Monday, July 04, 2005
Scratches and dents and old and newness and iPods and Macs
I skipped the fireworks this year. Normally they have them down by the lake, which is within walking distance, but with the lakefront under construction this year, the nearest fireworks are somewhere across town. So I'll have to wait til next year for fireworks. Or more likely, next week, as it seems every time I go to the movies at Downtown Disney, the movie lets out right around midnight, just in time to take in the fireworks at Pleasure Island. And since we've started off completely off-topic, I'll throw in that the best Fourth of July fireworks display I ever saw was back when I was in college. I was working part-time as a security guard at a condo in Boca Raton, and I got paid double to work on the Fourth, and since I was the roving guard who got to go anywhere instead of being stuck at a desk, I headed up to the roof of the twenty-three story building, sat on the roof and simultaneously took in the fireworks shows of five different cities, all visible from my two-hunded-feet-in-the-air perch.
I'm afraid I can't get back on-topic just yet, as I also feel compelled to point out that someone was kind enough to put a big ole dent in the front right fender of my car this weekend, a good three inches deep and six inches across, which I just noticed today. I don't know when it happened, but I do know that if I'd been in the car at the time, I would have seen, heard, and felt it, meaning that it happened while the car was parked somewhere. And with the dent being as large as it is, it's pretty clear that whoever hit my car certainly saw, heard, and felt it...meaning that they simply chose to flee the scene in true Beavis fashion.
I've had a couple hours of being angry about it by now. But the car's five years old, has six figures in mileage, is just a few months away from being paid for, and it ain't worth putting a claim in on my own insurance, so the bottom line comes down to two words: oh well.
Obviously, I'd have felt different if I'd already gone ahead and bought a new car by now. My car is old by any standard, but I've seen no reason to consider replacing it, especially with the prospect being able to keep driving the thing after it's paid off. And considering today's event, I guess that worked out in my favor in a manner not expected. 'Cause if that was a brand new car out there in the driveway with a six inch dent in the fender, I'd be wanting to be out there doing some CSI stuff on it in hopes of being able to hunt down the offending party with a pitchfork, if you know what I mean.
Oh, you wanted this column to be about Apple? Yeah, getting there. Because the whole incident with the car today got me thinking about just how little I cared how many scratches and dents my old iPod picked up toward the end, and yet now I won't so much as take my brand new U2 iPod away from my desk without putting it in some kind of protective case, lest even the tiniest scratch mar the chiseled autographs of Bono and the gang.
Accordingly, my aging PowerBook has so much paint missing from it at this point that I'm beginning to wonder if its looks couldn't be markedly improved with a cheap can of silver spraypaint. But once my next laptop finally makes my way into my hands, I suppose I'll be just as protective of it as I am my new iPod. But on the other hand, laptops (and iPods and cars) aren't meant to be bought as museum pieces; you use them, you try to keep them in the best shape you can, but in the end they're going to show some wear and tear. Because no matter what you do, someone's going to hit your car while it's parked eventually...unless you never leave the house with it.
I wonder if there's some fireworks on television.
I skipped the fireworks this year. Normally they have them down by the lake, which is within walking distance, but with the lakefront under construction this year, the nearest fireworks are somewhere across town. So I'll have to wait til next year for fireworks. Or more likely, next week, as it seems every time I go to the movies at Downtown Disney, the movie lets out right around midnight, just in time to take in the fireworks at Pleasure Island. And since we've started off completely off-topic, I'll throw in that the best Fourth of July fireworks display I ever saw was back when I was in college. I was working part-time as a security guard at a condo in Boca Raton, and I got paid double to work on the Fourth, and since I was the roving guard who got to go anywhere instead of being stuck at a desk, I headed up to the roof of the twenty-three story building, sat on the roof and simultaneously took in the fireworks shows of five different cities, all visible from my two-hunded-feet-in-the-air perch.
I'm afraid I can't get back on-topic just yet, as I also feel compelled to point out that someone was kind enough to put a big ole dent in the front right fender of my car this weekend, a good three inches deep and six inches across, which I just noticed today. I don't know when it happened, but I do know that if I'd been in the car at the time, I would have seen, heard, and felt it, meaning that it happened while the car was parked somewhere. And with the dent being as large as it is, it's pretty clear that whoever hit my car certainly saw, heard, and felt it...meaning that they simply chose to flee the scene in true Beavis fashion.
I've had a couple hours of being angry about it by now. But the car's five years old, has six figures in mileage, is just a few months away from being paid for, and it ain't worth putting a claim in on my own insurance, so the bottom line comes down to two words: oh well.
Obviously, I'd have felt different if I'd already gone ahead and bought a new car by now. My car is old by any standard, but I've seen no reason to consider replacing it, especially with the prospect being able to keep driving the thing after it's paid off. And considering today's event, I guess that worked out in my favor in a manner not expected. 'Cause if that was a brand new car out there in the driveway with a six inch dent in the fender, I'd be wanting to be out there doing some CSI stuff on it in hopes of being able to hunt down the offending party with a pitchfork, if you know what I mean.
Oh, you wanted this column to be about Apple? Yeah, getting there. Because the whole incident with the car today got me thinking about just how little I cared how many scratches and dents my old iPod picked up toward the end, and yet now I won't so much as take my brand new U2 iPod away from my desk without putting it in some kind of protective case, lest even the tiniest scratch mar the chiseled autographs of Bono and the gang.
Accordingly, my aging PowerBook has so much paint missing from it at this point that I'm beginning to wonder if its looks couldn't be markedly improved with a cheap can of silver spraypaint. But once my next laptop finally makes my way into my hands, I suppose I'll be just as protective of it as I am my new iPod. But on the other hand, laptops (and iPods and cars) aren't meant to be bought as museum pieces; you use them, you try to keep them in the best shape you can, but in the end they're going to show some wear and tear. Because no matter what you do, someone's going to hit your car while it's parked eventually...unless you never leave the house with it.
I wonder if there's some fireworks on television.
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