A lack of originality
I’m on a mission to give our bare walls some personality. I had the clever thought of putting up artistically formatted inspiring words and phrases on our office room walls. Oh yes, I am so creative and clever, thought I. Words on the walls, as art! Then I remembered that people have been posting calligraphy on walls for centuries.

It’s no surprise that the public payphone is a declining species. The SF Chronicle gathered some statistics on the numbers in the Bay Area. To break even, a phone needs to generate at least 500 calls a month. People with low incomes often depend on pay phones, and they likely live in neighborhoods where phones have been removed because of maintenance costs and ordinances to discourage drug dealing. The state provides a subsidy to encourage pay phones in areas of great need, but few people are aware of the program and PacBell claims the subsidy doesn’t cover costs. Phone cards are becoming popular, but a phone is still needed to use them. A store in the Mission District offers free use of a phone if customers purchase phone cards there. Clocks behind the counter set to the time in various countries reflect the immigrant population who make use of this service.

I have a friend whom I describe as “the opposite of a pack rat.” I got my plentiful supply of hanging file folders from him. Despite the quantity, I will run out of them soon, which gives you an idea of my standing in the pack rat rankings. This friend would like to OCR all the paper that passes through his life and have a database of his documents. If he ever needed anything again, he could search for it. Regardless of my need for a tactile relationship with paper, I decided I’d also make good use of such a product. We had this discussion a few years ago. Last week I heard about Computhink on the radio. Their products aim for a “paperless office” and they even have a single-user product (discounted for tax season, with a scanner rebate). The basics of document imaging, indexing and retrieval all appear to be supported, plus there are annotations and security features. The next time I absent-mindedly look in vain for the search feature on my stack of manila folders, I’ll remember there’s an alternative.

It’s no fun hearing Mr. Gates saying unkind things about the Apple Newton when I know that many members of the old Newton team now work for Microsoft.

Aubrey and Kathleen McClendon were shocked to see their own likenesses peering out as gargoyles on the Duke University dorm they had donated the building funds for. The artistic surprise was a gesture to honor the couple and they were appreciative, but they have asked that the gargoyles be taken down. I wonder if they would have been happier if the likenesses didn’t look so much like bobble-head dolls?

What’s surreal? Finding out they are making a movie starring Julia Roberts as a professor at your alma mater. What’s really surreal? Finding out that they are actually filming scenes on campus with Wellesley students as extras. What’s not so surreal? Finding out that because the movie is set in the 1950’s they had to use mainly white students for extras (almost a quarter of the student body is now Asian and almost half of the students are “ethnically diverse”).

Another spiritual child of the Internet Movie Database, here’s The Big Cartoon Database. (via memepool)

It’s the first rain we’ve experienced in our house, and it’s bordering on torrential. With our spanking new roof, you’d think I’d be feeling comfortably covered. Instead, I’m remembering what the roofer said when I asked him how long the cedar would remain that beautiful orange-red hue, “after the first rain, it’ll never be the same.” And I’m also remembering that we were supposed to put extenders on the new gutter downspouts. Ah well, at least I won’t need to wash my dusty car. Hello California winter.

Will the critical legal documents of our lives ever go completely digital? A few banks are ready to push along this possibility. In October of 2000, FleetBoston, the big bank in New England, started offering online safe-deposit “boxes”. I haven’t found any verification, but physical safe-deposit boxes have probably been offered by banks ever since banks have existed. Bank buildings are already fortified to store valuables, and customers trust them to hold their money, why not their important papers as well (and long ago those important papers were their only “money”)? People are becoming more comfortable with the security of online banking. Will people be comfortable with their legal documents in virtual form only? Of course, a digital safe deposit box is not entirely about the elimination of paper; it’s valuable for any documents you may want to lock up and back up.

I’ve finally taken the time to carefully digest Peter Gabriel’s UP album. My friend Ned (who, incidentally, has cleverly programmed his cellphone with the Wallace & Gromit theme song so I have to appreciate his musical taste) lamented the lack of originality in this body of work, and I have to agree. I do like the album. But Gabriel put us in the unfortunate circumstance of having to wait ten years for a new solo album. What I’ve got in my CD player is something that he could have released a year or two after “Us.” Back then I’d be more excited about it. I’m not the best judge of Peter Gabriel, having arrived late to an appreciation for the depths of his music, and I’m spoiled by my #1 rock hero, David Bowie, chameleoning through his entire career. So perhaps I shouldn’t expect more than another usual Peter Gabriel album. This one is more than decent. He knows the sounds he likes, and he layers them on with vigor. The only problem is, as Ned says, “haven’t I heard this entire album before?” It’s variations on familiar themes, propelled along by a few good bass grooves. (read the BBC review; it’s better informed and more forgiving plus, it mentions John Cusack)