More Backward Thinking
or, Raising Awareness for Death with Dignity by Making a Spectacle of Oneself
I just heard a news story about someone committing suicide on stage during a rock show that also happens to be on my wedding day.

The reason for the suicide is two fold, one, the person is terminally ill and they're gonna die anyway, and two, they want to raise awareness for death and dying with dignity by doing it in a sensationalistic way. I'm not sure how that second reason works out but there's no way the cops and the venue are going to allow this to happen.

Think of the precedent it would set, you'd have copy cat idiots all over the country and maybe even the world trying to get "famous" by offing themselves in a public forum. And just how much dignity can there be in a publicly staged stunt? Even if it does conclude with the ending of a life? And who would want to "rock out" after watching some kill themself? I'm pretty sure I'd just as soon go home and think about my own mortality. Unless the X had just kicked in.....

A Note about Flying Northwest
I don't know what to say about Northwest aside from a couple of observations regarding their cost cutting techniques. Like co-marketing with TGIFriday's to sell food on the shorter hops. Like $10 for a Cobb Salad on the jump from Minnesota to La Guardia. Northwest wasn't an awful airline but it wasn't the best. And having to continually make an effort to get the air hostess' attention to remove trash was a bit of a pain as well. Not a terrible pain but worth a mention. I guess P put it best, Northwest is a lower budget version of Southwest without any of the coolness cachet.

That and the little kid who enjoyed kicking my seat for most of the flight to Mini-soda, yeah, that made for a fun time. No, I don't think he was doing it purposefully but I didn't care after he'd done it a good three hundred times.

'Bout Time Tech News
Asante offers Mac-ready 802.11g card for PowerBooks and this means that I can continue to upgrade my Pismo Powerbook instead of replacing it with a new model. I've been amazed at how durable and upgradable this little laptop has been over the years that I've had it. Sure, its not a screamer by any means anymore, but it gets the job done.
I need to start thinking about replacing it though and maybe that'll happen with the end of the year bonus. I'd love to get my hands on one of those 12" or 15" models, the 17" is just too freaking oversized for my needs and wouldn't be easily portable at all and that would defeat half it purpose.

Good News: Welcome to the Fun House!
Paul is joining my company! He got an offer letter last night and was so excited I thought he might pee on the floor (mild inside joke, his dog peed on P last night a little bit and perhaps I should explore the psychology of that action later in another post). But yeah, its a huge lifestyle adjustment coming up and everything about it will be great for Paul. I'm excited to be working with him again as its been a bunch of years and this time I'm the old hand.
Soon, we'll be able to ride our bikes to work together, go up to his house for lunch or to mine. And it will be awesome having an ally in the office. Not that the war is on going but its always good to know who's got your back, eh?