I walked to the store today.
Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005 - 20:38

I bought toilet paper that wasn't bleached with chlorine bleach.

We all have choices, and what we decide makes a difference, whether we're aware of it or not.

For example, when you put a CD into your computer to listen to some music, which program do you use? You have a choice, you know. Maybe you use Windows Media Player. If you do and you like it, that's fine. But maybe you use Windows Media Player just because that's what opens. Maybe you know that, and maybe you're fine with that, because maybe you don't care. But there are alternatives.

I'm not trying to be anti-Microsoft. I'm running Windows, and really, where would we be without Microsoft? But, when you include a browser with your operating system, when you make the default search engine your own search engine, when you make the default media player your own media player, and then you say you're number one, that most people choose your products, well. Obviously some people aren't choosing, they're just using what is chosen for them.

I don't think this jack-of-all-trades mega-corporation stuff is all that great. What's wrong with specialization?

You can download Winamp, you can download RealPlayer, you can download Firefox, you can search with Google. There are other alternatives as well. And hey, all those are free, wow.

Big corporations stop making sense. All they care about is making lots of money.

Fiona Apple made an album and now her record company won't release it because they don't think it will make them enough money. They took away your choice, they're making the decision for you. Whether you're a fan of hers or not, this is something that should at least annoy you. It annoys me enough to send them an apple next week. I don't know, maybe the album she made is crap, but wow, since when did big record companies care about that?

There are people behind the products we use, and maybe we aren't aware of them, but they're aware of us. They're watching us and some of them are rubbing their hands together saying, Yes my pretties, yes, keep on doing that, we will crush them, they will be crushed! And with every little company that goes away goes another option we had.

I am being cheesy, but damn it, how did Lindsay Lohan's album get released? Huh? And what the fuck's wrong with my chocolate mint?