If you want something, give it to someone else. Your satisfaction may be greater.

I got a new printer. Whoo. I got it because the last one I bought didn’t have a document feeder, and that would be a nice convenience to have now and then. The new one also does duplex printer, although rather slowly. So great, new printer. Well, it also came with a couple of features that, by way of the fact that Windows is such a POS, are instead bugs. The printer has a couple of (to me, entirely useless) memory-card reader slots. Windows, of course, sees these and tries to assign them drive letter(s)… well, something about this conflicts with how Windows iTunes mounts my iPod (also using a drive letter), so that if the printer is attached, the PC won’t recognize the iPod at all. I have to unplug the printer to get the PC to recognize the iPod, and if the iPod is connected and I reconnect the printer, the printer driver software starts complaining that I’ve connected an “incompatible device” to the printer. Eh, yeah. Not. Somehow I know this isn’t the fault of Canon, or Apple. It’s Windows. Feh.

OK, it’s a given that the Oscars are a complete joke, but what in the hell is going on with The Departed being nominated for five Oscars??! Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Best Supporting Actor?!?! We watched it the other night, and we both laughed all the way through. This is, it’s not supposed to be a comedy. Of errors. Let’s see. The story is entirely predictable, and yet not at all believable, the way it’s presented. The dialogue alternate between overblown, hokey and fairly amusing, but again, that’s not really the point. The movie reads like Friends meets The Sopranos, with Friends winning. The acting is mostly quite bad. Jack Nicholson is an old fool in a bathrobe - perhaps he’s supposed to represent Scorsese? Leonardo diCrappio is actually OK, but Whalberg, who I usually like, doesn’t do anything interesting with the purely character role. We were incredulous. The Departed gets a D+ — don’t bother!

“Also setting the new model aside from its existing counterparts, those same people say, may be the conspicuous absence of an optical disc drive.”

Steve must have finally read my letter! Full article on AppleInsider here.

What did I get for my birthday?

• a full series of paragliding lessons
• a lovely vintage globe and a cool little 50’s-looking orange cruet from Lisa
• a bottle of Bärenjäger from Robert and Jessica
• a nifty bottle of hand-made love potion from J and Erin
• a used pair of Theil speakers (on loan) from Henry
• some handmade micro-cupcakes from Amy
• a one-hour massage
• a ton of new music: Blind Guardian, The Bloody Hollies, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, 8-bit Operators, Kreator, Lady Sovereign, Lindstrøm, Nouvelle Vague, PJ Harvey, Primal Scream, Stereolab, T.I., Three Mile Pilot, The Undertones, MC Hawking (amazing, check it out!), Clipse, From First to Last, and a few more…
• a super burrito with black beans from Taqueria Cancun
• four new T-shirts from Villans
• 4 tubes of Berocca and 2 pairs of socks from Simply Australian
• a Canon MP830 printer with auto duplexer and document feeder
• a fantastic dinner at Walzwerk with 20 great friends - photos should show up here shortly
• a bunch of Happy Birthday phone calls and emails from old dear friends
• and something John says is still on the way…

wow. Thank you!