And Jerry Falwell is hospitalized in critical condition. Quick - get that morphine drip ready...

Ms. Schiavo is now on morphine drip. I believe that all the appeals are now exhausted, so it's only a matter of a few days at best. Wonder how long before it's time to put the pope on a morphine drip...

She's been unable to do much except blink for fifteen years. In my opinion, the humane thing to do is let her slip away with a shred of dignity intact. But it isn't my decision. It's her decision, and we've let the courts determine the right of succession for folks able to make that decision when somebody can't make it on their own. Whether you like it or not, her husband is at the top of the list. I think her parents should be, if they are alive (they are). How this all plays out could end up being one of the profound moral debates of the decade. But the message is clear - if you have personal wishes how you would like things to be handled if you were in Ms. Schiavo's shoes, you'd best put it in writing.

So I'll do just that - right now. Should I turn into a vegetable tomorrow, don't give up on me immediately. But let's set a timeline. If I'm in the same exact minimally conscious state for five years without improvement, allow me to dissolve back into the universe in dignity. But if I can even tap my finger, I'll make my own decision thank you.

Just in case you're wondering - I'm still waiting for the letter from google. Tap, tap, tap... How long does it take to get mail delivered from less than a mile away? Which only tells me that they haven't sent the darn thing yet.

Bush's dirty little war is now into the terrible twos...

Boy I was hopping today. Then again, I recently quintupled my advertising budget. I've been getting into the public consciousness from every direction I can think of. I should have been hopping today.

The last few days I've been getting more and more folks buying clarinet and sax reeds that I've never seen before. This is good. Now that Draper's Music is shuttered, this is the closest place for Palo Altans to find school band accessories. The reason I quintupled the ad budget is to make sure they buy them from me and not the next closest place.

After waiting for months, google finally released the feature that will let me change the name of my store on their local directory. I've been looking at their site for this software update every single day (since last November) so I can get it changed pronto. So I changed it. But wait, it's not over yet. For verification, I have to type in a code they're going to send me in the mail. No, not e-mail. Mail mail. I've been waiting almost a week now for it to arrive. Maybe next week I'll finally have my correct business name in their directory. 

This evening I got home and wanted to catch up on the world situation. Quickly. That would take me to CNN Headline News. It's gone. Replaced with something called 'Headline Prime' where I was informed all about such important world events as the latest gossip from American Idol, the latest tour of a former Spice Girl and the latest in the boring life of William Shatner (aka Cap'n Kirk). It's a lot like going to MTV these days to try and find music.

On the other hand, Headline News and one kid's channel have been my only reasons for subscribing to 'Extended cable' (or perhaps subscribing to cable at all). Now if I can only figure out how to substitute the kid's channel without too much protest I can save 20-30 bucks a month. Or go back to an antenna and save $50 a month. Hmmm. One kid's channel. Six hundred dollars a year. (Double or triple that when you consider the side effects of kids marketing campaigns). Decisions, decisions...

Suppose it's worth mentioning that I'll even let you play my guitar to see if it's what you really want...

Courtesy tres geek...


(With Firefox, hit the ESC key to turn off the blinking if it's getting to you).

[Since the website was updated with drop shadow images in 2006, this animation may no longer animate.] 

Did you know that working 8-track tape players sell for around $1500 these days? That's because there are still a few people out there that collect the tapes but nobody (and I do mean nobody) makes the players anymore. A huge chunk of the remaining functional players are 12 volt systems for cars. One that works off AC is rarer than hen's teeth. This one is AC... It's also a Panasonic. I know this model well. I've worked on them before. Couldn't even tell you how many times I've popped the cover on one of these.

I took care of it. It no longer eats tapes. One thing is certain; that it will eat tapes again someday. But not today...

Just got in a couple of Warlord guitars from the Jay Turser factory. I've been waiting for this guitar for 25 years. It's a very futuristic, sculpted version of a Flying V, the shape being kind of a cross between a Flying V and a violin. In 1980, I pulled out a piece of paper and drew the ultimate guitar I wanted someday. I still have the piece of paper. Never quite got around to having somebody make me one. Didn't have the money. A few years back when I had the money, I spent it on a real Flying V because I was just frugal enough not to waste it all - and such a guitar didn't exist on the market. Now it does. Somebody else had the same vision. Actually there's a very similiar guitar that was produced by Silvertone a couple of years ago that these are copies of. You might know Silvertone as the house brand guitar for Sears Roebuck in the 60's. The guy with the vision was Paul Stanley, former guitarist for KISS. But black has never been my color in guitars and the Silvertone only came in black.

And I spoke too soon. This is software. Of course it has bugs. I found one. Reading an article I wrote four years ago which used a clever little server-processed logic within the article. This software just reads the files without processing them so my clever little ditty came through as raw code instead of something useful. Hey, one article in four years that needs to be tweaked. That's not bad. And I could even make it work again by changing two lines. But I think I'll leave it alone. If this software ever grows to include user-feedback, it could cause a bit of a mess if random folks could enter server commands into their messages.

Though it might be a nice feature to allow it via configuration... Those that want to have random fortunes or system memory reports inside their daily blog could do so. Hmmm... Want to see the factors of 100000000001 ?

This post is coming via the new diary entry editor, rather than via the Unix text editor which I've been using for the last four years. All the required features are finished and bug-free as best as I can tell. I feel like I've actually accomplished something...

...And if there may be a market for it, it seems worthwhile to productize it. Ah yes, software products. I know a little bit about what that involves. It means I need to make it a little more user-friendly and totally configurable. That means I need to work on it some more. What's good enough for me isn't necessarily good enough for the general public. The downside of that is that it obviously involves a lot of work and it will probably get more complicated than I really wish it to. But the upside is that I might be able to make a few dollars by selling it to others. The competition has horrendously complicated stuff and blog farms that you pay (usually between 10-20 bucks a month) to belong to. If I can keep it simple and useful enough that somebody would prefer to buy it outright (for 10-20 bucks), there's a market.

So that's what I'm doing...

Today is the last day for Draper's Music. Finally. I was hoping to pick up some business with him going out of business, but so far it hasn't materialized. In fact business has been worse since he's been having his closeout sale. Maybe things will start to change. At a minimum, even if I don't sell more flutes, Palo Alto folks will need to start looking for things like clarinet and sax reeds. This is the closest place that's got 'em. I can only hope they find me...