a matter of perspective

so i went over to regent’s street this rainy day. it’s apparently one of those big shopping/fashion type things. like the meaningless mile in chicago. i was, of course, there to find the important stuff.

i actually missed this the first time i walked by. there was a double decker bus blocking it, common problem. i could only see the top of the arched windows and was thinking it was a nice looking building. other than the outside, if you’ve seen one apple store, you’ve seen them all. they did have the new mac book pros in stock. they’re a nice size. i need to find out for sure what the wifi status with linux will be.

this is niketown with the nikefootball window displays. there’s actually didn’t really seem like that much stuff in the store. more escalators and walkways than anything else. also, you can just sort of make out the crazy woman with a megaphone, to the right just below the stop sign (ironic?). you guessed it, she’s preaching and being completely ignored. it was a lot of anti-consumerism type stuff. not that people shouldn’t be a little less greedy, but when the catholic church gives up all there gold we can all start thinking about listening.

on a lighter note, i think i have a ruptured ear drum from the flight. i read some stuff from the mayo clinic on it (including that you can get it from flying). lots of pressure and pain from fluid buildup in the middle ear, then pain relief and possible drainage (pus, blood, etc. like the thing from the other day) and hearing loss. of course, the only part i missed was they said while it was hearing you should avoid getting water in your ear. oops. i guess directly spraying water in my ear in the shower to try and clear it out wasn’t such a good idea. they even suggest ear plugs for showers. the good news is that it should heal in a couple of weeks or less. there’s also no point in going to the doctor since they say there isn’t a real treatment other than some crazy stuff where there putting a patch on your ear drum or some kind of surgery. even the article seemed to be on the just wait it out side.

i suppose i need a “please speak up. i have a ruptured ear drum sign” to hang around my neck. i’ve actually often thought that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some sort of programmable sign people could wear that you could use in instances like these. maybe on a hat. for example, “i’m in a bad mood”, “i don’t have a sense of humor”, “yes, you are bothering me”, “of course you look stupid”, “no, that doesn’t make you look fat”,… maybe you could have several pre-programmed so you could switch between them at appropriate moments. great time saver for the modern age. no more repeating yourself.

one more thing. from the paper (and elsewhere i’m sure), glen johnson (defender for chelsea) forgot his passport when trying to get on the plane at gatwick to go to barcelona. he then couldn’t join the team because he couldn’t find it. shouldn’t that immediately get you fired?