I finally can get out of here — they’ve finished destroying the street for the day — so I’m leaving for a bit.

Before I go, I’d just like to say that I’m half-watching a show on Nostradamus. Does anyone really take this stuff seriously?

I’m thinking of having that German phrase — translation, “Every angel is terrifying,” from Rilke’s first Duino Elegy — tattooed on my back. Thinking of using the original German because the English gets translated a couple of different ways and having the actual words that Rilke wrote seems more fitting.

Too weird? The Elegies are my favorite works of poetry, and the opening sequence where these words appear shakes me to my bones every time. But it feels a little strange (although I do have a Spanish word tattooed on my left shoulder). Any thoughts? Not that it will likely change my mind when I finally make it up to do it or not, but I’m curious.

They are back to tearing up our street after a two week layoff…hence the doorbell at 6AM to ask if I owned any of the cars on the street.

No, but thanks for asking.

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Staring at some tech news site this AM, I see a headline that startles me: “11 Cool New Apes For The iPhone.”

Needless to say, it was actually “Apps.” But I like the first one better. Imagine, for instance, the iGibbon.

Now, that would be cool.

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Speaking of the iPhone…a few years ago, I got rid of the Blackberry I had for work pretty quickly, as even then I was becoming disenchanted with the idea of constant, permanent connection to the electronic ether. I’m even more disenchanted with it now, so I don’t think I’ll be picking one of these up anytime soon, no matter how cool it might be.

In general, I like having discrete items for discrete purposes. I like having a cell phone that is a cell phone and does nothing but cell phone stuff. I like using my Palm Pilot for PDA stuff, and my laptop for laptop stuff.

I especially like the idea of turning any and all of them off and ignoring them a lot of the time. I don’t know when we all started thinking that we all have a duty to be instantly available and totally connected to everyone and everything all the time, but I think it’s bad for us — especially as the majority of these devices now come with trackable GPS features. I don’t want people — especially governmental agencies — to be able to find me at all times, and anything I can do to stymie that, I do. I know it’s mostly futile, but I do it anyway on principle.

Not to mention that there’s an inherent narcissism in a lot of the culture that has grown up around it…like Twitter, which really ought to be called “Lookitme! Lookitme! Lookitme!!!” I tried it, decided it was silly, and haven’t tried it again. Most of what I think during the day seems pretty pointless anyway; why keep track of it?

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This has been your morning grouch…tune back in later for more. For now, I’m out.