well, just came back from a d.c. restaurant week at zola with several DCists (rob, kanishka, martin, becca, and scott, hemal and sommer WHO ARE PERSONAL-BLOGLESS, THE SHAME, YOU ARE ONLY HALF A PERSON IF YOU WRITE FOR LESS THAN TWO BLOGS), and i figured i may as well write it up while it's fresh in my mind. for the short, snappy summary-inclined: FABULOUS service, good drinks, great decor, beautiful bathrooms, and pretty good food.

1. Uneven boards! The job is doomed to be half-assed, regardless of the proportion of ass devoted to it.


2. A belt sander is just about the wussiest kind of power tool out there. It's not at all satisfying to use.


3. The belt slides around the sander, requiring constant adjustment. If I stop paying attention the belt begins to shred in a shower of sparks. Which is, surprisingly, still not at all satisfying.


4. I'm a renter, so hey: now I'm throwing money and sweat down the drain.


5. The arsenic- and diesel-infused dust I accidentally inhaled has made my lymph nodes swell up and my throat sore.


6. This is all just a prelude to staining the whole goddamn thing.


7. Everything not listed above.

Sounds like the Xbox 360 is going to be $300 -- that's $50 pricier than earlier rumors. D'oh. Worse, games are currently expected to clock in at $60.

(Modchip prices remain unannounced.)

there's a funny article in the san francisco chronicle today (SPOILERS! if you haven't read HPB yet. and if you haven't, what the eff is wrong with you?) about "shipping" in the harry potter universe. any buffy the vampire slayer fan worth their salt should know about the phenomenon of shipping: it has nothing to do with boats, but rather intense focus on characters' romantic relationships (and readers' beliefs or desires about who should be having/have had a romantic relationship). i'll put a little more discussion behind the cut so as to protect the innocent eyes of those who haven't yet finished the book...

Well, mark one item off my list: MochaSoft has a VNC client for PocketPC that works with VNC4, has built-in SSH2 support that isn't impossibly slow, and is unlimited shareware. Cool.

gotta love the post's front page