Bookworm

Camera in my hands tomorrow? Crossing fingers

My original camera order, placed on 5/7, was delayed, delayed, delayed, and finally canceled because the online retailer could not procure it for me.  Newer model, 8 MP instead of 7.1, but otherwise, seems to be identical, now on order.  Having waited three long weeks already, I opted for two day shipping.  My package is located ~40 miles from my house as I type, so presumably it will, indeed, arrive tomorrow. 

Gas prices keep climbing even as oil prices drop

"The gasoline price record keeps getting broken with each passing day. AAA puts the national average for a gallon of regular at a record $3.95. It's jumped 35 cents in the past month and is 76-cents-a-gallon higher than a year ago. . . Oil prices fell back Thursday ahead of a report expected to show U.S. inventories of crude and petroleum products grew last week. Prices remained volatile, though, buffeted about by threats against Nigerian oil facilities, worries about falling gasoline demand in the U.S. and a strengthening U.S. dollar." [Yahoo! News]

This morning I pumped my first gasoline priced at more than $4.00 per gallon and only barely avoided a $50.00 total.  I use twelve gallons a week -- my work commute plus one grocery shopping trip.  Last week the price was just under $4.00 and today it was $4.09.  The most alarming thing has been the rate at which the price has been galloping upward. 

Insert Jeopardy "waiting" music here

The memory card sits on my desk, mocking me, while I wait for the camera to be shipped.  Ordered on 5/7 (and chose Super Saver Shipping, which I knew would tack 5-9 days on).  But it still hasn't shipped.  I've had to confirm that I still want it multiple times.  Darn straight I still want it -- it's a good price!  But seriously. . . any day now would be good for me.

Gas Stats

"On Friday, gasoline prices reached yet another record, a nationwide average of nearly $3.88 a gallon. That figure was up 4 cents in one day and is 65 cents higher than this time last year, according to AAA. . . The driver behind high gasoline prices is the high price of oil, which is being driven up by soaring worldwide demand. Oil reached a new record above $133 a barrel this week, nearly five times as expensive as it was five years ago. All this has led to a massive transfer of wealth from American drivers to domestic and foreign oil producers. Every one-cent increase in gasoline prices means Americans pay $1.42 billion more a year for gas, according to Stephen P. Brown, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Nearly two-thirds of that goes to foreign producers." [NY Times; emphasis mine]

The Idol Effect

Top songs selling on iTunes as of this morning.  Kind of impressive that the new American Idol winner is currently outselling Coldplay and Rihanna.  I must admit to having bought #1, 3, 5, and 8.  I like these songs, but my favorites were from earlier in the season.  In a way, these will serve as placeholders on the iPod until he releases an album.

Actually the only songs on the top ten with no Idol influence at all are the Coldplay and Rihanna singles.  (Although I believe Rihanna appeared on Canadian Idol in the past.)  Leona Lewis was discovered by Simon Cowell and sang on the show; Natasha Bedingfield was recently on the show, and #9 and 10 are from Idol runner-up David Archuleta.

I actually find most of the music I end up buying as a result of the TV shows I watch.  The songs I bought this week were either heard on Idol or Grey's Anatomy.  I very rarely listen to commercial radio; most of my radio presets in the car are set to NPR stations.

We can't register it, either. . .

"Small service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon in the United States: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials. The pumps, throwbacks to a bygone era on the American road, are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and replacing them is often out of the question for station owners who are still just scraping by. Many of the same pumps can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale, preventing owners of some sport utility vehicles, vans, trucks and other gas-guzzlers to fill their tanks all the way." [AP story at CNN.com]

I'd buy a Kindle if. . .

• If it cost about $100.  (I do understand why they currently cost $399 -- Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity -- there is no monthly or annual fee -- you just connect.)
• If you could buy books from other vendors, not just Amazon.com (much as I love them)
• If it worked everywhere.  Right now, if you live in Montana or Alaska, you're completely out of luck, and there are wide swaths of other states where service isn't available. 

Overseas Call Centers as a symptom of globalization

I felt like I was inside a chapter of Thomas Friedman's book on globalization this morning.  I had to place a phone call to find out how much interest was paid on a loan last year, for tax purposes.  I was on hold for approximately ten minutes and then my call was answered by "Matt."  Matt appeared, from his accent, to be a native of India and I could barely understand what he was saying to me.  He had to put me on hold at least three times and finally after almost twenty-two minutes on the phone, I had what I needed. 

From Whence Accrues Value?

Keeping It Real
in The New York Times Magazine by James Gleick, 6 January 2008

Why would someone pay over $21 million for a 1297 copy of the Magna Carta? Once, the document's power accrued from King John's words. Now, James Gleick believes that the value of the document lies largely in the story behind it, a phenomenon that science fiction author Philip K. Dick called historicity. Without history, the ball Bobby Thomson hit would be just a sphere of cowhide, and Princess Diana's spare wedding dress would be simply a confection of taffeta. Gleick hypothesizes that the very ubiquity of computerized copies of information may intensify our awe of the scarce and magical originals.

Avoid the loony Zune

"The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure. Toshiba's Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune's limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

Throw in the Zune's tail-wagging relationship with music publishers, and it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one.

The iPod owns 85 percent of the market because it deserves to. Apple consistently makes decisions that benefit the company, the users and the media publishers -- and they continue to innovatively expand the device's capabilities without sacrificing its simplicity." [Chicago Sun-Times]

For what it's worth, I have an iPod, which I've used pretty much daily since May and the only problem I've ever had with it was when I was prompted to upgrade the firmware (software on the iPod device itself) and then had a series of problems, which included having to reset the iPod and reload all the podcasts, audio books, and music which had resided on it.  Apple issued a new version of the iTunes  software (with little fanfare or acknowledgement of the apparently rampant user problems) and the issue was resolved.  Now, I check the user forums of the Apple site before installing any upgrades.  But I really do love my iPod.  The set-up was incredibly simple, the packaging was nice (no horrible plastic packages to cut up your hands on), and it's so user friendly my two year old figured out how to use it.  (Um, yeah, the door to my den was open and she made a beeline for it -- I found her with one earbud in, listening to a podcast.  *giggle*)  I was already using iTunes to purchase music, so it's been a good fit for me.