So, Lisbon is alright. Typing this into a laptop my uncle lent me for the week,
- The mobile computing experience is terrible. Closing the screen makes it go into hibernation, which works some of the time (and takes forever when you reopen it), you have to fumble with the touchpad (the clit mouse is somewhat better), and hibernating because I closed the lid while it was shutting down is a terribly wrong behaviour. It is a shame we inflict this on the computer illiterate masses.
- That said, this thing is like sex, at least for internet addicted people like me. Damn you inferior North American cellphone infrastructure. I’m going to miss this when we’re in France. Still bloody expensive tho (5GB/1GB for €39? You don’t say).
- Having three quarters of a Computer Science degree really raises the bar for what I consider computer literacy. This is not a bad thing; I regard the steady progression of computers into appliances as a good thing, albeit it’d be nice if we preserved the right to read, etc.
- My grandparents are the nicest, most generous people I know. They spoil me rotten, and are happy to spoil the girlfriend too. However, they have a personal work ethic and an attention to detail that I just can’t relate to. People from their generation are invariably tough.
- My grandma had open heart surgery earlier this year. I can’t get her to sit down; I really don’t need her to fetch me cookies, beer, more rice, pajamas, etc. I’m could also clean the table or wash the dishes, from time to time, but this is clearly heresy.
- In the Golden Compass, the good guys fight the Magisterium, these dogmatic authority types who assassinate opposition figures and try their best to blot out a thinly veiled analogy for freedom of speech. If you’re a Catholic, I’m not sure that declaring the movie to be anti-Catholic is inviting the right kind of comparisons here. That said, I would appreciate it if more atheist kooks received some Ridiculous Mainstream Media Attention whenever they and their three person strong Anti Defamation League decide to boycott the next big budget movie.
