NYCweboy

To See A Man About A (Hot, Sexy) Horse

Spent yesterday afternoon on a last ditch effort to solve a pooter problem - lesson for all, as if you need it: make backups... and backup your backups - and generally, failed. Lest you want to provide sympathy for my unfortunate turn of events... it's not that big a deal. Really.

Still, it's been a learning experience; I've learned more in the past few weeks about portable hard drive technology than I ever intended to. I now know about FAT32, the click of death, how to mount a hard drive, and more about the inner workings of hard drive hardware than I ever planned to know. And it's all been sort of interesting, since I like to be generally knowledgable about everything... and one of the frustrating aspects of these newfangled computers is... as lay people, we often know very little, and rely on experts to explain things to us. Which - in my slightly know-it-all way- I can't stand.

I was also reminded, yet again, about how much of IT is a youth oriented profession; that was especially true of the afternoon I spent at Tekserve, the Apple only computer store and service center in Manhattan, where everyone - from customers to technicians - range in age from about 20 to 50. Apple's success, in particular, I think, comes from appealing to a younthful, tech savvy market. But often, Apple users don't bother to know a lot of details; it works so well, the problems can be so rare... it's bewildering when they crop up. And then you find yourself relying on some 22 year old, usually cute, know-all guru to help you solve your, probably obvious to him or her, problem. Whether at Tekserve or at the Apple Store Genius Bar... I've rarely seen a tech over 30, usually someone too hip to live in your world, cute in that modern, geeky way (boys, girls, black white... you name it).

I know we'll have reached a new moment in our technological lives - and probably in our American economy - when computer work, especially for Apple, is no longer a young, sexy field of endeavor (kind of the way some have taken to using the "hot waiter" scale to determine when the economic downturn ends - when goodlooking people can go back to supporting themselves fully as models and actors), we'll know the recession is over. Until then, may I suggest the service area at Tekserve may be the most subversive pickup joint in New York; just nod your head sympathetically and learn a few buzz words... like mounting a hard drive.

And whatever you do... don't recommend Western Digital. :)

The Comment Problem

Thanks to J in B, I just discovered that, unfortunately, my comments have been turned off and locked for a while now... many apologies. They should be fixed. And, as always, I welcome comments and feedback.

I've Been Everywhere, Man...

Everywhere but here.

The living end, of course, was finally being settled enough to check in a get writing... only to discover that I couldn't get my computer hooked to the internet (in one of those scenarios where people try to give you the kind of advice people give to elderly aunts who never use a computer - "did you plug it in?" "Did you find the right internet service provider?"... a good lesson about not assuming other people are dumb... but also a reminder about how few people can really help at moments like this.

In any case, Mom and I had some lunch (and I got the most awesome hamburger I've had in months), I cooled down, and we made our way back to the Rockland Public lIbrary... which, longtime readers know, I've used before.

It's nice to be back in Maine - the weather is, if nothing else, cooler, my Mom's family still as political and gracious as ever. The drive yesterday was long, and we got off late... but the payoff was a lovely lunch in mid-Connecticut which I hope to detail shortly, and a visit with an old friend of my Mom's in Ogonquit Maine (the big resort destination around Kennebunk, where the Bushes stay).

Getting settled, and being in vacation mode, I've decided to start slow with blog postings... so I'm going to leave it here for now... and hopefuly put up something else later today.  If not, expect to see me tomorrow, full of a fabulous lobster dinner and possibly some of the best ice cream ever. See ya later...

Twits and Giggles

As I try to get my act together... or something... I have a couple of random notes: I am now on Twitter. Don't ask. Or do ask... but it doesn't matter; apparently I'm just a "new technology adopter." I can't be stopped. And anyway, the Twittering thing, it's kind of fun. Kind of.

Meanwhile, while Twittering, I found - again - It's Just Some Random Guy (and his Gal), and not only do they Twitter... but they've added to their "I'm a Marvel, I'm a DC" series with two hilarious Watchmen parodies. I'm including both... and it's their two year anniversary of doing the videos. Congratulations!

I'm Your Mother Brother Sister Father Lover...Human. Whatever.

On a short, unrelated note: as a student of our marketing culture, I tend to watch ads a lot. My Mom doesn't, she thinks it's weird to pay attention to what's going on with commercial television in between the detective story part. I watch it kind of obsessively, because you can learn a lot from commercials... about who we are, what interests us, what works and what doesn't.

I'm always fascinated by Microsoft's advertising. Like a number of companies, I don't think Microsoft actually understands advertising because its success was never about getting the general consumer to like their product. It doesn't matter if you like Windows or not, if 89% of computers use it. It just is.

Plus Microsoft's people - Bill Gates, especially, but clearly others - think of themselves as big idea people. Thus they tend not to sell their products as practical, useful tools (if they did, they'd realize that Excel should be up front in their campaigns, for one thing), but as game changers that improve humanity... and we, of course, need improving.

I think these notions go a long way to explaining the frankly bizarre ads that recently showed up featuring Gates and Seinfeld. Lacking any real connection to Microsoft product, they seemed to represent some inner monologue about big ideas, and how things are interconnected. Mostly, though, they made no sense.

In its place, Microsoft launched a more direct assault on Apple's "I'm a Mac" with a rather witty response to the bespectacled "I'm a PC" presentation in those ads.  "I'm a PC," of course, is almost everyone; and Microsoft's ad made the connections ("i wear jeans." "I study genes." "I design jeans.") that showed the PC's reach.

Just one thing... what does that have to do with Microsoft?

What's really smart about Apple's campaign - yes, yes, I'm a Mac - is that it doesn't really run against Microsoft as much as it does the "DellWinTel" model of PCs with Intel cards and Windows operating systems. Yes, they've made fun of various aspects of Vista, but in the context of the problems it causes the pooter, not in itself. Microsoft's ad, while charming, falls into the usual trap - okay, we're all PC... now what? Nothing underlines it quite so well as the final clip of Deepak Chopra (fresh? current? why him?) expounding on the "I'm a human being" line. Portentous, overthought, and... unrelatable.

I mention all of this because the real punchline is this: like most advertising, the "I'm a PC" ad... was built on a Mac. And several of the spokespeople in it - Eva Longoria Parker, Pharrell Willimas, and, well, Chopra - are actually Apple users and supporters. And I'm just a human... giggling.

Gone Fishin'...

As previously announced, the NYC Weboy will be on a hiatus from blogging here for the rest of August. Please scroll down, as it's likely that J in Baltimore and RedStar may fill in the gaps with musings, links and photos of their own. You may also find me blogging some critical things over at newcritics. I will not be checking this blog on any kind of a regular basis, but I can be reached via e-mail (nycweboy at nycweboy dot com)... and I do welcome correspondence. I will resume blogging the Tuesday after Labor Day. Yes, that means I will not blog about the Democratic Convention... but just assume I liked Hillary's speech, that the VP selection is not my favorite choice, and I wasn't all that impressed with Obama's speech.

Have a great summer. Enjoy.

Obama And The Jedi Mind Trick

Via Riverdaughter, I finally have this video, which I think is hilarious... not just for what it says about Obama, but because, you know, everyone wanted to know how do the Jedi Mind Trick. :) Me included.

...Or, We Could Also Worry About Those Winged Pterodactyls On Skull Island, I Suppose...

You may have noticed I'm taking it a bit easy today; the political weekend wore me out a bit (not mention what felt like a long spate of working at the 'bucks). I'm going to work on a few lighter things, and leave the heavy politicking for later.

In the meantime, if you're dying for a fix:

• The Obama thing: Oh I don't know... try here or here or here or here or here or here... It seems to me we're talking this thing to ever-lovin' death. Since I already said my peace, I have little to add - except this: I don't think "the media" is the problem here, really I don't. Obama said something that was a mistake, and he's being, fairly I think, taken to task for a set of assumptions that deserve a challenge; however, I think the problem is that "the problem with what Obama said" is poorly defined, and too much of it has become "Easy Reader Elitism" that isn't the real issue here.
• As Ana Marie Cox says, yes, I read that Chris Matthews thing.  And so should you.
• Torch Song Trilogy: Count me among those who didn't realize that the Olympic Torch protests around China's poor Human Rights record (especially in relation to Tibet) would make such a splash. Then there's the whole Leni Riefenstahl-Berlin-1936 thing about the Torch Relay generally... and hey, you've got a weeks' worth of discomfort right there.
• Save The Robots: Apparently, the geek love affair with talking about the robot menace just will not go away. I already played, too. This is serious stuff people. Don't say you weren't warned. :)

...Before It Kills Us All

Via SeeDubya, blogging over at Michelle Malkin's place, this piece of overwrought trend reporting from the NYT:

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

...

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their work style.

It's true of course; thanks to reading about two people I've never heard of who've died... I'm now convinced blogging can kill me. Though I especially love "The premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic"... of course, why let that stop you from blathering on for dozens of additional paragraphs, insisting that sleep disorders, weight gain and all sorts of health problems come from, you know, writing a lot? (Oh, and, for good measure, why not throw in a few graphs about the hell that is Gawker Media, for good measure? That's clearly germane...)

Isn't it enough that, thanks to Hemingway, we're all alcoholics?

Sheesh. Anyway, I better stop, I can just feel myself dying as I write this...

UPDATE:  And now Charlton Heston is dead too! It's as if we're all going to die... eventually. Of something.

-- weboy (I suppose it's a good thing I added those other writers...)

Ad Bleg

Hi - I really don't usually do this... but does anyone know anything about using Google Adsense?  I am having a devil of a time getting the code they supplied me to display ads properly... and I can't figure out how you're supposed to get an answer from a person over at their site.  Any suggestions, thoughts? Comment here or e-mail me.

Thanks!
I am feeling very frustrated, which is keeping me from writing more.  Grrr....