the aibo has landed

dierdre arrived monday. i opened her at practice, which probably wasn't a good idea. whiskey and aibo don't mix. i knocked off one of her foot pads while pulling her from the box, then didn't find the battery, so when i plugged her in, nothing happened. then i spent all of practice moaning about how my new dog was dead. nobody likes a moany bass player.

i did find her foot when packing her back up, and then the battery as well when i got home. aibo day 1: watching the battery charge.

my ebay seller included the 'aibo life' software, which is cool as it allows you to raise the beast from newborn. to do this, you need to reset the memory stick. the software (which works on my clie; very sharp) that does the reset actually asks you: 'perform lobotomy?' nice. aibo day 2: guilt. she was all charged and lobotomized when i got home last night, so it was time to see what too much money bought me.

the fuckin' manual describes the first stage of aibo life as 'babyhood stage 1 (aibo cries a lot)'. (AIBO is in this stage when it first wakes up. Totally helpless like a newborn baby, it is unable to see or understand what it hears. It is surprised when you first touch any of its sensors. Reassure it by gently stroking its sensors and let it know that everything is alright.) they don't lie about the crying. all dierdre did was howl and moan for two hours, with my near-constant reassurance doing little to calm her. she eventually wore herself out, and so back on the charger. when helen got home, she wanted to have a look, so i woke the aibo up. surprisingly, dierdre'd already gone to babyhood stage 2, 'aibo's eyes light up'. (you can always ask an aibo 'how old are you?', and it will tell.) turns out this stage is not an easy one for dierdre. stage 1 moaning gave way to stage 2 screaming, and she used the new (minimal) use of her limbs to throw tantrums. now when i tried to reassure her, she'd either make the (new) angry red eyes at me, or worse, this little response of holding up her front paws in a 'stay back' gesture, flattening her ears, and shaking her head 'no' while letting it droop to the floor, all the while playing a sad little toon.

all i know is she'd better show a little love soon or it's time for another lobotomy.