geek out

I did a couple of geeky things today.

My phone battery was running low, so I thought I'd stab it with the charger dongle, you know, to recharge it. Unfortunately, the charger didn't fit into its slot. Curious, I peered into the little gap in the bottom of my treo. There are 14 little brass pins that stick straight at you, a bit like a nintendo cartridge. Four of them were bent out towards the sides of the gap, preventing the dongle from connecting to them or any of their brethren. Nervous about snapping the little bent bastards off, and doing my best to be gentle, I took the smallest possible implement on my trusty gerber multi-tool and ever-so-slowly bent them back into position, or at least a position resembling the one they were in to begin with. Victory was mine a few minutes later, after restoring three of the four pins to their original condition. I'm not sure what the fourth one does, or if it's even necessary, because everything seems to work okay without it.

I also installed Tiger (OS update) on the iMac. I had to wipe the HD in order to install 10.4, and I've been busy ever since downloading software to replace the software I just erased. That, and Dashboard widgets. My first impression is that spotlight is awesome, but QuickSilver performs a similar task with a slightly different keystroke. Dashboard is also awesome... an alarm clock, Fox Trot, stir-fry recipes, the weather, Twins scores, a Word of the Day, and a reading from the Tao Te Ching... all by pressing F12.

I got my financial aid award letter today. They're willing to loan me money, more than enough to go to UND. hooray. Also heard back from the 10,000 lakes people. At least I have a job for four days, at the end of the month.

The vice president went to a hospital in Vail, CO yesterday. Not sure if this made the news, nothing good ever does any more, but the huffington post has mention or two of an "...angina attack" that everyone from here to the Beltway is denying. Sounds to me like the GOP wants to run Cheney in '08 and doesn't want anyone to be able to talk about the fact that the poor guy has had, like, seven heart attacks.

oh, and let me just say that Karl Rove is a FUCK. he is the ultimate pejorative. if I ever heard one of my kids say the words "karl rove," I would demand that they wash their mouths out with soap after I slap them until their lips bleed. he is not suitable for our elders, strangers, or girls we want to impress. he is DEFINITELY not suitable for customers or clients. Brilliant, victorious, blah, blah, yes. He is an EVIL FUCK. and a liar.