Sitting here in front of my laptop while my beleaguered desktop endlessly boots and reboots. I've been installing Windows 98 over and over again in a vain attempt to fix whatever is wrong with it. I've also run Norton Antivirus a bizillion times, since one of the last things my computer did successfully was tell me it was infected with W32.Klez. I think it's time to punt with this 5 year old machine, but Veronica has a bunch of images and mp3's on it so we need to get it up and running to at least backup the contents of the hard drive.

I've had relatively good luck with PC's, and for the amount of programming and scientific computing I do I really am stuck with them. However for home usage, I'm beginning to think that the ease of use and relative insensitivity to viruses of Macs is the way to go. Plus Veronica is itching to get an iPod.

Looks like Windows setup is proceeding in a promising fashion ... wish me luck.

I saw The Hives last night, the self-proclaimed "hottest band on the planet". I downloaded a few of their albums a while back, and think they play a nice edgy garage rock. Nothing new ... it's all recycled MC5, Stooges, and whatnot ... but they've got the flair to make it interesting, and certainly write some catchy songs. I found myself getting really annoyed during the show though. Now I've never been one for over-the-top attitude, but I can enjoy a little cockiness here and there when it complements the music. However, the show would've been infinitely more interesting to me if the singer put as much effort into singing as he did encouraging the audience to applaud the band, doing tricks with his microphone, and telling us how lucky we were to be seeing them. On top of that, the band sounded terrible ... the guitars came off flat and the bass sounded like it was underwater, and all the musicians were too busy rockin' out to bother to play their instruments well.

Can style triumph in the complete absence of content? If the history of music is any indicator, the answer is a resounding yes ... how many records have Oasis sold?

I have this recurring notion that if I ever get into a fight (at 27 the closest I've come is beaning another kid with a football in 4th grade and then avoiding him for the rest of recess), previously unleashed martial arts skills will flow from me and I'll mop the floor with my opponent, Bruce Lee style. I envision myself gracefully sidestepping my foe's opening swipe, and then applying blow after blow while easily dodging each predictable punch. Like in those movies where a person is programmed with fighting ability and all it takes to tap into it is for the person to hear a certain code word: "banana", or "giraffe", or "aluminum siding".

My common sense tells me I'd better not piss anybody off.