absence
Life is so different at home. School provides an endless resource of people to hang out with, talk to, and just generally interact with. That keeps you/me on your/my toes. At home, at least this town, I feel somewhat isolated from others and so less interaction, especially on a mass level, occurs leaving me feeling more bored. I guess that’s a natural tendency, though, when you live in such a town as this. Oh well.
Friday we went back to Blacksburg for my brother’s graduation. That was fun. The speeches were just as bland, tasteless, and void of heart as the Grinch in his midnight parade. But we cheered and took pictures when they called my brother’s name. Post-grad was Fuddruckers; some excitement indeed. I actually ate a burger. It was good.
It’s encouraging to see AOL, the world’s largest attempt at monopolization (remember AOL Time Warner [aka internet-magazine-news-movies-cable conglomerate]), team up with iTunes and Apple to bring music to needy listeners. It’s good to see AOL’s music service die off and have them embrace the sure-fire winner of digital music distribution. Although, it will be funny to watch the millions of AOL dial-up users sit in anticipation as their download of any given song takes 10 minutes +.
And more Apple points of interest. I have thus far seen two MP3 player advertisements (in written media) that directly challenge the iPod by name…and specs. The first one was by Creative Labs. Their 40GB model claims the same specs as the iPod except for dimensions and it’s apparently extravagant advancement over the iPod in that the iPod ‘doesn’t even play WMA format files.’ Now that is a vague warrant for the masses indeed. Anyone who still uses WMA format media is below the point of no return. I’m sorry. And the second ad I saw was for the Dell DJ. Admittedly they tried their best to match the style of the best-selling iPod (I can’t say I blame them), that was obvious. But both ads point out two things clearly. Of course the competitors have lower prices on their models, but would you rather buy a Kia or a Honda? a Volkswagen or an Audi? The difference is clear, the more you pay, the better quality you get. And in the case of the iPod, the more you pay reaps exponential benefits. The other things these ads point out is the size of their models versus the iPod. I’m surprised they even bring up that point because both models were significantly larger and heavier than the iPod. Oh well. This is a free market.
Also my father installed a new fan in a certain bathroom in our house. The intense rate and thunderous sound that it creates constantly assures me that it is reducing the risk of spontaneous asphyxiation for my valuable safety.
Tomorrow looks to be exciting just like the rest of the week. Exciting it is.