Sense of Adventure

So the gentleman at The Happy Curmudgeon was kind enough not only to post my PDA plight on his own blog when I had yet to figure out how to enable the “Comments” function in WordPress, but to add some additional kind words. Thanks!

Yet I find myself with a bone to pick with this good Samaritan. You call yourself the Happy Curmudgeon. I certainly can’t cavil with anyone choosing to characterize him or herself as “happy.” And curmudgeons definitely have their place.

But you are clearly a good person as well as a reasonable, incisive social critic. You, sir, are not a curmudgeon. This, this is a curmudgeon.

Meet Everett True, incipient folk hero, John Bull lookalike, and walking Explosive Personality Disorder. Apparently, The Outbursts of Everett True was an actual early 20th-Century American comic strip.

The key word here is outbursts. Miss Manners (remember her?) may have gotten all prissy-faced and said, “Miss Manners wants people to behave,” in a constipated voice. Ah, but when Everett True wants people to behave, he makes them eat curb.

Needless to say, I don’t advocate or condone committing random acts of violence. Particularly against people who ogle pretty women. Especially not them. And by that I mean, “us.”

But there is something deeply soul-satisfying about seeing some fat guy with his belt in his armpits pound serious lout head.

And as Will Smith said in the utterly ridiculous but wildly entertaining Independence Day, “I have got to get me one of these!”

(There may be Everett True t-shirts in the birthday-present futures of certain of my friends.)

A lid-tip to Brian Doherty at the Hit and Run blog for the ungarbled word on Everett.

Clearly, we need a Congressional commission to look into violence at … Boston Pops concerts.

Just say no to the local symphony, kids. You’ll only fall in with a bad element.

And don’t even get me started on how the public schools are so bad, even the squirrels are dangerous.

A wise man I know (OK, I’m foolin’: it’s really me) is fond of saying, “I find myself living in the science fiction future I read about growing up - and, mostly, I enjoy it.”

Who else finds today’s headlines reminiscent of those you might find in an old Heinlein novel? Show of hands? Anybody?

I’ve no idea why I called the post that. My subconscious insisted.

I think I’ve got Comments enabled now. If nothing else I’ve got a trackback showing now from The Friendly Curmudgeon (thanks!), who was kind enough to post my plight on his blog.

Thanks to those who have tried to comment on my post “Oh no,” including Chris Hibbert, who by means of some clever sleuthing managed to turn up my email address and send me a helpful recommendation.

As of right now I’m inclining to go with either the Palm TX or the E2. Another friend and faithful Forum Warrior recommended the Palm Z22. It’s tiny and affordable, but having managed this afternoon not only to handle one but actually turn it on for about two seconds before it died (the clones at CompUSA having naturally failed to recharge their display model, or hook it to a power supply, since who’d actually want to look at the display before buying?) I have to say the 160 x 160 screen is just too small.

The color’s nice, but the thing I use a PDA for most in terms of sheer time is as an ebook reader. My late, and still much lamented, Miss Clié had a 320 x 320 pixel screen, even if it was greyscale. If I boost the onscreen font size to somewhere I can actually read on a 160 x 160, I’m afraid I’ll get like five words a screen.

The TX is very nice if a little long. The E2 is about the same height and width as my Clié but thinner. The TX gets good reviews from Amazon and ZDnet. Chris gives a thumbs-up to the E2. I liked the look and feel of both, but the ones I saw today, natch, wouldn’t turn on. I’m guessing I’d be pretty happy with either display.

The TX is a bit pricey for me right now. The less expensive E2 would no doubt serve me fine. At the same time, since I not only use my PDA as a reader but want to amp up my evangelization for ebook reading, it might be worth it to me in a business way to suck it up, shell out the $100 or so more to go with the 480 x 320 screen on the TX.

I’m still … dithering. I may just say shuck it and get a used Clié off Ammie. I could replace the old one straight-up for about $65, or upgrade to a later, if still outmoded/discontinued (as are all Cliés) model for a hundred bucks. But I also understand that getting a used, hence non-guaranteed, machine might prove tantamount to setting my money on fire.

We shall see.

Next - I attempt to enable permalinks!

Hey, great folk!

Hi, welcome. Just want a place holder here whilst I figure out what’s what.

Feel free to wade right in!

- Victor