Hip check

I should also note that I totally lucked out in my weekend shoe-shopping. Two-year-old Timberland boots are not fitting wedding attire, so I finally tried my last-minute luck at Marden's, a bargain-basement thingy in Waterville. Wouldn't you know that the one pair of men's shoes in my size were Skechers loafers? It not only met my criteria of good-looking, black, comfy shoes that are easy to don and doff, but they're the very brand that M recommended I get. She is still in the throes of how suave they are. I still kind of think the giant square toes look a little Frankensteinian, but this is apparently what the kids are doing, so, whatevah.

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Finally, I had reason to visit Bangor for the first time in a good while. Well, of course I did -- the wedding (and its rehearsal, the previous day) were in nearby Old Town. I have to confess: Bangor is a hip little city. One reason I moved to the Boston area was to get out of the redneckitude I felt more and more acutely while I lived in (Back)Waterville, and I have wondered why I didn't feel that way during my first 8 years of Maine residency. I chalked it up to personal growth, but now I think the fact that I moved away from Bangor in 1998 had something to do with it, too. I didn't see the difference at the time, but it shocks me now; though it be humble, Bangor has an urban-cultural spark that Waterville completely lacks. Just a spark, mind you, but I could see myself living there without immediately going crazy from ennui.

All this I absorbed while killing time before Friday's rehearsal. I spent about an hour catching up with Andy E., my first out-of-college boss, at his Mac service shop. How he goes on and on about Mac stuff! Things are going pretty well for him, and I actually picked up a lot of book-relevant pointers.

I worked on the book some at Java Joe's, a friendly café that's appeared next to Book Marc's, perhaps my favorite itty-bitty bookstore in the world. After I heard the counterfolk grumbling to customers about it being an unusually slow day, one of them asked how I liked the coffee. This began a conversation that let me catch up on the last few years' worth of Bangor business intrigue, at least from coffee perspective. As I suspected, the empty downtown storefront where the New Moon Café used to be doesn't mean that my old pal Paul went out of business, but that he moved elsewhere in town.

Paul's story is interesting. Years ago he wanted to contract my help in setting up some machines at this new Internet café of his, since he knew me from the UMaine media scene, and from Andy E's store. I was too busy (and probably not knowledgeable enough anyway) so I never hooked up with him there, but I did frequent his establishment once it opened. Good coffee, beautiful open interior, good (albeit expensive) sandwiches with thematic names like "The Hacker" and "The Megabyte", a roomful of PCs that nobody seemed to use. (There was a much cheaper (and cheesier) Internet café that opened at the same time directly across the street.) After some time has passed, he dropped the PCs, and became, really, the classiest plain-old-café in Bangor. The last time I visited was an evening a year and half or so ago, hoping to get a cuppa joe for the road, and stunned to find it filled with nicely dressed patrons ordering full dinners! (I was still able to get the coffee but it took an awkwardly long time as the counterfolk were all too busy being waitstaff.) So, apparently, he's finally dropped the café façade and opened a resataurant. What a strange journey it must be for him... I wonder if he even saw himself as a restaurateur, five years ago.

The cheesy Internet café is still there, its windows still plastered with 8.5x11 MS Comic Sans-on-white paper sheets proclaiming its services and drawing in the after-school and the out-of-school crowds, maybe the surest way to make money in that racket. Good for them, too.

(no subject)

Just finished my first real job interview of the season. It went well; we've already scheduled a follow-up interview. This isn't the job that I'm extra-excited about (that interview is tomorrow), but it sounds like a job I'd be glad to have, if needs be. I look forward to learning more about it. Despite the tight schedule, the timing works in my favor here; I'll definitely have a feeling for how likely my first choice is by the time this follow-up comes about.

Have I noted that this is really the first time ever that I've job-hunted? From college on, every job I've gotten has been either someone tapping me, or me applying to, and landing, a single job that was better than my current one. I'm glad that the experience is going as well as it is, for me.

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For some reason I've been playing a lot of Berzerk lately, especially after I found all the sound sample files for the MAME ROMs available online, so that the robots all chatter as they should while you blast them to bits. I think I will title my first electronic album "The Humanoid Must Not Escape".

My high score is eight thousand something.

(no subject)

One visit to Man Ray on Friday was all it took for her to forsake gothdom forever. She just went out the door wearing a pair of pants, saying she was done with flowing skirts and black stockings. (She still did her eyes up as usual, though.) Next, she shall swap out her bookbag for something less "spooky". "You know me, I try to have subtle personality, so I need my look to be more subtle," she says. "Subtlety is a feature," I admit.

Should I be surprised that I'm a little dejected even at this change in a friend, though it's so superficial? Heh... oh well. I'm interested to see what happens.

Teleportation = MUERTE

This very readable paper at IBM explains the findings of a group of scientists who once met to discuss teleportation. They decided that, in principle, the universe will allow you to teleport objects (even if humanity's present engineering knowledge doesn't). However, it won't work unless you destroy the original, because of the peculiarities of quantum entanglement. I find this interesting not because I like the idea (I actually don't), but because I figured the Star Trek model wasn't worth anything beyond plot convenience. Go figure.

Update

She went to H&M and bought a white linen shirt. Is it a paradigm shift? Is it a sea change? "It's more like... evolution," she says.

The first track of THMNE is going to be about this.

She also got me a belt for my interview tomorrow coz she's my pal.