I’m going through close to 60,000 old emails (reaching as far back as 1995). Among them was an email receipt from 2001:

4/17/2001 5:13:44 PM

Dear Daniel Barassi:

Thank you for shopping at CDW.com. We have received your
order for the following items:

Qty Product CDW Part# Price
—- ——————————————- ———- ———

1 TDK CD-R 80 Media 100-pack 257285 42.25
================================

Sub-Total $42.25
Shipping $9.80
Sales Tax (0%) $0.00
Grand Total $52.05

Gasp! I forgot how damn expensive these things used to be.

12″ PowerBook G4 laptop is back at home (Thanks MelroseMac!).

Now, he has a playmate. Just in, a 15″ MacBook Pro (Thanks to one of my clients!).

Never let it be said that a man can have too many computers!

My friend Peter Facer covers a lot of red carpet premieres. On Friday, May 11th, 2007, I got a taste of his job.

At the request of Mr. Jonathan Kessler, I covered the red carpet at the 3rd Annual MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert. In doing so, I could get some quotes from Dave Gahan, for depeche mode dot com, and I wouldn’t have to work inside of the event.

Explanation: I always get people saying how cool it must be to take pictures and shoot video at Depeche Mode concerts. While you would naturally assume that, I never really get to see the actual shows. I am always worrying about getting the perfect shot, making sure the camera is in focus, the batteries are charged, et cetera.

I got to see the show - finally! A great show from Dave, even if it was only two songs (rehearsal video footage is on depechemode.com). The other highlight was, of course, the man of the night - Chris Cornell. Powerful vocals, yet he looked as if he was at a soundcheck (casual, relaxed, et cetera). Very impressive.

A few pictures from the event…of me and my assistant. Note the Hugo Boss. Yeah - I clean up well.

Man in work-mode

The Lovely Nora

The Lovely Nora, striking a pose

So…I suck.

In trying to stay healthy, I am trying to drink more water.

I was drinking water *near* my laptop (not “next to”). Thinking I was grabbing for a Coke Can (lack of sleep + bad memory = impending problem), I squeezed the water bottle way too hard, and created a liquid volcano on my desktop.

Splash.

After screaming, throwing inanimate objects, and drying out the laptop for a few days, I now have a horrible problem…

A close-up of the top right corner.

A close-up of the “usually empty” Mail activity window, now filled with scary video distortion.

Most of the screen.

If you are brave (18.9 meg of bravery required), you can view a scary 9 second QuickTime video of the horror, in action.

So - what is it? Dying motherboard? Dying video card? The digital ghosting crap pops on and off every few minutes. The flicker is insane. Interlaced hell! IT SUCKS!

Any ideas? Let me know!

May 8th update: Thanks to the fine folks at ifixit.com for their theory of the LCD being fried. After hooking up an external monitor, and seeing no flaws on the external monitor, while the laptop continued to produce the above results, it looks like I am out $400+. Lesson: Drink soda in cans instead of water in slippery bottles! Screw health!

May 16th update: The laptop is currently at Melrose Mac…under repair.