Voyeur-Nip

If you stare into the darkness long enough, you see things. Today I’ll flip the energy-efficient lights on here at fifteenkey.com long enough to scratch out a catch-up post.

Mouse In The House
Speaking of scratching, the end of November brought eviction papers for “Templeton,” a mouse that was trading counter crumbs for nano-tootsie rolls. I didn’t want to kill the little guy or gal, so I searched for “humane mouse traps” and purchased the um, “Humane Mouse Trap” from Greenfeet. On arrival, I loaded it with a peanut butter and saltine cracker. Grabbing coffee the next dawn, I noted the trap had sprung, but there was neither a mouse nor a cracker… Hmmm… For round 2, the sliding door opposite the trap door was secured with a piece of packing tape. Templeton watched me pour coffee through green eyeshade the next morning as I contemplated where to relocate him. It was very cold and both Megan and Kyle protested the possibility of a frozen Mickey, so we provided room and board for a few more days. Finally, after the mini-beast nearly chewed his way out of the green plastic prison, Kyle and I drove him a few miles away and released him into a very nice old Leominster neighborhood near a house with a barn. I had envisioned the little guy crawling quarter inches at a time to reach shelter, but as soon as he hit the ground, he leaped like Mike Jordan in two half circles a foot high and two long toward refuge. Of course, any number of wild or domestic creatures could have snacked on him between freedom and sanctuary, but my conscience was clear… as is my kitchen counter.

Bring out yer dead…
Like the The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” said, “I’m not dead.” That’s my attitude toward the marketing shovel AARP has been whacking me with since summer. Hey, I’m not joining. Check back if I make 60.

“You would make a great Girl Scout!”
Yep. That’s what the note addressed to me said. Over the summer I won 4 tickets to see “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas – The Musical” at a Girl Scout charity golf tournament silent auction. Last week when an event reminder popped up here, I checked Quicken to see what I had paid. $0. Then I remembered entering an amount, but never being charged. I emailed the event organizer and asked her what happened. She took care of it and in fact I paid $345 for 4 great “Dress Circle” seats to a very mediocre production. Megan and I caught intermittent naps, but Kyle and grand-daughter MacKenzie seemed somewhat amused. Oh, the Grinch was okay and young lady who played “Cindy-Lou Who” was a fine little performer, but the songs in this musical made me think there really is a war on Christmas.

iWannabe
Unwilling to bolt Verizon for AT&T;, the Über-cool iPhone was not a contender to replace my “Jack Bauer Edition” Treo 650. The LeoTreo had served me well, but at 3 years old, (that’s like 100 in technology years) it literally had a few screws loose and was on the life support of USB power only. With “Templeton” in the trunk on his way to self-determination, Kyle and I visited the big-red store for one more swing at the Blackberry Storm and another round with the intriguing Samsung Omnia. I really wanted to like the Storm, but after about 2 hours of monkeying with it over 3 days, I have to agree with New York Times columnist David Pogue and many others who conclude, the BlackBerry Storm Sucks.

“Omnia” means “everything,” and my new phone pretty much has it:

• Great call quality
• Touch screen navigation
• Accelerometer for portrait or landscape use
• Super web experience including YouTube clips of Kyle singing the hits
• Corporate email and VPN capability
• Mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Bluetooth integration to my car
• Wi-Fi! (Storm doesn’t)
• 5 MP auto-focus flash camera

Two uncertainties remained as the boy and I exited, phone in hand for a trip to GameStop: How would the on-screen keyboard experience be and could I customize the phone interface to my liking? Winterface is a sweet UI I’m trying out and the keyboard works just fine. I think LeOmnia may be a keeper…