I got an email from Kobo this morning, titled thus:
Except I have not finished reading Fairy Tale (for those wondering, it’s the generically-named latest novel from Stephen King). I’m reading the book on a Kobo device, so Kobo knows I’m reading it…yet apparently is just guessing that I am done, maybe based on how much I’ve been reading per day? (I didn’t read last night because my nose was being super mean to me.) Or maybe the email is from the future where I have, in fact, already finished the book. Or maybe this is the fault of AI because it’s everywhere now, and who knows what it’s getting up to.
Anyway, this is my 63rd post of the month, and I have given myself a made-up award for posting so much, even if most of it is nonsense. Maybe especially because of that1Actually, the real answer is I gave myself permission to basically post anything I wanted, no matter how trivial, weird or silly. I’m enjoying it so far..
We got teased with summer-like weather for two whole days (which was admittedly nice)
I think I overdid a couple of runs and my knees got stiff, making me pull back on my running to let them recover, which made me sad
Too much snacking, too much weight gain
My Garmin Forerunner sent me a notification telling me my heart rate was too high because I was apparently very quietly freaking out at my computer desk (it hasn’t happened since)
I’ve been hit by either the worst spring allergies EVER or have a head cold to end the month
No chocolate bunnies at Easter
But it wasn’t all bad:
I got some nice bird shots
I did a few desperate last-minute daily photo shots that turned out funkier than expected
I re-read some of my old fiction and liked it!
I started reading books in bed again, which had two effects: I’m reading books again, and no blue light (iPad) before bed has resulted in better sleep
I’ve made some nice bird art
Noise issues have become tolerable
I have learned to accept some things that can’t be changed
We are this much closer to summer and I already have sunblock!
In the olden days, it was connecting with your family, friends and acquaintances and seeing what everyone was up to. Uncle Bob is having a BBQ at the cottage. Grandma is playing with the grandkids. Aunt May is into the bourbon again. Your old high school buddy has gone missing. Stuff like that. And usually on Facebook, because what else was there? mySpace?
Twitter was mainly used to pop off zingers, since you only had 150 characters, or posting memes. Sometimes useful stuff, too, which became a thing for news organizations and the like, which typically got around the character limitation by posting an image that contained 2,000 words of text. And people liked this. I think.
But today? The only people left using Facebook are your Aunt May (still on the bourbon, but also now posting memes you’ve seen three times in your feed already today), bot farms also pushing memes or misinformation/propaganda, and approximately one trillion ads.
Twitter…well. Since it assumed new leadership, it has gone full dumpster fire and people are peeling away from it in search of an alternative. And there are plenty, with more all the time, some doing different things (Artifact), some mostly the same but with key differences (Mastodon) and some shamelessly copying Twitter, including having their ex-CEOs on the board (Bluesky). And people are, of course, arguing about which is better.
But then I ask, why are people even looking? Why not quit Twitter and…do something else? When was the last time anyone read a book? 2007? How about go outside, then come inside and not post about it? Has that happened since 2010? I don’t think so! Instead of posting the perfect riposte to someone you don’t know, will never meet, and has no impact on your life in any meaningful way, why not write a poem about trees and bugs or something? Paint a landscape. Help an old person kick their bourbon habit.
I appreciate the irony of writing this on a computer on my blog (a micro-micro Twitter feed of one, if you will), but I’m taking my own advice. I’m going outside. I’m touching trees. I’m not posting memes.
First, I am not linking to a video of the Cher song.
OK, I totally am. Here you go:
But really, if I could travel back in time for only one day and not actually change history, just noodle around and take in the sights, and I was restricted to only visiting years during which I was alive (yes, this is an oddly specific set of restrictions), I’d go back to July 3 (nice weather) in the following years:
1973: I was 9 years old, so I actually remember a fair bit about 1973, but it would be groovy to walk around my hometown of Duncan as it was back then, when the world felt simpler and smaller (but I was also only 9 years old). Seeing it with adult eyes would be entertaining, if only for the fashions.
1993: 20 years later and I’m now 29 years old. Why this year? Because Vancouver has changed so much in the past 30 years. 1993 was pre-internet, pre-Windows 95 and yet still feels “modern” in my memory. I’d like to see how that would hold up to the reality. Plus, I could visit all those old computer stores I wrote about recently, and relive the last hurrah of computers that weren’t just IBM compatibles or Macs. And secretly invest in Apple stock. My runner-up choice would be summer 1986 or 1987 when Vancouver was the big new city, and I was taking my first initial steps into coming out to others and being part of a larger community. So much of what was back then is gone now. Actually, maybe I wouldn’t want to go back to those years, it would probably just make me sad. Although I’d totally take the time to check out Expo 86, which I really didn’t get to see much of when I worked there.
With the forecast calling for sun tomorrow (weird, I know) and expecting to spend some hours in said sun, I have purchased sunscreen because as I’ve learned, if you spend any time in the sun, it will burn you. This year, I’m ready! As long as I remember to put it on. Which I will. For sure.
Also, speaking of summer, they have already filled the swimming pool at Hume Park, even though the pool normally doesn’t open until late June. It’s not actually open now, but it looks like it could be. Maybe it’s a test run. Or maybe a family of adorable otters will live there until late June.
I’m not sure what the tent is for, but it looks somewhat festive.
An article on the alleged new Pride Apple Watch band and face has comments disabled (see screenshot below).
The only plausible reason I can think of (as they allow political discussions on the Macrumors forums) is the editors don’t trust their readers to not be bigoted trash.
From the December 1997 issue of The Computer Paper, a free publication that was all over the place in Metro Vancouver way back when:
To me, a rotary phone is ancient tech, but I remember using them. And now we’ll have people who will remember ancient tech as having to buy software to get on the internet.
Actually, I guess that still includes me, because I actually did this myself (I went with iStar).
(BTW, netcom.ca is a broken link now, and www.netcom.ca has an expired certificate that has nothing to do with what the site was back in the days of parachute pants.)
While marvelling over having to install a browser just to get on the internet and then doing so at a maximum speed of 56 Kbps (I only ever have a 33.3 Kbps modem before going to broadband), I am mostly struck by the list of retailers at the bottom of the ad where this software (remember when software came in boxes?) was sold and how most are long-vanished, proof that even tech is not immune to getting steamrolled through evolving times:
Future Shop: Bought out by Best Buy, shuttered for good in 2015
RadioShack: Effectively killed in 2005 when it became The Source and turned into a kind of Best Buy Mini (it’s now owned by Bell, boo hiss)
London Drugs: Still going, but computers were only ever part of their business. Fun Fact: I worked in the computer department of LD from 1999 to 2001. I was there for the launch of Windows Me. We got free copies. I ran it on my home PC for two weeks before going back to Windows 2000.
Staples: Still going, will probably scrape by as long as the paperless office remains a fantasy
Doppler Computer Superstores: I had to check to see if they actually had more than one store (the one I know was in Vancouver, across from a Wendy’s that’s still there) and I think this was the only one. The building is long gone now, but you can see it in this reddit post. I bought my first two CD-ROM games there: Myst (of course) and a disc of shovelware games. I remember the spinning racks of shovelware. You might find a low budget gem if you looked long enough, but it was mostly junk. Still, CD-ROMs seemed very futuristic in the early 90s.
Computer City Canada: There were seven Computer city stores in Canada and more than 60 in the U.S. before the entire chain went kaput in 1998. Fun Fact: I worked at the brand-new Coquitlam store during the launch of Windows 95, which was a very big deal at the time. We had two Compaq PCs set up running Win95, one with 4 MB of ram and the other with 8 MB, to show how much better Windows 95 was with more memory (some things never change).
And while I’m waxing nostalgic, here are some of the other stores I used to haunt regularly when shopping for computers or software that are all gone now, and mostly forgotten:
CompuCentre: These were in malls, and they quietly vanished without me even noticing. I’d buy the odd game here.
ATIC Computers: Still around, actually! I bought multiple PCs from them in the 90s. They were cheap, which was the main appeal, as I was poor.
Wizard Computers: I mainly went here to get software for my Atari ST. I remember buying Dungeon Master at this store, which was on Fraser Street.
MicroConcept Systems: Like ATIC, but not as cheap. Ran huge, multipage ads, had a business division, then shuttered.
NCIX: Ho ho, the store that spawned Linus Tech Tips and is probably most famous (or infamous) for going bankrupt, then auctioning off a bunch of equipment that still contained user data. Oops. I bought stuff here for years and remember the early days of Linus making videos for them.
Egghead Software: I bought OS/2 at the Broadway store. I barely remember running OS/2. I was a Windows guy, ultimately.
Software Superstore: True to its name, this massive store in Richmond sold software for every major platform (this was when there were more than two). My biggest single-day haul was picking up both Populous and SimCity for my Amiga 500. At the time, this would have cost $100 and would be apparently about $180 today. Considering some games are now costing $90, it seems both weird that prices have pretty much stayed the same and also that $90 feels like way too much to pay for a single computer game (thank you, Steam sales and indie devs!)
On one hand, I miss picking up software from these stores, because there is something about getting something tangible, something physical, that can’t be replicated with downloads. But there’s no denying the way software works now is way better. Still, it would be fun to zap back in time for a day and be able to check all these places out circa 1992.
Yesterday’s site shenanigans have now been resolved, and it made me realize I had way too many unused plugins hanging around, doing nothing except potentially causing problems (which one did, yesterday).
I’ve deleted a bunch and will delete a bunch more before I’m done. This will also help with the site redesign, so I will later claim it was part of the plan all along, somehow.
