Sauce for the goose

From Daily Kos: "Let's not forget why this [California governor recall] circus is in town: Republicans want regime change because California's surpluses turned into large deficits.

Great argument! I can't wait to use it against Bush in 2004."

Turning the books

If you've ever written a book, you've probably done the Book Turning Shuffle. For the non-authors in the crowd, that's where you go into a bookstore that has your book. You notice that the copies of your book are shelved spine-out, whereas copies of other people's books are shelved so that the cover of their book shows. If it's a competitive book, it's just maddening, and if it's not a competing book, it's just plain wrong. So you rejigger the books on the shelf so that your books are cover-out, with the hopes that customers will buy your book.

I was in Costco yesterday. They do things a bit differently; they pile books on tables, so that multiple stacks of a book are visible, and you can see several covers of the same book. I was looking over the books, when my eyes were brutally assaulted by at least eight or nine covers featuring psychotic attack harpy Ann Coulter and her latest stinking chunk of offal. That was unacceptable; there were children in the store, for goodness' sake. I took action; all of the books were face-down within seconds. Dori came up and gave me a look; I said, "It's a political statement." Without a word, she took other people's books and began stacking them on top of the books I'd just flipped. I see that we're in good company.

A clue for Apple

Here's a small clue for Apple: please take some time and do a thorough test of your AppleCare Service & Support site with IE/Win. While it's absolutely true that the primary users of your overall site have Macs, I think that there's a good chance that oh, say, people whose Macs are at Apple for repairs might only have a Windows machine around to visit that site to, say, find out what the status is on their repair.

I'd be a lot less frustrated if I could get good info with the computer that isn't in the shop, and I wouldn't have to call you as often, either.

Happy Bday to me!

Another last minute reminder: if you look over to the right in the navbar, you'll see a link to my Amazon wish list. If you buy something there and have it sent via overnight delivery, it should make it to me by my birthday on Thursday, so hurry!

What I really want is a working laptop, but the earliest that that could happen is Friday, and next week is more likely :-(.

Dean Meetup tonight

Last minute reminder: tonight's the monthly Dean in 2004 Meetup. No matter where you live, there's almost definitely one near you. We're hosting our local meetup at Shoma Delicatessen—see you there?

It's dead, Jim

More on the Saga of the TV That Dori Killed: It's got a blown power supply board. It's a module that Sony doesn't let repair centers stock, so no ready spare in the truck. The Circuit City people need to find out if they will repair the module with a kit from Sony, or if Sony will replace the whole board. Either way, it'll be about 10 to 14 days. Sigh.

Two thoughts: This is a case where buying an extended warranty panned out. The extended warranty cost about $300 for two years, I think. This particular repair would have cost in the neighborhood of $800, because the part's expensive.

I'm glad that I bought the second ReplayTV for the bedroom. Because of the networked show sharing, while we wait for the TV to be repaired, we can still watch any shows that record on the living room unit back in the bedroom.

Department of Idiocy

This article from The New Republic, Marshal Arts, is worth reading. It's a no-holds-barred takedown of the bumblers at the Department of Homeland Security.

Help with Market Research

I'm hoping that someone out there can help me out with a question. I don't live near any of the Apple retail stores, so I can't easily do this by myself. The next time that you're in one of the Apple stores, please check to see if they are carrying my books Keynote for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide or Microsoft Office v. X Inside Out. And of course, if they don't and you want to get either of them, they're just a click away (scroll down and look to the right of this page). If you see them, please let me know in the comments, and what store you saw them in. Thanks!