Ship's Blog: December, 2007

As we sat down at at Starbucks, I reached in my handbag for my notepad and a pen to make a note for my blog. The pen I pulled out was a red felt tip, which I tested carefully on the notepad. It worked, but I had my doubts.

"I think 15 years might be too old for a pen," I mused.

Kathy raised an eyebrow. "You are kidding me, right?"

"Am not. Tell me, when did you last see a Hardhead Flair pen?" I asked pointedly, holding it out so she could take in the tell-tale starburst cap and the half-rubbed off lettering on the side.  Read more »

Dear Kathy,

Phantom of the Paradise. I have so much I want to say, but mostly: I am so, so sorry.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, what is Netflix for, if not to follow-up on stray memories of movies you thought you liked XX years ago? Obviously, what I should have done was watch it alone -- prescreening it, as it were. Then I might have made a more responsible choice. No matter what, I should have known that the memory of a 10 year-old cannot be that reliable.

Anyone else would realize that if your partner has lasted for 33 years without seeing the 1970s rock opera staring Paul Williams and William Finley, she's probably just plain lucky. But sometimes my judgment slips.  Read more »

Warning: This post contains mild gynecological talk of the hand-waving variety, accompanied by impassioned medical system rants. Reader discretion advised.

For most of my adult life, I've taken gynecology appointments as a fact of modern womanly existence. As much as I've always wanted to be somewhere other than "stirrups-up" in the OB/GYN office, obsessing about whether I remembered to shave my legs that day, I made my annual visits a priority. I figured that this is just what you do. And being a complicated woman-type with all those fancy internal parts, there were plenty of opportunities, outside of annuals, to count the indentations in the ceiling tiles while having my U-joints and gaskets re-checked. Or to blush coyly while asking if this or that is supposed to happen when...well, somebody did that other thing. A-hem.

The joys of being a girl are endless.

While I had great compassion for my friends who found OB/GYN appointments stressful or even terror-inducing, personally, I didn't have that much anxiety associated with these visits. True, I kind of wish they would at least buy me a drink before taking such liberties with my vital controls, and I kind of wanted a shower afterward, but...whatever. You do what you have to do.  Read more »

As a geek girl, I find it amazing that I made it this far into the 21^st century before converting my CD music library into electronic form. I'm all about data retrieval and forward-thinking archives, but I had no reason to convert my music because...well...I didn't have an MP3 player!

But, as you know, all that changed when I got an Apple iPod Touch and undertook the mammoth effort to import my entire library into iTunes. Over 3400 tracks later, I am finally done, and now I'm ready to pass on the savings - er, I mean wisdom - to you. So, if you're in the position I was in, facing stacks of CDs and a mostly empty MP3 player, listen up. In this article I'll show you how you can convert your library with a minimum of anguish and a maximum of happy listening.

Step 1: Update iTunes, If Needed

Since we're using iTunes for this (though you have many other options) it makes sense to be sure you have the latest version so that you have all the latest cool features available to you. To see if you need to download an update (at least, this works on Windows) go to the Help menu and choose Check for Updates.  Read more »