Update 0945: As it turns out, it was just the battery in the truck. The factory battery was about five years old, and that’s about all they’re good for. But when it went, it went good. Apparently at least one cell was dead-shorted inside the battery. My mechanic was surprised I hadn’t had more problems with it before now. But it’s been replaced and everything is good now.
Well. You’ll forgive me if I sound a bit grumpy. I’m spending Monday morning waiting to hear back from the garage about just what my truck needs in order to be happy again, but it’s either a dead battery, a scrozzed alternator, or something otherwise leaking away the happy electrons when they’re all supposed to be staying put. I’m not sure which, but if I don’t drive it every day, it won’t start. More about that in a bit.
Anyway, to the weekend. Saturday was the big blog party thing at Keegan’s. I didn’t make the One Day In July thing, and I’ll leave coverage of that to Jim or someone else who was actually there. The blog party was okay. I showed about 4:30 and the Fraters and King were there, and by 5:30 the joint was rockin’. Or something. There sure were a lot of geeks. The Fraters and Mitch have reviews. Me, I had an okay time, mostly talking to Chaz, Chuck and Odin. Chaz and I walked down to Pracna for the fireworks and chanced into a table. As an extra bonus, they have the $2 beers from 9-11, which covered the fireworks show pretty nicely.
Sunday, I had planned to make the journey up to Mom’s, then stop at Target on the way home to restock, and then do some laundry. But as I climbed into the truck around 10:30, I discovered that the battery was dead again, and rather than a nice purring from the starter, I just got an annoying clicking sound and a red light on the dash. That pretty much ruined both my plans and my mood for the day, and I spent the day watching stupid things on the television and waiting for it to be Monday so I could have the garage fix my truck. Didn’t get nothin’ done.
- Well, it’s happened. On Friday the Minneapolis council OKs smoking ban. Based on what I saw when they enacted the ban in California, this will mean that about one in ten bars will end up closing. These will be the smaller bars that tend to run on the brink of profitability. Losing even a handful of their smoking customers will make them uneconomical, especially as the bar will still smell of smoke for the next year or two unless a major renovation is done. More profitable bars may see some drop in profit as people stay home, but many have already been putting in outdoor seating for smokers (we’ll see how that works in mid-January). Depending on which suburbs follow suit, you may see a lot more people driving to Fridley or Hilltop for a beer and some smokes. In the long run, the bars will rebound, as they have in California, but if you’ve got a favorite dive-bar, you’ll probably want to visit it as much as possible between now and next March, because it may not be around after that. [jim]
- There’s been a lot of noise lately about newspaper sites requiring registration to read articles. Both of the local papers do it. Wired says We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Login and points out BugMeNot and some other services you can use to bypass the registration process. BugMeNot also has a Registration form for any
employee, partner, affiliate or legal representative of any site which enforces compulsory user registration
. Cool! Read through the whole form. It’s got some real gems in there. [wired and boing boing] - After a
threatening note
was found in a bathroom, Police stop Amtrak train in Newark and ID everyone on the train. And yet I still know folks who think Dudley Hiibel was a nut for refusing to give up his ID. [flutterby] - Here’s a little story from a man who Fathered a Terror Suspect, or rather gave his son a name that’s on the
persons of interest
list in CAPPS. Probably the simplest way for his son to fly is to change his name, which makes me (and Claire) wonder why terrorists wouldn’t just do that, too. [claire] - I’ve had people wonder why I’m concerned about privacy. Well, part of the reason is that I’d like to be able to order a Pizza without having the conversation that plays out in the movie. While I fully expect that sort of thing to happen eventually, I’d like to postpone it as long as possible. We’re having a little conversation along those lines over on Flutterby, too.