The Pain of OS Upgrades

04.17.2003

After putting it off for a week or two, I finally gave in to get the Windows upgraded from Home edition to Professional on the laptop. Why? So I could run Microsoft's stupid web server, which doesn't run on the home version (and pisses me off because of it). I found numerous ways to hack the IIS package, which usually boiled down to 2 ways, which might not work. I tried them. If you know my history of installing things,it never goes well, and this stayed true to form by not working for me either.

So I went to CompUSA, handed them the laptop, and bid them to install the upgrade for me. And charge me extra and be quick about it! 20 hours later I had the laptop back, which was 16 hours more than I expected. They suck. On top of that, whenever I opened a window, Microsoft Money 2002 to install, and it wanted disk 2 to do it! Never mind that I don't even know what MS Money is, but there was no way I could get it to stop trying to install (especially since I didn't have the disk it kept wanting). After removing directories by hand, removing what files were present for Money, MS Works, and .NET, it finally quit trying to install.

I got them to install more memory too, but I was stupid and thought I had 256MB to begin with and was expanding to 512MB. I had 2 64MB sticks, 1 of which got replaced by the new 256MB chip.

That's what I get for trying to be a big shot and get somebody else to do my dirty work.

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Electoral Powerbomb From The Top Rope

04.16.2003

In keeping with the occassional wrestling tidbit I manage to pick up, Japanese wrestler The Great Sasuke (pronounced "Sas-kay", I'm just so learned) has managed to get elected to a local assembly while promising to not take off his mask. I wonder if Jesse Ventura knows about this?

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Camtoon Tuesday

04.15.2003

For the second week in a row, there's a new camtoon up, which will more than likely make everyone wonder just where the hell I'm going with this.

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Mice 2; Cold 1

04.14.2003

After a funfilled weekend, I've managed to lessen my mouse population while catching a cold.

About a week ago, I discovered that I had mice in the kitchen. My mice seem partial to potato toppers, Wendy's ketchup packets, and Taco Bell mild hot sauce, because that's what they had gotten into. I went to my local Wal-Mart and picked up 1 of each type of mouse trap they had, my favorite being the sticky glue pads. Sticky glue pads will stick to anything, especially the bottom ofcabinets. Sticking them there cuts down on their usefullness against the mice.

By Saturday night I had caught mouse #1. Big sticky pad had done its job! I saw mouse #2 sulk off as I was tracking down mouse #1, so I knew the job wasn't completely over. Come Sunday morning, mouse #2 had encountered sticky pad #2! This was good progress, but I still heard mouse #3 (plus whoever else had snuck in) behind the cabinets where no sticky pad could reach.

Since then, I've laid more sticky pads, but haven't caught anything more. Except a cold that I started to get Friday night. Sunday was the fun day for the cold. I had enough of a fever that my equilibrium was a little off, so as I laid in the bed it would slowly spin every once in a while. Luckily, I learned long ago that's one of the things I do when I'm running a fever, so I didn't freak out.

Now if I could only shake the rest of this cold and/or get rid of the rest of those damned mice!

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Car Rental Fun

04.11.2003

When Gina and I go to the beach in a couple of weeks, I thought it would be neat to rent a convertible. The last time I bought a convertible, I ended up buying it a month later, and I have had the fever lately.

The problem is that almost no one in Huntsville/Madison rents convertibles anymore. The only place I found was Americar in Madison, and the only make they rent is the Mustang. One of the places I called (Hertz, I think), told me they don't rent them because they're too hard to sell afterwards.

Now I'm not sure if I'll rent one or not. I was wanting to rent a Sebring (kind of try on out, just in case I really do want to buy one later). Having had a Mustang for so long, I know the fun of packing in a weeks worth of travelling gear for 2 people, so I'm not sure if that will be worth the hassle.

Luckily, I've got a week or two to mull it over.

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