Continuing my series of small personal apartment-related triumphs, this evening I put the oven to use, and made an apple crisp from scratch. It only took two attempts (the folks at Wegmans weren’t exactly clear about the fact that the flour/brown sugar/butter/walnuts part shouldn’t be combined with the sugar/flour/cinnamon/nutmeg/apples bit), but I’ve got positive reviews from two objective observers. I may very well make one to take to my Aunt’s on Thursday.

*makes the “slightly pleased with himself” face*

Image from BBC News.

There’s something very satisfying about a clean bathroom.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of these neat-freaks who have to have a clean bathroom all the time (and anyone who has lived with me will attest to that). And I never relish the thought of spending a couple of hours breathing potentially toxic fumes and scrubbing every surface exposed to the air. But last night I put up a new shower rod (the old one was being held on by 16 year old adhesive and good intentions – also, it was a few inches too low, so the liner was dragging along the floor of the tub, and getting all nasty) and cleaning my bathroom. After about three hours total work (allowing for the batteries in my screwgun to recharge, dinner, and TV time), I took a look at the results of my labor – counters clean, towels and rugs washed, toilet and bathtub scrubbed – and got this really satisfied feeling. Now, if only I can KEEP it clean.

I guess it really is the little things that matter.

Addendum: I never thought I would use a cleaning product presumably named after a breakfast cereal and/or Atari 2600 game, but I can’t say enough good things about “Kaboom!“. Even if it has got a stupid name.

Think back to your youth…remember Saturday morning cartoons? And those McDonalds commercials that would air during those cartoons?

Good. Here’s your question:

Which McDonaldLand character would you most like to punch in the throat?

Me, I’m going with Birdie, the Early Bird. Damn thing pissed me off.

I’m not sure what’s more astounding – the fact that “The Simpsons” routinely takes pot-shots at it’s corporate parent, or the fact that someone at FOX News has less of a sense of humor than Rupert Murdoch himself.

Update: Not surprisingly, Matt Groening was just kidding.

I just finished upgrading my 15-inch Powerbook G4 to “Panther”, the latest and greatest version of MacOS X. (It’s verison 10.3, in case you’re keeping score at home. And yes, saying “MacOS X 10.3” is redundant, but…) Before now, I’ve found little use for the function keys on my Powerbook’s keyboard. You know – the function keys? The row above the numbers? Every keyboard’s got ’em. But thanks to Panther, pressing F9, F10 or F11 invokes Expose, possibly one of the most elegant – if not the coolest – application/window switchers I’ve ever seen.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure my Mac runs a little faster now, too. I’ll let you know when I’m able to stop pressing F9.

So…there’s this show…on Adult Swim. It’s called The Big O. I started watching it on recommendation from Bry. It’s…well…kinda like “Batman: TAS” crossed with James Bond with a heapin’ helping of Giant Japanese Killer Robots thrown in.

I like it. I don’t GET it, but I like it.

(On a side tangent, what the hell is it with Japan and Giant Killer Robots, anyway?)

While I may have grown tired of “Enterprise”, I’m still a huge Star Trek fan. (I mean, I’m probably going to buy Star Trek V: The Wrath of Shatner on DVD, just so I have a complete collection.) So I see something like this, and I’m at geek factor 5. I would never spend that much money for something like that (especially if it’s only a replica). Really. I wouldn’t. Swear.

Sorry for the extended absence. I wish I could say it was because of some grand plan or because I was too busy – not so much. I just haven’t really known what to write in this space.

Now, don’t panic – this isn’t one of those massive “the content here is going to change radically” type posts. I’m just saying that I’ve been at a loss, and I haven’t really known what to post. I’ll be back to normal soon enough.

After about a day of not knowing what the hell is going on, apparently Darren’s site is back up and running.

Meanwhile, at the Hudson River crossings, outbound it’ll cost you 15 minutes at the Lincoln, 10 at the Holland, and the GWB is clear. Inbound is clear at all crossings. This is M-D November for Metro Traffic control – back to you.