Dear Microsoft: Why do you make me suffer?

Dear Microsoft:

I must wonder, with your vast financial and intellectual resourcs, why your products increasingly fail to live up to my humble expectations.

Why do you FORCE me to use your inferior browser, also known as IE, to download templates for your Office applications, for which I have already paid? Would my using another browser that is a free download not made by Microsoft, such as Firefox, really threaten your global empire to any extent to warrant such prohibition?

When I am using the browser you have imposed upon me, why does said browser unexpectedly quit at regular intervals?

Why must I receieve the same error message every 5 minutes when your browser suddenly closes?

Why must I repeatedly be prompted to “tell Microsoft about this problem” when I have declined to do so only 5 minutes ago?

Why must your commercials for the Zune make me feel as if I’ve taken an acid trip?

Here I am, a loyalist to the PC cause, getting ready to start reaching for the “M” word. Dear Bill Gates, if you are out there somewhere listening to this, PLEASE– do something. I can’t afford a Mac.

Cool Stuff, Part I

I haven’t written in a while, and I must apologize to any of you who actually read this and may feel neglected…So I’m sorry. And now, for a special treat for you and to show you just how sorry I really am, I offer: Things That are Wickedly Cool in the World of Liz and Beyond:

1. iRobot’s Roomba Discovery robotic vacuum receives the honor of the number-one coolest thing on my blog because it has not only earned it, but it deserves it. After receiving our very own Roomba as a wedding gift, we affectionately named him Gauis (From the Latin: “I am Glad”; Also a tip of the hat to Battlestar Gallactica) and consider him so much more than a vacuum. Since I firmly believe animals find their proper place in the wild (don’t worry, I will post on this in the future), Gauis has become the perfect pet substitute. Instead of creating messes, he cleans them with amazing efficiency. I have not once vacuumed my home myself since Gauis’ arrival, and I tell you that you would have floor envy if you were to see my carpet.

2. Cheap. Fast. Good! cookbook. I find that I have a love-hate relationship with cooking. And as some of you know, it has not always been my forte. (Note to Matthew: Comment on that statement and your next meal at my house will be one to remember. And not in a good way.) This cookbook is for everyday, a reliable source of easy, fast, tasty meals. Thanks so much to my mom-in-law for buying this for us. What a lifesaver!

3. The Nintendo Wii. OK, coolest game console ever. Major props to Nintendo for focusing on fun and for introducing a system that familes–even parents–can play together. Also, thanks for getting us off our butts with Wii Sports.

4. The crockpot, my sweet automated dinner machine. It goes something like this: take food. Chop it up (sometimes). Put food in pot. Turn pot on. Come home from work. Eat delicious food. If a roast and potatoes, seafood jambalay, or homemade minestrone soup sound nice to come home to, go buy this rockin’ pot right now.

5. Man Vs. Wild and host Bear Grylls. The captivating aspect of this show is the fact that Bear does and conquers all that the rest of us secretly wish we could do, but can’t (or don’t do because of constraints from our jobs, lack of training, lack of guts, and so on.) This show is for those of you who have ever sat at your desk looking out the window and wistfully imagined that you were, say, trekking through the Himalayas with nothing but the clothes on your back and a few rudimentary tools, only to prove to yourself that you really do have deep down inside of you both the will and resourcefulness to survive–even if it takes eating termites to do it. Another cool part of this show is that the destinations Bear goes to are destinations where tourists are likely to do. So Bear teaches you what to do in those situations to get out alive. PLUS, he makes his own way back to civilization. Amazingly, Bear seems like a down-to-earth guy who you could probably sit back and have a beer with and enjoy a good conversation. Anyone who can survive the things Bear does (“with only a flint, a water bottle, and a knife”) and still humbly admit to Oprah that he “peed his trousers” when he came face to face with a shark definitely deserves a place on the World of Liz list of cool stuff.

6.FOX’s HouseMD. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a drama of this quality on TV. The character development of Dr. Gregory House is as sophistocated as you would find in a well-written novel. The creator and writers deserve credit for carefully and slowly revealing the pieces that make up the character of House while consistently maintaing enough mystery to keep people interested–and just enough to keep them second-guessing themselves whenever they think they have him figured out. The medical aspect of the show is both interesting and entertaining, but it serves foremost as a device for exploring characters, themes, and ideas. Some of these themes include the existence of God, faith, doing right versus right motives, truth, trust, and of course, pain and addiction. The show usually does a great job of showing different positions on an issue. It really gets you thinking, and encourages you to focus on why you believe what you believe. I’ll probably post more on this show, because there really is much to draw out of it.

More cool stuff coming soon.