I’d really like to try out a manual push mower, or what they call a “reel” mower, but those suckers are expensive. I admit I am intimidated by the internal combustion engine, and this seems like a much more basic contraption, one I could be more comfortable around. I do fear though, that it may prove to be too manual, or not sufficient in cutting the blades of my grasses. It’s hard to say, I’m not sure I want to spend $95+ on an experiment. Perhaps I shall look at pawn shops, since I need to buy some soil manipulation devices to aid in a potential vegetable gardening project anyway. We’ll see.

I’m pleased that Microsoft has responded with its own ads, fighting back against Apple’s “Hi I’m a Mac…” ad campaign, that while amusing is also annoying. Since all they do is play up the same old, tired Windows and PC cliches that have been around for a hundred years, and are at this point essentially moot. I would actually postulate, and I’m not alone, that once you remove any sort of “fanboy” adoration of an OS, be it Mac, Linux or Windows, they all do the same thing. I use both Mac OS and Windows, and the base functionality is practically identical, going back and forth between OSs I can do all the things on one that I can do on the other, without missing a beat. If an app isn’t available on the Mac I can usually find an equivalent, and vice versa. Now there are some exceptions to this, but in a work-a-day environment there isn’t much difference. I have had several long time PC users switch to Mac with little to minor fuss, and I attribute this more to the two OSes being similar than some inherent fantastic design quality of the Mac OS.
I’m often surprised that so many people put so much loyalty to Apple based solely out of some farcical belief that Microsoft is a big evil empire, when in actuality Apple is as about as fascist a company as you could hope to find. Right from the start Apple charges a premium for the same hardware you get from any other manufacturer. When you pay top dollar for your Macbook Pro you’re paying for the OS, and whatever aesthetic quality that Apple’s marketing can make you attribute to the product. I came awfully close to buying a Mac for home, but at the end of the day I couldn’t justify throwing down that kind of bread just for the cool factor, and I ended up paying less than a 1/3 of the price for a Windows Vista system that does everything I need, and has more horsepower. I like that MS has taken off the gloves a bit, and makes me think of the big mutt that’s finally getting tired of the yip-yiping of the high-priced fufu show dog.

I no longer enjoy blogging, but there are things I’d like to share with whoever it is that still looks at this thing, either intentionally or accidentally.
Last weekend we got to be a part of something what under the current world atmosphere is wholly insignificant and irrelevant, but taken in context was fucking awesome. I mean seriously fucking awesome. Last Saturday night at Club Dada the Nervebreakers reunited for what right now was a one-time-only show in Dallas, so you missed it and you shall forever live a shallower life because of it. They were the most fucking badass Texas punk band back in the day, and you can read the whole nuanced story on their myspace page. They are still the most fucking badass Texas punk band…I wasn’t there then, but I can tell you they’ve lost no potency over the years. One could make comparisons to well-aged whiskey.
Another noticeable upside to the evening was the band that opened for them, Spector 45, and I’ll warn you right now that these guys put on a capital rock and roll show. Nothing more, nothing less, just straight up, kick in your teeth rock-n-roll. I highly recommend them, and you can used a lot of canned terms for them, but I enjoyed “wall of sound” the most as a descriptor. You can also look them up on myspace. I suggest the cleverly tender song, I Love You. It is my favorite, and Mitzy’s.
I’m posting now links, do the dirty work yourself.