Bklyn Blggng

I know I can do this at any Apple Store, but somehow it's just more fun at Fry's.

(Fry's Electronics, Burbank, CA)

If someone were gonna go through the trouble of building a detail-perfect scale model of a scene from 2001, you'd think the infamous "ham sandwich" sequence aboard the Moonbus wouldn't make the cut.

You'd be wrong, though. Who can forget these classic lines?

Lunar Bureaucrat #1: Well, anybody hungry?
Dr. Floyd: What we got?
Lunar Bureaucrat #1: You name it.
Floyd: What's that, chicken?
Lunar Bureaucrat #1: Something like that. Tastes the same, anyway.
[laughter]
Lunar Bureaucrat #2: Any ham?
[searches through cooler]
Lunar Bureaucrat #1: Ham...ham...ham...ham...there.
[hands him the sandwich]
Lunar Bureaucrat #2: Good.
Floyd: Ah, they look pretty good.
Lunar Bureaucrat #1: They're getting better at it all the time.

Post script: It took all the willpower I had (not to mention the fear of severe embarrassment at airport security) to keep me from taking home an M2019 blaster while visiting this store. Another customer bought two while I was there.

(Monsters in Motion, Placentia, CA)

OK, I'm a believer. Safari on iPhone rocks.

(Apple Store Fifth Avenue, Manhattan)

The new iPod nano is pretty amazing in person, way sleeker than it looks in most photos (where it looks kinda stubby). I'm still not sure about the screen size, though. Sure, the resolution is really high, but will it be fun to watch stuff on a screen this small? It was hard to say after just a few minutes of fiddling with one in the store.

One thing's for sure -- if anyone wants to make a $199 donation to the Bklyn Blggng Product Lab, I'd be happy to try to answer this question.

(Apple Store Fifth Avenue, Manhattan)

I came to Atlanta to help save the world, but I wound up spending a lot of time standing in line with a friend that really, really needed to buy something the first day it came out.

I was feeling quite guilty about this, but then someone reminded me that a world where you can't help your friends isn't a world worth saving.

OK, I totally made that last part up, but that doesn't give you the right to judge me. You're not the king of me. Go make someone else feel bad, why don't you.

(Lenox Square Mall, Atlanta)

Whether you think a HV20 with Brevis is awesome or awful, you gotta be awed by 24p high-def for $950.

I'm shooting my next film with this combo, no matter how insane it looks.

(Manhattan)

It's important to appreciate the little things in life, especially if they indulge your geek side. Today, I salute Exposé, which is one of the simplest, yet coolest features of the Mac OS.

The screenshot here is of a new HD short film I'm making that consists of 600+ still photos. Thanks to Exposé, editing multiple images is easy -- just a wave of the mouse lets you move between them easily. (Yeah, I know I can keyboard it...but sometimes you just gotta get your mouse on.)

The even bigger geek indulgence, of course, is that you can pretend your Mac is the poor man's version of the computer in Minority Report.

(Mac OS X 10.4.7, PowerMac G5, dual 2.0 [June 2004])

You don't have to be a geek to think public computer crashes are funny, but...well, yeah, I guess you do.

(Au Bon Pain, Port Authority Bus Terminal, Manhattan)

I thought the new MacBook looked rather cheap in the photos I've seen, but in person it's quite cool, especially the black one. (Though not $150 extra kind-of-cool.) Even the funny keyboard seemed usable and felt decent under the fingers. This is probably the laptop I'll buy when I replace my beloved PowerBook G4 12" sometime next year...unless an even smaller model comes out before then.

More Apple Store:
SF/SJ: You Heard?
The Things You Own End Up Owning You
Three Questions for Jackson
Shop Different
Haiku 10.3.9 (7W98)
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

(Apple Store Soho, Prince St, Manhattan)

(Compleat Strategist, 11 East 33 St, Manhattan)

OK, so I've been able to resist going in any Apple stores on this trip (so far), but I couldn't keep from making the hajj to Macca. And somehow I scored an employee discount at the Apple Company Store. Praise Jobs!

(Apple Campus, Cupertino, CA)

More SF/SJ:
Special West Coast MICW
You Heard?
Babe's Mufflers
Flight To

The great thing about being on vacation is that it gives you the psychic license to do things you'd never even consider doing at home -- like walking by an Apple Store and not going in.

(Apple Store Valley Fair, Santa Clara, CA)

More SF/SJ:
Babe's Mufflers
Flight To

More Apple Store:
The Things You Own End Up Owning You
Three Questions for Jackson
Shop Different
Haiku 10.3.9 (7W98)
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

About half-way (and thirty screws) into upgrading my sister's iBook from a 30GB/4200 rpm hard drive to a 60GB/5400 rpm model, I regretted starting the project. There were just too many screws to remove and too many delicate parts to break. I didn't think I'd be able to put the thing back together correctly and I started cursing myself for not paying Tekserve a hundred bucks to do it.

But two hours later, the machine booted up perfectly. My sister now had a lot more room for her music and pictures. Best of all, the iBook seemed faster. It was around then that I started imagining upgrading my PowerBook's 80GB drive to a 120GB, and giving the 80GB to my sister and...

I read somewhere that the joy of seeing their newborn baby makes mothers forget their declarations of "never again!" during labor. I think I just experienced something similar.

(Apple Macintosh iBook G4 [late 2004], 1.2ghz, 1.2GB RAM, 60GB Hitachi Deskstar hard drive)

(Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan)

Related posts:
Transport
Viewer
Family Romance
Atrium

This entry marks the one year anniversary of Bklyn Blggng, started at Blogger on December 19, 2004.

As much as I'd like to, I can't really give one of those self-indulgent look how far we've come since then retrospectives because, well, Bklyn Blggng hasn't come all that far. It's still just a collection of Treo cameraphone shots with some occasional writing -- and a whole lotta Marla.

I've got some cool things planned for this blog and the rest of the site in 2006, but until then I just wanna say thanks for the support and the interest in this quirky little experiment. I'll do my best to keep it fun, interesting, and (of course) SEXXXY.

(50 St & Broadway, Manhattan)

The first post:
A quiet Sunday Morning

The cool and detached side of me wants to ask whether watching something that's 2.35 letterboxed on a 2.5 inch screen is compelling, but it's being drowned out by the Oh Shit, It's Fight Club! side of me at this particular moment.

[Gadget lust: The "video" iPod on a Bose SoundDock.]

(Apple Store Soho, Manhattan)

More Apple Store:
Three Questions for Jackson
Shop Different
Haiku 10.3.9 (7W98)
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

I just bought my parents the spanking new iMac G5 (with built-in iSight, woohoo!) to replace their aging Gateway Astro, which itself is a knock-off of the original iMac . Although I only got in a few hours with the machine before sending it off to them, it seems like a winner.

(Note: it's the one in the middle.)

(Millenium Hilton, 55 Church St, Manhattan)

Related post:
Dunkin-n-Writin

Our visit to Ikea ends back at home with the object of conquest: the famous Jerker computer desk.

Title reference: Pavement

(Ikea Elizabeth, Elizabeth, NJ)

(Apple Store Soho, Manhattan)

Related posts:
Haiku 10.3.9 (7W98)
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

OK, I admit it -- I bought my G5 as much to tinker with as to do video editing on. And so far, the tinkering and editing are measuring about even on the pleasure meter.

Just last night, I added a fourth Maxtor DiamondMax 300 gig drive via my MaxConnect hard drive expansion kit, bringing the G5's total storage up to 1.36 terabytes, including the 160GB boot drive.

Why do I need all that space? To edit video, of course.

Now I just have to figure out why my optical drive has suddenly crapped out.

(My dual 2.0 Power Mac G5, Brooklyn)

This sentence from the August 3, 2005 jpchan.com Back To School Computer Buyer’s Guide should have appeared with the following correction:

“Apple’s all-in-one eMac is stylish, affordable, and an excellent replacement for your spyware-ridden Windows laptop desktop.”

We regret the error and any purchasing decisions it may have influenced.

(14 St-Union Square Station, Manhattan)

Well, it's actually my friend Mark's Prius and it's not really all that pimped-up, if by pimped-up you mean neon, chrome wheels, and flames painted on the sides. But it is way geek cool and if I had the money for a new car, I'd get this one.

(Rt. 3 West, Montclair, NJ)

Apple Store SoHo
Hipsters, geeks, beautiful girls
This ain't no Best Buy

(Apple Store, 103 Prince St, Manhattan)

Related post:
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

Lastly, what's a teen event without loud music? This robot, which was built as a side project by the Pirates of George Westinghouse High School (BKLYN!), features a DVD player, a stereo, and of course, Earth-shakin' bass. The makers tell me they may attach an arm to it and enter it in next year's competition.

(Riverbank State Park)

This is the Pit, where the robots are kept and repaired between matches.

(Riverbank State Park)

The Systemetric team hails from Hills Road Sixth Form College of Cambridge (UK, not MA). They've posted flyers with UK trivia all around the venue, presumably to help us dopey Americans understand their stange and exotic culture. I didn't see any flyers explaining their mysterious uniforms, however.

(Riverbank State Park)

The Brearley Bots of Brearley School are competing here for the first time. They're one of the few all-female teams.

[Special shout-out to my good friend Zoe, a proud Brearley alumna.]

(Riverbank State Park)

The JeffTech2005 is straight outta Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn.

(Riverbank State Park)

This year's competition is a kind of tic-tac-toe involving "tetras" -- fiberglass pyramids about three feet across. The competitors are divided into two sides of three teams each. The remotely-controlled robots have arms that can stack the tetras -- and block opponents from doing so.

(Riverbank State Park)

The FIRST Robotics Competition NYC Regional is always a raucous and uplifting event. This year, three dozen teams of NYC-area high school students have built robots for the competition, which is designed to encourage interest in science, technology, and math. The teams have their own uniforms, chants, face paint, and even cheering sections. The enthusiasm of the kids and their supporters is incredibly inspiring.

It's especially great to see that the program has attracted teams from a wide variety of schools -- not just the elite ones. The kids are as diverse economically and ethnically as NYC is. It's a wonderful sight.

(Riverbank State Park, Riverside Dr between 135 & 145 Sts)