One of the reasons I always wanted a digital camera was for those times you always say, “Geez, I wish I had a camera right now!”

Lucky for me, the one Matt chose is small enough for me to carry on with me at all times. This little gem is something I’ve wanted a picture of since we came to Rhode Island.

There are many, many ways to solve any given problem. This is just a fact, though not necessarily that interesting. What?s interesting is that certain ways may never occur to one person, while it may be the first thing another person thinks of.

I was thinking back to the discussion a few weeks ago about how certain games will change the way you think about problem solving.

I remember years ago I had a VCR in my trunk, because I had brought it over to a friend?s house to watch a video and she didn?t have her own. As it was due, I was going to return the video on the way home. I get out of the car at the video store (which is closed, I was going to drop it off in the slot so kindly provided) opened the trunk, and realized something.

I had forgotten to take the video out of the VCR.

I did the only thing I could think of at the time, I walked around the entire building until I found an outside outlet, plugged in the VCR, ejected the tape, and returned it.

Later, I was talking about it with my parents, and asked how they would have handled it. My father, being a computer guy and engineer himself, said that he would have cracked that bad boy open with a screwdriver and gently unwound the tape from the innards of the VCR itself.

My mom said she would have just cried. Looking back now, I’d probably solve the problem by bringing it home and paying a late fee.

The other day, I walked into our bedroom, and the ferrets had done something (I can?t remember what, specifically). They probably pulled all the books out of the bookshelf again. Or got into the closet. Something.

It was funny, but it required me cleaning it up, and trust me ? ferrets try to help you clean up. But the best help is no help at all. So, I remember scooping up both of them and saying, “I DON?T CARE WHO DID IT, you?re both going in your cage now.”

And then it hit me. All that time, my parents really DIDN?T care who did it!

I always like to keep a book tucked away in the back seat of my car somewhere. You just never know when you’ll be stuck in a waiting room, or early for an appointment.

Right now, I’ve got Michael Crichton’s Timeline that I’m reading (which was not a very good pick. It’s tough to pick it back up after 2 months and remember what’s going on).

But it’s not the what that’s important. It’s the where. For some reason, I always end up having to grab a quick bagel at Dunkin’ Donuts for lunch every so often, and end up bringing my book in and reading while I eat.

So imagine what happens when I have a doctor’s appointment last week and have to wait. I bring my book in. I open it up and start reading.

I get the BIGGEST craving for a Dunkin’ Donuts bagel EVER. I can’t stop thinking about Dunkin’ Donuts. I can smell it, taste it, I can practically HEAR the coffee brewing.

Of course this either means I need to get out more, or I should cut back on the carbohydrates. Those bagels are deadly!

Maybe I’ll just start reading a new book and see what happens.

My laptop arrived yesterday, and it didn’t take me long to get all set up with a wireless access point and be ready to go. I’ve set up more laptops for other people than I’d care to say. I’ve never had one myself. There’s nothing worse than having to give up a really fun toy five minutes after getting hooked on it.

Oh. My.

At the moment, it’s 7AM and I am in the living room sipping coffee (well, okay, that was a lie. Chugging with a vengeance is more like it). What’s different this morning you say? Why, I’m also typing this blog right now from my living room futon.

I wish I could say that developing is the only thing I plan to do in my living room, deck, or dining room.

As Matt jokingly pointed out to me yesterday, “we can now play Game Show Network’s Interactive Lingo!”

We can also look up people on IMDB when we think of them to see if they are still alive.

We can settle bets a heckuva lot faster to see if a certain actor was in a certain movie.

I can be outside when Weatherbug changes a degree to see if I can actually notice a difference.

We can email companies immediately when we approve/disapprove of a particular ad, or are just left scratching our heads saying “what”?*

And lastly, we can check the Easter Egg Archive whenever we put a new DVD in.

*Matt and I are very interested in ad effectiveness, we sent off an email after seeing an anti-marijuana ad stating “Marijuana. It won’t get you nowhere.” So we sent them an email saying, “ah, so it WILL get us somewhere.”
They sent a terse email back with one statement: “We get your point.”