this & that

did i mention that we're trying to simplify? yeah, well here's my query: is it simpler to have one pair of mittens to keep up with or is it simpler to have a pair for each jacket, a mitten in every pocket, and never have to keep up with them at all? having fewer possessions is inherently simpler, but does having fewer make life more complex, adding a layer of tension - "where are my mittens?" - that having more possessions would mitigate?

i saw a commercial today for cisco umi telepresence. what is umi? it's a television-based video calling system which i presciently predicted here. okay so umi was around when i posted that post, but still & all, had YOU heard of it? well? had you? the only difference between umi and what i was describing is that umi is one-to-one. i am fairly certain "umi" is "you and me". GET IT??

because the house is still under assault from the painters, we unplugged the wifi and uverse to stash all the equipment away from the dust and so we have spent the evening in a bit of refugee status, drifting around town with our internet access devices, searching for free wifi. we landed at casa des inlaws where there's wifi, hidef, and keurig. in case you don't know, a keurig is a single-cup drip coffee maker that is like a toy and a coffee maker. you just turn in on and pop in a pod and press a button and out comes coffee. and, not just coffee - there's hot cocoa, tea, and coffee, and you can also do iced tea by putting a glass of ice under the dispenser with a pod of tea. it's great for the inlaws who have like a cup a day. it wouldn't really work for us as we drink coffee by the pot, and at 50¢/pod, the cost runs up pretty quickly. but it's a fun toy.