Hey Everybody, I’m Blogging From Red Lobster!
Posted on November 22, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 47 Comments
I’m still in the “I’m feeling silly about my netbook” phase of the relationship, clearly. On the other hand, the wifi connection I’m using at the moment is from a hotel across the highway. Which is a pretty good reception from a teeny little computer, I have to say.
I didn’t just bring the netbook because I can’t be parted from it, by the way. I have pictures and videos to show in-laws. No, really.
How’s your Saturday?
Hey, I did my bit to help the economy by buying “Spore” last night and that’s what I’m going to spend my free time playing with. Wooooot!
If it makes you feel any better, I twittered from my iPhone from the dentist’s chair with a mouthful of hardware last week. That was pretty gratuitous.
I also spent the last hour in the local pub, enjoying their WiFi on the Graphics Laptop and fine selection of Thames Valley real ales whilst applying nurnies to an Earth Directorate Starfighter. Again, gratuitous. Also, pleasant.
My Saturday is fine. If I’m not delving through my RSS feeds I am reading “The Android’s Dream” ;-) (no, serious!).
Yes, but are you blogging out in the open, or surreptitiously under the table?
Tried to fix my sink. Pipes won’t go back together. drat. I need another pair of hands. Being single stinks. Oh well. Time for lunch!
I ‘m running Treasury at Philcon at the moment; we’re at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, NJ, if John will permit the pimp.
I’ve been doing laundry and cleaning my kitchen. Grocery shopping next then making Tuscan beans and sausage.
Pretty dull around here at the moment, just pre-holiday going out of town next week cleaning and packing.
Anyone that wants to adobt a few dust bunnies, let me know…
The Buckeyes are beating Michigan. Ergo, our Saturday? MADE OF AWESOME.
Bought new backpack, a mug and some groceries.
Meant to read, but can’t gather my thoughts. Surfing aimlessly and reading usenet. Bored.
It snowed last night. Pretty, but annoying.
I want candy.
You know, you’re not fooling anybody when you take your shiny new netbook into a Red Lobster.
All considered, not too bad. Three-day weekend thanks to a local holiday, so yesterday I didn’t go to work and today I had time to write some more of my dissertation.
Working today. Quite slow. No one buys glasses during the holidays.
Working on software to let two (simulated) predator robots hunt down a (simulated) prey robot for a school project. Not nearly as fun or evil-mad-scientist as it sounds.
pouting coz I want a netbook. listenting to ‘sweet baby james’ and working on my kitchen (HA!). taking a break to read the interwebs.
Jeez, John spends a whole bunch of time being all cosmopolitan and shit and then he blogs from frickin’ Red Lobster.
He’s gone rube, I tell ya!
I’m currently putting off writing on my own tiny computer, a NEC Mobilpro 780, which is even smaller than your netbook. (And has only 16MB of flash memory.) I only use it when I’m churning out a first draft, and I always forget what it’s like to go out with it. Everyone casts surreptitious glances. Always, someone comes up and asks, “is that a real laptop?” Last weekend, I got high-fived by a high schooler in a burger joint. It makes me feel like I’m doing my part to bring a little wonder and novelty to the world.
It’s also awesome to be able to reach into my purse, pull out a computer, open it and immediately start writing. No startup wait, no internet distraction! Speaking of which…
Playing video games when I should be working on school stuff.
Hey John –
Regarding your new netbook, what are you running on it to provide security? For someone who visits so many locations and utilizes so much public web connectivity, I was just curious as to what you used to keep the Internet junk away. I’m looking to go the same route as you and just thought you could give me some tips. Thanks.
JayW
You and your netbook now i need to get around to getting mine. I had been looking at the EEE notebook for a while when they first came out however i simply cannot see spending money on a notebook i cannot play world of warcraft on .. and thats what i need World of Warcraft everywhere i go lol… my Wife thinks im crazy…. too bad i cannot get a Brainpal that would work out perfectly.
Did you have those garlic biscuits? Mmmmm….
I had sushi with some friends at lunch today. Alas, no biscuits.
My saturday has been spent writing essays.
it’s been pretty exciting.
I’m writing one on the effect that Thomas More’s Utopia had on science fiction.
I know, that sounds awesome.
Went with the kids to see Hadrosaurus foulkii on its first day receiving visitors back in Philadelphia. It first moved here about 150 years ago (after living underground in New Jersey for the previous 80 million years), but it’s been on tour or off exhibit for the past while.
It’s nice to see it back again (especially now that they have can more accurately interpolate the missing parts of its skeleton).
I’ve been spending all day with my new beau, John. He takes me everywhere. He says he loves me, but sometimes I worry. Is it just infatuation? Am I just a fling to him, someone he can go away with and show off to all his friends? Oh, I’ve been through this before. I know your type, John. You’re all agog over my slim body and shiny case, but in a few years, all I’ll be hearing is, “Why can’t I upgrade your RAM?” and “You know, your fan is awfully loud.” Then you’ll find some new shiny… plaything… and I’ll be discarded, like all your other loves. (sniff)
John’s Netbook,
Be proactive: get yourself a craigslist account now, and then, a few years down the road, you’ll be well positioned to bail the first time he says your fan is awfully loud.
ahh, the epicurean haute cuisine that is La Langoustine Rouge! Such memories, but that was before the accident, before the amnesia…..so sorry, no memories…
If you start blogging from the toilet at the Red Lobster, then we’ll know you’ve crossed the line.
As far as you know, I did not.
Athena: Daddee-ee-ee, this is getting embarrassing.
Krissy: John, the food’s coming. Put away your toy.
John: O.K. let me just go wash up.
Krissy (to John’s back): Don’t think I didn’t see you slip that into your waistband.
Actually, there was a conversation, a part of which was Krissy saying, “Okay, they’ve seen the pictures and video. You can put that away now.” And you know what? I did.
I feel vaguely disturbed by the thought of Krissy saying, “They’ve seen the pictures and video, you can put that away now.” Context, dammit, I need context!
The context is in the actual entry, DG.
Saturday? Work all day…but I did sell 2 fricken expensive massage chairs…so yeah for the local economy (i.e. me).
Can you run OSX ? I have a friend who has it semi-legally on his netbook.
That’s fine with me – I’m reading this at my local bar while I contemplate the various proclivities of sysops and people who think they know how to build mail servers…
Josh Jasper:
I have no idea, and I’m not going to go out of my way to try, actually. I might install Linux via Wubi, however, just for fun.
I read the title as “Blogging *For* Red Lobster.” Which would be an interesting crossover / sponsorship opportunity.
Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I could eat at Red Lobster every day. It’s one of those “one a year, maybe” restaurant experiences for me.
They sell coffee at this location
Therefore it is a coffee shop.
So so sad.
Gee, and I typically have trouble connecting while inside an actual hotel room, following the hotel’s instructions, and subsequently paying for it on the hotel bill. And you just glommed it from across the street? Gee.
But to answer your question, I have accomplished precisely nothing today, other than fulfill my contractual obligation to my dogs to take them to the dog park every day I remain unemployed.
Two things:
1) Your geek card has just been automatically renewed for another year.
2) I recall eating dinner at Red Lobster in Branson a few weeks ago and a mother and teenage son (I assume) were dining near us and he had a laptop on the table watching a movie with headphones on. Not so bad but when the food came he still watched the movie with the headphons on.
He is a lifetime member of the geek club.
Looking forward to future installments:
• Hey Everybody, I’m Blogging from My Riding Mower!
• Hey Everybody, I’m Blogging from a Big Ol’ Jet Airliner!
• Hey Everybody, I’m Blogging from the Pink Poodle!
Actually, that’s untrue[1], as the “I’m blogging from X” has lost much of its mystique with the advent of better communication technology[2], and now just makes me think “If the location Xis so awesome, why are you not absorbing the scene with your full attention? You could blog about it afterward in greater detail, from memory.”
FWIW, your geek cred needs no maintenance: it’s in you[3], and always will be. Hope you have great fun and mucho I-n-O at LosCon!
____
[1] With the possible exception of the last item, which would interest me mostly for Kristine’s commentary. :-)
[2] I mind an old 1960’s advertisement for General Electric’s amazing coffee percolator, the virtues of which were touted by a wetsuit-wearing promoter speaking from bunchteen feet underwater. At the end she surfaces and pours something resembling coffee into a conveniently dry cup and saucer …
The next year, everyone had a claim-alike ad to promote their percos; two years later, Mr. Coffee was kicking all the percos to the curb. Location ceases to amaze.
[3] Knows what man(1), finger(1), and newsgroups are and how to use each — knew them all before knowing them was cool.
It would almost be worth setting up a health-food store to get:
“I’m blogging from Moonbase Alfalfa!”
Thank you, thank you. Tip your waitress. Try the veal, it’s Scalzi.
The next year, everyone had a claim-alike ad to promote their percos; two years later, Mr. Coffee was kicking all the percos to the curb. Location ceases to amaze.
I have a similar reaction to a current ad for E-Trade, where a geeky-loking dude breathlessly brags: “I just bought 100 shares of [something-or-other] on the [whatsit] Exchange in Hong Kong! ::dramatic pause:: That’s in CHINA!!!”
The ones with the talking baby are a bit behind the times, as well.
Pretty sure Hong Kong is in China, ever since the British lease expired. Or am I missing something?
Yes, HK is in China. My only point was that being able to buy and sell stocks in China via the Internet isn’t really as amazingly cutting-edge as the ad suggests anymore.
Truth.