I can’t promise that your life will be any better if you don’t watch TV, but I think I can absolutely guarantee that it won’t be any worse than it is now. Its TV Turnoff Week kids.

An earlier debate here on aov (which happened mostly via email since it was pre-replies) was inconclusive about the shame of watching TV. Although it did indicate that TV Turnoff Week would be a lot harder for some than for others.

No matter how many times I upgrade a piece of software only to find that the latest version is no better, or is worse than the previous versions, I still feel the need to upgrade. Even if I’m perfectly happy with a piece of software I’ve been using successfully for a long time, as soon as a newer version comes out, I lose it. I can’t help but imagine all the bugs I’m living with now (whether I run into them or not) that have been fixed in a newer version.

The problem started at an early age. My parents had to upgrade my Packard Bell from 2MB to 6MB of RAM after I spent all of my savings ($99) on Central Point Software’s PC Tools only to find out it wouldn’t run on 2MB of ram. RAM cost $100/MB those days (I have a similar sob story about spending all my cash on a telescope that turned out to suck in grade four, but it doesn’t have anything to do with upgrade anxiety, so I’ll save it for a rainier day).

The problem began to affect my relationships and work as it worsened in the years that followed. It started with a two page spread screen shot of what was then called Chicago (eventually renamed Windows 95 for release) in Windows Magazine. I ogled those pages. I yearned for universal drag-n-drop, the task bar, to run my cursor over those chiselled 3D bevels. I paid $49.95 US for a copy of the Windows 95 beta preview version. It came on 35 3.5″ disks (seriously, I didn’t have a CDROM drive). My system and it’s now paltry 6MB of RAM absolutely crawled under its weight, but it didn’t matter. I had the latest.

Microsoft knows my kind. They pander to my addiction. Their Windows Update feature of my Windows 2000 Professional pops up a little icon in the corner of my screen every time an update of some kind becomes available. Even now, running Windows 2000 (and quite pleased with it), I am tortured by a co-worker who has secured a copy of Windows XP (the unfortunately monikered follow-up to Win2k).

I am a compulsive upgrader. Cost, quality, and reason are irrelevant to me when it comes to upgrades. This very article is stored in SQL Server 7 database when SQL Server 2000 has been out for months. I know very little about databases, and even less about the discrepancies between SQL versions, yet it kills me to run anything less than the absolute latest release (or even better, a beta of the next version).

I know I’m not alone. There must be other compulsive upgraders out there. Maybe it’s not software. Maybe it’s hardware, CDs, clothes. Share with me people.

There is a scene in The Great Outdoors where John Candy is waterskiing. Desperate to stop, he screams at the driver of the boat (Dan Aykroyd). “You bastard, You bastard!” Aykroyd thinks he’s saying “Go Faster, Go Faster!” and fun and folly ensue.

I had an eerily similar and equally frightening experience last night. Friends were helping me tow my sick Toyota to the mechanic. Needless to say, there were miscommunications.

If you claim to have seen a yellow ’78 Volvo wagon towing a sick Toyota by 10 feet of rope* at 70Km/h down North River Road, then I have no idea what you are talking about.

Whether you think the space race was the logical next step in exploration or a complete waste of resources, you have do give this guy some serious credit.

The 5k competition 2001 entries are up at the5k.org. Some of the entries are completely amazing (including a working chess game that will play against you and a beautiful dolphin).

My entry is put to shame by the general excellence of the other entries (at least the comments about my entry are not totally insulting like last year).

I’ve admonished the unquestioned march towards 3D on the web before and the debate has bubbled up elsewhere as well. Yes, there can be good uses of 3D on the web, just like there can be good uses of flash. And yes, there will be very few effective uses of 3D on the web, just like there are very few good uses of flash and other plugins (but still there are still some excellent ones).

Regardless, the inevitable 3D web software is coming. Explicitly outlining the usually thinly veiled conspiracy to drive people to buy faster processors, this quote from the News.com article on MacroMedia and Intel’s 3D software initiative sums it up well:

“The focus was to get someone to go out and upgrade to a Pentium 4,” Benoit said. “We wanted to create new and compelling content that wasn’t out there and that would cause people to make a decision to upgrade their processors.”

Let’s hope it goes the way of “push ” web technology.

He designed Blogger.com (which I recently praised) and he puts vanilla ice cream in his coffee (every day). Derek Powazek is working on a book about designing websites for community called (brilliantly) Design for Community: The art of connecting real people in virtual places.

There are percilations of potential community-type features right here on aov. Do you have anything interesting to say, all you readers of aov?

In the mean time, read the preface to Powazek’s book.

A tip of the hat to islandedition.com for the aov pleasantries.