Stuff (by the ton)

As in, "Our stuff."  The rest of it, which we retrieved from North Carolina over Thanksgiving with a U-Haul trailer.  We didn't think we'd actually be managing the trailer, because the Class 2 trailer hitch I ordered for the Intrepid was scheduled to arrive Friday, but in the event it showed up on Wednesday (the day we were planning to leave).  I found the manufacturer's claim of 45 minutes to 1 hour installation time to be optimistic, not least because the tailpipe gets in the way, and if you move the tailpipe you'll probably never get it back in place again after installing the hitch.  Installation actually took about two hours, including hammering out the back side of the spare tire well (damaged in a rear-end collision; the body shop didn't bother to repair it) and drilling two access holes.  (Clever weasel words: "Bolts entirely to pre-existing mounting holes".  They neglect to mention the need to cut two 1.5" holes in the trunk well to gain access to two of those holes, and do not supply rubber or metal hole plugs for said 1.5" holes.)  The hitch worked fine, although I'm convinced the retaining pin hole in the drawbar was drilled in the wrong place, and intend to have a machine shop re-drill it in the correct spot so the drawbar can actually go all the way into the receiver.  I'm not happy with how much the end of the drawbar sags under load because it's only inserted about 3" into the receiver instead of the 8" there's room for.)

Loot brought back includes the two inert 106mm recoilless-rifle rounds that have traditionally flanked our fireplace, a forgotten painting, several boxes of toys, several boxes of tools, several boxes of reloading supplies, the Gorilla racks, the missing bookcase, the black desk, the Shop-Vac, the steam vac, my sadlery tools in their Viking longbox, two large boxes of antique Japanese kimono, my furry winter hat, my trolley jack and axle stands, several large dry-food barrels (two of them still full of Basmati rice and elbow macaroni), and the center leaf for the dining-room table.

Still missing:  One of cymrullewes' sewing machines, the cover from the other (which was on it when first retrieved from where the out-laws had stored it), and our decorative cast-metal knnnnnnnnnnnnnniggits.  (I found their lances, but don't think the lances actually made it into the truck.  The knights themselves were nowhere to be found.)  Things that will never be seen again include our nice, stable christmas-tree stand that got run over with a tractor mower.  (Update:  cymrullewes reminds me that also on the missing list were our cast-iron griddle, our deep-frying oil jar, and my Singer sewing machine, making 2 out of 3 sewing machines "missing without explanation".  If memory serves, the one that could be found is the one that's broken.)

We didn't make it home until almost 2130E last night, much of the delay being bumper-to-bumper traffic on the northern end of the Garden State Parkway and on I-84 through much of Connecticut.  Surprisingly, we actually got the entire trailer unloaded by about 2315E.  (Most of the stuff from the trailer is staged in the garage for now, but that's OK.  Most of it needs cleaning anyway.)

We also retrieved our small safe, which was given to us sans combination.  We have no idea what's in it.  I foresee a safecracking invitational challenge in our future.

Humor

Contrived to amuse small people on the 800-mile trip home:

Q:  What do you get when you cross a pony, a cat and a garden gnome?

( A: )

Q:  What do you get when you turn a billy-goat loose in a bakery?

( A: )

Q:  What do you get when you cross a herd of sheep with a herd of wildebeest?

( A: )

Q:  What do you get when you cross a river with a pogo stick?

( A: )

What the iPhone should or shouldn't do

There have for some time been rumors that Apple would sooner or later bring out a smart mobile phone of their own.  The arrival of said phone is now reportedly imminent.

This columnist has his own ideas of how Apple should make its phone stand out from the pack, principally by making your phone a portal to your Mac and giving your Mac the ability to stream music to your phone via iTunes.

Personally, I think he's out of his mind.  Not only would Apple's iPhone then be competing against its own iPod, but the cellular carriers would be laughing all the way to the bank.  Instead of selling service plans with a thousand minutes of airtime a month, they'd be looking at selling plans with a thousand minutes per day.  The lowest-airtime plans that you could buy would probably jump from 700 minutes a month to several thousand.  For those of us who rarely use a hundred minutes a month, that'd really suck.

w00000t

Via radarrider:

"[The Hobbit] will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson.  The question is only when.  He wants to shoot another movie first.  Next year the Hobbit-rights will fall back to my company.  I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us.  And he is fed up with the studios: to get his profit share on the rings trilogy he had to sue New Line.  With us in contrast he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation."