random and new contest

My obscenely powerful laptop confuses my supervisor with its speed.

It's a long and boring story, but it was kinda funny at the time. Everything worked out in the end. Oh and he gave me a laser printer for free, although the connector cord was somehow lost in transit so I've e-mailed lexmark to ask them for one. This is really ridiculous... I had to pick the printer up, move it about 15 paces from his office to mine next door, then go back for the power and USB connection cords. The USB connector was not there. We both looked everywhere, several times, to no avail. I surmise that it has vanished into the ether, along with my "the matrix" soundtrack and collection of metal pen tops, and many other things over the years. It may be for the best since the cable was frayed and looked like it wouldn't last much longer anyway.

I bought a USB flash key today... 2Gb for $130. It's freakin' tiny. I'm comparing it to a piece of "trident" chewing gum... it's the same length, about 1.5 times wider, and 1.5 times thicker. And that's with the protective "skins" and the cap on. Good thing it comes with a lanyard. No, I don't wear it around my neck as a fashion statement. Although since it's the peak of the tech, I'd surely be the most stylish of the geeks if I did.

There's lots to post about today. I got a hilarious e-mail from Joe that I'll share with you all soon. But I'll allow a day for the complex yet subtle nuances of this post to sink in first.

It has occurred to me that a good new contest would be the following:
What's the most annoying thing you ever lost. It could be annoying because it was of great value (monetary or emotional), or because you had it two seconds before and it vanished, as my printer's USB cable did, into the ether.

Socks are prime media for entering the ether (and are the only known objects to occasionally return from their adventures), I think the heat and whirling action of a dryer is particularly effective at attracting the holes in our universe that allow access to the ether. But the holes are only big enough for socks in this environment (think of the bubbles in a blender full of water; the blender cavitates the water and makes lots of bubbles, but they are small and fleeting). Other suggestions or theories that you've come up with regarding the ether and access to it are welcome. Or choose from this selection of rather star trek-ish suggestions, compiled by me with great scientific rigour, i.e. off the top of my head: Wormholes, mini black holes, galactic-fabric discontinua, temporal flux (a favourite), subspace rifts, or eddies in the space-time continuum (yes, but how did he get in there?...). Oh and I suppose the book and concept of "The Borrowers" can explain this, but that's hardly science. Jenn's suggestion some weeks ago of "sock gremlins" (was that it?) is certainly worthy of note. Perhaps these gremlins dwell in the ether. Maybe Eddie himself is a gremlin.

Thus Ends Transmission.

PS "Galactic Fabric Discontinua" would be a fantastic band name.