SSDs are the first technology to excite me in a very long time. Next-generation drives with ultralow seek times and transfer rates around 100mb/s are finally available from Crucial and OCZ, but at a price of $600-$700 for a 32gb drive.

I'm going to wait for prices to come down and experiment with a cheaper alternative.

A story today about the possibility that a prominent California Republican was once a co-founder of the Commodore 64 warez group Fairlight caused an uproar on Slashdot today.

Reading it brought back some memories.

So the expensive Toro mower I bought a year ago decided to go on strike. Unfortunately, Toro's "Guarantee to Start" is only as good as the place that looks at it.

In my case, the authorized service center charges a $62 bench fee, did its best to convince me the problem isn't covered under warranty (they can't nail Toro for a $62 bench fee, of course), AND they won't look at it for 3 1/2 weeks.

So what do I do when I have a jungle growing in the front yard and the neighbors are getting irritated?

Say hello to Mr. Reel Mower.

I switched to Office 2007 on Friday.

The reason given was that updates to Office 2003 were failing to install, so the remedy was to install 2007. The change happened Wednesday night. I was out of the office Thursday, so I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I returned on Friday.

On Monday, a group of protesters gathered outside the Vatican, er, 1333 S. Kirkwood Road.

Their complaint: Issues, Etc., a popular radio show on the LCMS's unpopular talk radio station, got cancelled without warning, and the host and producer were fired.

I don't think I've been able to write those words since 2003, so I'd better use them when I can.

This team has been making me eat my words almost non-stop since 1986. Aside from briefly recapturing the magic in the summer of '03, the only highlights I can think of revolve around the twilight of George Brett's career. Kids born the year Brett retired are eligible to get their learner's permits this year.

I think I'm going to take the train to work tomorrow.

It won't save me any time, although with some creativity I could save five minutes some days (but lose five on others). I do figure it can save me some money.

I guess someday they might call this the Flood of '08 or something. The St. Louis area has three very temperamental rivers running through it: The Missouri and Mississippi, which everyone's heard of, plus the Meramec, which is less known, but probably more dangerous.

I'm sure pretty much everyone who cares has already seen this on Slashdot or wherever, but I found this blog entry from one of the designers of the Atari ST fascinating.

The pitch sounded too good to be true. While most bank accounts in the United States are paying a piddly 4% interest, and rates are more likely to go down than up, there's another country whose economy is booming, is one of the safest places in the world for your money, and routinely pays 9, 10, or even 14 percent interest on three-month CDs.

I clicked the banner ad. I read what the guy had to say. But I didn't sign on the dotted line. Here's why.