Going to See Barack

At dinner last night with some friends, we found out that Barack Obama is going to be here in Portland on September 7th. So, like the Barack groupies we're becoming, we bought tickets to see him first thing this morning. I'm not planning to scream or cry like he's a member of the Beatles, or anything, but I really like this guy - and it's exciting to be able to see him speak. I've not seen very many politicians in personal appearances in the past, although I did see Al Gore on his presidential campaign - and he was fantastic. I don't know what to expect from Barack, but if he's even half as charismatic in person as he is on TV, it's going to be a pretty cool event.

I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

After spending a few days at my mom's house in the mountains, I'm exhausted. Partly it's because I didn't sleep very well down there, but I don't know what explains the rest of it. All I know is that after a whole day back at work yesterday I was completely knackered and had a pounding headache. Is a few days away from staring at a computer screen really all it takes for my eyes to not be used to that anymore? I slept like a rock last night, and am feeling much better today, but am still expecting to take it easy this weekend and get really caught up.

Have you seen my fish?

If you haven't seen the cute fish animation I added on the right hand column of the blog, scroll down a bit and you'll find them. They'll follow your cursor around if you hold it over the white box (their "tank," I imagine), and if you click in that box you can deliver "food" to them which they will then eat. Is it silly? Of course. But it provided me with a few minutes of fun one day, so I figured it could possibly do the same for someone else as well. It's kind of meditative...

Coming Home to Freshly Baked Fig Newtons

Well, perhaps not the kind of figgy cookies you might be familiar with, but still - they were the homemade version. When I walked in the door, the house smelled like baking. That's always a good sign in my world. Turns out Chris had located some fresh and beautiful Adriatic figs at a nearby market and had made some cookies with them. Thankfully, he saved a few for eating. They're decadent. Cutting into the bright green flesh, you're rewarded with a glistening ruby center that's gooey and just waiting to be eaten. I've missed those figs ever since we had them for breakfast every morning in Croatia last year - so it was a real treat to find them in my kitchen when I got home from work today.

Sad Laptop Becomes Happy Laptop

Sad Laptop
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

Remember back when I wasn't sure my laptop was going to live? Well, when it was disassembled* I snapped a few pictures for posterity. I figured if it came back to life I'd post it here on the blog, and if it didn't, well, I'd probably delete the pictures...

Anyway, this picture shows the laptop air-drying on the dining room table, with as many pieces as I could remove from it lying on the newspaper around it. For another angle, see this photo.

And to celebrate the rebirth of my dear, sweet laptop companion, I finally got around to ordering the laptop skin that Chris had promised to get me for my birthday (yes, the one I had back in February). It looks so very, very cool, I just want to go somewhere and use my laptop so people can see it.

* Am I the only one who thinks of the movie "Short Circuit" every time I hear the word "disassemble"?

How does one go about downloading Italian songs when one doesn't live in Italy?

So, I've run into a bit of a brick wall with my friends (okay, they're not really my friends) at iTunes, so I'm hoping that one of you tech-savvy people out there can help me figure out a way around this.

See, I've been listening to Radio Italia online for some time now, and recently have heard several songs that I'd like to download. When I went to iTunes and looked for them, I wasn't surprised when they weren't in the catalog. I was able to find them, however, if I switched to the iTunes Italia store. Everything I wanted was there - it was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one, and I was feeling quite giddy and pleased with myself. Until, that is, I tried to actually purchase the first song. As soon as I put in my password I was redirected back to the good ole iTunes USA store, where (as mentioned) nothing I wanted could be found.

I contacted iTunes to ask why I couldn't download something from the Italia store. It makes no sense to me why this should be an issue - I'm willing to pay for the songs (more, in fact, than the US rate, as the prices there are in Euros), and it seems iTunes has them in some online catalog somewhere. Why should it matter where I live? Oh, but it does, the iTunes person tells me. He doesn't say why, only that I can't do what I want to do and I should request that what I want to download be added to the US store. Yeah, I'm not sure they'd work too quickly on my "everything in the iTunes Italia store" request, do you?

I asked my local Italian community for help, and got pointed to this site - again, looks promising, no? I found many (not all) of the songs I wanted to download, but in order to register I need to live in Italy. Or at least know more about the post codes which are associated with certain towns and regions than I currently do in order to fill out the registration form. I sent them an email a couple weeks ago - in Italian - asking how I might register because I really want to send them money and buy songs from their website, but I haven't heard bupkis from them.

So, I turn now to you. Anyone have any brilliant ideas for me? I'm thinking I'd like to avoid P2P systems, as I don't particularly relish the idea of the RIAA knocking down my door and swiping my laptop (or any nasty bugs which might come from the P2P stuff), and am perfectly willing (happy, in fact!) to pay for the songs. I await your brilliant suggestions, and thank you in advance.