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24 November 2001 
Rio Made Easy
I hate bad software. I hate it as strongly as perhaps only someone who designs software for a living can. If you have a Rio 300 or 500 MP3 player, you have experienced very bad software. That's right, it's the dreaded RioPort Audio Manager. No, it doesn't crash all over the place. What makes this software bad is its ability to turn everyday operations into head-scratching, hair-tearing exercises in frustration. It has the feel of software designed by committee, if saying it was designed at all isn't giving it too much credit. Since getting my Rio 500 over a year ago, I've learned to dread those times when I need to download new songs to it.
Well the other night, I was thrilled to discover RIOsitude. The name is the only thing that has me scratching my head with this software. It's a dream of simplicity. Drag the files you want to download to the Rio into the window. Everything works just like you'd expect it to. Bravo to its German author Josh Jersild! If you have a Rio 300 or 500, go download this program now. You'll save your hair and reduce your blood pressure.
Margaret Cho, Nay; GameCube, Yay!
Saw Margaret Cho at Roy Thomson Hall last night. It was quite a disappointment. I'd never seen her live before, but always found her funny when I'd caught her on something. And my friends Alan and Ivan (who I went with last night) had seen her on her last tour, I'm The One That I Want, and really liked it. The tenor of the evening was set by a completely unfunny opening act by a black drag queen. This lasted a mercifully short ten minutes or so. Then, a 20-minute intermission was announced. We were starting to laugh at the joke until we realized they were serious. Perhaps there were technical problems, but no apologies were made.
Once the show proper got underway it was merely OK. She was best when talking about her family (you've probably seen her do her mother — hilarious) and worst when discussing sex. The problem is, about 75% of the show was about sex — graphic, detailed descriptions of her sex life. Oh, and her bodily functions. I don't mean to say that it wasn't funny at times, but the intimate details were just a bit too intimate for me. She even joked that the gay men in the audience were probably plugging their ears and humming a Madonna tune to block out these parts. Well, she was very right about that, but the straight woman next to me didn't seem to be enjoying it any more than I was.
Oh well, on a better note, Buy Nothing Day was "celebrated" here with the arrival of my new jet black GameCube! Today I went out and, with much effort, managed to track down a copy of Super Monkey Ball. After a couple of hours with it, I can see much time disappearing over the next few weeks as I roll this stupid monkey around in his transparent ball (those Japanese game designers are weird!).