Monday, February 13, 2006
Valentine's Eve
Well, somehow the week got away from me -- it's been 8 days since my last post. I've got a couple of ideas for some essays, but I haven't really had the time to get them pounded out. They belong in my DumbSwede Slashdot Journal anyway.
Tomorrow is Valentine's day; it's already Valentine's day in China, which is where it matters for me since that is where my wife Nian is. Hopefully she will join me soon here in America, but for now she is there and I am here while we wait for word back from the INS on her K3 visa application. It's been two weeks since we sent the forms in and the best Valentine's present of all would have been getting new in the mail today. Hopefully tomorrow will bring word and would still count as a great omen.
I 've had to resist the effort to work on my "Monkey Typewriter" web toy, which I've mentioned a few times before, to the exclusion of other more important things. I did a little work on it over the weekend and its starting to come together. Now that the word database is constructed and it knows simple things like what are nouns and verbs the strings of sentences no longer look like strings of gibberish as they count down to match a given start sentence in a evolutionary fashion. I could probably get a simple version going with a few more hours of work, but I'm hoping to improve the power of the database to create more interesting synchronicity in the sentences generated.
I went to Wal-Mart yesterday for groceries and a few toiletries. While there I took a look at the new "Fusion" razor from Gillette. At close to four dollars a cartridge they have got to be kidding. Now I figure that with five blades in the front and one on the back it might make for a marginally smother shave, but once it dulls a little it would be virtually indistinguishable from the much cheaper 2 and 3 blade models. In fact at over three bucks a pop, I know I would be tempted to ring extra shaves out of each cartridge leading the irony of a less comfortable shave on average. I picked up some 3-blade generics for less than 50 cents a pop and some 2-blade disposable for less than 20 cents a piece. One blade razors could be had for less than 10 cents each, and keep in mind this includes the handle -- so about 35 fully serviceable complete razors can be had for the price of one "fusion" refill cartridge.
I promise a follow up post soon for how well Nian likes her gift. With any luck I'll also have news about our K3 visa application. Keep your fingers crossed everyone. I don't exactly believe in luck, me being an Agnostic and all, but I've never been one to turn down good wishes or even prayers.
