Month: July 2007

My last post used a Steve Austin quote and it isn’t a perfect match, so adding another post which will touch on bionic stuff.

When you have a second, look at your toes.

Is your second toe longer than your big toe? Mine is. It is called Morton’s Toe, “Although commonly described as a disorder, it is sufficiently common to be considered a normal variant of foot shape”.

This is fine except for the blister on top of blister on top of blister on my left second toe from 13 Mile+ runs. I now wear the ridiculous item in the photo that I have to buy at dance-supply stores. It has has gel inside and it is made for ballerinas.

I recently read about runners having toenails surgically removed permanently — link, but not for the squeamish — rather than deal with them.

Let’s see, what other bionic (well not really bionic, but body modification through science) sports options are available?

• Lasik eye surgery to go beyond 20/20 — Tiger Woods, etc.
• Do swimmers get laser hair removal? Probably.
• Pool players and target shooters get line up a shot tattoos.
• What else?

“Steve Austin: astronaut. A man barely alive.” “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.”

Tim, Rajiv and I took a road trip to Boston last Friday on official Notches business.

Tim was using his tablet with EVDO on the way up in the rental car when about 1/3 of the way there, he says “uh, that doesn’t sound good” and held up the computer when the obvious click of death sounds became clear.

These things do happen of course, but here’s where the story takes a turn. I pull my laptop out of the bag on Sunday to find a non-booting, hard drive dying Dell M65. Tim’s Toshiba was at least old enough to not be surprised, but my Dell is only seven months old.

What are the odds? Of these plausible causes which seems likeliest:

1. Some kind of physical motion/shock incurred by the evil Mercury Grand Marquis. (note, people readily get out of your way in the fast lane when driving one of these)
2. We all use the same notebook bag (the power of recommendations!) which has magnetic clasps on the outside pocket, which normally aren’t a problem, but maybe when lined up in a row in the trunk of an enormous car.
3. Having a good meeting sucked all the karma out of our computers in order to right the galactic balance.
4. Statistical probability only

Fortunately Dell got me a new drive with next day shipping, so I’m back and running, but I easily lost 12 hours of productivity. If I was buying this machine today, I would not hesitate to get an SSD drive instead. [SSD roundup from CustomPC via Engadget]

Also: Thanks to Exchange Server + FolderShare + Google browser sync I have all my data and many of my important settings again. Except I realized I was only syncing my home machine and laptop, and if something had happened to a drive (in a RAID 1 no less) at home in the last 48 hours, I would have really really been hurting. I realize I need a separate third backup location and ideally using another type of mechanism. I’m going to look at Mozy(Pro) for this.

A Departures magazine subscription comes with American Express Platinum membership. It is a thick, glossy volume that can make anyone feel insufficiently world traveled and luxuried up.

Here’s a full page spread on burgers in New York City, highlighting things like foie gras and short rib burgers, but take a look at the bombshell opening sentence:

Los Angeles burger haven In-N-Out is rumored to be planning a New York debut, but burgers have already taken the city by storm.

I don’t have to spell it out: this would be just about the biggest news in burgers imaginable.