Sunday, January 23, 2005
The flashlight I carry in my backpack, a HubbelLite 2202-2A, broke today after over 8 years of reliable service. It has a plastic casing and the plastic tab which holds the flashlight together after you insert the batteries broke off. I didn't end up replacing it, but since writing this entry I've gotten 2 requests from strangers who have tried unsuccessfully to find a replacement. The answer: search Google on Pelican Versabrite, which is essentially the same flashlight. Cleaned and dusted. Repaired a bedsheet which had a small tear in it. Repaired my ski jacket—the hood pull cord had come loose. Late breakfast: Patrick brought back dim sum from Chinatown after running errands with Sam. Watched a bunch of Simpsons episodes. While watching one which appears to have been taped on June 10, 2004, we saw the Chronicles of Riddick commercial I mentioned before where Shawn Edwards of FOX TV is quoted separately 4 times during the commercial. He's the only critic giving testimonials in the commercial, but it looks as if there are 4 critics since they show them so quickly. His 4 quotes: 1. EXTRAORDINARY. 2. A TRUE CLASSIC. 3. NOT TO BE MISSED. 4. ONE OF THE BEST SCI-FI FILMS EVER. We're saving this treasure of slick marketing from Universal just so we have something to laugh at when we're old and bitter. Patrick takes a nap. Worked on Ring Logo Roundup. Read from Kitchen Confidential. Updated frankfarm.org validate code. Set up a new URL to see the most current journal entry on frankfarm.org. Started looking at hand-coding an RSS feed. I'll need to configure the server to parse XML files for PHP—not today. Patrick and I somehow got to talking about pinball machines, and as I was in front of my computer already and was talking about a favorite pinball machine of mine from long ago, it took me about 20 seconds to locate and download and play sound clips from the pinball machine called Xenon, one of the first talking pinball machines. The speed with which I came up with this audio data would have been unbelievable a mere 15 years ago. I love the Internet! Dinner at home with Patrick: butternut squash soup, linguine with garden vegetables and chicken sausage in marinara.