Official 2009 Holiday Computer Program Buyer's Guide

Dec 19, 2009 in Tech

It’s coming down to crunch time if you’re celebrating Christmas. Nothing’s better for last-minute gifts than software — you can just download it, burn the installer to a CD, and slip that in the ol’ stocking. You don’t even need to leave the house and brave the parking garage (unless you need to go to Best Buy to grab some blank CDs, that is!). But the question is: what do you get the geek who has everything? Or, worse, what do you get the ordinary person who doesn’t care what they run on their computer? Well, everything below is cool in the way that getting things you do everyday done easier and quicker is cool. Read on…

There's No Place Like Homepage For The Holidays

Dec 13, 2009 in Otherwise Uncategorized

Two years ago I introduced the Juniorbird.com t-shirts; they’re back this year, the same classic designs on new, great shirt options, for your last-minute holiday shopping needs. That’s right, if you like the somewhat-snappy textual stylings you’ve seen here on Juniorbird.com, you can now carry them with you all day long, on your chest, where all one’s opinions and feelings should be worn. (It’s better than on your sleeve.) Read on…

Best Buy Experts' Christmas Gift To Me: Good Service!

Dec 12, 2009 in Reviews

You know what I don’t expect at Best Buy? Great customer service. You know what I just got at Best Buy? Really great customer service. Great like, they changed it from from “I’ll never buy a computer here again” bad situation to “I’ll always buy my computers here in the future.” Following in Auros’s footsteps, the Christmasy things to do seems to be to blog about it. Read on…

Official 2009 Holiday Photography Buyer's Guide

Dec 7, 2009 in Photos

Occasionally someone compliments my photography. Misguided though such a sentiment may be, there are a few specific items that I would recommend anyone interested in taking better shots buy. Since it’s the holiday season, why not help yourself to one of these?
Read on…

Two and a Half Clooneys

Dec 6, 2009 in Reviews

If you say “1980s movie character archetype,” maybe you come up with John Rambo, or Ferris Bueller, or Charlie Sheen in Wall Street — America kicking ass, America growing up, America getting rich — but the ultimate character archetype of the ’80s for me is someone with a lot less hair, a lot more coiled rage, a lot more cool. Let’s face it, the ’80s were all about Louis Gossett Jr. And the ’90s, for every Brad Pitt or tight-lipped Robert Pattinson, there’s the standard: all the cool, none of the rage, it’s George Clooney. Read on…

Official 2009 Holiday Kitchen Buyer's Guide

Dec 3, 2009 in Food, Otherwise Uncategorized

I like to cook. You may have read. Any chef loves their gadgets, and, being a geek, I do so more than most. While I do tend to think that the solution to almost any problem is technology, I don’t like to keep things around that don’t really, really work. Since it’s the holiday season, and that means getting stuff for both of the major world religions of which I am a member, here are a few such gadgets I suggest you put on your wish list this year. For your online shopping convenience, I’ve included links to buy all these goodies at Amazon, which incidentally gives a smidge of the price of your purchase to me, at no cost to you. I’ve also tried to pick reasonably-priced entry-level options, for particular holiday season. Read on…