I’ll smile about this later

Some tortures are physical and some are mental, but the one that is both Is dental.

Ogden Nash

Returned to the dentist for their game plan to correct a failed root canal, disintegrating fillings and caps and a crooked tooth that’s plagued me since childhood. I was prepared for the worst along with a large price estimate. I had no real expectations but it’s not an insignificant chunk of change. In fact, it’s a lot.

Admission: I had the Apple Vision Pro in my trunk as the Apple Store is near the dentist. After seeing the estimate, that sealed the deal to return it. (Which then turned into a comic session where I had to put on the headset to deactivate and erase content in the parking lot.)

I’m going to miss it, but it’s for the best.

Cleaning to sleep

Today revolved around a computer and lengthy rendering times where I could break away and do something else while the machine processed animations in After Effects. Sure, I could’ve opened a new tab to surf or do other work, but I see these as disruptions of computing resources to the task at hand and a great excuse to get up.

So I cleaned in concentrated chunks throughout the day — we’re talking sheets, bathroom rugs, toilets, vacuuming under the couch cushions — DEEP CLEANING. And once I delivered a rendered video I put on records to avoid screens and keep the spree going.

Side note: I’d slept poorly the previous nights and this a ploy to inspire a restful evening.

The scheme worked and I slept soundly.

Reba McEntire, centaur

Above? A plant in the nice light of morning. Below? An image of Reba McEntire from the Super Bowl as a centaur. (I had to look it up, I thought she was a minotaur.)

I’ve exhausted my search capabilities and can’t attribute the source but shall continue to look. It’s this type of real-time data I would expect Google of yore to provide — but we are beyond yore and existing in the in-between.

Regardless, I shall keep looking for the author and appreciate this image. I hope that Reba enjoys it too because it’s awesome. And so is Reba.

Unrelated, if you haven’t heard Girl in Red, check out today’s soundtrack. The video on Youtube pairs well!

Reba McIntire, centaur of Superbowl

Super Bowl LVIII

Watched a football game for the commercials, halftime show and glimpses of Taylor Swift and the telecast did not disappoint!

The commercials, halftime show and famous folks turned out to be the least interesting parts as the game got increasingly good.

I was low key rooting for the 49ers but happy when it ended — It’s hard to extend enthusiasm through overtime when you’ve no skin in the game.

During all of this I was making chili and took a photo of an OXO Ground Meat Chopper I got for my birthday, but it’s not pretty and I would fathom the image would look like chumbox advertising… You know those ads on every site that show pimple popping, cars that don’t exist and all sorts of unsavory images? Not pleasing.

A blurry photo of a television is better.

Looking for a rug

I was reading a thread of photographers asking how to stay motivated when it’s dreary outside. My solution is to capture things of negligible interest, like this Jaguar S-Type that was produced sometime between 1999–2007.

It was parked outside the store that sells stuff to put in and around one’s house, like mirrors of various sizes and shapes, American flags made of wood, or signs to hang up by the toilet that say “hello sweet cheeks.”

I was looking for a rug and left dismayed.

Earlier a canvasser knocked on our door and I apologized for my outfit while sharing voting priorities. They kept their distance and after seeing myself in the mirror shortly afterward, I understand why — but it was a Saturday morning and I did apologize for my mixed prints at the outset, so I feel like I did my duty.

A tiny bit of Cleveland

We had to skip out and drive back to Cincinnati and squeeze in some work, but we spent a few hours to explore a few bits of Cleveland this morning. I’ve only been here briefly for a conference in 2011, but I liked cut of this city’s jib then and still do now. Being on the lake makes the place literally and figuratively and cooler.

I’d like to spend a good chunk of time here to explore the different locales properly.

First stop was the Cleveland Arcade (above), built in 1890 it is essentially one of the first indoor shopping malls. Thankfully protected as a National Historic Landmark, it’s now under the purview of Hyatt. Hopefully they can bring some life to the space — it’s struggling, like all malls.

Next up we popped into the Heinen’s grocery downtown in a classic Cleveland Trust building, with the rotunda fully and gloriously restored. (360° view)

Headed from downtown past the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame over to Edgewater Park which was a short drive away.

Madonna, The Celebration Tour

Madonna’s last decade or so has been a little strange. She does and says kooky things and her music output is wanting — but she pulled off one heck of a greatest hits tour.

I’ve always wanted to see her in concert — total bucket list show, whacky things aside. The closest she’d perform for this Celebration Tour was up in Cleveland so I picked up tickets last January as a gift to go with my brother.

Right before the tour was to begin last June she was rushed to a hospital after a scary episode that turned out to be a serious bacterial infection.

She rebounded (thank goodness!) and rescheduled.

And what a show it was. She sounded great (on the songs she sang, favoring pre-recorded tracks for a few dance heavy numbers), looked fantastic and the setlist was a solid retrospective of her career.

Divided in seven acts, each had unique staging with a mix of physical set pieces, projection screens and lots of choreography.

Silly bits were kept to a minimum, and aside from the late start and bass heavy mix, it was a delightful affair!

Got up early to see a new dentist

I was doing really well at my last dentist — we had a plan and were moving forward to tackle all the things, of which I had many! Then getting appointments became harder and finally impossible. I guess the team just sort of quiet quit.

Found a new practice and had an initial consult today that included x-rays, photos, gum measuring and general examination. Our next appointment will reveal a gameplan with options.

The Apple Vision Pro is amazing. For one hour.

A 30 minute demo of the Apple Vision Pro in the store is the perfect amuse-bouche to whet the appetite. It’s the greatest hits of oooos and ahhhhs that leaves you wanting more — enough to make bad decisions with a credit card.

But once you get home and dig deep, it becomes apparent that this is an amazing product with limited use cases.

THE GOOD

Yes, it is absolutely wonderful for photos and videos — particularly panoramas and immersive movies. The speakers are fantastically nice without covering your ears. You can get to inbox zero in a whole new way! (Actually kind of fun.) The operating system is gorgeous and I’d like this design language to flow back to desktop!

THE MEH

Safari has a wonky viewport and renders webpages at a large scale. It’s not terribly comfortable after extended use. Window management is annoying and states aren’t currently persistent between sessions. Gestures are wanting — too much pinching and dragging when I’d rather point and flick…

The last worst thing? It’s impossible to share this thing with others — worse than an iPad without multiple user accounts. A guest can only access after your retina unlocks it. My first Oculus Quest was built for sharing, which I did, A LOT.

Aside from looking at photos and videos, I can’t think of a darn thing else to do with this thing as it stands.

I’m certainly not surprising friends with video calls again soon, though it inspired lots of chuckles. Also? My eyes are up here!

Don’t get me wrong, it’ll get oodles better with refinement and more software. On that note, maybe you’ll run a bunch of apps through Safari in the meantime? Good luck! You get one Safari window with tabs, not multiple instances. Apparently this is possible but I couldn’t figure it out!

Again, I realize this is 1.0 — but I don’t think having Slack in a separate window is going to get me excited for the possibilities.

I tried tried pairing it with a computer and keyboard to see what that’s all about and it never worked after many restarts and work-arounds. I think I know where I’d land with that anyway… My greatest productivity hack is having a single monitor and keeping my desktop(s) clean (IRL and virtual).

I have the deadline to return this thing noted on the calendar. I’m leaning bye for now and yay for the possibilities.

If I was a developer I might keep it, but for me? I’d rather save money, watch movies on a television and have a rig that plays Beat Saber with controllers.

Here’s what I REALLY want out of spatial computing and I can’t believe I’m saying this… I want a dongle. Give me a little thing to track eyes, hands and voice to let me swipe, gesture and blather about what I want to happen on a screen at my desk or couch.

Heck, maybe what I really want is gestural computing.

Anyway the Apple Vision Pro is really neat, and I don’t need one right now. I’ll totally loop back on this one.

Speaking of loops, if Apple ever made a jumper/sweater/hoodie/coat with the magic of that solo knit band, I’d preorder it pronto — it felt so good.

UPDATE 4/15: I returned the Vision Pro without hassle. This is the first Apple device I think I’ve ever taken back. I felt super bad about it but then made a mental calculation of the many products bought and kept. Apple will be fine.

Apple Vision Pro demo

Once I learned you can schedule a demo of the Apple Vision Pro, I signed up immediately. Why yes I would like to experience this headset with a new spatial version of Apple’s operating system — I love interfaces and interactivity and technology.

I went on a Monday afternoon and the mall was pleasantly empty (a rare thing).

Sat at a table in the Apple Store and did a face scan to determine visor size and turned over my glasses for a read on my prescription. A demo unit configured for me arrived in a few minutes. My guide Kolby asked how familiar I was with the device and I was like, lots—in a theoretical sense. In a few minutes I was looking at all the people in the Apple Store through a screen and learning how to look and pinch and swipe.

We went through the motions — here’s a photo… here’s a panorama (Whoa!)… here’s a 3-D photo (Ooooooo!) and here’s a “spacial” video (Oh my!)!

At one point we addressed the dial that could turn down reality and said I’d prefer to stay grounded. Pretty sure my heart rate was spiking from all this new fangled stuff.

Once we got to the immersive video bits in the finale I had to hold on to my seat. It was a bit much and I say that with all manner of delight.

What followed was a debriefing and very smooth sales pitch.

I got misty eyed at least three times during the 2024 Grammys

The first tears formed when the camera panned up to reveal Tracy Chapman during the performance of Fast Car. I was so moved I almost Tweeted, which is saying a lot. (video)

Also verklempt when Annie Lennox joined Wendy and Lisa covering NOTHING COMPARES 2 U in a tribute to Sinead O’Connor. (video)

And again when Celine made an appearance to present an award at the end. She’d been out of the public eye for so long, it was simply nice to see her.

Back to Tracy Chapman, that song resonates so much to this day, as does her entire debut album. There’s been lots of pixels spilled on the matter… (Kottke collects a few links and thread, a NY Times piece, countless social media posts.) I hope the tides of thought continue to rise.