Ok, my Dad just read me the first chapter of this - over the phone, on my way to work - and I almost took out five lanes of oncoming traffic because I couldn't see for laughing so hard. It simultaneously lampoons (1) license-crazed software companies, (2) electronics manufacturers who strive to link all our mundane household gadgets to the Internet (while closely monitoring our usage patterns and reporting back to the home planet), and (3) the techno-fetishists (you know who you are) who make it all possible: "Secrets of the Wholly Grill: A Comic Novel about Software, Barbecue, and Cravings." Charred on the outside, juicy in the center - vegetarians beware, you may have to convert.

Mac attack: yeah, this Windows/pc warrier just couldn't resist, If you're thinking about proceeding down this road to colorful, jelly-shaped blobs on your desktop, you'll need one or more of the following as well: David Pogue's guide to Mac OS X; David Pogue's guide to IMovie 2. And, if you're feeling particularly ambitious (not to mention unaffected by the holidays, the recession, and every other daily drain on your wherewithal), the Canon Elura 20MC (dv cam), the Nikon CoolPix 885 (digi cam) and the Canon S800 (printer) would make nice additions to your Valentine's wish list. All should work seamlessly with the new iMac and OS X, and have us boring our friends and neighbors with dull family footage sooner than you can say "burn it!" (Oh yeah, you'll need this too, to decorate all those cd's and dvd's you'll be throwing around like frisbees: The CD Stomper.)

Ok, corny or not, remember this: it's a better world already, and you're helping. Small proofs offer themselves up all the time if you bother to look. One such: bands like Sloan, which might never reach a U.S. audience but for folks cruisin' and reviewin' online. Cheap Trick meets brit pop, they groove.

Once. Long ago. Before the Halcyon days of guis, install wizards and pre-formatted diskettes. In the wee hours of the morning on which I was to submit my first take-home law school exam (Crim Law, Meir Dan-Cohen). After mainlining the then de rigeur Thursday night line-up: Cheers, Night Court, LA Law. Instead of formatting "drive a:," I formatted "drive c:" ... The happy ending? Somehow I reinstalled DOS, and a creaky old version of WordPerfect (5.0?), and wrote the exam - and aced the class. The sad footnote? The hard drive in question may - formerly - have contained a smattering of my budding author father's fledgling efforts. (I will certainly understand if you find yourself so moved by this anecdote that you feel you must buy Mel's book.)

Have spent more of the day than I care to admit wondering whether the new iMac should replace my recently deceased home pc...the thing looks smokin' and I'm not just talking about the outside (come to think of it, the same applies to my recently deceased home pc, for much different reasons). The whole photo/video package looks amazing, not to mention the iPod music extravaganza. Decisions, decisions. Also, just got the nod to do an article for the Daily Journal (CA's legal newspaper) to ponder the impact of electronic publishing tools like Web logs on the legal field. Law firms and courts are slow to register and adopt changes of this kind, but chinks in the armor are bound to occur. Stay tuned!