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09/06/2003 Entry: "Lots of friends... good times." Yesterday was a day full of mirth. I went to "On the Border," a Mexican restaurant near where I work. I took Nate out as a thanks for putting up with me for the last few weeks, and he described his college experiences (he just went back after a several year absence). Christine joined us, and we talked about technology because we're all geeky tech weenies. Christine's work is getting DSL and a whole new system upgrade, of which she's in charge of. It all has to do with SABRE, a travel company system, which their travel office division uses. They are going from dial-up to broadband, and this opens up a lot of headaches. After lunch, we went to Best Buy to buy her company supplies. We also got a copy of the PC game "Grand Theft Auto III" and a DVD copy of the "LOTR: The Two Towers," which we missed in the theater. I played GTA3 for a little bit, and was reminded why I don't drive. Man, I suck. I did manage to get two assignments done, but I suspect both were more "training" assignments (Pick Up a Girl, Beat up a Dealer and steal his car). Later on, we went to "Red Lobster" with Anya. I have never liked that place. No matter what Red Lobster I have ever gone to, it's been the same feeling, like they are trying to be fancy, but don't really know how. Their decor was very "Bennigans/TGI Fridays"-esque, but the quality of the food is sub-par. I have been to a few, and the places always seem cheesy and a little run down, but the prices want to tell you otherwise. Behind our table was someone who looked like a pimp with two very skanky girls, and to the right of us, someone with a bratty kid they weren't even trying to control. The food was okay, but not for the elevated price. Some of the crab legs were damp and stale. My fish was NOT Mahi-Mahi as they advertised (it was a white fish, but the grain was too small). The bench I was sitting in was worn and uneven, and was painful to sit in for a long period of time. I was glad to leave. I ended the night by watching "Clerks" for the first time. Not bad, but not as good as I was led to believe. Today I am in bed catching up on some home computer maintenance. My ankle, which has been bothering me for some reason for the last few days, finally decided to stop supporting my weight. This happens from time to time, so it's no big deal. So I am wearing Christine's old ankle brace, watching TV, and working on the laptop. I am going through my Yahoo mailbox, cleaning out my "sent-mail," which hasn't been cleaned since December 2001. I also have a log of all the online purchases I have ever made since then, and it's amazing how much stuff I order. It's also time to change all my passwords on my accounts again. But first, a small observation... As I start to watch another episode of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," I am reminded of several things these makeover shows never seem to understand. The first big problem is that many designers have no sense of utilitarianism; that is, they sometimes they put stuff where it's not very practical. I was watching an episode of "Trading Spaces" where they put the large TV set in a corner, facing the window, and not facing any seating area. So you'd have to carry the TV across the room so people on the couch could see it, or give up TV altogether. Yeah, putting the computer setup in the armoire where the monitor is at knee-height may look chic, but it's hard to browse the web when you have no space for your keyboard and mouse as you sit on the floor to use it. The second things is that a lot of designers put out things that get in the way. Like art in the middle of the kitchen table, fresh fruit and candles that rot or run out, and stuff that looks great in a magazine, but in real life... very hard to work around. The third thing I see is that they make the assumption if they clean up a guy's room and give him expensive hair products, he'll do that forever. Habits are hard to break. I'd love to see these shows "A year after the makeover." I bet things went back to the old ways within a few months, if not days after the camera crew went away. Well, I am off back to my mail and hard drive defragging. Christine has her friend Anne over, and they are still watching Kevin Smith movies.