I Sing the Car Electric

Gas prices are ridiculous. When that 30 bucks didn't even net half-a-tank it was depressing. New York city has declared that all taxis will have to eventually become hybrid cars. If only one of the big auto makers would come up with a decent electric car this price gouging would stop forever. Pollution would drop tremendously, noise would decrease noticeably, many new industries would rise out of such a changeover creating new jobs and a new workable technology could advance our civilization. But, it won't happen and we know it. Sad that our great nation has fallen victim to these thieves in the oil business that reside (well, most of 'em) in the spawning ground of terrorists fools.

This just about says it all:

Please remember it is not the local dealer's fault that prices are so high. They can only pass on current market prices. When we start buying gas by the quart may be our legislators will take appropriate action. It's for damned sure they have the time since it appears they are doing NOTHING. Good Lord, this country needs new direction and responsible leadership that embraces the "by the people, for the people" attitude. This is not a statement about political affiliation. I am still a Republican and will NEVER be a democrat. My democratic friends are given an ear though; as long as they don't mention the Hillarybeast.

The second muscle relaxer is making my eyelids droopy. Backaches suck. Please bear with me, hopefully the car will be mobile tomorrow. When it rains, it pours...

"Adversity introduces a man to himself."
~D.N. Jennings

Windows Nazis, Flame On!

Windows Vista ate Sunday. Ever since the initial installation Windows Media Player 11 has been weird. Now it is just a light show and efforts to make it stable are over. If you are using Nvidia products be very careful about upgrading drivers. After several hours of manipulating, the older drivers are now re-installed and the machine is once again usable. Initially there was a nightmare with the audio drivers, but that was child's play compared to yesterday's adventure.

The SLI configuration has never been right. Who knows? May be a user issue and not Windows. The CPU stays at 100% usage if Guild Wars is running. Machine functions okay, but why this high percentage? Memory usage was reduced from 35% to 26% (when idle) by turning off unecessary services running in the background. Please realize that this operating system is using half a gig of RAM for something when it sits supposedly doing nothing The network card drivers have to be completely re-installed at least once a week. Do I format the hard drives and do a fresh installation or purchase another copy of XP and put Vista on the shelf for a while?

Time is too valuable to have a part time job with Microsoft alpha testing their new OS especially since the pay is zilch. They need to lay off the opensource people about patent violations and "fix" their latest product now being forced on the public. My opensource PCs, Linux and FreeBSD, have no problems. Might be a good idea if Microsoft asked for their help instead of making efforts to sue them. This is all very frustrating.

Save your money for now and stick with Windows 2000 or XP unless purchasing a new computer. Be sure and don't purchase Vista Home Basic. It really has issues. Folks this is real life. Most of us don't have the time to patch and shore up our PCs every day. It is probably a good plan to put Vista aside instead of running hot and cold all the time. I really want to like this product. Wish the report could be better, but so it goes...

"There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time."
~Napoleon I, Maxims, 1815

Green Guy, Pirate Dudes and the Silver One

Shrek III is making box office news and is expected to set records. The reviews are good. You can read an article about Johnny Depp and Keith Richards "Pirate3" adventures over at RollingStone. You might be able to watch a trailer of the Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer movie here after an annoying ad. A plugin may be needed for Windows Media Player if you use Firefox. This was unstable, but I think that was due to a Windows Vista issue. Try it and let me know.

Now it's time to research why the media player in Vista is flickering like a 60s strobe light. Have a swell Sunday.

"Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing?"
~Samuel Goldwyn

All of a Sudden Anonymous Has Decided to Target the Beach House

To the person that sent me the snail mail chain letter from Memphis, TN. Please cease this activity immediately. I rarely forward anything. DON'T send anything my way again. That handwriting is vaguely familiar. Oh yes, nothing especially good or financially rewarding has happened in the past four days. I'll think about and pray for you on the way to the Coinstar to cash in my pennies and dimes so the electrical bill can be paid Monday.

Your form of "good luck" is not needed at the beach house. Please take that extra time and find something constructive to do. St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis always needs volunteers. Just be careful traveling there and don't let that mass of gangstas and criminal wannabes shoot you. They like to hang out all over Memphis. What a dirty, sad, pathetic town. Willie Herrington, the horse's ass Mayor, should be tried and executed for destroying a once safe, pretty city. If I do receive anymore such mail it will be reported and a complaint filed. The Post Office frowns on such activities. Meanwhile, God help you as you try to live in that horrible city.

To those that forward email to me: please don't stop! This is in no shape, form or fashion directed towards you. Love all the stuff I get and sometimes use it in posts. This is for only that anonymouse snail mail person. Wow, a dis and a chain letter in the same week.

"Life be not so short but that there is always time for courtesy."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday Filler, Not One of My Finest Moments

Tried to write a c/w song over a year ago and no one picked it up. A person that wants to remain un-named wanted the words again. K, this is horrible but here goes:

She Won’t Yahoo Anymore
By Dock


She won't Yahoo anymore
I lie writhing on the floor
My crushed heart lays at her feet
Life is not so sweet

She won’t Yahoo anymore
Now sailing from my shore
Won’t even make a call
I just sit and bawl

Oh Lord, what’d I ever do
To get instant messaging blues
She’s ignoring me
This much I can see

She won’t Yahoo anymore
Her smileys I adore
Just sit around and cry
May eat a worm and die

‘cause
She won’t Yahoo anymore

Okay Robi...uh miss nameless, I have embarrassed my self again, but your request is fulfilled.

"Music is in the ear of the beholder."
~Mike Murphy

Go Google! And a Word or Two About the Thought Police

While doofus Steve Ballmer is busy at Microsoft doing his utmost to make our lives miserable, the boys and girls at Google are improving their contributions to computerese with more innovations concerning their search engine. You can read about it at InformationWeek. "Google's Web search now returns relevant videos, images, news, maps, and books, alongside Web site links," says Thomas Claburn in a well written article. Check it out and read about some of the good guys.

An email was received from someone dissatisfied with one of my comments in yesterday's rant. My calling Erica Hill a smoking babe did not seem appropriate to Anonymous. Well, my take on this is that if she's a hottie what's wrong with that? I've been a fan of Erica since her days as tech news reporter at TechTV. She's a self professed parrothead and I just don't think she'd take offense. Besides, I am not here to be politically correct. If the the liberal creeps had their way our use of adjectives and adverbs would cease. You can read about this in Orwell's 1984. So the post won't be edited. Best I remember we have freedom of speech in the US of A.

Hang in there the weekend is almost here.

“Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred”
~Jacques Barzun

Rosie, Why Don't You Move to Patagonia?

American Idol is not part of the beach viewing schedule. Never has been and most likely won't be seen unless a gun is pointed at my head. If that Simon creep ever shows up he'll be slapped right off the veranda. Okay my violent tendencies must be curbed. But hey, the door won't be answered. Now if you watch this show that's great and more power to you. I don't like that survivor thing either and NEVER will I watch ANYTHING with Rosie O'Donnell in it. I don't care if Celtic Woman, Jimmy Buffett and the ghost of Ronald Reagan are on the View it's not permitted to air at the beach house. Don't even look like you're gonna' ask.

I will never buy GEICO insurance. If that cheesy lizard comes on the tube the channel is changed immediately. Eveready batteries are never used. If that stupid bunny with the drum shows up on the veranda I will shotgun him to rabbit hell. If I never see another cave man commercial it'll be too soon. Prep H grosses me out and those womenses napkins n devices are just as bad. There are some sick folks in the advertising agencies. Don't drink Bud here because of the commercial they made centering around a horse farting. GROSS! If I ever see a bear in the wild it's almost a sure bet toilet paper won't be hanging from a nearby tree.

Used to never miss 2&1/2 Men on Monday night. Then Sheen popped off about the President while spoutiong liberal garbage and I don't watch it anymore. George Clooney and that Baldwyn dude, the one with the greasy hair who is terrorizing his daughter and Kim what's her name, are Hollywood halfwits. How many Baldwyns are there!??! Brad Pitt said it best when Oprah asked him to comment on politics. He replied, "Why are you asking me? I am just an actor and should keep such matters private."

Yes, I do watch Oprah about once a month. My intent there is to find out what she has told women to do with our missing socks. Al Bundy brought this to my attention. Anyone needing just one sock of a pair let me know. This dilemma has moved into appliance manufacturing as well. It seems most women blame the washer or dryer for the missing sock problem. I don't believe it for a minute! Hah, it's the modern underground railroad for socks of mystery. Oprah must own stock in GE and Maytag. Being a happily divorced bachelor of 15 years it amazes me that this conspiracy continues. Are women sneaking in and taking the socks and laughing? Oh, the insanity of it all!

When I do view news it's ONLY Fox. CNN/HN Sucks, but Erica Hill is one smoking babe for sure. The liberal leftwingers need medication. If that bitch from hell Hillary Clinton gets elected I will go live in the woods and wait for the Apocalypse. She will tap Bill as VP. Yep it's legal. My lawyer told me so. This scared me and I think there was fear in the lawyer's eyes. Please democrats, unite and elect Edwards, he seems like a nice man with some sense. I said some. The democrats stand a good chance to win the next election so use good judgment and put your most sane candidate at the front. The Republicans have a motley crew. Rudy could win no doubt but the idiot is pro gun control. There's the southern voting block gone. He'll need us to win.

These are my stories and Ima stickin' to em. Later.

"Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason."
~Daniel Franklin West

Steve Ballmer, YO MAMA!

To Mr. Steve Ballmer;

This is an open challenge to meet me in a sanctioned boxing arena for 3 rounds, lasting 3 minute per round, for a charity sporting event with proceeds going to those unfortunate that are not able to buy hardware or your ridiculously expensive constantly beta platform software. The winner will have contributions from proceeds distributed, in his name, to preselected charities which will be published before the match. The loser shall cease and desist from all public activity concerning all things computerese. Please reply soon so we can establish a venue and rules.

Sincerely,

Dock West



Personal note: Hey, lardass. Yeh, you Ballmer Stooge. Quit making everyone miserable. Do something positive for community service and awareness. Your company has a vulgar amount of capital and your efforts to squash anyone opposed are reminders of a dude named Adolph and an organization known as Nazis. Stop your whining, don't throw anymore chairs across a stage and act like a man. As a matter of fact be innovative and act like a sane man.

You might like the idea that I am your senior by several years and am as out of shape physically as your fatassness. We can specify a 60 day training period, medical certification and then proceed to the squared circle where I shall thoroughly thrash you down to the mat exposing you as the sick sniveling weakling who poses as a sane man with a company that seems headed for the dumpster if they don't quit picking on decent folks trying to compete.

Mr. Ballmer, there is no doubt that you are NOT Southern. If you were native to the Deep South someone would have put you to sleep long ago. Be forewarned, even though I am out of shape and this challenge seems utterly ridiculous (my money says you are just too yellow and cowardly to accept this challenge) the gauntlet is thrown down and I WILL meet you under the aforementioned conditions for a most entertaining sporting event. Trust me fight fans will get their money's worth because I won't knock you out until the third round.

It might behoove you to do some research. Being a proud Mississippian I feel the need to inform your sorry Yankee ass that even though that Yankee War of Aggression favored your kind, our ability to fight and persevere is legend. For every Rebel soldier that died in that conflict four, that's 4, you know 1 2 3 then 4 Yankees died. Google it and BTW, please use Google - that MSN search thangy you promote is downright goofy. A message to all my Northern friends; know that I am "firing for effect/affect" here. This is certainly not a slap at y'all, just ole lardass.

Preferred referee of my choice? Steve Jobs of Apple, Don King, George Foreman, Linus Torvalds, Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, Esq., Jr., or even Bill Gates. It won't matter because you will be thoroughly accosted and exposed as the baboon you really are...Two sounds, two sounds will be heard. My fist hitting his buckethead and his lunchbucket ass hitting the mat!

Ballmerbutt, let me know something. Act like a human being for a change.

In extreme loathing mode I am

Dock West

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
~Mark Twain (Ballmer has neither)

Senor Boogey Man May Be Lurking

Tomorrow is May the 15th, thank the Good Lord. Finally the emails about the gasoline boycott will stop for a few months. This has been going on for years. Please go to Snopes.com and read about this old, worn out urban legend. While you're there check the article about that Venezuelan mule's ass Chavez and the CITGO connection. Beach house stance? If gas is needed tomorrow it will be purchased as long as they don't ask for a child, limb, soul or one of my characters in Guild Wars.

Gas prices are ridiculous. It's very likely that gasoline won't be purchased at a CITGO, even though I really like their local convenience store; very clean and employees are cheerful. Cheerful retail work force people are so rare. If you don't believe this go to the local Cingular store by Sam's Club and see the circus of hateful gnashing creeps. Satan lives there part time and she's not happy. Most of the other time she spends at tech help COMCAST in Huntsville, Alabama.

Throughout the day power management tests will be run on the beach house web server. There may be short down times and all this should end before the sun goes down. Hey, just trying to conserve energy...and money. This is an ongoing effort to improve service and we are geeks you know. Tinkering is our greatest obsession in the search for 'more power, grunt, grunt'.

Monday does not worry me this morning. It actually started Friday. In the powerful words of that Texas philosopher Ed Coffin, "Have a better than expected day."

"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer."
~Edward R. Murrow

IT'S ALIVE! (well, sorta')

After an allnighter, much wringing of hands and pulling of hair the Web Server is back online. Teamspeak users have the same user names and passwords. Thanks out to Beagle and Mudslingr for the loan of their server and to Ashby for the help in troubleshooting plus resolving the problems. I played Egor to his Dr. Frankenstein. We will be improving the server during the next few weeks, but these changes should be invisible to everyone. It's a general consensus that leaving Windows based programs and migrating to Linux or Unix will greatly enhance speed and quality. We will see, oh yes, we WILL see.

My butt is dragging and I must rest. Have a great Sunday afternoon and enjoy the beautiful day.

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."
~Ovid

Satuday's in the Park?

The day has been spent working on various PCs. We are following through with our temp fix concerning the Teamspeak server and I hope it's back online tomorrow. There's a laptop that's giving me a fit about powering down. It may have something to do with the power switch over from battery to AC. Guess the yard mowing, pressure washing, garage painting, car washing, house cleaning will be further delayed although the house is looking better.

This may be a long night. You know what? It's just life and will come together. Later.

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it."
~Mark Twain

Memorial Day LAN Party Update

The LAN Party scheduled for Saturday evening during the Memorial Day Weekend will be a simple affair. Due to an extensive project that will be underway at that time and lack of funds, the foods of selection will be burgers, dogs and chips. Some beverage will be available and I promise to pay the water bill. If you want to help in any way please contact me. Yes, I do need help. Labor Day is the target for ribs, etc. We've scaled back the menu in order to avoid cancellation. Ample switching and cable will be provided so bring your uber gear, laptop or just yo'self and enjoy a round of Guild Wars, Video Trivial Pursuit and maybe even some Wii. Ahhhh, geekdom at its best!

Please keep in mind that there is NO TOLERANCE by the Saltillo PD for speeding or drunk driving and we like it that way. You are welcome to bring refreshing beverages, but if too intoxicated you must stay and sleep it off. BTW, no one has ever had to do this; we have a calm non-rowdy bunch, lol. Please do not park with your car heading the wrong way on the side of the road. That will almost assure a ticket. Don't believe me? Reads the signs as you come down Main/Mobile Street. Our Police Dept has nice, courteous people employed and even though the Chief is my neighbor there is NO way I can alleviate tickets.

Remember that Hawaiian shirts, flip flops, beachwear, kewl T-shirts, sunglasses, boat drinks, and casual attitudes are encouraged, but certainly not mandatory. And if you decide to show up WITHOUT the intent of having fun, smiling , laughing, and enjoying the celebration juz keep yo negative ass at home. Nuff said!

"At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other."
~Ann Landers

We No Speekin' da Binary

Hardware configuration has been underway at the beach house concerning the web server. It will be brought back online with the old Win2K operating system on a dedicated drive to serve Teamspeak. During off hours Ashby and I will be configuring a new root/boot drive that will run several applications including Teamspeak, but instead of Windows this will be FreeBSD based with a layer that will give us the ability to run Linux applications. We are going for speed and stability. Also, we will test the possibility of running Ventrilo native in FreeBSD. Enough geek speak, Teamspeak will be back online this weekend, probably Sunday, at least with the old configuration.

Thanks to everyone for patience and help.

"I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the years'."
~Henry Moore

Urban Blight? Nope, Don't Think So

Saltillo is growing. We've gone from one red light to four. When you look around town it seems some new business is breaking ground almost daily. I am glad for Saltillo, but being around a large wad of people is just not my thing. Thank goodness for good neighbors. I certainly like being around them. It's always a joy to be around happy, smiling people that have good moral and religious convictions. Thanks Larry, Charlotte, Josh, Jerry, Linda and all. Please let me know if the music ever gets too loud.

I must be diligent and keep up the yard better. N pressure wash the house. N paint the garages. N clean up the storm house. N replace the fence this fall. N work the flower beds. Excuse me while I go sit on the veranda and think about this further. The sweat is killing me. Later.

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend."
~Plautus

Late

The Queen of England talked to cosmonauts in space, a California princess begged Arnie the Govenator for leniency, Windows issued updates on patch Tuesday, and it's summertime in the Deep South. So goes the news. It's late and tomorrow's post will probably be in the evening hours. Now it's time to study Linux for an install of server software on an ailing beaching house machine. Have pleasant dreams and a productive tomorrow.

"If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing."
~Saint Augustine

Engine Red Line

Friday I posted very late, actually it didn't go up until Saturday. A long time friend from Tishomingo County brought a laptop by early afternoon. It received a baptism last week sitting on a tail gate when a sudden shower came up. While traveling he'd been using the wifi service at the motel and stepped away for a few minutes. He immediately rushed out and grabbed it. Anyway, it had dried out for two days, but would not read the recovery disk and initialize the hard drive. After using the hard drive out of my Toshiba laptop for test purposes it was determined it might revive with just a new storage device.

During the initial recovery phase with the new drive it decided to power down. This prompted him to return to Best Buy where the hard drive had been purchased and pick up a new Toshiba laptop. He possibly got the "best buy" ever on a laptop and I am still drooling. The "geeks" told him they had to remove their A.R.C.H.I.E. software which contained Deep Freeze and this would take several hours. It was marked down because it was a display unit. After calling the beach house and letting the tech talk to me it was reluctantly released and he returned with the new laptop.

The "geek" said he doubted I could remove the software. Let's see, owned several computers before anyone had even heard of Windows, even know the meaning of Warez, Phrozen, ARPA, DARPA, EFNET, thought DOS Shell 5 was the bomb, learned Linux Mandrake from Ashby Rhett Culpepper in the 90s and so on and so forth. After using Killdisk to zero out the drive the recovery went smoothly and the new laptop was jamming. All the appropriate protection software for Vista Premium was downloaded and put in place then he left late that evening a happy boy with an awesome new computer. After a little research it seems the recovery disks alone would probably have sufficed. Oh yeah, the blessed by water laptop was also back up and running. Toshibas are tough.

Since it was still powering down on its own I spent around 3 more hours doing research and that problem may now be resolved. Anyway this was the prelude to an almost sleepless weekend with several service calls being delayed. It was a pleasure to accomplish all this for a friend I consider a brother and when I turned in around 3:00AM Saturday morning my sleep was not too troubled. Then the fit hit the shan. After coffee and shower tools were being collected to do several service calls and I checked the beach house web server on the way out which is part of the normal departure procedure that includes checking the stove, turning off all lights, making sure the windows are locked, etc. The server was NOT online.

Okay, just went through a half rebuild of this PC a few days ago and now the rest of the weekend has been spent trying desperately to revive the device. It's still not working and yes, I know, there's been whining here about the problem already. Why the lengthy post? Hopefully as I go through the week doing my utmost best to look and act like the bluebird of happiness just flew up my butt and someone sees a tear in my eye they'll forgive me. On top of all this it was discovered a long time friend is a closet democrat. Is the beach house operational mode in a 'woe is me' state? Not hardly. All this too shall pass. I am a blessed man with two beautiful daughters that love me and care about me. Then there's all my great friends GOP, Libertarian, Democrat or whatever. Shucks, my neighbors are the best in the world. All of my clients are super. Yep, peoplewise I know some good folks.

Part of that exit procedure this week will be to make sure my red bandana is in the pocket for obvious reasons. Now the whine engine must be detuned back to impulse mode before it explodes. Prayers are always appreciated. Later y'all.

"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."
~Auguste Rodin (He didn't own a computer)

Delays, Servers and Further Whines

After sleeping on a problem, this morning the problem awoke me. It seems so weird that a machine so stable has started encountering so many UNRELATED problems. My method will be logical deduction until the source is found. And, if I stay alive , it WILL be found. Getting some different protection hardware today. This may be the time to switch to Linux server software as well. As a geek this should make me happy, but other work was planned and now that will be delayed. Everyone please bear with me. The next week will see a lot of evening work so Ken, Dianne, Kim, etc., y'all are not forgotten.

Yes, the phone was off for about 3.5 hours last night. If you call my phone, your number will show up. If you leave a message on voice mail it'll most likely be garbled or I don't receive it until later. So voice mail stuff is very low priority. Nothing is more frustrating than to listen to a bunch of garbled message goop when busy. Besides, I usually don't check it but once a week - that way it's only about 45 minutes of garbled goop that I sit and delete. Wish there was some way to fix it or delete it from the phone. Cingular, they have the least dropped calls you know. They tell you that on TV several times a day. If this is true then apparently Cell South, Sprint, Verizon, etc., must only get one or two partial calls a week. Cingular is changing society in a bad way - being polite and saying goodbye has become almost impossible.

Puh-lease don't message me in GW and ask about the server. Have a little respect for my efforts to practice what little patience is inherent. Whiner boy out...

"Patience: A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue."
~Ambrose Bierce

Chill & Enough

All day has been spent trying to resolve issues with internet connectivity concerning the beach house web server. These problems started when Windows 2k Server was installed a month ago and escalated with a power spike several days ago. Several hundred dollars later and a day of frustration brought the system back online. Now we are having more equipment issues. I am tired of fighting hardware that is in a constant state of flux and will not host Teamspeak for several days. Ashby, thanks for trying .

I need to take my meds.

John Deere, Cub Cadet, I Love You

In 6 days I will celebrate a birthday. My ability to remember my exact age has become part of the gray area of my feebled mind so don't ask. It's somewhere around 100. Well I think my lower back is actually several years older. Anyone know if they do back transplants? The effort to mow yard results in two or three rows n then rest for a few minutes. Hey if I take Flexiril and try to mow the results will end up looking like a psychedelic pattern from the air. Or someone will find me asleep in the yard.

Wow, can't seem to shake whine mode. Will try to do better...


"Sweat silently. Let's have no squawking about a little expenditure of energy."
~Martin H. Fischer (It's apparent Ole Martin never broke a riding lawn mower cable)

How's That Email Workin' For Ya?

After checking email this morning I deleted 1420 pieces of spam that had collected in less than a week. Why so high? The email address is posted on this site. So the sharks feel free to abuse me with all this garbage that means nothing. There's a large amount that is in foreign languages using alphabets not known to English speaking people.

Even though these jerks would worry the piss out of a bullfrog I get the last laugh. The deletion of this 1420 pieces of creep junk happens in just a few seconds with two keystrokes because GMail is used here at the beach house. Out of the 5000 pieces of spam filtered each month less than 2 pieces a week slip through. I report it and never see such dung again. And GMail is very easy to install. My iGoogle homepage even previews new mail that has arrived. Is that kewl or what?

Want a nice hint about web browsing? If you ever come across a page that wants an email address and states that GMail addresses are not accepted leave the page immediately. There's a very good chance they are loading spyware on your computer. They know that GMail is set to defeat them.

Need more info? Try the About GMail site. Want an invitation? Email a request to cybersouth@gmail.com. BTW, this service is freeware at its best!

"He who sends a message by the hand of a fool
Cuts off his own feet and drinks violence."
Proverbs 26:6

Coffee Grinder Usage Is Up

After several days of running a fever and going through stages of dehydration, chills, the 'sweats', etc., it seems the stomach virus has passed. My ability to shake off illness has diminished over the past few years. Several people have asked about the Mallory & Big Daddy meeting. It didn't happen. No one has needed to "see" me for the past few days. Actually made up my mind to go to the Emergency Room, but fell asleep for several hours without throwing up and decided to delay the trip. Was able to drink coffee yesterday, an important daily function, and will resume the regular pace today. Being sick sucks!! Enough whining.

"I assume that to prevent illness in later life, you should never have been born at all.”
~Shaw (Funny, George Bernard, real funny...)

Need Gadgets?

Google recently changed the name of their personalized homepage to iGoogle. They also have gadgets. This company never ceases to amaze me. The Biography TV Channel has an episode about the two creators of this super internet company. Haven't seen it, but will view the next time it's aired. Google rocks!

Have a casual day.


"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!"
~Lee Iacocca

It's Windex Monday and a Challenge

Several people have asked about Microsoft Windows Vista here at the beach house. With the exception of one audio driver upgrade it has been a smooth change over from XP Pro. The audio driver problem may have been due to a corrupt download. MOST frustrating trying to roll back the driver and finally solved the problem by uninstalling and then using the original disk. I'll keep you posted about future audio driver updates.

Vista is a nice operating system. If you are using XP the transition will be very easy after taking a few minutes to adjust to the new look. There are many things going on in the background that are major upgrades like the filing system, media player, etc. The new defragmenting program sucks. It is a window that sits there and tells you it is defragmenting. For almost 300 bucks I want coloful squiggly lines, some noises or general flashbang. But hey, MajorGeeks has several defrag programs listed under the drive utilities section.

The Media Player is big, bulky and pretty cool. Internet Explorer 7 is an improvement, but I'll take Firefox over it any day. Or even SeaMonkey. The browsing is quick and IE7 now has many features that have been needed for years. There is a sidebar on the desktop where you can load gadgets much akin to the styling of the latest Apple OS. Please remember that the Vista bag of goodies will require enormous hardware. You need at least 1 gig of RAM, a CPU clocking in at a gig and 50 gigs of hard drive space. Do yourself a HUGE favor. Use 2 gigs of RAM, a 2 gig CPU and at least a 128meg video card. And stay away from Vista Home Basic.

A challenge goes out to Steve Ballmer of Microsoft for a charity boxing match. We can call it the lardgut weight division. Let's contact Steviepoo Jobs of Apple to referee. And the winner gets to use a chair on him pro wrasslin' style! Proceeds can help furnish Windows Vista to those living the lifestyle of the poor and pitiful (self included, lol). Afterwards we can meet somewhere for a greasyburger cooked on a George Foreman grill thangy. Yeh, that's the ticket! Is it obvious I miss Howard Cosell?

"Hardware: where the people in your company's software section will tell you the problem is. Software: where the people in your company's hardware section will tell you the problem is."
~Dave Barry, Claw Your Way to the Top

Short Trip

The birds are singing, the sun is rising, the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is tasty and I must hurry. Returning the Harley this morning. The phone will be checked every once in a while and I should be back on duty early this afternoon. Well, it's time to hit the shower and then the road. Later.

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."
~Mark Twain

Wordsworth Forgive Me

Tuesday evening found me tired, feeling ancient, suffering lower back pain and at a loss for something to post. As a joke I made an almost fatal attempt at poetry. Secure enough in my manhood here to admit Shelley, Byron, Keats, Sandburg, Dickinson, and many others have been read at the beach house. It's not quite as entertaining as Lewis Grizzard, Dave Barry or Ludlow Porch, but some of those people sure knew how to use words n make purty.

To lISA (why are you spelling your name that way?): Yes, I was in a purple haze.

To Robin: Thanks for the email and I stand corrected.

To Hoppa: Appreciate the kudos!

To Mudslingr: Yes, I wonder too. Why is she shouting?

To Beagle: What a great embellishment!

My attempt at poetry was lacking. My further attempt at Haiku was even worse (if you can bear it, look in the Tuesday comments). Come to find out it wasn't Haiku at all, but actually Senryu. Okay enough, go to Wikipedia if you need to know more. The 'Adventure in Poetry' at the beach house has screeched to a halt. Will try to never do it again. Let me just close by saying if you smiled at the above then I wish you peace and love.

"A poet can survive everything but a misprint."
~Oscar Wilde

Be Careful Out There

Now that Vista has been out several months it's time to take a look at what needs to be done to protect the system. Last month on the 27th there was a post about the 5 necessary tools needed to keep the creeps away. All of these applications are freeware and there are links to each piece of software. The people that wrote them will gladly let you upgrade for a small fee or they will take donations. Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the month of April 2007 and then scroll down the archive to the 27th. There you are---

Don't depend on the Windows Defender software that comes bundled with Vista. Microsoft has your computer "reporting in" all the time and their software will promote this bad, bad practice. The 5 programs referenced above will stop a lot of this garbage. Bill Gates, Fat Boy Ballmer, etc., have NO business snooping around in our PERSONAL computers. Think about it. Would you let someone come in and go through your underwear drawer or checkbook balance ledger? This is just another push to deleting privacy from our lives and that is not healthy on many levels.

For more on system maintenance PC Magazine has a series of articles that might interest you. Peace out and share the love, y'all.

"Please, please, please don't buy Windows Vista Home Basic. No matter how casual your computer usage is don't buy this software. Windows XP is a far better investment, if you can find it for sale."
~Billy Wobblynife

When Tired Wax Poetic

Long day
Did not pay
nothing to say
wolves stay at bay
now hittin' the hay

Later

Lordy, I've Got Ramblin' on my Mind

It's Monday and several overdue service calls have to be done this morning. If all goes well another attempt to do away with the jungle around the beach house will happen this afternoon. The yard looks really bad and this is the last year for the ugliest fence in Lee County. Next year the wisteria can wrap around some new barrier to keep people from wandering into the yard on foot or via automobile. Hope Arnold, opossumus germanicus austriabodicus, will approve.

The riding lawn mower still has a cable snapped. My ability to replace this item is null and void. I'll gladly pay money if someone wants to tackle it. If you drive by the beach house and see a push mower still running beside what appears to be a beached whale be sure and have them sing "The Finer Things" by Steve Winwood at the funeral. It's a love song of sorts, but reflects positive and personal attitude about life, the universe, and everything. The Methodists won't mind.

or time is a river rolling into nowhere
We must live while we can
And well drink our cup of laughter
~Winwood, (complete lyrics here)

Server is Now in Tweaking Mode as is a New Site!

Good to have the web server up and running. It will go through more changes this week, but these outages should be brief and during off-peak hours. Ashby has organized our TS channels in a primomundo way and the descriptions of areas are accurate and funny. He also adjusted the codecs for speed and clarity. It's all good and users should see even better performance in the future. The wimpy network card has to change. Anyone have a spare 3Com TX905?

One of the new sites in the making here at the beach house is http://www.guildwarsammo.com. Well, it'll be pushed up to the web here but is a collaborative effort of 3 different local guilds so far. Anyone wanting to participate or contribute please contact us. The email addy is guildwarsammo@gmail.com. Email is being received and the site header has been made.



We need participation. In order to assemble and maintain a quality site we must be diligent and cooperative. Wow, what great fun is in store for those involved! And besides, you'll automatically have an invitation to the LAN parties, lol.

We'd like to see many people involved. If you have a build, article, comment, pictures, videos, etc. we will gladly help with the HTML and get yo stuff posted. With the discontinuation of GuildWiki's build section coming up in May here's a great place to be noted for an outstanding combination of skills and expertise. Join in! Will make a major announcement when the site launches.

Baby update: She's coming to see us this coming weekend! Rumor has it she needs to have a 'meeting' with Big Daddy and the Purple Giraffe. Yes, we are all excited!

"Every baby needs a lap."
~Henry Robin

Server update

Update of the Server situation: It is running again, but NOT online. The boot drive is being formatted for a clean OS install. Need I remind everyone of the time it takes to format and set up a SCSI drive? Several more items had to be replaced; SCSI card, network card, PS etc. One of the resident drives is in an unhealthy state and may be replaced too. This has been a nightmare, but at least the machine is now working. TS users please be patient and understand your logs ins will be anonymous. The internal structure will change, but the passwords will remain the same. Will post later when it actually goes back online. Later

UPDATE - 5:20pm - Just brought the Web Server back online. Teamspeak is installed, but the Server is doing some very critical updates at the moment so it will not be available for an hour or so. Just so damn glad it is running again and hooking to the internet. This happened after trying 4 different NICs and the one that worked is an old Realtek WIN network card! This will certainly change to a better piece of hardware as it's discovered why, etc. Bear with me...I need a drink.

UPDATE - 9:04PM - With Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, Esq., help the Teamspeak server is back online. Please call if you have trouble connecting. The speed seems better. Thanks to everyone for their patience, support and help. Y'all da bomb!

Teamspeak Server Hard Crash

Late yesterday afternoon and in the middle of the night the beach house experienced MAJOR power surges after power outages. The protection devices served well the first time but the second time the DLink router/print server and the huge web server went down hard. This means no Teamspeak 24/7 for a day or so. Sorry.

The router can be overcome (have them in stock) and I hope a power supply will fix the web server. Keep your fingers crossed. The server is a dual processor, 1gig RAM, SCSI HDD configuration with several drives and a netserver cabinet with six SCSI HDDs in a Raid 5 array. Heck, there are 9 fans in the server alone. This won't run on your average power supply. I just hope that's the problem. This machine cost too much to replace.

Please bear with me, it'll be brought back as soon as possible. Anyone have a huge power supply? Gosh, I feel bad-wimpy.

"Things are never so bad they can't be made worse."
~Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen

Trash Day Started Yesterday

Yesterday it was decided to upgrade the Realtek audio drivers to the 6231 driver for Windows Vista 32 bit on the new Vista set up here at the beach house network. Whatever you do DON'T DO THIS UPGRADE. After several hours of pulling hair, editing the registry, cursing Steve Ballmer, whining to friends, crying in front of friends, considering starting a taco stand instead of doing computer work, taking extra blood pressure meds and sleeping on it, the original drivers just installed a few minutes ago and seem to be stable.

Once again I foresee several hundred patches before things become stable with this latest offering from Microsoft. Lordy I even considered wiping it, selling the new drives and reinstalling the previous SCSI configuration. Slow and easy must be the approach. My stress level does not need to be that high ever again. Dealing with new operating systems has always been a problem with me. I hated migrating from 3.1 to Windows 95. Of course after ME the move to Windows 2000 was a dream. The 2000 OS changed computing. Then XP came along with a new GUI ontop of the Windows 2000 kernel and...well, you know the rest.

Now I must get busy and catch up on the delayed work caused by this calamity. Everyone have a casual Thursday. If you live in Saltillo don't forget to put your garbage out for pick up. Just glad mine doesn't include a computer case, broken monitor, etc. (insert an evil grin here).

"Calamity, n. A more than commonly plain and unmistakable reminder that the affairs of this life are not of our own ordering."
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

A Debt Not Payable

Looks like rain outside. Trying to mow the jungle that surrounds the beach house won't happen in the rain. The drainage ditch is blocked and hopefully the city will take care of the problem. Everytime it rains leaves, sticks, small animals, compact cars, etc., show up in the drive. It's a mess. Mowing needs to happen.

Murf sent a photo taken during 'The trip' and insisted it be posted. This was taken in Perry, Florida. It was early and we had just finished wiping the ice off the seats. Yes, ice. Later that morning when we arrived in Daytona people were wearing tee shirts, shorts, and flip flops. Here's my normal confused look:



This was an adventure of a lifetime. Tickles me that all the nay-sayers and doubters that poked fun and said I'd never make it have eaten some crow. The whole experience was just one laugh after another. We went for the RIDE and to have a good time.

Murf, I owe you...bigtime. Our friendship has survived over 3 decades and to ride over 2000 miles was awesome. There's one thing even more awesome. Harley riders don't want people sitting on their bikes without permission much less riding them. For you to loan me a beautiful Harley and tell me to ride it like it's my own, well that's the love of a brother. Thanks man.

It's going home this week. Couldn't pour the money together to buy it; computer tech here, not the best paying job on the planet. Never wanted a material thing so badly, but the Good Lord knows I will always cherish my time spent on it. Who knows? Money may show up!

You can read about 'The trip' by clicking on the archive March 2007, and scrolling back to the first week.

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."
~Thomas Jefferson

The Upgrade (No Profane Title Words Today)

After cooling down and getting over the fact that Microsoft now penalizes users for doing an upgrade instead of spending the extra money for the full version, the verdict is in about Vista installation. The 32 bit version of Ultimate was used and I followed the instructions in yesterday's post. It's a nice operating system that is hardware hungry. Don't expect it to run on anything with less than a gig of RAM and at least a 1gig CPU. There was no problem finding drivers and the installation was quick and easy. Feeling better about it, but advise those running XP or 2000 to wait. I still think Steve Ballmer is one of the biggest jerks on the planet.

The two SATA drives are striped and the speed is pretty darn good. Two matching Seagate 160gig drives were used and the installation on the MSI motherboard was a breeze. Certainly quieter than SCSI drives for sure. There is an issue with screen jitters at high resolution in Guild Wars, but this should be resolved with some research. Not a bad day and two other machines on the bench were repaired and returned. There have been worse days. Hey, my geekness yearns for more power. Next is a multicore CPU that can do speed o' light.

Actually there was one hard thing concerning this venture. I destroyed the package getting to the software. When the time comes to migrate to Vista be sure and have your computer nerd show you how to open it.

"How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?"
~William Shakespeare, Othello, 1604

Damn a Bunch of Windows Vista

If I had read the following article a few days earlier my purchase of Vista would not have happened. This is crazy! Microsoft makes your copy of XP non-usable after you upgrade with Vista. Are these stupid horses asses trying to go out of business or what? The beach house is beginning to lean towards the Microsoft Sucks group.

Workaround For Clean Install With Vista Upgrade DVDs
January 31st, 2007 by Corrine

ActiveWin published a workaround provided by Microsoft internal documentation for Vista Upgrade DVDs that will not invalidate the Windows XP Key, as discussed here.

Edit Update: As noted in the comments below, Blair provided the original source, not credited by ActiveWin, as Paul Thurrott.

“Per Microsoft’s new licensing requirements for Vista, users are required to install a Windows Vista Upgrade from within Windows XP. When this occurs, the Windows XP license is forfeited and the Windows Vista installation process can take place. Now, however, this workaround allows users to perform a “clean install.” The process is a bit tedious, but is not hard are all to complete. Users have to perform these simple steps to perform a clean install of Vista without a previous version of Windows installed with an upgrade DVD:

1. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.

2. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click “Next” and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.

3. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.

4. Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.

5. This time, type in your product key when prompted.

6. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.

7. Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.”


Here's the link to this article; TomCoyote. Be sure and read the comments left by other irate folks. Windows Nazis don't need to comment. This is wayyyyy over the top and I am now encouraging people to not buy this cheesy Microslime product. Hell, I may start using Apple!!!

"Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited."
~James Cardinal Gibbons

Vista and CPAs

Several of my friends are CPAs. They all look tired. Today is normally the last day for IRS filing, but they've extended it to the 17th this year. God bless them all and help them survive the next few days. Their hours are horrendous during this season and they all work hard. Hope they get a chance to rest later this week.

Still thinking about the Vista installation. Gosh the more I read the more I am befuddled. Some folks actually hate the 64 bit version and say throw the disk away while others love it. I cannot take a chance on software not running so the 32 bit may be the choice. Tomorrow is decision time.

Sometimes it is amazing what people expect technicians to know. If you own a business and use accounting software for payroll, receivables, etc., then please learn to install and use it. I do my dead level best to leave accounting to the aforementioned CPAs and, for the most part, they leave the problems of computer hardware to me.

Please take note: If every software application known to man was running at the beach house and thoroughly understood I wouldn't be doing this job. Glad to help if familiar with a product, but don't think that I automatically know how to use "Norton's Automatic Dog Walking Suite" or "McNally's Accounting for Martians." The beach house deals in hardware and operating systems. Think about it...

Enjoy Sunday. Pray for your CPA.

"I regularly read Internet user groups filled with messages from people trying to solve software incompatibility problems that, in terms of complexity, make the U.S. Tax Code look like Dr. Seuss."
~Dave Barry

To 64 or Not?

Purchased Windows Vista today. Have the Ultimate version and am in a quandary about installing the 32 or 64 bit version. Both DVDs are included. Some programs won't work with 64 bit like AVG Antivirus. This worries me. I think AVG is by far the best antivirus program. It'll be strange to not see the multicolored box in the system tray.

The 64 bit version is problematic when it comes to resident drivers so I am leaning towards the 32 bit version. Besides, I am setting up a RAID array of two SATAII Seagate hard drives and pushing the thru put to 300mb. May be best to move up to 64 bit the next time I reload when the processor is upgraded All my hardware seems capable so this requires more thought. Certainly in no hurry.

Got to put a PC on the bench and get to work. Later y'all.

"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
~Edsger W. Dijkstra

Temporary Phone Failure

Tonight after fighting the bear all day I came in and dropped. The cell phone was dead, but a battery recharge seems to have corrected the problem. At first I thought there might be a problem, but after a review of today's schedule it was found that it used a lot to converse with many different clients throughout the day.

Please forgive my oversight about not charging it and DON'T bust my ass about it. I am human and make mistakes. While most everyone will enjoy the next two days off, I will work all weekend to aid and abet people with tech problems. It will start early in the morning and continue until Sunday night except for the short period the acre of yard will be mowed with a push mower.

Just finished an overhaul of a network by replacing the machine used for accounting with a new Vista Premium unit. The old unit was a PII 450 with under 10gigs of hard drive space and 192megs of RAM. Needless to say after wading through all the silly Peachtree snafus it is performing nicely. The old computer had 80mb of free space, lol. This project has been spread out over a period of a week and I am glad to see it marked off the "to do" list. Hey, critical mass was almost reached.

Really tired here. Going to bed. Later.

"As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes."
~Mel Brooks

News Planetwide and Local

Some headlines today on planet earth:

iTunes to Offer MGM Movies for Download

Kurt Vonnegut Dies at Age 84

Chinese Premier Visits Japan

Snoop Dogg Pleads No Contest (and wins, sorta')

An email was received inquiring about the resident possum at the beach house. Arnold, opposumus germanicus austriabodicus, has been quiet since the effort he made to direct traffic during the local Christmas parade. He has been seen on occasion, but has made no attacks against the green garbage dumpster thangy or the barbeque grill in a while. I was awakened in the middle of the night last week by the howl of either a cat or dog just outside the bedroom window. Probably Arnold protecting his possum ponderosa. He likes to stir things up in warm weather so mention of him may become more frequent.

Enjoy the great weather today. Rain is in the forecast tomorrow.

"Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem."
~Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

There Be Whales Onboard, Cap'n!

The title will be best understood by trekkies. In Star Trek IV (one of the best trek movies) Scotty says this to Kirk after beaming two humpback whales onboard their Klingon spaceship. The whales help them save the world. These beasties are held in an aluminum tank that is transparent. Science Fiction you say? Do not be hasty brown bear. Transparent concrete with an alumina base is in development and it also seems to conduct electricity. Can you imagine the future of this discovery? Read about it at the Pink Tentacle. Thanks goes out to Slashdot for this link.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"
~Isaac Asimov

Guild Wars Response

Here's the responses received from the Guild Wars people:

Recently you requested personal assistance from the PlayNC Support Team. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.

If your issue remains unresolved, please update this question here.

Subject
Are you going to delete the Necromancers permanently?

Discussion Thread
Response (GM Oghma) 04/09/2007 01:24 PM
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Guild Wars Support about this.

We encourage you to consider posting your suggestions on one of many of the Guild Wars Fansite message boards. A compiled list can be found on the official Guild Wars web site at http://www.guildwars.com/community/fansites/. By posting on one of these message boards, other players can comment on your ideas, concerns, and suggestions, and Development Team members are able to catch up on what the community wants to see in Guild Wars. Fansite forums make it easy and efficient for us to learn from those playing the game.

Thank you for your efforts in assisting us to make Guild Wars the best gaming experience possible.

Regards,

The Guild Wars Support Team
Response (Ethan) 04/07/2007 11:32 AM
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Guild Wars Support about this.

We encourage you to consider posting your suggestions on one of many of the Guild Wars Fansite message boards. A compiled list can be found on the official Guild Wars web site at http://www.guildwars.com/community/fansites/. By posting on one of these message boards, other players can comment on your ideas, concerns, and suggestions, and Development Team members are able to catch up on what the community wants to see in Guild Wars. Fansite forums make it easy and efficient for us to learn from those playing the game.


In order to better assist you with this issue, we will transfer your ticket to our Game Support Department. A member of that department will be in contact with you shortly. If you have any further questions, please let us know and we will gladly assist you.

Regards,
The Guild Wars Support Team

They are basically sayiing , "Go away boy, don't bother me." There are two responses from two different "people" and the letters are all but identical. So, when you purchase another copy of Guild Wars keep in mind that customer input means nothing to these folks. This may not be the final chapter.

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."
~Newt Gingrich

Power Down

There is a really nice Dell PC whirring in the background. It's a workstation that resides on a local network. A hard drive format and a re-installation of the Windows XP operating system are underway. After checking the event viewer to see why it was having problems connecting to its server the majority of shutdowns during the past month were improper. Damn it all, there is a RIGHT WAY TO SHUTDOWN A COMPUTER! The mistreatment of this well built, up to date, efficient work tool cost several hours of bench time.

If you don't know how to shut it down, ask someone or visit the Microsoft site and review the procedure. You can even email me and I'll gladly go over how it's done. In order to activate and register the software I'll be up at 4:30 AM to place a call that will go through without the horrible delay experienced during normal working hours.

Good night...

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom."
~Phyllis Theroux

Peter Cottontail and Purple Giraffes

It's Easter: The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. It's also a day that children have fun hunting colored eggs and eating chocolate bunnies n such. The parents usually have ham and other health foods like mashed potatoes with gravy, yeast rolls with real butter, apple pie with ice cream on top, etc.

Yes it's Easter. Always has been and always will be for me. If you don't like the name because it's associated with old Celtic pagan fertility rituals then that's your uptight narrowed minded business. I love this holiday because it has the positive nature of Christ's rising and souls being saved. Good Friday I am not so crazy about...

Received the best email ever today. Tears filled my eyes with joy as I looked at the pictures of our newest edition and then saw the one with the Purple Giraffe holding her new cousin in her arms. Wow, this nailed me. There are many great photos so far, but one with both of them is a huge old tug at my heart. Yes, I realize my advanced years have made me somewhat maudlin. Don't care.

Now the hunt has escalated for a decent photo printer. Have the paper, but my old printer is just not gonna do the job. The two HP laser printers on the network have served for years without a glitch so it will be an HP more than likely. Besides, that gives me a chance to talk to Rajah or Omar in New Delhi if problems arise. Wonder how long it'll take the illegal immigrants to raise hell about them not speaking Spanish?

Later y'all.

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."
~Clarence W. Hall

Letters, We Get Letters

Since I was an early participant in GMail I was able to acquire the address mikewest@gmail.com. I've turned down large sums of money to release this to several other Mike Wests. I don't use it that much so please be sure and send all email to cybersouth@gmail.com. Anyway received this message this morning:

Lisa West to me


Dear Michael,
I LOVE YOU!!
HUGS AND KISSES
LOVE, MOM



Here is my reply:


Mike West to Lisa West


Mother,

When did you change your name to Lisa and why? Is it warm there? Mississippi is experiencing a cold spell. Have you talked to brother Dan lately? How about Aunt Judith? Is she recovering from the wreck okay?

I love you too,

Michael



Think she will write back?



"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than he was yesterday."
~Alexander Pope

For Guild Wars Addicts

This was just submitted to the NCSoft/ArenaNet folks:


"Soul Reaping functionality changed so that you may only gain Energy from Soul Reaping every 5 seconds."


C'mon, what gives? First you take away minions and limit us to 10. Since then it has been a steady stream of negative moves towards Necromancers. Let's see, no inherent running capability, extremely hard skill sets to become effective, armor not much better than a monk, energy management that's a joke and now you've messed with Soul Reaping!!!!

I have all three modules, am a guild leader, have a guild hall that's complete with all NPCs and a team that is really upset about this Soul Reaping nerf. People, my uber SLI machine, 22" Viewsonic, two Zboards (one has the Guild Wars keyset), a G5 laser mouse, dual processor server for Teamspeak, etc. don't need to go to waste. They were purchased to play Guild Wars and only Guild Wars.

Please, please remove this latest hit and go mess with another profession for a change! Since 2005 ALL our LAN parties feature only gaming in Tyria, Cantha and Elona. Your game is wonderful, but why this obsession with damaging the Necromancer profession? Other guild members won't write because they have heard that you don't care about your customer base and won't answer. We will see...if you do answer with an enlightening explanation, I'll gladly publish it on our website.

Will update my fellow GW nerdlings if there is an answer. Now I must go pick up my toys in the driveway and put them away.

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do."
~Joe Walsh

Whine On, You Crazy Vegetable

Today disappeared. It was one of those negative days of doing nothing. Meds for the back do that and I hate taking them, but at least the pain has gone away. People that have never experienced back trouble are certainly blessed. It hurt from my ankle to the shoulder blade. The only alternative was to take the muscle relaxer and become the Couch Vegetator. Enough. Being in warp whine all day wasn't fun either.

Closed the windows and brought out the small heater. This weather is crazy. Highs in the 40s and low 50s until Monday. Then spring returns. Dress warm for Easter this weekend.

"Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!"
~Pink Floyd

Baby News, etc.

Finally talked to my oldest daughter tonight. Mallory was born on Friday and they went home Sunday. J.K. said that she is already a Daddy's girl. The conversation was up tempo. J.K.was excited and laughing which pleases me. Nice to know everyone is happy. I will be in Baton Rouge soon.

Moved some hardware around and felt the back go out. Have taken medication and played Guild Wars for a while. Sitting in a comfortable chair and not moving around can ease the pain. There's too much on the schedule to suffer immobility. Getting out of bed in the morning will tell the tale.

"Treat the patient, not the Xray."
~James M. Hunter

Hard Drive Babble, Mouse Review and Big Daddy Stuff

Changes are coming to the beach house network. For years I have been an advocate of SCSI hard drives due to their speed and dependability. My gaming machine presently uses SCSI, but that will change. I've opted to go for the SATA hard drive array in striped mode. This is a Raid 0 configuration that writes information to two different drives increasing the overall speed. Well, we will see if this theory holds up.

Seagate offers a five year warranty. They seem to have replaced IBM in the drive market as the leader. Man, those IBM drives were awesome. Hitachi bought this division and hopefully they will continue the tradition. Anyway, two Seagate 160 gigabyte SATA drives will be striped utilizing the controller that exists on the motherboard. Since this configuration boasts a 3.0 data transfer an improvement in speed should be apparent. Next update? Vista Ultimate.

There's a new mouse on the gaming machine. It is a Logitech G5 laser mouse. This is a mouse on steroids. It has a great feel, awesome speed and many features...just click on the link. It is a wired mouse. My years of obsession with wireless input devices has been shelved. The Zboard and ZBoard MERC broke my long cycle of using wireless devices. Now there's a mouse to match. BTW, the G5 is on sale at Best Buy for 49 dollars and change.

Mallory Elaine, her Mother and Dad are doing great. A trip is being planned with Beagle and Mudslingr. She's very cute and has features of both parents. Thanks goes out to everyone for the wellwishes and prayers.

"Married daughters with children...now there is danger of being classified a first edition."
~Billy Wobblynife

Got OS Backup Disks?

Have you created a set of recovery disks for your PC or checked to see if they came with it? Go do that, now. Recently such disks had to be ordered to restore a PC to working condition. After listening to someone in India get completely bamboozled while experiencing the trauma of conversing in English (his some sort of sub-English and mine flavored with southernese) and several phone calls later, the disks arrived almost a month after the order was originally placed. This is sad. Something has to give on the non-support of tech support. The beach house is still waiting for a comment or an email suggesting a company that has American based tech support. Please let me know if such a company even exists. This is, by far, the most common complaint about today's computer usage.

Besides, how can a nation of people eat that nasty curry powder almost every meal? Yuck! If I was force fed a diet of that garbage my language abilities would go out the window too. Please excuse me while I go get a piece of buttermilk cornbread. Later, y'all.

"All sorrows are less with bread."
~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Peaceful, Easy Feeling

LAN Party was casual. The borrowed Wii and DVD Trivial Pursuit were never brought online. It was a night to chat. We did help some of the newer players get started and everyone seemed to not mind the change in menu to burgers and dawgs ( I burnt the first round of burgers, lol, a sacrifice to the Guild Wars Voodoo, Hoodoo gods). It had been a long week for everyone it seemed and a lot of people that were soooo absolute about attending didn't show. The weather was bad and can't say that I blame them. But, put Memorial Day Weekend on the calendar. That's the first big LAN gathering of the summer amd you don't want to miss it! Memorial Day is the 28th of May, but the LAN Party festivities will commence on Saturday the 26th around 5-ish.

It's time to take Flexiril for the back pain. To sleep perchance...

"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."
~Charlotte Brontë (as does a ruffled back)