I had prepared a whole diatribe about the woeful incompetence or flat out malevolance practiced by Microsoft in the design of Outlook, Windows Mobile, and their handling of address book and vCard files. However, I’ll refrain and just point out that it’s the nature of the beast, and leave it at that. If and when the time comes that Microsoft collapses, its share prices plummet, and they’re forced to (*gasp*) compete and write software that works with other platforms (*coughcoughOSXcough*), I’ll do a little dance.

Handling vCards should be brain-dead simple. Syncing Windows Mobile with OSX should be, too. Sadly it’s not, and it makes me regret the purchase of my Windows Mobile device bitterly. If Apple had a PDA phone I would’ve bought it in a heartbeat.

Larry Carlson has a crazy flash-based art site that I stumbled onto back on ‘03. It made my head asplode then and it’s still up and running, with new content. Hooray! Larry, you rock.

Note: it’s randomly not safe for work, and constantly not safe for your sanity.

I thought to look him up when I found a similarly trippy site which, while impressive, simply pales in comparison.

If you haven’t seen pleix yet, you need to. Words fail me. Check it.

Beauty Kit and Birds are a couple of my favorites.

What’s better than a cartoon starring a screw-on head, Abraham Lincoln, and monkey henchmen?

That wasn’t a rhetorical question.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Ha ha! /Nelson laugh

I just got back from another day of surfing in Ventura. My phone wanted to come surfing with me, and stowed away in my pocket. Sadly, it did not survive my amazing day of catching 25-footers. As I was getting towed out to the big waves on jet skis, I didn’t notice the miniscule weight of the phone in my pocket. Alas.

I think my next phone will be the Cingular 8125.

Wow.

Today I woke up, ate breakfast, and went to another spinning class. This time I was at least mentally prepared for the destruction, but the teacher decided to kick it up a notch, so after an hour of exhausting brink-of-aerobic-threshold exercise, we were forced to do 60 pushups and I don’t know how many situps. Normally I wouldn’t blink at doing 40 or so pushups, but doing it after the hour-long class was just evil. I’m not even getting into the abs, but rest assured it wasn’t pretty.

After it was over, I trudged home and make preparations for the next phase of my day: disc golf at the first disc golf course, ever. I had decided I was going to do the full 18 holes. However, after 9 holes, physically exhausted (but surprisingly, still throwing pretty close to my normal game despite nearly a year without playing) and with vultures following me I decided to call it a day. As it turns out, it’s been 110 degrees in Pasadena, so I’m not exactly ashamed of myself for calling it a day after 9. I was pretty happy to get out of there without having my tires melt into the pavement.

The final activity was riding to Ventura and renting a longboard. This was followed by my first time surfing in southern California. The last time I rode was in Hawaii, and I remembered it being a ridiculously difficult activity. This time, with a 10 foot long board it was markedly easier. Despite a nearly complete lack of surf, I managed to catch a couple waves, and on one got up for a split second. Overall, a success and I’m going back tomorrow to shred some more.

On the ride home from the beach, at 9 PM, the temperature was 101.

If you haven’t seen Fantastic Planet (Google video, one hour eleven minutes), you need to. It’s a french animated film with english subtitles, and a revamped soundtrack. It’s an, uh, interesting piece of art, especially with the new soundtrack. Highly recommended.

I have just purchased a huge 19-piece set of Visions Corningware in an ebay auction. I grabbed it for a whopping total of $65 (including shopping!), which is less than a single saucepan costs new. I’m not sure how it’s even possible to purchase new, since it’s supposedly no longer in production. Regardless, the stuff rocks. It’s super tough glass that can go straight from the freezer to the over, or vice versa. Score.

Yesterday, in an effort to regain some semblance of physical fitness, I attended a ‘spinning‘ class at the YMCA up the street from my place. It was the ‘introductory’ course so I figured it would consist of pedantic basics like “These are called ‘pedals.’” I have been meaning to get out and do more cycling but there are few reasonable areas in the east San Fernando Valley that are really suitable for cycling. I miss Portland a lot whenever I think about going for a bike ride. Ah, the wonderful Sprinwater trail and the riverfront. You pdx kids don’t know how good you’ve got it…but I digress.

Twenty minutes after arriving, I was drenched in sweat and fighting nausea. I pedaled furiously as I cursed myself for failing to bring a water bottle. The class was fairly small, no more than ten people, and the instructor kept up a feverish pace for the full hour. I wasn’t able to maintain the pace the rest of the class was keeping up, and had to make a couple trips to the drinking fountain, but somehow I survived. I’m going back for the next session on Saturday morning.