Xmas trip roundup

I admit that I'm writing this because I just got hit-and-runned for the first time ever and feel like muttering about it. I am not really upset, because the damage was minimal, from a sideswipe that punched in the metal over my left rear tire, and didn't affect any moving parts that I can see. But still, wow... I didn't think I'd need to scrutinize the other car and mark its details, and not let it leave my sight as I walked towards it, because it didn't occur to me that it might mysteriously vanish otherwise.

Well. I am wiser now.

Um. Actually. I hope the fuel tank is OK. Ugh. Well, I suppose I'll find out in a while. (I think that it is OK.)

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So what else did I get for Christmas?

• A lot of bedspread


• Pajamas


• An electric toothbrush


• A Jabba the Hutt action figure

Guess which one was not from my parents. That said, I appreciate these practical gifts. Who knows how long it would take before I got bedding that would actually fit my new bed? So that's pretty good.

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Brother Peter skipped out of the family holiday celebration, choosing to spend it alone with recently acquired sister-in-law Janice. This is a fine thing, but they also did this for T-day, and I have to admit that this makes me feel bad. Its final effect is that it makes me question why I spend both ends of this month-long holiday hoo-hah here in Maine; I think that, starting next year, I'll give my parents one half, and spend the other at my own home. I don't see why my married (or logically married, in some cases) friends and siblings get to put variety into their holiday visitings, while I must do the same thing every time. Meh.

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According to JohnK I'm supposed to note here that he threw me out of his house yesterday by throwing turkey legs at me. (Unlike some places I could mention I am the only known online journaler in this northern social circle, and sometimes JohnK will note my reactions to things by reciting my thoughts in first-person past-tense while pantomiming a keyboard in front of himself.) This did not actually happen, though. Supper was lovely. Lots of Arcusoid-spawn running about underfoot. Bright kids. They all have cooler toys than I ever had.

Argh.

I have got a brilliant idea for a world-improving Internet application, and now I see that Cue Cats apparently no longer exist. That stinks.

Has anything else appeared to fill in this niche?

Update

A modicum of research has revealed the sad story of Cue Cat. Apparently they were the loss leader for something that never quite got of the ground, but people with the proper motivation can find them all over eBay, dirt-cheap.

Meanwhile, you can certainly get a brand-new barcode scanner for any OS you wish (even Mac OS X), so long as you're willing to part with ~$275. I know I would be, if sufficiently motiviated. And I think I am, but JohnK has offered to loan me his CueCat for a month or two, which is very nice of him. If I can crack the codes it generates (a task I bet is but a Google search away) I can use it for my immediate feasibility studies.

I'm just a little sad because the app I have it mind would be driven by an army of wand-waving geeks, something that is not so easy to assemble than I had hoped... but then again, the sorts of people who would use this app are probably the sorts of people who would go out of their way to get a cheap barcode reader from an obscure source, too.

Well. Enough vapor-talk for now.