THE STATE OF THE ART I will attempt to compose this entire bauble log without touching the keyboard in order to show you the state of the art of voice recognition. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FORGET ABOUT ART: THE STATE OF BOB I and doing pretty well except for the physical health environmental ( this I meant to say my mental health). I broke my arm in the middle of December.M But it' worked for the left five word or all befitK miffed date if mistakes. I spent the next 10 days typing with one hand to install a voice recognition software on mile wide export I mean on my lie next box I fed light I fed I said light at litf L I N U x. A terror by was trying to say return,. but her not but terror. The previously as you can see, it works beautifully for several word to the time, and Bill and editors stupid bowed. and this in the it enters stupid mode and does nothing right for several workers weren't for word and. The bu the next. I don't date think it's really any more efficient than typing with one hand; but for now it's at least a little more fun. I have learned that several of theu of vieww of view why go youyou actually reached the bottom bobble lolled actually read the babble of Rob and think about it. I received several responses to my query about their therapy. Initially, by mail was running about 3 to one for quitting therapy entirely. You all to took much more seriously than byi I my flippancy sentence about investing the money in video equipment.. I did get some very thoughtful pro therapy responses later in the month. This did not stop me from deciding for the third time to fire might therapist. However, by the time my right eye right death I write this in early January I may have been talked out of it for the third time.( By the way, the word' deaf deaf deft D E eight T H' that appears above with a 40 and so Freudi a year Freud I A N// flit/ slip -- dot by me, but fired but by the speech recognition injured in June in injured engine.) If you have any other disease, you can imagine keeping a good attitude about it. But it is impossible almost by definition to keep your spirits up when you're depressed. Although when my friend Peggy was suicidal 12 years ago, she was remarkably cheerful about it -- she used to compose potential suicide notes, such as this one for poison: "Drats! This was for rats! Gee! I thought it was for me!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ P U C C I in the eye AND ALL THAT the L.A. Opera performed law will be La B zero H E M E in December car and spent some time studying up on that. For a number of reasons, most of which are directly related to my laziness,f I was never able to attend a shell show. However I did become acquainted with the peakst peak peace. In this case, the operate over until the skinny lady cop supple Cox coughs up alonga Long loan of El you cang lung and die. I listened to the sea shifts these 50 CD several times before read the word. It turns out the librettist did not give good genie much to work with. Some of the most moving musical moment for were setting for rather Monday and were Monday in Monday and him you in D A and E him in a Moon Bay and m you in the eight in E perhaps (OK, I'm giving the experiment up -- after over a minute trying to spell "mundane", in my disgust I grabbed the keyboard, broken arm or no) mundane words. For example, you might hear a tenor declare "On Monday I do my laundry"; then soaring on wings of exaltation "I add detergent and bleach"; then so sad your heart will break, "And plug the quarters in"; then so sad the world will end, "And plug the quarters in". OK, that was hyperbole -- but it is true that one of the most arresting soprano solos turned out to be complaints about how much her shoes were hurting her feet. Bet they weren't walking shoes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OTHER STUFF THAT HAPPENED I make about $20,000 a year. In 1999, I used $10,000 for life -- rent, food, fun, IRA, giving to church; and I spent $10,000 on video equipment. I decided that was a bit excessive even if technically sustainable; so in 2000 by great effort I restrained myself to less than $5000 expenditure on video. I expected my bank account to balloon up, but that never materialized. I just did my year-end accounting to try to figure out where the missing $5000 got spent. The answer was kind of obvious in retrospect -- I had a girlfriend, and I had a therapist. There are two kinds of people, one of which have sat bare-bottomed on a machine and faxed their fannie to corporate. You can all guess which type I am. Though lately I've been wondering if I'm on the wrong side of this fence. QUOTE OF THE MONTH: "Hey, Tom, I'm at the airport and wanted your advice -- do you think it's OK to put my laptop through the X-Ray machine, with all that digital video on it? ... OK, you're the man." -- cell phone guy CURRENT READING: The Millionaire Next Door -- sociologists explain people with a high net worth are not those who make a lot of money but those who save a lot of money. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SPECIAL SNIPPET Faithful Bobologue reader Steve Caddel (and the most intensely- engaging conversationalist I know) sends along the following announcement: | In the interest of the free market, and in light of the FCC rules | governing fair and equal time, I am creating an alternative | e-newsletter called Steve's Digest. Unlike the Bobologue and Dave | White's LA Diary, this publication will be coming at you from | Colorado Springs, Colorado, the heartland of America. I intend to | deal with a variety of topics head on, no holds barred. My first | issue will include, snippets on the arts, politics, cooking, and an | outdoors section, where I discuss creative ways to use your left | over big game hides. Take a chance. Send you email address to | scaddel@aol.com and I will put you on the mailing list. I intend | to publish the 15th of every month, so get your somebody@someplace.com | to me right away, and you will receive the premier issue of Steve's | Digest.