how now brownpau
I want a Segway. I really do. It’s my dream-ride, since I can’t drive, I walk a lot, and most of my destinations are within 3 miles of my home — too close for a car trip, but a bit too far to walk.
But $4,950. is just too much to pay. Such an exorbitant price nearly guarantees that the Segway will remain little more than a toy for the techie elite, rather than the revolutionary new mode of mainstream transportation that Dean Kamen envisioned it to be.
Well, folks, after a day out shopping with Valerie, the new Pencam is in the house. It’s a newer model, the Pencam 1.3 SD. Unlike it’s hardwired-flash-memory predecessor, the 1.3 SD lets you save photos to a SD flash card, one advantage of which is that I don’t have to struggle with Macam anymore. (Of course, I had to buy a 32MB flash card and reader, but the extra expense was definitely worth it. In keeping with the Trek-villains theme, the SD card is named “Khan.”)
Image quality on this baby seems better, and though the 1.3 SD is a bit larger and heavier than the older Mini, it’s easier to point and shoot, and the buttons are positioned so that your fingers have less chance of getting in the way. Lookin’ good.
And so, without further ado, I present to you my first new pencam entry in the photolog, a picture of our favorite cat:
A hearty happy birthday to my brother Francis, who is 29 today. Yeah, we go way back; I’ve known him since I was born. Back in my childhood, my nickname for him was “Abba,” though I stopped using the name in in high school when I found out that it meant “father,” not “kuya.” :D The name stuck anyway; Mom still calls hims that.
Anyone who’s stayed in the city of Baltimore long enough knows that those few surviving pockets of history and culture that still exist are surrounded by an overwhelming sea of poverty and crime. My school lies right beside North Avenue, the theoretical border which separates a relatively quiet neighborhood from a nearly endless ghetto. (Not to say that the Bolton Hill area is not safe from muggings, break-ins, drug-dealing, and other felonies; MICA students are regularly warned. And it is often said, “Don’t cross North Avenue!”)
But here’s a couple of guys who are doing something to help revive what parts of the city they can:
TechBalt.com encourages Rybbys (Risk-taking Young Baltimoreans) to bring the fruits of their education back to the city to try and help improve their neghborhoods.
Madison Ave Substation documents a man’s struggle to deal with rampant drug-dealing right outside his own home, by constructing a makeshift substation for Baltimore police to use as a rest stop and outpost. (Note: this one has everything on a single HTML page, so it’s rather large: about 2MB. Fast connection recommended.) Quite an amazing — and often sad — story.
I’m emailing them both right now, to see if there’s something I can do to assist. I’d love to help set up a blog for the substation, seeing as how that page is so huge right now. Hey, Baltimore bloggers, anyone else want in?
New photo album is up: Baltimore, MICA, and Little Italy. Mostly just rehashed pencam shots, but that’s one of the other reasons I started the Photolog, as a buffer for the regular albums.
Update, 2006: I have since moved the photos to Flickr, so here’s the new link to the photoset: Baltimore Memories.
My friend Rod sent me this link: Why Paint Cats? Which begs brings up the question of Why Cats Paint. I think they’re all nuts. Nuts. All of them.
Since my own photos of yesterday’s snow day were lost with my pencam, I’ll just have to point you to Dean McKenzie and his adorable family romping through a winter wonderland.
Let’s all sing now:
“There are Chinese soups
And there are Chinese soups
But there is nothing like
Knorr Real Chinese Soup
Knorr is one of a kind
Best chinese soup you can find
Knorr is easy to cook
Just add one egg! (crack, gong!)
There are Chinese soups
And there are Chinese soups
But there is nothing like
Knorr Real Chinese Sooo-oup!
(Goodah!)”
Thanks to my Mom for sending over a large bag full of Knorr Chinese Soup packets. (A product popularly advertised through the aforementioned commercial jingle, in the Philippines of the late 80’s.) Perfect for these snowy winter nights.
Me: Don’t eat yellow snow.
Valerie: Don’t tell me you learned the hard way about yellow snow!
Me: (Picard voice) Let’s just say I saw Number One on the bridge.
How long does it take snow to melt and for the sidewalks and roads to go back to normal? If it takes any longer than a day, I think I’ll need to buy some boots. My old Rusty Lopez shoes barely survived today’s glacial treatment.
Man, between that, the blogging books, my plane ticket to San Francisco, and a new pencam, I’m going to go absolutely broke.
Update: For all you searchers who keep asking how long it takes for snow to melt, it depends on the weather. If it gets really warm, the snow can be all gone by the next day. If it stays cold but above freezing, it can take three days to a week. (This is in DC.)