Better Living Through Technology

I just read that O’C will be providing endless field reports on Scarsdale to a waiting world at WTF. Maybe if I stuff him down a laundry chute the waiting world will be able to get on with its life instead of pacing in front of the computer, tap tap tapping refresh every few minutes in frustration wondering where, oh where, are the pairings for round 5 of the novice division. It’s worth considering.

I’m wearing the data for Scarsdale around my neck, literally. I have lately taken to tech bling, i.e., sporting flashdrives full of all sorts of information about my person. That way at least I know where they are. For those of you who are flashdrive aficionados, you know that erasing files from one OS doesn’t necessarily remove them for another OS. Write in Mac, erase in PC, I always say. Otherwise you have no room, and no clue why there is no room. What a tough life we lead, eh? Anyhow, when I get to Scarsdale I’ll plug it into their networked computer, sort of like R2D2, who always seems to be able to get whatever connection he needs whenever he wants it because, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away no one ever thought to build a decent network firewall, much like they made all those clones and never taught them how to shoot straight…

Which makes me wonder if O’C is bringing his 23-disk set of Howard the Duck outtakes. I’ve got other entertainments, if things get out of hand, but to tell you the truth, I have never once watched a movie, or even a TV show, in a tabroom, although occasionally one has sort of been playing around me. The idea of having even a half an hour free, much less two hours, is chimerical at best. Usually there’s just enough time to scan email and see how the Packers are doing (yeah, right) and that’s about it, and you’re entering data again. With the alternating V and Nov rounds at Scarsdale, I’m not expecting all that much down time. Not as bad as Columbia but no walk in the park. I do have my iPod, of course. My recent addition of archival Disney material (e.g., some song that combines the Macarena and the Tiki Room, plus Maurice Chevalier’s version of “It’s a Small World”) should be enough to fill the entertainment gaps, such as they are, while also sending normal people into an irrecoverable panic. Which includes neither me nor O’C, the only other person I can reliably count on not to stuff the iPod down the laundry chute when I choose such selections. We Disney fans are a tough breed.

[It does scan, though. “Do the Macarena in the Tiki room.” And if that’s not remarkable enough, I’m typing this in Word, which just autocorrected macarena to Macarena with a capital M (but thinks Tiki is misspelled). Yep. We do really lead tough lives nowadays, sports fans.]