One thing I love about the coffee shop is that it’s always full of interesting people to watch. Sitting with my headphones in, people naturally assume that I’m listening to music. Sure, the occasional head nod to a fictitious tune adds to the effect, but it isn’t really necessary. The best part is that after a few initial comments that would get the eavesdropping motors running, they assume I’m not listening to them, and will say just about anything in front of me.

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This morning I was almost run over by yet another unqualified driver, and I just don’t feel like the tiny beep-beep of my horn was enough of a cry against the onslaught. I hope that this site doesn’t end up becoming one of those rant-a-day sites, but I can be quiet no more. I have a bone to pick, and it isn’t with someone you usually associate with, um, bone picking. I have a problem with the Soccer Mom.

What!? A complaint against that bastion of parental involvement? What am I, a communist? Are apple pie and hot dogs next? No. At least not until I get run over by an apple pie or a hot dog.
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Aren’t computers supposed to make our lives easier? I mean, isn’t that really one of the reasons they were invented? Weren’t people sitting around thinking “Man, all these calculations are hard to do, and now I have to go to the bathroom. Isn’t there some way we can make it so these computations do themselves?”

Since the time that ingenuity answered nature’s call, computers have been here, but I don’t think they’ve been on our side. For example, on Friday afternoon, I picked up Apple’s new operating system 10.5, codenamed Leopard.
First off, this is one very cool piece of software. It installed on my laptop in about an hour, with no glitches, except for a setting in the email application that got changed and it took me a while to figure it out. The machine runs smoothly, the cool new features are a blast, and actually streamlines some of the tasks that I have to do on a daily basis. The cool factor is easily a nine. A ten would be pushing a button and the laptop transforms into a little friend I could play poker and have a beer with. Nine’s about as good as it gets.

Since it runs so beautifully on my machine, I thought I’d install it on my wife’s laptop too. I bought the multiple user license, so that was the plan anyway.
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