I almost hate computers now.

With the added income of a decent tax return, plus the stimuli check, I had planned on getting a new laptop.

Easier said than done.

Problem One: Vista. The initial response for this OS was generally a massive FAIL. So of course I wanted little or nothing to do with it. It looked pretty, but other than that, no thank you. When I got the laptop Im currently using, Vista had just been released, so XP Machines were still floating around a-plenty.

Now, a couple years later, its quite the opposite. I think Ive found one decent new computer thats got XP. Probably because Microsoft stops selling the thing at some point this month.

I ask around. Is Vista really that bad?

Responses vary. I got everything from "Best. OS. EVER!" to "Almost as bad as ME", and everything in between. Not helpful, people.

After some poking around, and annoying more people about this topic, I finally said "what the hell". Ill get a damn Vista. If I dont like it, Ill down it.

Here we have problem 2:
Microsoft has made is very, very difficult to do this. One would have to have a good deal of time on their hands and figure out, then find the various drivers needed to do this. Apparently wireless ones are a bitch to find, as are some sound card drivers.

If need be, Im about 75% sure I can figure all this crap out. Maybe. I like voiding warranties.

Thats another thing. Taking it back to XP is a damn good way to kill the warranty on it. Thats alright though, because I always get an extended via whatever store I get it from.
Which, if its not from an online retailer, will be Best Buy. Initially, I was going to get it from Circuit City. I like them, and Ive had issues with BB (Best Buy) in the past. Problem is that if I get it from CC (Circuit City) and then decide to downgrade, FireDog has to do it, or Ill void that $200 warranty too. Taking it to them will take forever, and itll cost me at least another $100.
Not so with Best Buy. The employee informed me that their warranty covers hardware only, and that installing an OS is pretty much seen as a software upgrade (he compared it to installing virus software). Me screwing with the OS wont kill the BB warranty.
Gee, wonder who Ill pick.

If that wasnt enough, I did in fact find one I really liked. Of course theres a problem. Vista, no service pack. Enough (anti-vista, too) people have said that SP1 is necessary.

I cant win.


I have to wonder why Im giving myself such a damn headache over a laptop. Why not get a Mac? or install Linux?

Unless someone has a spare $1000-$1500+ they can give me, I wont be touching Macs. Id love to try a MacBook, but its sadly quite out of my price range.
At some point in time, Im going to figure out which one of these LiveCD boot disks I like the most and install it on my old school desktop. For something completely (sorta) new? Not yet. I cant afford to start from scratch with something I dont know that much about yet.

Though, if while downgrading, I manage to break it...I have 7 linux CDs.

Stumble It!

Um, lets just call this an update.

I realize that I havent posted here with anything resembling frequency lately. There are a lot of reasons for this, none of which Im listing, mostly because I dont want to.
Go figure.

Spent last week in the Outer Banks of NC. Was very nice. I even got a tan! It goes from the back of my hand to my elbow.

Im strangely pleased to announce that my forearms are untouched by said tan. Heh. Still working on the chaco tan though. A couple more weekends should do it.

A bit of Friday was spent on a waverunner. That was enjoyable for the most part. This particular company had a small boat they kept out on the water to assist anyone that falls off or to scold anyone that goes out of the company's area. Whoever owned this place last year didnt have that. I thought it was a good thing.

Atleast, I did until he decided to park the boat smack in the middle of their 'area' instead of lurking about the edges. Waverunners are supposed to maintain a 50 yard distance from each other and anything else in the water(kayaks, parasailing boats, etc). It was a bitch going around him all the damn time.

I should also mention that my dad and sister also took a runner out. She managed to toss him off. Heh.

Internet time on vacations should be a minimum, Ill admit.
That must be why OBX wireless can be considered an epic fail.
My choices were as follows: The freebie one, which usually had a decent connection, but had an ever-present, cant ever get rid of, top ad-banner for local OBX stuff.
This isnt a regular ad-banner though. It has its own url in front of the regular address. 90% of the time, once the banner finishes loading it doesnt see the other web addy and it thinks its done.

I (okay...we, meaning Dad and his company card) couldve also gone haves on the $40 a week for ad-free, but I could barely pick up that network anyway.

Last month we finally got DirecTV. I also got my rugby channel for the low, low price of $15 a month. Yay me.

Good to know I couldnt watch it for the better part of the week. It would figure that my TV is the one that has all old wires heading to it. Why the original tech guy didnt replace them, I dont know. This is a 20+ year old house. Most of the cables are original.

Fortunately, that was fixed rather easily as another technician replaced said wires so that I can now watch Scotland and Wales battle it out in 6 Nations. Wales currently has a 4 point lead.
If they would air Australian Rules Football at a decent hour, I would be most pleased.

Up until today, DirecTV technician/customer service people were held in fairly high regard.

Yesterday we spent the better part of the day setting up a big ass-HDTV. The technicians were supposed to be here between 6 and 8 in the evening to set up the HD/DVR box.

They apparently showed up at 4:30. No one was home. They didnt come back either.
For some reason or another, a message from Customer Service was on our machine.
The current thing with companies customer service HQ being in India or somesuch is really pissing me off. The message on our machine could barely be described as english. The message had to be replayed multiple times to a) figure out what the hell they wanted and b) to copy the number down.
I still dont know what it was about.


A couple of days ago I got a FireFox extension called PMOG. Its some kind of Online RPG you play by browsing the interwebs. Im still trying to figure it out. Must be doing okay, Im almost level 4. Yay!

It just sent me on a "Mission" for more FireFox extensions. The two Ive seen so far look really good. I wonder if ForecastFox will allow me to kick weatherbug.

UPDATE Weatherbug can consider itself kicked. ForecastFox is friggin awesome. So is adblock.

Stumble It!