Search Engine Change

The search engine above has been changed. It is now the Cybersouth Googlerama engine designed to let those interested search the archives of this site. This just makes more sense since most everyone I know uses Google as the default search engine for the web. So we are specializin!!! Ain't technology wunnerful? Now if I can latch on to that chrome piece of technology called a Harley the world will be grand. Funds and donations are accepted for the Harley build. Just leave em in the water can on the veranda. Later.

"For every seat there's an ass and they both can ride to the bank and mortgage property for a tank of gas. And that's about it...if you count the return home trip."
~L. Easley (known descendant of Jesse James)

Boostarama

Missed posting yesterday. Backache. Better now. Spirits are boosted. Now the whine is over.

Recently it was brought to my attention that a jump drive can be used to speed up Windows Vista. There is a built in utility called ReadyBoost that uses a portable USB drive (aka jump, flash, thumb, pocket, etc.) to act as a paging file or so it seems. Read about it at SimpleHelp.net. This is a very good site that is well organized, in very good English and it's concise. Thanks out to the HowtoGeek for the link. The Vista speed boost procedure is scheduled for beach house experimentation. Will let you know the results.

"Untold suffering seldom is."
~Franklin P. Jones

Tupelo Area Buyers Alert

Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, Esq. Jr, made a computer purchase yesterday. First attempt was BestBuy to pick up one they had in the paper. They had none in stock and told him they could not order any. The sale ended yesterday at closing. He arrived with money in hand early in the afternoon. This is blatant false advertising. The salesman even refused to discuss it any further. When Ashby told a manager, the manager laughed and said, "Have a nice day." JERKS!

The only reason he didn't go to Circuit City first was because of the, "advertised sale." He did leave the creeps at BestBuy, walked into Circuit City, found a better model at a better price which happened to be on sale, but not advertised. They gladly took his money and he now has a great machine and feels good about the price. He was certainly pissed when he left the herd of baboons at BestBuy. You go Ashby! Jason, the manager at Circuit City, has always been helpful as have their sales reps. Nice folks. Keep up the good work! We appreciate ya!

To my Guild Wars friends. Ahhhhhh! The future is so bright I gotta' wear shades. Magnus Tormance, Ranger Beastmaster, can be seen in the game from time to time with his faithful companion Seeineye Cat. He is honing skills as a Beastmaster, but still shows up as a Barrage Ranger from time to time. Needing help in Asura land? Now have 4 level 5s in the Asuran track and 1 level 7 that's close to 8. What great, great fun! Nice to get a chance to play again!

“What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.”
~Abraham Lincoln

Good XP Availability Article

Dell will offer XP after the cutoff harped about by Bozo Ballmer. Years ago I was so disgusted with Dell I refused to even work on their machines. They used junk for parts and it showed. Michael Dell had enough sense to stop this garbage and started using better parts. This has continued and I have done a 180 on their product line. Their prices have become more affordable and the lines have expanded. I own a Dell. I like it. Still prefer a custom build, but Dell and HP both make good units most of the time. So this pleases me that Dell is basically telling Microsoft and Ballmer to take a flying leap. There's a very good article about this on Michael Horowitz's blog at CNet. One commenter doesn't agree because XP is 6 years old. Okay, this said, does the Vista operating system reflect over 6 years of R&D? Is the level of innovation concerning operating systems slowing down somewhat after several major leaps (id est, going from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 was a HUGE positive change)? Opinions?

Have a casual evening that will hopefully continue into Sunday. Rain is forecast here. Good time to finish some spring cleaning. Later.

The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people - no mere father and mother - as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born.
~Pearl S. Buck (I find this an interesting concept)

Bozo is Back

The XP/Vista/Windows 7 controversy is still alive. Ballmer has gotten in the act and made some comments about it. When you filter through it all, his usual ability to make no sense whatsoever is apparent. Check out the article at CNetNews.com. If you understand this and can find new information about the subject at hand, please let me know. You might want to try DailyTech. Why is all this an issue? Money.

Instead of being content with worldwide domination in the operating system market, it looks to me like Ballmer wants to kill XP thinking it will force people to upgrade. Sorry dude, it just ain't thay way. Talk to folks on the street. Get realistic opinions. I have XP machines. I have Windows 2000 machines. There's a Linux machine or two around the beach house. Even FreeBSD. But, I am writing this on a Vista Ultimate machine. My feeling is that XP is very good. Vista is pretty good too - if you have the hardware. Please understand that operating systems do need to evolve as technology evolves.

Ballmer is just stirring the kettle. He couldn't think of anything constructive so he brings up a sore subject. The boy just ain't right. Down South we'd say that he's a few turnips shy of a bushel. It'll be so nice to see him retire. He's hard to ignore though. Trust what Bill Gates has to say about Microsoft. Not Steve Ballmer. And yes, that is Bozo's picture. No kiddin'.

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.”
~Frank Zappa

Cha-ching!

EDIT:Okay the original post was incorrect. In God We Trust is on the coin. It's on the edge. The edge is smooth and has it on there . Take a look at Snopes. A picture is worth a thousand words and I was wrong. Should have done more research. Thanks David for showing me the error of my way and thanks MJR...


Emails are great. My GMail inbox is a never ending source of information. Sometimes it makes me laugh and there's been a time or two that a tear has come to my eye. My buddy MJR sent one that many of you have seen, but it's worth a mention here. Don't take the new dollar coins as change. Refuse. They do not have 'In God We Trust' on them. They are gold in color so easily identified. You will never find these coins at the beach house. This nonsense is due to the liberals that plague and disease the government. If you don't like the phrase on our money then get the hell out of our country.

Going to bed now before I crank up the 'press 1 if you speak English' tirade.

"I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a Clockmaker."
~Voltaire

Virus Alert?

There is an ambiguous warning going around the internet about a "new" virus. Read about it at Urban Legends. You'll find more info at F-Secure.com. Please don't open ANY attachments that seem suspicious. It's probably a good idea not to open attachments even from friends, businesses, etc., that haven't been checked. Spoofing is always possible.

The Urban Legends link is Snopes. Previously it had been decided to stop using this site due to heavy pop-up usage. They seem to have removed this annoyance. Let me know if they return to nag all of us. Hope this helps.

"Well done is better than well said."
~Benjamin Franklin

Speedtest

Here's the link to Speedtest again. Just click on the logo and then follow instructions. If you are in the local area use the Atlanta pyramid since most traffic in this area is routed that way. Interesting to check the ping occasionally. This site is a long time favorite at the Beach House.

Later.

"To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect."
~Joan Didion

OBG Night at the Beach House

After a somewhat frustrating evening of yard work, a stopping place was hit and halt was in order. My long, long time friend Neal drove up to spend the night at the beach house. He had worked 12 hours straight. He's some kind of voodoo electrician for TVA and is working close by. It has been great to see him.

We sat up later than usual and played dueling musical computers. He'd play a music clip and I'd guess the title and musicians then I'd do the same with him always knowing the answers. We don't miss many. He is leaving a CD of Paul Rodgers (aka lead singer of Bad Company) doing Jimi Hendrix tunes. Marvelous, just marvelous. We actually cranked up the 6.2 home theater array and felt what little hair we have left blow back with every bass line.

Grilled chicken and barbeque beans helped and it was a nice easy way to end a hard day. Pretty awesome that I have several friends to love and enjoy. Pretty awesome that most are like family. It's neat that my daughters know these people and they all like each other. Thanks Neal. Good break. Excellent evening of music and friendship. Rock on dude.

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things."
~H.D. Murphy

Searchin'...Gonna' Find It!

Still looking for a good customer contacts list program. This server may have Exchange and Outlook is a possibility. My last experience networking Outlook was a nightmare. I despise this horrible program and wish it would go away forever. It's amazing that the same people that created Word, Access and Excel came up with this cheesy email gobbledygook. If you have had good results please let me know what I am doing wrong. Ubuntu Linux Server has a shared list so I may go look at some opensource software. Seems everyone that writes these listing programs in Windows are vague when it comes to networking. Some of the prices are absurd.

It's late and time to sleep. Ahhhhh, tomorrow is Monday; a day prone to mystery.

“Magnetism is one of the Six Fundamental Forces of the Universe, with the other five being Gravity, Duct Tape, Whining, Remote Control, and The Force That Pulls Dogs Toward The Groins Of Strangers.”
~Dave Barry

Customer List Software...Request

The search is on for a program that lists customers for a client. You know, a database that holds name, addy, ph#, tax#, buying history, etc. Hopefully there is some opensource or freeware program available. Oh yeah, it has to be networkable and server based. Anyone know of such a program? Or even one that's for sale, but reasonable. The price of the Quick Books module has been observed and noted. Anyone have experience with such a problem? Inquiring minds would like to know.

The program in place now is an old DOS based program and it has several problems. Files become lost at random. Parts of it mysteriously shut down (like losing the A's and B's listings) and it has to be restored from backup. The mapping capability is not the greatest either. Great program in its day, but needs replacing. All the client machines are XP and the server is Windows.

Spring is in the air and the yard awaits. Time to put on my mowing shoes and find my mp3 player. Later.

"If you count all your assets, you always show a profit."
~Robert Quillen

Hap, Hap Happy Boy

The riding lawn mower...IT'S ALIVE!! Gosh, I am so excited. Shucks, there just ain't nuthin' like Christmas in April. Rain is forecast tomorrow. Hope it doesn't so I can start revamping the yard and getting it in shape. Of course the local folks are used to seeing the phenomena when I mow. Can you imagine tourists driving by? "Lord-dee Honey, look out there! There's an elephant riding a turtle! N that turtle's got yellow spots and stripes!" Then Honey answers, "Lord-dee Sweetums, that's a mighty big elephant! Poor turtle, bless its heart."

Many thanks out to Ty and Robert for the great job reviving the turtle.

“The thicker the hay; the easier mowed”
~Alaric the Goth (apparently Goths found no need for periods at the end of sentences)

Java

It's late and time to sleep. Can't wait to arise in the morning and enjoy a nice cup of coffee or two. You'll get a kick out of the questions in this quiz if a fan of "Joe." Later.

"I never laugh until I've had my coffee."
~Clark Gable

EDIT:This is yet another stolen quiz from Beagle's site

Orchard Questions

Research is underway about installing Apple OSX Leopard on PC hardware. You can find the software at my favorite online supplier which is NewEgg. Instructions on how to install this operating system on a PC based computer is at OSx86. Several things bother me about stepping off into it and starting such a project.

First, is it legal? A Florida based company apparently thinks everything is hunky-dory when placing Apple's OS on a PC frame. Check out PsyStar. Look at this first page about the "Open Computer." In the #6 box in the cart window click the drop down arrow on the right. You'll see OS X Leopard 10.5 installed on the "Open Computer" for an extra 155 bucks. This brings the total price to $554.99. A considerable savings when you go to Apple's page and take a look around. Wow. Pricy, pricy. The legality issue needs further study. Do I really want to invest time and money in this project anyway? Will it change me into a bad person? Possibly. Read the #2 problem.

Second, when reading reviews at the above linked NewEgg I found what seems to be a typical Apple owner response. Here it is:

You NewEgg reviewers are morons. Seriously. Just the fact that you guys have tried running the Mac OS on a PC just testifies as to the kind of idiots you all are. Don't offend Apple by even associating with them. Apple users know the difference between a Mac and PC.

Speaking of morons, I don't want to be like this one. For years they've espoused all this garbage about their superior product and they still have only 3% of the market share in the computer business. Windows has somewhere around 90% depending on where you read. The most popular piece of software written for an Apple is Microsoft's Office Suite. Other software availability is meager at best. Apples are preferred by some print companies and some graphic designers. This said I personally know several graphic designers and they ALL use PCs. I also know of a local print company that has, at the very least, a 8 to 1 Windows to Mac ratio. Hold it, make that 2 local print companies, same ratio.

No doubt there are many good folks out there that use Apple machines everyday and I will guess they make a decent wage. Go to Apple's page and you'll understand. It seems like a great machine for surfing the web. It seems like a great machine to render stuff in a huge expensive program like Quark. Oh yeh, PCs do that too. Use Quark I mean. But, do Apple people play games? Most mammals like to play. Dogs, chimps, cats, even people seem to enjoy recreational stuff. Such a crisis. The piracy bothers me quite a bit. I do not endorse piracy and have no illegal machines. And I REALLY don't even want to develop the attitude of the above quoted Apple person. Hell, I don't even want to know him or anyone like him.

This Beach House Apple project deserves further research. Should I scrap this idea? Should I satisfy my curiousity? Opinions?

“I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect."
~Edward Gibbon

Beach House Reflection on Ungolden Minds

Certain aspects of the computer business are frustrating. I am still preparing for the end of the world since a software tech admitted last month that their program had problems. If I can get documented proof of this then the rest of my short life will be spent in prayer seeking forgiveness and grace. And it will be short because the Apocalypse will be near at hand. Someone once told me that AT&T sends all techs to a two week school in Gulfport to learn how to lie to customers. This didn't seem like a joke to me. Thought they knew something. Their training facility must be in close proximity to a like structure that is attended by software folks. People that write software will look you straight in the eye and tell you that they NEVER NEVER make mistakes. If their software doesn't run properly then the problem is hardware. What a load of manure.

You can make major changes on a network, vastly improve the speed and efficiency and if a problem arises it's always the hardware. One of the greatest dilemnas of modern man is resistance to change. Change, my friends, makes the world go around. Even though you've had two different techs admit that this year's version of their software is buggy and doesn't like some operating systems it's still a hardware problem. Then there are the inside RSs that want to watch while you work so as to check behind you. Gee, wonder if these people have ever used regedit? Or know what it is? When was the last time they actually read a whole EULA? Do they maintain a personal dual server network? Betcha they think tar is something that goes on a road and smit is some Middle English word. How about PEBKAC? Know what that means?

To summate, it's not all peaches and cream out there. BTW summate is indeed a word; go to Google and type Define: summate . Whew! That weight is off my shoulders. The soapbox is back under the bed...for now.

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
~Hitler

Today is #5

Took the weekend off to let the back rest and get some sleep. After a mad attempt to clean Saturday it was apparent that my wrestling with the huge battery backup last week resulted in a less than good thing. Feel better now. Part of it was the fact that I stayed still with my feet up most of Sunday. Now the new week starts and there's minimal whining at the beach house.

The battery on the phone went down yesterday. I didn't realize this had happened until I awakened last night thinking how it had been a strangely quiet day. Looked at the phone for the time and realized it was off. If I missed your call, well, I missed your call. Apologies out to my Guild Wars friends for leaving the game on unattended. Noticed most everybody in the guild played yesterday. That's great! But so was my sleep.

There's a lot of prattle on the internet concerning the collapse of the Windows family of operating systems. I have two words for all you naysayers: BARNYARD MATERIAL. Granted the recent venture called Vista hasn't been a great success. Microsoft has listened and extended the sales and service of XP until 6 months after the initial availability of Windows 7 (it's almost a sure bet it won't be called '7') or June 2010. This wording tells me we aren't too far away from Version 7.

It's sad in a way. Recent studies has proven that Apple's OSX is so easy to hack that people don't bother. Linux seems the toughest with Windows Vista (NOT XP) in the middle. Vista can be annoying with the UAC stuff, but it's there for a reason. It protects you from yourself. True, Vista is demanding when it comes to hardware. This in mind, please don't upgrade to Vista with a machine barely capable of XP. Memory? When they say 1gig is substantial don't believe it. Get 2gigs. Or more.

Besides, the other operating systems have some form of UAC (User Account Control). Hate to disappoint the dissenters, but Vista is not a bad operating system. And before you Apple Nazis start flaming about the above remark let it be said the beach house is soon going to have OSX or an Apple machine on the network. Nothing wrong with Apple if you don't mind the price and hype. As a matter of fact if you are doing graphics work Apple rocks. Yet, please don't mislead your PC buddies - Quark runs fine on a Windows PC. K, Quark really doesn't run "fine" on anything (insert that evil grin here).

If you are satisfied with your present XP machine and don't like Vista just wait on Windows "7" or whatever they call it. But don't be afraid to carefully look at the hardware specifications on a new machine and try Vista Premium or above. Vista Home Basic should be removed from the shelves - TODAY. It's horrible.

Here are several links concerning the operating systems bruhaha:

Daily Tech (Geek Notice - Be sure and read the comments)

Associated Press

TechNewsWorld

The weather here is cool. It's a good day to stay casual. Enjoy life and laugh sometime today. As a matter of fact, laugh several times. One last thing: Cybersouth, from the Saltillo Beach House, is five years old today. Thanks out to all readers, supporters, dissenters (yes Apple Nazis, I love you too) and the many people that are my core group. Y'all help keep my rambling and feeble efforts to entertain up and running. Those that use this site as home page are the absolute bombdiggity, lol. Thanks to Chyna Moon for the awesome banner. And a special thanks to Em and Patrice for their work on porting this site to the new address. It'll happen soon. N hey Patrice is gonna be new Mom in July!!!!!! Ain't life grand?


"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet."
~James Openheim

Looking Out the Beach House Window...

Local "weather wannabe guru," and this title is used VERY lightly, Dick Rice of TV9 has to be ecstatic. The government has decided to start issuing weather warnings on cell phones. Now wait just a damned minute: This is wayyyyy out of control. The same warning system that the beach house has always used is still in operation and will not become obsolete as long as a tornado doesn't sweep me away. It's called a window. Here's the drill: I look out. Sun shines - weather good. I look out. Sun doesn't shine - then look out said portal more often. That's it. Read more about this AWFUL invasion of privacy at PCWorld.

Try this test. Go to bed, leave the TV on with the volume so low that you cannot understand what is being said. If the weather looks bad over a 1000 miles away in Texas at 3:00AM don't worry. You'll know. As a matter of fact you'll leap out of the bed to turn down Mr. Rice prattling further about how the front is moving into New Mexico or Japan. They increase the volume of these things!!!! And not by just a notch or two!! Horrible does not suffice as a description.

Beach house cell phone chatter is always held to a minimum. It remains on 24/7/365. I hope and pray this despicable "service" doesn't come about in my world. Actually, I've been thinking about cutting off cable TV and using just the internet service since their "weekly" national weather warning gobble-de-gook screeches at me on a daily basis. If I miss the few minutes critical to a plot then I'd rather read a book. That weather announcement from hell seems to always interrupt during the major storyline or the laugh that makes the show. Last week the long anticipated Battlestar Galactica season opener was interrupted by one of these things. Hey, it's hard spending good money on TV service that is constantly trashed by this junk. Know what? This is my first complaint about cable service. Other than these annoying announcements they do a tremendous job. Enough is enough, though. If we get a petition going will it help?

No doubt some people are probably lined up with hundred dollar bills in their hands wanting this service now. That's fine with me. Go right ahead and get your bowl full of daily interruptions. I don't want it!!!!! K, after further research some believe that this will be an optional service. Let's hope and pray. Now, anyone got any ideas about how to make Dick Rice optional? Maybe that gorilla from yesterday's post will snatch him.

"Why doesn't everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?"
~Jimmy Durante

MONKEY UPDATE: It looks like our gorilla roaming West Tupelo is a prank. Danza Johnson has a follow up article at the DailyJournal.


2nd UPDATE: I am NOT mad at anyone. Since Sunday night after losing a championship match to a 70 pound battery backup the spine has been cranky. In order to accomplish daily tasks with a smile and not endanger anyone by taking drugs while driving, my downtime has been spent asleep or in a Flexiril purple haze (hate this drug!). Yes I've seen the phone calls and text messages. Business stuff has been addressed (I hope) and will try and get in touch with everyone this weekend. Ashby, effort will be made to get that equipment to you during the day or tomorrow AM. Haleth, Laxen, Forest, and Eli, I'll return your calls, if the Good Lord is willing! Sorry.

Tupelo's Abominable Stealth Gorilla

Visit this blog on occasion? Then you know about Arnold (Opossumus Austriabodicus Germanicus). He's a frequent visitor and has been a source of entertainment down through the years. Tupelo is quickly becoming famous for animal escapades. Just last year FoxNews carried a story about Oliver, a monkey that picked a lock and escaped from the local zoo. He's done this several times. I think he has a golf fetish. He escapes just long enough to play 18 holes. After all, the Country Club is in close proximity to the zoo. Only in Mississippi.

Today the Daily Journal, a local newspaper, is featuring another story about monkey business. Seems there were 4 reports of a gorilla that ran into the small clump of trees behind a post office in the west part of town. "It ain't our monkey," assured park employee Tanya Robertson. "I don't know who that monkey belongs to." Danza Johnson's article can be found at djournal.com.

Oliver, the local Houdini monkey, is a capuchin monkey from Central or South America. They are small, spindley critters that live in trees and Oliver is the only one I know of that would have any business at all hanging around a post office. Bet he gets fan mail from convicts and fellow zoo incarcerated animals. Most are probably glowing kudos of his ability to pick locks. Might be a few espousing his ability to use a pitching wedge around the green. But c'mon folks. This small fellow is several hundred pounds away from a gorilla.

Sounds to me like someone is having fun dressed up in a costume. This concerns me. Why? I know several folks that would take great pleasure in such a bit of monkey business. Just hope they don't die of heat stroke in that gorilla suit. Only in Mississippi. Gotta go. Time to make a few phone calls. Here's hoping no one answers with a grunt or a Tarzan yell...

“I've actually gone to the zoo and had monkeys shout to me from their cages, "I'm in here when you're walking around like that?"”
~Robin Williams

Great External Hard Drive Buy

Needing extra storage space? If you are a P2P user, photo editor, movie junkie, keeper of all known pdf documents, etc., try the half a terrabyte external hard drive at Staples. It is made by Western Digital and the cost is $124.95! That's 500 gigabytes for a very reasonable price. It's a 7200rpm drive that will interface with Windows or Mac. Be diligent though. The offer expires on the 12th of this month.

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
~Confucius

Ramblin' Ramblin' Ramblin'

Eric Lai of Computerworld had this to say about Microsoft's recent shift in operating systems news:

"during its announcement Thursday that it would extend the availability of Windows XP Home for low-cost laptops, Microsoft said it would retire the operating system only after June 30, 2010, or one year after the release of Windows 7, whichever comes later."

The rest of the article is located at InfoWorld. Thanks out to Kim Komando for the link in a great daily newsletter. If you want more info on Windows 7 check out the screen shots at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. For interested geeks - Paul is the dude that discovered Sony's nefarious root kits in CDs.

What does all this mean? Vista is not selling at the rate expected and Bill Gates is a smart marketeer. He is going to recoup some losses by releasing an operating system, Windows 7, in a timely fashion. In a way this is sad because Vista is not really that bad. It certainly doesn't need to be categorized with Windows ME (Millenium) which was an all time flop in the Windows family of operating systems. Yes, Vista is a resource and hardware hogzilla, but it does offer some nice built-in protection, speed, etc. After some user problems my version of Ultimate is stable. One of Microsoft's worst mistakes with Vista was the horrendous initial price. Smart business people are not necessarily "trendy" and don't fix things that aren't broken. This attitude and the high price pretty much stopped the small business operator and professionals from upgrading. Okay, okay, the compatibility issues with hardware and software didn't help either. There are no plans at the beach house to upgrade any other resident machines to Vista, but I won't give up Vista Ultimate on my main workstation.

Yes, this machine is hardware heavy. The real reason for its existence is that I finally started playing my first online game in December 2005. It was a gift from my dear friends Neal and CC. A great one too; GuildWars. My youngest daughter and her husband (Beagle and Mudslingr) had me hooked before I even received the game. Now a few nights during the week (when time permits) I can be found prowling the countryside of Tyria, Cantha and Elona looking for treasure, fighting nasty beasties, and interacting with friends and family members. The recent hissy fit about TeamSpeak is resolved. My bad. We 'voice talk' to each other while doing these quests and missions. It's a chance to catch up with everyone's recent activities while dragonslaying. Also a great time to exchange information about the computer world. Techs become chatter boxes when discussing things geeky and nerdling-ish. The striking air elementalist in the picture is Cynndane Eloise (my daughter in Baton Rogue) and the dude in black is my gamer alter ego, Maskull Tor. Grow up? Ha! Living a bad case of the Peter Pan Syndrome here with no plans to change.

Enough rambling. Time to turn to and if enough is accomplished then I'll have a few hours to cast spells, save damsels, enjoy characters of the fantastic realm, and laugh with family and friends. Thank you Professor Tolkien for my glimpse into the world of fantasy. Thanks Easel for turning me onto J.R.R.

"If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame."
~Counting Crows

New Week!

Monday, Monday can't trust that day
Monday, Monday sometimes it just turns out that way...

Yesterday was good. Visited with Mother who is recovering from knee surgery. She's doing great. Couldn't kneel on the prayer rail during communion yesterday, but she's walking unassisted. After kneeling on the prayer rail I wondered if I could get up! Hey, we Methodists only do that once a month so I certainly won't complain too loudly. Besides, it's part of my participation privileges as a human being. Thank God I was in a house of worship on Sunday.

Arrived home at 6:00PM and was passed out by 8:30PM on the couch in a Flexiril stupor. Was carrying stuff in from the truck and a huge battery backup unit was too much for my feeble back. Have a doctor's appointment this morning (it's all fun and giggles on Monday at the beach house). Back is better. There's too much on the plate so spending time around the beach house doing nothing is definitely not a choice.

Is anyone else experiencing slow and delayed downloads of definition updates from AVG Free Edition? This has been going on for several weeks and there's word going around the internet about this problem. Grisoft, parent company of AVG, is aware of it. I do remember them experiencing delays before a major update. Not really worried, just curious. It's a great program and the few dollars for the full version are well worth spending.

Outta here. Appointments to keep.

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all."
~William Faulkner

This Too Shall Pass

The post from yesterday still stands. I am not going to be harassed about something that is done for free. Measures are being implemented to correct this situation. God did not put me on this earth to maintain and ride roughshod over a piece of equipment. If you are guilty of bitching about it and confront me the kid gloves are off. Several people have offered help and not one single person in this group wanting to help has ever complained. BTW, a huge thanks out to Ashby for the loan of a machine to continue the service.

Yes it will be revitalized at a later date. Sorry about my anger and haste, but please remember I am human and have feelings too. This is NOT a topic for later discussion. Go enjoy the day and let me worry about Teamspeak. Now I am going to visit Mother for the first time since she had surgery over a month ago. Later.

"Sweat silently. Let's have no squawking about a little expenditure of energy."
~Martin H. Fischer

No Thanks? No Free Service!

The problems with TeamSpeak are cured. Since no one seems interested in helping and all I hear are complaints about it not working the decision has been made to take it offline. It is no longer available. Two years of non-support and constant moaning is enough. Take your whining and bitching somewhere else. There has been a gaping hole in my network security that needs to be closed. Since the Server was in the DMZ it was wide open to potential disruption. Thanks out to the QPAL dudes for reminding me. We had used this as a temporary fix due to firewall problems and it was forgotten. It's so nice when someone helps out.

Later, a monowall unit will be installed and some type of voice service may be offered. One rule that will apply concerning such a service is that if you bitch about it, you will be banned for life. Enough is enough. Rag on somebody else for a while or go buy some Xeon/Operton chips, ECC registered memory, dual board and whatever type of drive array (SATA, MATA, ZATA, SCSI, SMUZI - I don't care or even give a big fat rat's ass) you desire and build your own. I will forewarn you that 24/7 usage will up that power bill. Be sure and contact your ISP and purchase more bandwidth. You'll need it.

Gosh I feel better.

"If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it."
~A.J. D'Angelo

Momma Don't Take My Kodachrome!

To Lexi,

EHow

WikiHow

Photo.net

The above links will help you move your files to the external hard drive. Needless to say, AFTER you have checked to make sure all your pictures transferred successfully, erase them from the laptop in order to acquire the free space you so badly need. Defrag the drive after you remove the pictures. It might be a good idea to download future projects to the external USB drive so as not to clutter the internal laptop hard drive. You might want to save your files to CD or DVD and store them in a safe place like a lock box at the bank. This way you will have them in case of a major catastrophe which I certainly hope you don't experience. Better safe than sorry. Picture files sometimes require enormous space so you may want to invest in several external drives. They are also handy if you are onsite for a photo session and need mass storage for later editing.

Hope this helps!

"A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety."
~Ansel Adams