It was like a cartoon was taking place in front of my halted car as I yielded to two octogenarian gentlemen with canes crossing comically slowly from the parking lot to the “Nifty After Fifty” fitness center.

Note to self: FIRST drink the Emergen-C, THEN eat the chocolate chip cookie. It’s not nearly as pleasant the other way around. Whoops.

Last week I downloaded the Yelp and Path apps on my phone, which let you “check in” to places much like the Foursquare and Facebook apps that I already use. It’s overwhelming. I think I need to delete them. I really ought to spend less time “checking in” with my phone, and more time “checking out” the actual real-life places I visit.

I mostly started over with holiday decorations for this year. The sleigh, miniature pine trees, and antique green coffee pot (which is my favorite) all came from Antique Station in Old Towne Orange. Outside I’ve got a classic wooden Santa and giant multi-color Christmas lights. I’m tired of plain white lights, and I think multi-color will make a big comeback this year or next.

I decided to move my office from the upstairs loft to the downstairs guest room. (I call it a “guest room” instead of a “bedroom” because it doesn’t have a very useful closet.) So for the past week or so, I’ve been working downstairs instead of upstairs, and I love it.

I’m getting tons of natural light during the day because it’s the only room in the house with a multi-window southern exposure. It’s next to the kitchen, which is terrific for snacking. It’s near the front door, so I can see when someone’s coming to deliver a package. It’s where Ilse’s food bowl is located, so she actually eats her food during the day while she’s hanging out with me (instead of waiting till midnight when all hopes of getting people food are dashed). Since it has a low ceiling instead of a vaulted ceiling, it stays warm in the winter, and since it’s on the ground floor, it stays cool in the summer.

Imagine having a party with the ten people randomly listed on your Facebook profile page. Would it even be possible? Are they in the same state? Do they know each other?

Mine right now are David G., Carrie, Courtney, Chelsey, Bequi, Lindsey, Kimberly, Casey, Michael C., and Ali. Bequi only knows Lindsey, Ali, and maybe Carrie. Casey and Courney are the only couple. Chelsey and David would have to fly here from New York. I’ve known Carrie the longest, and I suspect she knows more of the others than anyone else.

I refreshed my profile page, and the same ten people showed up, but in a different order. How the heck does Facebook calculate whom to show?

Normally I wouldn’t break the grammar rules by alternating between spelled-out numbers (“two”) and numerals (“2″) in the same title, but these are the actual trademarks, so I have no choice.

I upgraded my smartphone. Literally upgraded, because I simply went from the HTC Droid Incredible to the HTC Droid Incredible 2. I loved my Incredible, but I decided it was imprudent to delay upgrading, especially considering that I could get the newer version of the same phone for only a penny. The Incredible 2 added a larger screen, front-facing camera, newer versions of Android and HTC Sense, and far superior battery life.

Oh, and the coolest part, even if I never use it? It’s a global phone, so it can roam anywhere in the world. I can even unlock the SIM card and use it on AT&T or T-Mobile here in the USA, although I have no idea why I’d want to do that.

A stranger on a park bench in Union Square just asked me, “Is it fixed?”

I’d like to give him an answer to ease his mind, but it depends what he means. If he’s asking about something that’s broken, then the correct answer is “yes.” On the other hand, if he’s asking about fate, or an election, then the comforting answer is “no.”

I’ll just ignore him, obviously.

I’ve been using a few Apple products lately, and I’m annoyed by the same basic problem in both the iPod Touch and the Apple Cinema Display monitor: Oversimplification of buttons for the purpose of clean design.

I get it, Apple. You think it’s cool to only have one button on the iPod Touch. Here’s the problem with that: It takes a bunch of extra clicks, not to mention a whole lot of counter-intuitiveness, to accomplish tasks that are simple and straightforward on an Android device. Not having a menu button is just like not having a right-click feature on a mouse; it makes tasks more complicated instead of simpler.

Yesterday I started using an Apple Cinema Display monitor in the office, and I’d never used one before. It’s a very sleek-looking monitor, and it has touch-sensitive brightness and power buttons on the right edge of the screen. However, I have a tendency to reach out and physically tilt the monitor up or down while I’m working. Sure enough, every time I do, I’m inadvertently adjusting the brightness or shutting off the monitor.

Good design doesn’t just mean that something is pleasing to the eye; it means that it’s actually well thought-out. There are plenty of things Apple does well, but they need a lot of help with buttons.

Am I the only one who hates automatic drop-down navigation menus? You know, the kind where as soon as your mouse moves across the top bar of the web site, a bunch of links appear below it? I hate them because nine times out of ten, I’m not interested in navigating anywhere, I’m just moving my mouse from the browser’s address bar down to something on the page. But as soon as my cursor moves past the navigation bar, a bunch of crap shows up and blocks my view of the actual content of the page, which is what I actually want to look at. I actually prefer if I have to click on a menu to make it drop down. I’m not such an invalid that I can’t click my mouse button.

Today’s pet peeve was brought to you by paypal.com, verizonwireless.com, and a whole host of others.