility of reading on a road trip at night without having a stupid little book light illuminating half of a page.

New photo set in the jojometal gallery.

There's a new photo set up in the gallery. My personal favorite pic of the weekend, you ask? The wet and apologetic Cosmo standing outside after playing in the puddles.

The new set is a group of pictures from this weekend's trip to Dallas to see our grandparents.

Katie and I also got some dishes this weekend. Check out the goods.

They were 50% off. Thank you, thank you *takes a bow*. This bargain shopping professional appreciates your disbelief.

I'm actually extremely surprised that Katie and I were able to find a set of dishes to agree on, and at 50% off no less. If that's not a sign that things are supposed to work out... I don't know what is.

Municipal broadband

On the most recent episode of This Week in Tech (TWiT), Leo and the gang discussed a couple of the most recent efforts to ban municipal broadband, which is essentially local government providing broadband. I'm all for the idea of the government stepping in and taking a larger role in providing broadband access, treating broadband like a utility.

However, that idea is met with a considerable amount of resistance from those in the private sector, like SBC (AT&T as I understand it). They view government involvement as interference in the market, and unfair competition... which it may well be. However, if a city government wishes to provide city wide wi-fi as a service to their citizens, I don't have a problem with that. After all, industry would be slow to move into most locations with low population areas with newer broadband technologies (read: wifi)... or slow to move into any situation which it didn't see as profitable or sufficiently explainable to shareholders.

The blog post they mentioned was on zdnet - "Revealed: Muni WiFi's enemy #1 is SBC-AT&T's #1 campaign contribution recipient". It may just be coincidence that the legislator who proposed a ban on municipal broadband was the #1 recipient in congress of SBC's money. Well... ok, so we all know better... but I wanted to at least entertain the idea for a second.

I'm committed to the idea that lobbyists should be locked in a small room with each other and a pile of one dollar bills to fight over for eternity... oh, and that corporations should not be able to contribute to campaign funds. I just need to think of a way to organize my ideas (which a lot of people hold) into something fruitful.

A dying priest's request

An old priest was dying. He sent a message for an IRS agent and his Lawyer to come to the Rectory. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom. As they entered the room, the priest held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The priest grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling.

For a time, no one said anything. Both the IRS agent and Lawyer were touched and flattered that the old priest would ask them to be with him during his final moment. They were also puzzled because the priest had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.

Finally, the Lawyer asked, "Father, why did you ask the two of us to come?"

The old guy mustered up some strength, then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go, too."

John Grisham's The Broker - A Review

I wasn't happy with this book. I should've spent my $7 on a coffee or on a payment to a stranger to punch me in the face instead of reading this book. Well, they'd probably punch me for free... but that's beside the point. I didn't like the book.

I read it in a day, since the beginning of the book was pretty good. After reading the later parts of the book I really wanted to take back all the time I'd spent reading it though. I had already committed several hours to reading it, so I just went ahead and finished it and the ending was absolutely terrible.

If anyone out there has read the book, and feels like commenting... what the heck happened to the chinese assassin guy? Tin something or other...? The ending of the book reminded me of my college papers, where I would be extremely interested in starting a subject, but my interest and my abillity to think of new ways of stating points would dwindle. By the end of the paper, I just wanted to tie up all the loose ends in the quickest possible knot and be done with the whole thing. That's what John Grisham did with this book. The book started off strong, with some fairly interesting characters and a whole gangload of potential, but I think Grisham just got sick of the book and wrote the quickest, most convenient ending he could come up with.

I believe the back of the book sums up the purpose of this book well... it says "Where grisham leads, millions of readers follow". Apparently, the book is even advertising that he's given up and is riding on name alone.

Arctic Monkeys

I'm inclined to try out anything that has the word monkey in it. It's a sad admission, I know. I tried to watch a few episodes of the show Love Monkey, with the guy from Ed (playing the exact same character he played in Ed), but I couldn't really get into it. The important thing was that I made a go of it because of the word monkey in the title.

I'm convinced that there's value in anything that has the word Monkey in it. Sometimes it proves to be a bad theory, like with Love Monkey. In other cases, however, it pays off... as was the case with Arctic Monkeys.

This afternoon on the way home from work I heard an NPR piece on a band called Arctic Monkeys - a british band that apparently had a big debut album over there recently. I had a listen to their album, and I like most of the songs... though I have no idea what the lead singer is saying in certain parts of the songs. That never stopped me from listening to american music though (see fallout boy 'Sugar we're going down').

I decided to have a listen to their album, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Their sound is like a more modern, british version of the white stripes or jet... or at least that's who I think of when I listen to them. Anyway, give them a download if you come across their stuff, or visit their site and watch their videos (BTW, their 'When the Sun Goes Down' video has Tommy from Snatch, the movie, in it...great movie).

I'm becoming obsessive...

Lately I've been consumed by thoughts of three things: a new business idea I've had (and Taylor has helped further), getting a house, and getting a dog.

It's easy to explain the benefits of the last two items, a dog and a house. I'm tired of living with my parents here, and I know that when I finally get married in April and get to move out I'm going to be moving into a small apartment complex that I'm not all that happy with. As for the dog, I've always wanted another dog, but Taylor with Cosmo and sites like Daily Oliver make me want to rush out and snatch an unattended puppy from someone's lawn.

The first thought that keeps my mind occupied is the one that takes up the most of my time, the business idea. It's a web business which may or may not be feasible, and already exists in many places. I don't really understand why it's nagging at me so badly though... I'm extremely happy with my current job.

I dunno... I'm too tired to make this a flowing, coherent post with some kind of point (as if most of my posts do) ... but I wanted to share what's been going on upstairs.

Got some more good pics today.

I got a little use out of the new camera today. Here are today's gems.

Puppies and babies, who can resist? Two of the cutest here too...

Podcast - America's Wickedest City - Phenix City, Alabama

I've recently taken a liking to podcasts. My favorite podcasts are those that talk about history, surprisingly. So, I've started scouring the net trying to find good lecture/historical podcasts. Yesterday I ran across a great episode of the HistoryPodcast: America's Wickedest City (It's just an mp3, download it and listen). It covers the history of Phenix City Alabama, referred to as America's Wickedest City.

The podcast creator, Jason Watts, tells about the city's history. Gambling, prostitution, murder and every other crime rampant in all levels of the city government... leading to the first time a governor had ever declared limited martial rule. In the end, the national guard had to be sent in to clean up the city, firing the whole police force and local sheriffs.

The only complaint I have about the podcast is the narrator's tone. He sounds like he's reading the story directly from a college essay or Time magazine article. I really prefer podcasts like History According to Bob (which are also great), where the speaker is engaging and speaks as if he's having a conversation with you. The only thing that keeps me interested is the information... it's really interesting.

This just in...

Amazon has just notified me that my xbox purchase has been refunded in full. This means that my plan has come to fruition and that all is well in the land of oz.

I sent it midway through the month of December, and received notice that Amazon received it on the 24th. After a week, I'd heard nothing, so I sent Amazon a letter asking what was going on. Within 24 hours I received a response from Joe Chikkarpuldaphhardar to hold my dern horses.

Today, after another week and some change passed, I found that I'd been credited 80% of the initial price. I'd done nothing to warrant a deduction of 20% of the price, so I sent another e-mail telling them this. Amazon admitted their mistake and refunded me an extra $200. It was extremely painless.

The Nikon D50 is finally mine.

I didn't post about this weekend's events for fear of shaming myself publicly. You see, I bought a shiny new piece of gadgetry... and returned it. I returned it after feeling a bit guilty about spending so much money at once when I've got a lot of wedding expenses coming up. My plan after returning it was to save up money, month by month and buy it later when my savings would equal the purchase price. However, I realized that if I had 0% interest, I could do the same thing and get the camera at the beginning of the payment process... a much sweeter deal indeed.

So, that's the story. I have the camera now... and I intend to learn to use it before the wedding and the honeymoon. Katie and I also talked about letting someone get familiar enough with it to be able to snap some pics during the wedding. I think that's a great idea... it's just that we have to pick someone who likes to take pics, and is fairly technologically adept. Katie suggested Emme, so we'll see if she's interested and if so, if she can handle the job.

Here are my very first pics from last night.

A great article on the mohammed cartoons.

I just read a great article about the recent fiasco involving the mohammed cartoons and thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment. The title is "We're all danes now...". Interesting stuff.

Dancing with the stars

Katie and I took a break from the reality of "The First 48 Hours" and switched over to ABC during "Dancing With The Stars". Tia Carerra (I think that's her name... the chick from Wayne's World anyway) and her dance partner did some kind of samba thing. Poo nearly jumped from my body to fling itself at the screen. Yet I'm still watching.