Thar she blows

I've been reading Moby Dick for my English class, and unbeknownst to me, it's actually a really good book! I always assumed that it was long and boring, but there's plenty of humor and action, and I'm only about halfway through. It's way more readable than, say, Faulkner.

Bring it on, Yoko!

Alterman tells a story (link to story will rot soon):

...I had a birthday dinner a couple of years ago at a fancy Japanese restaurant where my party was getting really lousy service and Jann Wenner and Yoko, right next to us, were getting great service. When they got their third course before we got our second, I lost patience and called out to the model/sometimes waitress, “What do you have to do to get served around here? Break up the Beatles!?” Really happened.

Weird dream

I had an exceptionally strange dream last night. The weirdest part was when I went to have some lunch with a friend (though now I can't remember whom it was), and we went to eat at Andrew Sullivan's house. I realize Sully lives nowhere near me, but that's what happened. Part of his home had been converted into a restaurant, with waitresses and everything. I remember desperately hoping (for some reason) that my lunch partner didn't mention anything political, for fear that Sully the chef would come out of the kitchen and start ranting. The only other part I remember is that Andrew Sullivan cooks some fantastic pancakes -- very light and fluffy.

Superfluous classroom discussion

I feel I must establish a rule after hearing a particularly dumb-assed theory in my American literature class today. It goes something like this:

If your theory sounds like it was invented during an attempt to dislodge a stem from your bowl while listening to Bob Dylan, then your theory has a 95% chance of wasting Jeff's time. Thus, you should shut your hole and let the professor talk.

Jacko humor

I will not soil the reputation of the people who told me these jokes, but I will republish them, because they are funny.

Q: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a grocery bag?
A: One is white, plastic, and unsafe for children to play with... and the other holds groceries.

Q: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and acne?
A: Acne won't come on your face until you're twelve.

Of mice and men

I still believe that Logitech's Wheel Mouse Optical is the finest computer mouse ever designed. However, there's a new feature in Mac OS X Panther called Exposé which allows for very fluid window management, and I wanted to invoke that feature from the mouse. Unfortunately, the Wheel Mouse Optical's strength is also a weakness -- there's a total of three buttons (including the wheel). I couldn't find any other mice with extra buttons that are as small and sleek as the Wheel Mouse Optical, so I decided to upgrade to Logitech's MX 500. It's very nice, and it has the extra buttons I'm looking for. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I think it's worthy of a glowing recommendation.

What's new in the Mac world?

There were a lot of exciting announcements regarding Macintoshes today. First off, Apple announced the new 20-inch iMac. In addition, Apple also revamped their Power Mac G5 line, reducing the price of the 1.6 GHz model and changing the 1.8 GHz model into a dual-1.8 GHz model for only $100 more than the single-1.8. The laptops remain unchanged, though Apple recently released new iBooks.

The great shareware developer Unsanity released a great new program/hack for Mac OS X today called ShapeShifter. It's essentially the long-awaited replacement for Kaleidoscope, a great theme-changing program for Mac OS 7 through 9. (Arlo Rose, co-author of Kaleidoscope, is probably far too preoccupied with writing Konfabulator to do a Kaleidoscope OS X port.) Unsanity has a reputation for creating spiffy, stable OS X hacks, so don't hesitate to try it out!

Today's selections from Jeff's iTunes "Purchased Music" playlist

Here are a couple of song recommendations, which may or may not appeal to you. (But that's why iTunes gives you 30-second previews.) If you do like these songs, that might imply we have similar taste in music; if that's true, keep an eye out for future installments of my song recommendations!

A brief introduction for the uninitiated

For those of you who have never heard of me before, I would like to briefly introduce myself.

The foundation is laid, but the interior decorator is working hard

Welcome to the new site geekable.com! I am currently editing my MT templates so that the site looks better -- when that's done, expect a flurry of awesome new blog commentary!