Unwiring

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Dec 132006
 

Another headset for my cordless telephone gave up the ghost, so I’m thinking it may be time to cut the cord and get rid of my landline in favor of a cell phone and Bluetooth earpiece. I use a Bluetooth earpiece with my VoIP phone at work and people seem to hear me fairly well. Those RAZR phones look kind of cool, but I still wouldn’t be able to make calls or answer the phone myself. Maybe I should just wait a while and see if my cable company can eventually offer me a set-up similar to what I have at the office. And no, Skype isn’t the answer; the quality of Skype calls is still too erratic for me to depend on it as my primary phone.

Tofu: Satan’s Favorite Snack

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Dec 122006
 

Evil, thy name is soy. According to an evangelical commentator, soy is turning our country’s men into sissified nancy boys. Sorry, I have to call shenanigans on this. My own diet is primarily soy-based and, aside from an aversion to talking about sports, I consider myself pretty masculine. I like girls. I obsess over my gadgets. I can recite every line from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I thought the religious right ascribed to the notion that homosexuality was a choice, not the result of too much soy milk when you were a kid. I wonder if the election results are causing some conservatives to lose whatever tenuous grip on reality they may have had.

Not Again

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Dec 112006
 

Having decided that the field of Democratic candidates for president just isn’t crowded enough, Dennis Kucinich has decided to make another tilt at the windmills. When I heard the news on the radio, the ensuing flashbacks were almost enough to make me curl up into a ball and whimper. But I’m nothing if not resilient. As part of my ongoing efforts to therapeutically address the trauma he inflicted, perhaps I’ll go to one of his rallies carrying a sign that says:

DENNIS, NO MEANS NO!

L00t!

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Dec 102006
 

Congratulations to Angela F. and Jim V. They’re the two winners in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered. Hopefully, I’ll have more swag to give away in the future. Before you know it, this blog will be nothing but a marketing tool for my yet-to-be-determined corporate masters.

I’ve Been Very Good

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Dec 092006
 

I have few wants in life, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like receiving presents as part of the celebration of your winter holiday of choice. Here’s what I’ve had my eye on lately:

Forbidden Planet 50th Anniversary Edition because even though I already own this fantastic re-imagining of The Tempest, the included Robbie the Robot model would look way cool on my desk.

Oldboy Collector’s Edition because this Korean revenge flick has a twist that had my jaw in my lap.

The West Wing: The Complete Series because, unless Obama is elected, we’re probably not going to see a real-life Commander-in-Chief as articulate as President Bartlett anytime soon.

Robot Chicken Season 1 because it’s one of the funniest things on television.

The God Delusion because I want any visitors who scan my bookshelf to know exactly where I’m coming from.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War because it has the words “zombie” and “war” in it.

Lost Girls because I want to see if this is literature disguised as porn or porn disguised as literature.

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon because I want to learn more about this intriguing sf author.

Assorted Geek Goodness

Samsung 204B 20″ LCD Monitor because this blogger’s eyes deserve the very best.

Collegial Atmosphere

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Dec 082006
 

A short entry tonight because I just finished hosting a holiday party for my co-workers. I am fortunate to work with people I like and respect. And I’m not just saying that because they used words like “awesome” and “fabulous” to describe my condo, although such observations do reflect good taste on their part. Good thing I remembered to hide my massive collection of, er, imported erotica. That could have been embarrassing. So my scheme of fooling everyone into believing I’m this urbane intellectual seems to be working thus far.

Regifting

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Dec 072006
 

I’m supposed to bring a “white elephant” present to a work holiday party tomorrow. I have no idea what sort of item I own that other people want. Some comic books? My old VCR?

This time of year is so stressful.

Is This Really So Hard?

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Dec 062006
 

According to a UN-commissioned survey of websites around the globe, only 3% meet the minimum standards for web accessibility for users with disabilities (particularly visual disabilities). Future Tense has an interview with one of the study’s directors, who bemoaned the lack of training that web developers receive regarding how to create accessible websites.

Care to guess which American website scored highest in terms of accessibility? Wal-Mart. Somebody might want to point that out to the executives at Target, who are currently defending a lawsuit charging that Target’s website is inaccessible. The worst offender, according to the study, is the New York Times. I’m not surprised. As much as I love the Times, its homepage is still a cluttered mess.

Remember, the deadline for entering the Dragon NaturallySpeaking drawing is Friday at 10:00 p.m. CST.

Minutiae

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Dec 052006
 

I thought I was compulsive about my blogging, but I’ve got nothing on the guy who kept a typewritten diary of nearly every detail of his life for twenty years. An interesting experiment, but I think I’ll refrain from recounting my trips to the bathroom. My nurses do enough of that as it is. And the descriptions of my meals would get redundant after a while. “For breakfast, I had a can of Osmolte. For lunch, I had a can of Osmolite. For dinner…” You get the idea.

You Can’t Win If You Don’t Play

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Dec 042006
 

The fine people over at Nuance have asked me to give away two copies of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9, the popular voice dictation software.


To get your hands on a copy, all you have to do is correctly answer the following two questions:

Question 1:
Which of the following activities can you do while simultaneously using Dragon’s NaturallySpeaking 9?

A) Sip your latte
B) Clean your desk
C) All of the above

Question 2
What hands-free feature does Dragon NaturallySpeaking not offer?

A) Create and send e-mails without using your keyboard
B) Hands-free desktop registration
C) Voice-activated control of your kids

E-mail your answers to me at MCSiegel19@gmail.com. Put “Dragon” in the subject line. Answers must be received by 10:p.m. CST on Friday, December 8. I will randomly select two people who answered the questions correctly and notify them via e-mail that they have won. Winners will be posted on this blog sometime early next week.

And for the attorneys in the crowd, here are the official rules:

The Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.0 promotion concludes 4 days after it is posted by the blogger on this site (check the date of posting). Winners randomly selected among all eligible entries received. Odds of winning depend upon the number of entries received. Winners are to be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond. Two copies of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.0 Standard Edition are to be given away as prizes each with an estimated retail value of $99.00. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. One entry per person. Only open to residents of the United States. Winners list is to be posted on this blog at conclusion of the promotion.

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