Walt’s Corner

I’m seeing a lot of people talking ill of this last year before the double digit decade. I feel for them and wish them a better year this time around, but I had a great year. I had an absolute blast.

January I was enjoying my newly purchased 2009 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic. My first Big Twin HD Motorcycle that replaced my Sporty. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it throughout the rest of the year.

2009 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic

February brought even more rides, including our HOG Chapter’s annual trip to Tombstone, Arizona. My wife and son even went with. Beautiful scenery. Loved the Lavender Pit.

The Lavender Pit, near Tombstone, Arizona

March was my first time out visiting Elephant Butte, New Mexico.

Elephant Butte, New Mexico

April brought a whole new aspect to my life for the first time -- house hunting. Carol and I had planned on purchasing a house after our current lease expired, but thought it would be nice to go look at the market, just to see what it was like. Turns out we found a house that day that we both liked. And bought it. By the end of the month we were packed and ready to go. We even got out of our lease.

Our unfinished house

Finished house

Finished house with landscaping

The beginning of May is when we moved and spent most of that month getting the house right…

June was when we picked out Dolli, our dog. Part chihuahua and part terrier. And spent more time getting the house right. The garage and entertainment center were the focus of the handy-man. Installed speaker jacks in the walls and ceiling/attic so that no wires would be running visible in the living room.

Cut-outs in the wall for the jacks

Jacks installed

Speaker wire drops down from attic

Carol started working at her high school in July. Did I mention we did more work on the house? The main focus that month was the kitchen sink and the cupboards. I also rode out to Sitting Bull Falls, New Mexico.

Replaced generic faucet with this one

August was the really big project on the house -- the back porch/patio, rock wall on the sides of the property, and another little side porch to hold the trash and recycle bins that connected to the driveway. We also rode out to Alpine and Fort Davis, Texas. It also marked the birthday of Carol!

September I received my new Bunn STX Brewer that I won in a video contest. Poor Dolli got shaved at the groomers “by accident.” Had to buy her a sweater because she was so cold.

Dolli, shaved and wearing a sweater

October brought the changing of the leaves and some very nice rides. Not too hot, not too cold. Rode through the Gila National Forrest and Emery Pass in New Mexico. I also turned another year older. This was the month that Carol bought me my KitchenAid professional stand mixer. That has really come in handy.

November was the usual. All the holidays and 4-day weekends come en masse. Time to start eating like there’s no tomorrow, and that lasts through December and into January.

December saw all our toy rides and poker runs for the ramp up to Christmas and the New Year. I also finished up hiding the cables running to and from the entertainment center and the speaker jacks I put in the wall.

Wire panelling installed and painted to match wall

Wire panelling installed and painted to match wall

There we have it. The year in review. There are big plans scheduled for next year as well. I hope everyone has a great New Year!

Carol and I

Was somebody fired from Dave Letterman’s show and subsequently picked up over at eWeek? Or are eWeek’s editors losing creativity when assigning names to their articles? Seems like every other feed that comes down the pipes have “10 reasons” or “10 Ways” in the title. This is getting very boring.

I give you 10 recent reasons to drop eWeek from your feed list:

1. 10 Reasons Why the Windows 7 Upgrade Is Unlike Any Other
2. 10 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP Until Windows 7 Service Pack 1
3. 10 Reasons Why It’s Time for Enterprises to Embrace Netbooks
4. 10 Reasons Why Reliable Windows 7 Security Is Crucial to Users
5. 10 Reasons Why Microsoft Released Windows Marketplace Too Early
6. 10 Reasons Why Having Both Macs and PCs Spells Trouble for Apple
7. 10 Reasons Why Chrome, Firefox Threaten Internet Explorer
8. 10 Reasons Why Windows 7 Could Be Best Microsoft OS Yet
9. 10 Reasons Why Chrome OS Will Outshine Nokia, Linux on Netbooks
10. 10 Reasons Why Palm Pre May Become the Smartphone Flop of 2009

Be careful what you ask for. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and hope like hell that Microsoft finally gets what it deserves. Of course I’m speaking of its latest bag of hurt that is the Word patent infringement ruling. After years of putting out applications that, for the most part, were straight up theft or at least someone else’s idea, I hope as much as the next person that they reap what they sow.

But let’s walk down that glorious path, shall we? In today’s economy and politically motivated decisions, the clouds have parted and I see a future. A future where Word does indeed get banned. Here’s a quote from eWeek, “But if these efforts fail, even a company of Microsoft’s wealth and resources would be hard-pressed to recoup the potential financial losses and competitive setbacks if it has to keep Word off the market for an extended period.” That’s their opinion and I pretty much subscribe to it. In this future of mine, Microsoft is in deep financial trouble. Word gets pulled. Office has to get repackaged. Competing companies come out and flourish. Microsoft begins to go under. What happens next? Government bail-out.

Don’t think that could happen? Think again. Remember when RIM was playing the patent infringement case? They were on the receiving end of a stay of execution. Why? Because the government would cease to function without the use of their Blackberries. The government was not going to bite the hand that feeds it. What applications are on every government computer? Why, Microsoft Office, of course!

Reason 1 Microsoft will not be too severely punished: Office is on every modern/recent government computer.

Reason 2 Microsoft will not be too severely punished: Even if a court sided against Microsoft, the way the government runs now in the aftermath of this recession, the government would financially bail-out Microsoft from the burden and we would all become stockholders of the biggest software company in the world.

I don’t really know what triggers iTunes to close out a bill before it charges me. Does it wait a week? I have bought songs and rentals where I was charged that same night. Other times, like this week, iTunes takes its sweet time. Monday I bought Monster Pinball for iPhone. Tuesday was a song. Wednesday I bought pzizz Relax for iPhone. Thursday I rented “Last House on the Left” so that we can watch it tonight during our Pizza and a Movie Night.

Today I received the email that charged me for my purchases this week. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to the settling of the bill.

YML quotes the Financial Times story about Apple and the big record labels working together to bring back the days when we actually bought albums. Money quote: “It’s all about re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” said one executive familiar with the plans.

Seriously? Maybe I missed this “heyday,” but I don’t recall ever buying an album, listening to it all while sitting around with friends admiring the artwork. The “heyday” was for the record companies, not for us the consumers. Want a song? Have to buy 10 or more just to get it. Today is our (the consumers’) heyday where we can pick and choose what songs we like without being forced to buy songs we didn’t want. If it was such a grand old time, why are these companies forced to assemble a deal in order to get people to buy an album? When will they learn that I really don’t care about album artwork? I buy music to listen to while I’m reading, driving, working, or just plain ol’ relaxing; not to sit around with my friends looking at album covers, pictures, or sleeves. There’s a word for that: concert. You go to a concert with your friends. A Video. You watch a video with your friends. But listening to music? It’s background noise; ambiance. You have friends over for a party – your music is playing in the background.

The world has moved on since those days. Most people wouldn’t want to go back to the barter and trade economy, and most people don’t want to go back to the Album, regardless of what format it arrives in.

So I’m predicting the failure of the this attempt at reviving the album. I imagine Apple is too, but this is good publicity for them. It says “look at us, Record Labels, we’re not killing the album, we’re trying to revive it.” It will work for a few people, and for the comparatively few people who do purchase albums due to this publicity, Apple will still make a buck in the process. Apple has nothing to lose, and even more to gain. But let’s remember back when the iTunes Music Store first made its debut. It was all about purchasing the single song. Your song. The song you wanted. And it still is.