something to do

My iBook woes continue. Several people directed me to this solution, which sort of worked. She starts up if she’s plugged in, but when I unplug her, she locks up. I tried removing her battery and resetting the PMU again, and she’s currently fdisking. I was hoping I could help her out myself, but I think she’s going to need professional help.
Oh well. It still feels bizarre to write at my office desk, but somehow I’ll manage. Kwrite does all sorts of nifty highlighting and stuff. It’s fun to watch links change color while I’m writing them.
Ah, I am so easily amused!
Yesterday, I took the morning off, and surprised Anne with a trip to Disneyland to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday. My pal Eric works there, and he totally signed us in. Thanks, Eric! You rule! 🙂
The crowds didn’t show up until we were leaving around 3p.m., so we were able to hit all the fun rides that we love, and even made a trip to DCA for some Soarin’ Over California. It was cool to see the Tower of Terror facade that’s pretty much finished. The kids at Disney have done a fantastic job again with the Haunted Mansion Holiday, and I strongly urge everyone who can make it over there to check it out.
I’m working my ass off on a few nifty projects, Nolan is sick, and the holidays are looming, so I don’t know how much time and energy I’ll have to update my site over the next few days. I’ll dump some interesting links here to keep WWdN readers busy until I can dig some entertaining junk out of my brain.

  • Biz Stone wrote a great article for Blogger’s knowledge base called How to Get a Book Deal With Your Blog. I enjoy reading Biz’s articles, because they’re funny and informative, like School House Rock without the singing.

  • Is it just me, or does Strom Thurmond’s daughter look like a dude in bad drag?

  • I’ve been listening to The Cure’s Disintegration and Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration and Violator like crazy the past few days. I don’t know what it is about Plainsong, but every time I hear it, it’s like there’s a chain connected to my heart and the back of my head, and the song grips it, and gently pulls me up toward the sky.

  • My buddy Rob is an amazing magician. If you’re looking for a magician for a party or something, you should call him.

  • Powell’s does a newsletter, and Dancing Barefoot gets a fantastic review on page six! (Thanks to Amber, who sent me the link.)

I think that’s all for now. I see that my iBook has woken up, and wants a software update. One of the updates has to do with the battery, so maybe that will magically make everything work again.

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78 thoughts on “something to do”

  2. “One of the updates has to do with the battery, so maybe that will magically make everything work again.”
    It never happens…:)
    KJ

  6. Dear Wil,
    Those are 2 of my favorite albums of all time. It makes my think you are even cooler now that I know you appreciate them as well.
    –Tricia in New Orleans

  7. Dude, men and women tend to lose their gender identity as they enter their 70’s and 80’s. As my mother-in-law faded to cancer she looked more and more like her brother, so it’s no surprise that Strom Thurmond’s daughter (at 78 years old) is going to look like a guy.

  9. ahhh do not fret little William, your readers wont forsake you if you flounder for a while in the relative hell that is non blogging. We are loyal doncha know
    *nods vigerously and set up camp with boards saying “We Luv Will” hastily knocked up*

  10. Wil,
    I had a similar problem with my iBook a few months ago. If you press the batery check button on the battery itself, does it show no charge (ie no dots light up)? I could use my iBook if it was plugged in, but if I tried to unplug it it died.
    I had to contact Apple and they sent me a new battery within days. Even though I didn’t have the Apple Care extended warranty the machine itself is covered for a year. The folks there were very helpful.
    I’d give Apple a call or take it in if you have an Apple store near by.

  13. Wil I had a problem with some HP’s I was working on locking up when running off the battery, but were fine off the AC. Turns out the batteries were forked, replaced them and presto.. problem solved…
    Mike

  15. heh. im glad someone said it. i live in south carolina and god forbid if anyone speaks evil of their precious strom thurmond. he was a pig, and knowing that he had a biracial daughter, yet still acted the way he did towards the african-american community just makes me ill. he sure wasnt too concerned when he seduced that poor woman!
    ugh.
    anyhow, i hope nolan feels better soon. i dont really get sick, but now that ive said it, im sure i will be soon!
    have a good day wil, and get your ibook fixed!
    =)
    jeannette

  17. Hahahaha, just as I read the line “like School House Rock without the singing,” “Lolly, lolly, lolly, get your adverbs here” by Buffalo Tom came up on my iPod. What an odd coincidence…

  19. I just LOVE that you’re promoting Powell’s. It’s the best store in the world (most definitely here in Portland). Any bookstore that you need a map to navigate is alright by me!We have our fingers crossed that they won’t strike.
    And I have to agree about Plainsong. I love to listen to it with headphones on and just become enveloped in the intro. It’s amazing!

  21. If you have it (or can get it), check out Depeche Mode’s Ultra. “Home” is a track that can be played over and over and over. Actually, the entire album is like that, although probably more somber than what you are looking for right now.

  22. I feel so “in the know” today. I have the same taste in music, but I don’t know the songs on Disintigration by title, I just listen to my “Alt80s” playlist without noticing albums or titles. But after reading Wil’s description of a chain pulling his heart skyward, my first instict was “just to feel my heart for a second.” What a powerfull song. The other one that always, always affects me is “Just Like Heaven.” Deliriously Happy and then bittersweet. I could ramble on about this for hours.

  23. Wil,
    Battery thing. Have you booted into Open Firmware and reset things there? I’ve had strangeness before, and that worked.
    When it first starts booting, I believe it’s Apple-Option-O-F, then type ‘reset-nvram’ at the prompt, then ‘reset-all’.
    That has unhorked me a couple of times.
    Best of luck.
    -Met.

  24. I have a lot more respect for Strom Thurmond’s daughter than I did for him. She kept quiet out of respect to her father’s stature; too bad he couldn’t return the favor and respect people of her race more.
    Anyway, cool stuff about the “how to get a book deal” from blogging. I’m actually looking around for a new publisher (growing rapidly unhappy about my current one), so I read that with great interest.
    Keep on keepin’ on Wil. I’m jealous that you can head to WallyWorld anytime… it’s been a while since we had a visit with The Mouse.

  25. You lucky dog that you live close to go to DisneyLand I am glad that you had fun. I still think you should call Leo either CFH or TSS. Maybe he can help you with your ibook problem.

  26. how cool is it that wil likes Plainsong..
    damn that rocks…
    i think that whole album is a work of genious..
    particularly ‘closing down’ ‘Disintegration’ and ‘Last Dance’
    also agree with that ‘just like heaven’ is incredible..
    makes you feel all giddy and bittersweet at the same time..
    🙂
    cheers
    tyson

  27. Will,
    I finaly got an update in my e-mail that you had done an update…
    when I got here I see that youhad done a whole BUNCH of updates.
    I was going to say to keep doing whatever it was that you did to get me that e-mail updated on your update. Then I remembered that I changed my ‘junk mail’ filters… I bet that is what got your updates working!
    HOW DARE ANYONE THING THAT YOUR UPDATE WAS JUNK MAIL!
    I’ll jus thave to have a talk with Bill, and het him to fix hotmail I suppose.
    anyway, every thing is working fine, thanks for the updates.
    I’ll be a regular reader now.

  28. “Is it just me, or does Strom Thurmond’s daughter look like a dude in bad drag?”
    Literally the first thought that came to my mind when I saw her on CNN two days ago! Guess Strom’s ugly-man gene was very dominant.

  29. Wil.. what a cool description of the way Plainsong makes you feel…
    I love that song, and your words put an almost exact target on the way it makes me feel when I listen to it, but I could never have said it as eloquently as you.
    I came to check on the site and see what was new, but also, I wanted to link you to this cool (and entertaining) blog of a person who was a porn video clerk for a year and some.. it’s very well written and quite funny…
    I hope that you will enjoy it! (haha)
    http://www.improvisation.ws/mb/tpcs1.php

  30. Personally, I think she IS Strom Thurmond after genetic modification and a sex change.
    Seriously though…Strom Thurmond took advantage of an underage girl (isn’t that rape now?). If he had truly “respected” her then he would have publically acknowledged her as his child a long time ago. The poor woman should regret being part of his gene pool.

  31. >>>Is it just me, or does Strom Thurmond’s daughter look like a dude in bad drag?
    That’s a rather nasty comment to make about an elderly woman who has just been thrust into the media spotlight based on the fact that her father (who happens to be famous) was ashamed of her existence and didn’t raise her.

  32. Ahh Mac’s… gotta hate ’em. Someone mentioned above about liking the Sony Vaio and I am with them on that, I have one of the V505’s (super slim model’s) and it has worked like a charm! (I have had numerous problems with HP’s, Compaq’s, Toshiba’s and Dell’s over the years!) The Vaio is the only that can hadle my work load without crashing, locking-up, or just going crazy! (I have had to send it in for the keyboard and mouse once though)But software/processor-wise they are the most stable I have had ever in a laptop!

  33. RE: Is it just me, or does Strom Thurmond’s daughter look like a dude in bad drag?
    Yes, but to clarify….it’s “RuPaul: The Senior Years”. LOL!

  35. Random-ish: My high school year book had a space for quotes under the senior pictures and this was mine: “Life’s more fun when you’re easily amused.”
    Truth, eh?
    YAY for Disneyland! I love that palce, always have. Even though some aspects of it that I like have been a bit Eisnerized…heh.
    I was there last month and saw the haunted Mansion in its holiday getup for the first time and I agree with you, it kicks some mad ass!So, in readin that you made a trip to DCA and only went on Soarin’, does that mean that you too share the opinion that that ride is currently the only worthwhile one there for native Californians? (Or anyone?)
    Cause the whole park seems like a fakey version of a lot of the cool real stuff in California when people could just go to the real thing when they’re already here.It was exciting though when Iw as here to see the progress on the Tower of Terror.
    When me and my dad were on the Disneyland railroad we saw them testing the levator thingy. it was cool.
    The funny part is my mom had been sick so she was so out of it she’d thought the Tower was a real hotel. o.O
    Yeah, don’t mind me. I like D-Land way too much for my own good.
    Do you get stopped a lot and public places like that that aren’t conventions and signings and stuff? I’d always wondered…
    Anyway, good luck with your computer troubles and whatnot. 🙂

  36. Wil, that “dude in bad drag” comment was pretty harsh. Your feelings about Strom aside, that was a mean thing to say about a 78-year-old woman, let alone a woman who has gone her whole life basically without a father.
    You’re not that mean, are you?

  37. The root of the problem may lie in using an iBook. And try not to feel bad about needing professional help: even doctors go to the doctor :o)

  38. hey wil, hope things get better with your iBook!
    DisneyLand RULES!!!! i hvaen’t been for ages!! i miss it! tee hee
    well, have fun,
    rach

  39. Just wanted to say how much I love the Haunted Mansion when it’s all decked out with The Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. I love that movie, and the ride.

  40. I feel your pain, Wil. Recently, a friend gave me an older PC so I could get back to business (my old one died Easter night of this year). Well, she said it had problems, but I figured that the cheap hard drive she used was to blame. Boy, was I wrong.
    Every few days, the machine likes to scramble directory names and totally chew the file allocation tables to shreds. Why? I have no clue. It’s not a virus, I’ve repartitioned and zapped the boot sector several times between installing 98SE and Mandrake 9.2, the former I’ve done four times since I got this machine last month.
    I can’t for the life of me figure this box out. Hope you have better luck with your iBook.
    Oh! Before I forget, once again you’re the king of Fark Photoshop contests! Check out this thread, first entry after the original. I think that sums up all our feelings about your ending up on the cutting room floor for Nemesis…
    http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=757197

  41. Hey Wil,
    I am going offline for a month to spend some time with my family and wont be able to keep up with your site. So, I thought I’d make my ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New year’ cry in the dark now.
    You’ve had a wonderful year and I have loved having a glimpse into it and being involved in the fantastic community that you have cultured and steered so well.
    So, to you and your family I say Merry Christmas and an even more productive WWDN New Year.
    Best Wishes
    Ben

  46. The Haunted Mansion Holiday is great! I work for Disney, and I was amazed at what they were capable of with that ride. Despite lots of other problems, Disney just does some things so well.

  47. I’ve been looking into computers lately. Thanks for your help in figuring out what to get. Dude, I’m getting a dell!
    BTW: Finally got around to reading Dancing Barefoot. Very awesome book. Good job.
    Just something I had to say. Good luck with the comp and here’s more *virtual chicken soup* for nolan!

  48. Wil, the exact same thing happened to my laptop in October. The computer dude said that it was a virus, and unfortunately, it had fried my hard drive and I had to replace it. I had Norton on it, but these viruses are increasingly sophisticated! Hope that is not the case for you!
    Happy Holidays!
    Katie

  50. Sorry for the delay, but I have been catching up on old blog posts. Hey, I noticed in an older post that you had going to california on a mix disk.
    If you ever get the chance. check out “Never The Brides” cover of “Going To California”.
    Its on the enconium Zepplin tribute disk.
    You will not be dissapointed.
    One of the few times in my life I can honestly say a cover sounded better than the original.
    Shadow

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