Weighing in on the whole name order question, here are my two cents: I try to use what they use. E.g., Hirano Aya because of hiranoaya.com and Tanaka Rie because of tanaka-rie.com, but Kira Yamato because that's what the other characters call Gundam Jesus. Ultimately, I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be, so it's a real mess to be sure.

Obviously the best solution is for everyone to just adopt single-name monikers like Yukana and be done with it.

Oh, SCHEIßE.

Apparently all this traveling was too much for my Thinkpad T42p. Okay, I didn't kill it kill it, but either the inverter or the CCFL is dead. (With my luck it's both, eh.) I hope it is the inverter and not the CCFL, because I know I can replace the former myself easily. However, I don't know if I can replace the CCFL myself without acing the screen.

The dead screen wouldn't bug me so except that it's a 15" UXGA 1600x1200 beauty, and it's basically impossible to get a notebook computer with a high-resolution screen anymore—not around the five-pound mark at least. I despise glossy screens, and I don't care for today's widescreen offerings. Widescreen? More like shortscreen. (1280x800 on a screen larger than 10 inches is pathetic.) I don't really want to buy another Lenovo, but it doesn't look like I have much choice. Come back to me, IBM! I love you forever!

HAPPY END !

I told you that story to tell you this one: My mostly-dead Thinkpad gave me an excuse to buy an Asus EeePC 900. I can watch anime away from home again, but it drops frames on more resource-heavy videos. So far, instead of trying my patience, this shortcoming makes me nostalgic. The stuttering takes me back to the days when the beginning of the Love Hina OP (the part with the cherry blossoms whipping down the title screen) crucified my computer. And I invested in a Pelican 1490 laptop case/briefcase, so I should be good to go now. Never again.

I have acquired an IBM Thinkpad R51 in a game of chance. It's not a replacement for my T42p, but it will do until I get the T42p fixed. I'm still using the EeePC 900 more often for anime-watching purposes, though.

Curiously, the R51 doesn't have any Lenovo identifiers anywhere, so it may date back to when Thinkpads were IBM proper. I didn't think it did, and it's still made in China, but it does seem reasonably solid.

I'm away from home a lot, so blogging about anime slows down frequently. I've taken to "pre-taping" entries so that there aren't massive blocks of inactivity, but even these entries can grow a bit sparse at time. [Protip: Any entry posted 13:37 UTC is almost certainly a pre-taped post.]

I could just, you know, Stop Writing, but considering that I've been churning out regular entries since 1999, and blogging about anime since 2002, it's not so much whimsy anymore as it is habitual. [Note: Sweet Testarossa's Cape, that's a frickin' long time!] Despite this longevity, I conceitedly claim counterculture credibilty since I've managed to duck mainstream recognition for the most part—probably due to the absence of a community-building blogroll on this site (unless you count Sekai, that is), and my disinterest in permitting or submitting comments.

Oh, don't expect me to retire anytime soon, not as long as I still watch anime. In fact, I'll probably still be around when the majority of today's most active bloggers have moved on from anime episodes to entries about Galaxy of Warcraft raids. Fully expect a strong resurgence at this here URL long before Momotato and Elijah return. [Note: Temptation to register uffizi.jp notwithstanding. Actually, it's probably already taken.] Until such time comes, just pretend I'm too busy watching Love Hina again to write anything new. It's funnier than the truth.

I am through with optical media. Well, not exactly. However, I am ripping all my DVDs and CDs to hard drives. I'm not even taking the time to re-encode them or cut unwanted language tracks; I'm copying exact ISOs. The reason is because while storage space for optical media continues to improve, reductions to spin-up and seek times remain marginal at best. You're crazy if you think I want to manually load discs and then wait for the optical drive to reach a playable state.

I had the idea to construct a DVD TiVO years ago, but it wasn't cost effective at the time. I'm still doing this manually, but I know others have had the same idea and written various scripts to automate much of the procedure. I don't know if anyone has created a fully-automated file server/media center to do this yet, but he's surely a thousandaire for his efforts.

Of course, I'm still at square one with regard to Blu-ray, though. Damn you optical media! Play more faster!

Ice.

Snacks.

Beer.

The best ass shot in history.

Ice, snacks, and beer. Does anyone really need anything else? Actually, I could probably get by without the ice, but I'm sure Misato has a good reason for keeping it around. I won't question her methods.

See also ENOZ.

Ah, nuts. So it's not the inverter. I hope replacing the CCFL is easier than it looks. On the other hand, fixing my busted minidisc player was a cinch. Yes, I said minidisc. I'll let you in on a secret: I like using minidisc because Sony's SonicStage software is a colossal piece of garbage and it makes listening to music an incredible pain in the ass. These arduous conditions will enhance your enjoyment of the music because you'll appreciate all the God damn work necessary to get there from here. It's sort of the same deal as with vinyl except on ephemeral media and without the benefit of high fidelity audio. Word.

[Update: IT'S A SONY.]

13:02:27< Evirus> I'm almost out of Haagen Dazs.
13:02:29< rq> strawberry?
13:02:29< Evirus> Yes.
13:02:29< rq> i had some coffee haagen dazs
13:02:29< rq> pretty good
13:02:29< Evirus> Speaking of which, I think I'm going to pioneer the next great blogging advancement: Previews for the upcoming blog entry. There will be more service-service, too.
13:02:31< rq> that doesn't sound that great

Misato takes a bath.

I have begun augmenting my showers with a bath component. It's not the first time I've tried emulating the Katsuragi lifestyle.