Staticfree Blog

My party was good. Yada yada yada yada yada. I had an amazing time, saw a few of people I'd thought I lost to time, and - save one important one and a few others - had all my closest friends with me at one time.

On an unrelated note, I've decided that my summer goal to "play with Bluetooth" still had not been fully satiated. Therefore, I decided that I was fed up with Cingular's inability to give me all the cell-phone features (Voicemail has never worked in Boston. Well, it works as people can leave messages, but the system does not notify me in any way) I purchased and have hopped over to T-Mobile. The main inspiration for the jump is because T-Mobile is offering an unlimited Internet plan (via GPRS) for $20 extra/mo. Having portable, always-on wireless Internet access that I can use (via Bluetooth) on my palm and my laptop, as well as a decent cell-phone package is worth the $60/mo. IMO. Which, sadly, is only about $10/mo. more than my Cingular service.

On usability: Bluetooth, with my shiny new camera-phone and Palm, is very nifty. The Palm has a handy little software upgrade that provides a wizard to set up a phone-control and GPRS-connection-sharing link. Palm did an amazing job putting together their phone-palm integration, as I can practically leave my phone in my pocket (with the headset on) and do all that i need to do with it: go online, dial numbers (from my palm's address book). In addition, I can actually send contacts between the two devices over Bluetooth - a feat of standardization that I never thought would be seen in my lifetime. I'll play with getting a link set up to my laptop soon, which should be good: wireless 'net (though a bit slow) anywhere I go that doesn't already have WiFi. I love the information age.

The party starts at 18:00-19:00 and there will be dinnery food served. I've attempted to put together a menu of cheap tasty things that veggies and carnivores can both like, but feel free to post suggestions as a reply to this. So far, the menu is:

• Pizza - pepperoni and plain. Maybe something chickeny or garlicy if I'm feeling daring
• Chips/salsa/etc.
• Spanakopita - one of my favorite snacky foods
• hummus, pita, tabbouleh, etc.
• focaccia - if anyone wants to help make some
• other suggestions?

SmileLoki and I went on an adventure, spur of the moment, because we could, and because it was there. True, in the grand scale of all adventures, this was a walk in the park, but as far as a certain scrawny computer geek was concerned, it was quite a trip.

MacWorld has been in NYC for the past few whiles in the Javitz Convention Center. Many vendors come, as well as the Holy Apple itself, and followers come to pay tribute to the benevolent ruler of their computers. Shown gleaming and proud on whirling pedestals of plastic ice, the latest and greatest are displayed, posing pornographically with their covers off and innards showing. Inside and out, they are seen to be beautiful; thin grates, teasingly glowing icons, and just enough ports to remind you that it's actually a computer.

Why, as two hard-core Linux users, would we go to an Apple festival? One might guess that it's a familial thing: with the recent advent of OS X and its intimate relation with Linux's sister, BSD. In a sense, similar to going to an art show where your friend is presented and seeing what they've done, seeing where they've gone in life, and seeing what their peers have done. There's also the novelty factor: so much new, shiny technology - the pinnacle of modern computer design by many's standards - all concentrated in a hands-on showcase. Finally, the other novelty - I simply hadn't done it before.

Waking early in the morning to catch a ride with Aelsha and Spinfire (friends from the vast network of the Interweb), SmileLoki and I traveled to the closest train stop that the drivers wanted to travel to. There was a train in the station heading to NYC when we got there, so we ran in - not noticing it was making local stops. On the train, we talked and read our respective books.

Arriving at Grand Central Station some 30-40 minutes later, we found the shuttle that took us within a few blocks of the convention center. SmileLoki lead the way through the trip, as she has a compass for a sense of direction, and a spacial memory like a map. We got there much earlier than I anticipated: a good 11:30 or so.

After watching a registration clerk fight with her workstation to spit out a badge (the system had inconveniently forgotten anything I submitted but my name, despite the fact that the web forms didn't allow for such a submission to even occur in the first place. Isn't technology grand?), we wandered towards the showroom. Pausing first to feed my external-brainpack some data from a little winking beacon (cute design. Prior to that, I wondered how long it would take to see such a device in existence.), we entered the showroom and instantly flocked to the pretty new G5 on display.

All I can say about the G5 is: my, what a large heat sink; boy, it sure goes fast.

We wandered the booths, poking at ideas, products, and toys. Bling-blings were presented of all shine and sheen, glossy and glowing, dancing and playing the guitar. From a rather normal (read: it didn't look like a showcase) Apple-schlockmeister, I grabbed a shirt which said, in big, white-on-black letters:

C:/DOS
C:/DOS/RUN
RUN/DOS/RUN

All summers I try to acquire at least a few new t-shirts to add to my collection. One can never have enough shirts with witty sayings or pseudo-religious icons.

After a trip to the food court to feed our bodies and briefly play on the open WiFi, we saw a few more booths and headed out. On the way out, the poor registration clerk said hi and bye, as she and we vanished off into the city.

We made our way to times square and basked in the sky spittle and radiant heat from cars trudging through the flocks of pedestrians. The city is beautiful in its ugliness: a fast-paced writhing network of verbally. tactilely and electronically-linked cells, shuffling through their individualities and lives; hiding from the world in their respective mobile steel exoskeletons.

I grabbed some cheap DVDs from one of the large, blinking stores in the square and we waited for SmileLoki's friend to return her call. He did, but wasn't going to show up. So we left for Chinatown to feed and head home.

There are many buses that go from Boston <-> New York City. The only difference between these buses is sketchiness and price. Normally, I'd take Greyhound or some other commercial entity that advertises on silly things like television and such. In the hopes of leaving as small a financial scar as possible, though, we decided to take the Fung Wah bus. Unfortunately for us, the Fung Wah bus didn't want us to succeed. We were hoping to catch the 18:00 bus back to Boston, but Fung Wah was sold out until 21:00. One other person in line with us seemed quite frustrated, and mentioned another bus which did the same route down the street.

We followed the man to a mostly Chinese sign with the name Travel Pack on it, seemingly advertising the route we wanted, but severely lacking any explicit place to take the offer up. After a bit of hunting around, we came across a Chinese woman sitting in front of a random 'lectroschlock store with a similar sign, verbally advertising, "Boston? $10 dollar!". We waited with her per her instruction, acquired some beverages and mystery-meat dumplings, and after a good 30 minutes trundled down the street to where the bus was supposed to pick up.

It didn't. Instead, we just got tickets at that street corner and followed another Chinese man to another street - one that looked a bit more fruitful in the bus department. We waited with a crowd. It grew as the bus continued to be elsewhere, and we waited more. Eventually a mostly unlabeled bus approached filled with people. Some other Chinese men armed with cell phones waved people into the bus, filling it up. We made our way to the front of the crowd, but only to be told it was full. Another bus came, unloaded, and left. The third (third is a charm) bus came, empty, and with room for us. It is on that bus that I write this now.

We arrived in Boston fairly late and met with my father near the Boylston T stop. He drove SmileLoki home and "home" I went. Ah, the Internet - my home.

...tell us the lesson that we will learn. The upcoming weekend shall be crazy, fun and full of many things, people and places. So far, I plan to do the following in rough succession and flanked with brief periods of sleeping:

1. Friday: Take the Spinfire & Aelscha bus or the Fung Wah bus to NYC for the MacWorld Expo with SmileLoki
2. Friday: Partake of a BFF at Miraba's house
3. Saturday: FFF followed by Rocky Horror in the evening
4. Sunday: MIT Flea

With any luck, I'll remain alive through the barrage of activity and acquire many people along the ride. We shall see.

The party will not be held at a certain Kris's apartment, but instead at the infamous Pink Stucco. All other details shall be the same, except that it will be a combination party for Frommy and myself. In addition, some alcohol will be provided, as is common at Pink Stucco. If you are looking for a ride there, contact me and I can [attempt to] put you in touch with someone who could give you a ride. Another good option is the mailing list that Frommy is putting together, so contact me or him if you'd like to be on it.

Finally, anyone needing a place to crash for the evening after the party should also contact me, and I'll see if I can arrange something. There're a few people who live in the Newton area that'll be going, and some are willing to put people up.

After many hours of deliberation (ok, minutes), it's been decided: the Big Summer Party™ shall be held on the evening of Saturday July 26th, 2003. The stated reason for the party is that it's my birthday party (well, a 9-day late birthday party), but the real reason is that I both like tasty cake and people. Eating and hanging out with, respectively (or concurrently? I won't say).

Details

When

The evening of Saturday July 26th, 2003. If for some reason you can't make it then - sorry. The summer is generally packed, and trying to find time for this party was tight. There's the slightest possibility that, if enough people want it, it could be moved a day prior or subsequent, but I'd like to avoid those days for a number of reasons.

Where

The party is tentatively going to be held lo, not at my dad's tiny appt. but at the appt. of a certain Kris. Until I know more details about that location's availability, I'll leave it at that. There's MBTA transportation to that location via bus from Harvard, so transportation shouldn't be an issue for most people. someone, somewhere. To find out where, see posts from the future.

Why

My 22^nd birthday! And because I love throwing parties.

What

A fun party in the summer with as many people as I can reasonably muster. Mealtime food will be served in both vegetarian and carnivorous flavours. If you require vegan food items though, please post a comment here. Alcohol will be permitted if you BYOB: people I know are generally insane enough not to need alcohol added into the equation.

Who

Everyone! If you can read this, and know me in person, you're invited. If you can read this and don't know me in person, RSVP and you're invited. Ideally, I'd appreciate it if everyone who'll be coming (excluding anyone who's told me already) please send me some communication or post a comment here to let me know you'll be there.

How

Magic.

I hate printers; I want one (as seen on my favorite geekporn site). I always thought it'd be cool to have a printer that worked somewhat like a hand-scanner, but in reverse. And, unlike a hand-scanner, people don't really care about quality as much as they care about the ease-of-use. I can't wait to see this little bugger on the market: as it can print onto any surface, including scrap paper; I might actually succumb to using paper for communication again.