I take back what I said the other day about Mac OS 9.  After playing with it for a few hours I really like it… but then I never met an OS I didn’t like, except maybe WinME!  Now I can’t decide whether I should use OS 9 or OS X as my primary bootable.  OS 9 is real lean and mean, and you seem to have more configuration options.  OS X is so *pretty* though, as a window-manager.  I think what I’ll do is just try and keep all my documents in a folder at the root of the drive where they’ll be accessible to either OS.  But I need to find a way to get the Eudoras in both OS’s to use the same mail folder.  Story of my life!!  I always try to keep at least two bootable OS’s on every computer, just for variety.  But for me home is where the mail is.  If I can only see my mail folders from one OS or partition, then that’s the one I’ll always need to use!  I wonder if Eudora even uses the same mail format between OS 9 and OS X; I’ll have to research that.


I got a wild hair up my ass yesterday to go to the mall, so I did.  The excuse I had in my mind was that I wanted to look at Verizon’s new phones, and the closest Verizon store happens to be inside Lincolnwood mall.  See, I was looking at Verizon’s website and noticed that part of their "Worry Free Guarantee" is that you can trade up to a brand new phone every two years.  Well, I got my StarTac in 2000 so I know I’m eligible… but I have all this money invested in the frickin’ accessories!!  I couldn’t tell from the website whether or not they had a phone that used the same plugs as my StarTac.  The current StarTac they’re offering now has a different model number from mine, but seems to have all the same features.  So anyway, I went out and had a look, but I didn’t end up doing anything.  From what I could gather from talking to the salesman, the phone that I would get under their guarantee is the new StarTac mentioned above, and it is indeed the same as the one I’ve got.  Two years ago it was something you had to pay extra for, now it’s one of the standard models.  If I wanted to upgrade to something better than a StarTac, I’d have to kick in another $150 bucks or so, PLUS the cost of the accessories, because of course none of the new phones are compatible with the old plugs.  (I asked the salesman if there was a phone-to-phone adaptor thingy which would transform a StarTac accessory’s plug into the new plug, and he was all "Um… NO?" like I was completely nuts for even asking.  I suppose I’m being a cheapskate for wanting to use a $20 adaptor instead of paying $150 for all-new accessories!?!)

So, the phone store was a bust.  But I didn’t want to waste the trip, so I wandered around the mall after that, looking to try on jackets.  I needed to replace the only springtime/summer jacket I ever wear, which is this black windbreaker thing that’s falling apart after seven or eight years of use.  (It used to repel water, but now the fabric is so soft and worn-out that it acts more like a sponge! Plus, I have no pockets without holes.) All these stores were having fire-sales; I guess the economy’s so bad they’re trying to attract shoppers in a big way.  After an hour or so of looking, I found a jacket I liked, in the department store Carson Pirie Scott.  It was fifty bucks — I think I paid at least twice that for the black one eight years ago, so I hope this one doesn’t fall apart too soon!!  I didn’t get a black one this time.  This one is sort of a periwinkle blue, and instead of the old shiny nylon it’s a more matte-finish distressed nylon.  Also it’s a little longer than the old one, and more dress-shaped as opposed to being scrunched in at the waist.  All the better to hide that couch-potato ass!!  So, this is cool, I have a nice new jacket.  John said it looks a lot better than the old one, but he thought I looked like a schoolteacher!  Like I should be standing in a playground in this jacket, rounding up crowds of kindergarteners.  Well, I still think it’s an improvement on my old Frumpy Photographer look.

Yahoo’s working again… it was their screwup, just as I thought.  Every time they mess up on me, I end up changing my password, so I guess that’s one good thing.  I should look at their screwups as simply a friendly reminder service to re-examine one’s user preferences.  Pffffttt…