November 28: Centrino of the Universe

First off, an unpaid advertisement for the best way to get ahold of TV shows in the universe: ShunTV. You have to sign up, but it's damn fast — I was getting speeds of 160 - 170 K/s. Speaking of TV shows, does anyone else ever wonder why the Red Green Show almost always involves an old dryer during Handman's Corner? I do. He's building an escalator in the episode I'm watching right now.

Anyway, I'm having troubles with my computer again, which really, really sucks. I guess I really am cursed. After swapping Nano for another equivalent laptop on Thursday because it would turn off for no reason, I thought I was home-free. But this one doesn't always turns on, and sometimes the graphics get all messed up during boot-up. I'm not pleased. I've been investigating buying a Dell (I can return this one for a full refund if I do it by Thursday) but they're a bit pricey. I really don't know what to do, or if I will ever get a computer that works perfectly again. I'm really feeling defeated.

I'm also sick, which doesn't help my mood. I called in sick at work last night, which is really rare for me. I'm all coughy and headachey and my lips are really, really dry for some reason. I'm generally miserable. I have an algorithms assignment to do, but my head isn't working right. It's due Wednesday, so I'll have to do that tomorrow at school. I also have to get my compiler done by next Monday, and I have one more math assignment. Then, school is done — huzzah. Sigh. I'm very sick of learning.

November 25: You Have No Easy-pour Spout

Wow, it's really raining. The weather outside is frightful, although not in a very holiday-esque manner. As previously stated, I can't wait for the holiday season to arrive. For some reason, I've lost my grinch-like demeanor this year and I'm ready for snow. Lots of snow. And Christmas specials on television. Now, if only I knew why American Thanksgiving is a month later than Canadian Thanksgiving (or eleven months earlier, depending on your perspective), I'd be pretty content. Now, take a look at the CS web cam and enjoy the dampness:

Rainy webcam
Click the image to get a nice little animation — I really like the tractor that drives by.

Anyway, I'm just spending the day at home, avoiding all of the school work that I really should be working on. At some point today — probably this evening, to be honest — I have to go to FutureShop and get their technician guys to take a look at Nano. I'm having a weird issue (and yes, I think I might be cursed when it comes to laptops), whereby I can be sitting there, doing whatever, and all of a sudden, the computer is off. Totally. It doesn't shutdown, it just turns off. And it happens whether it's plugged in or running on batteries. I'm not sure what the problem is, so it's best to get it looked at quickly. And it's very annoying — just last night, such a power outage destroyed a new family I had created in The Sims 2, which is a shamefully addictive game.

In other news, George Bush, assassin of the freeworld, is coming to Halifax next week. Can you say “protest”? I can't wait — I'll probably ditch some classes to get check out the doin's. What an cockmonger — I hope he gets the message that he really isn't welcome in Canada. If you're going to be diplomatic with Canada, you should probably do it within, oh, I don't know, the first four years of your presidency. Again, cockmonger. Arg.

So. Yeah. That's about all that's going on it my world.

November 23: Waiting for Mom and Janet

Well, I'm bored. Keddy and I are sitting around waiting for Janet and my mom to come downstairs so we can play Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition — because we're just so cool. If I use TightVNC, I can watch Mom type, which is boring. I'd go get them myself, but I'm too lazy. I could also send Keddy, but I'm scared he'd get absorbed by the abyss too. Make me sad.

Anyway, I'm really sick of Sex in the City commercials — they are on all the time, on every channel. TBS is the worst offender (their ads are usually the very worst), but CTV has been pushing it too: pushing it LIKE A FOX. For those of you who are happily on Eastlink, like we are, here's a hot tip: the online TV guide is very handy for channel surfing purposes. You can plan an entire evening of channel surfing goodness minute by minute. This sucker will not only tell you what shows are on, but what episodes they are. Behold its greatness. Behold! Um, yeah. I'm very bored. And I wish everyone would hurry up.

Is anyone else very exciting that Christmas is almost here. Christmas time is generally boring, but for some reason, I'm happy this year — I can't wait for flurries. And snow. And blizzards. It'll be great.

November 22: I am Translucent

So, did you hear about those crazy hunters down in the states? Some guy was trespassing, and when the owners of the spot in question called him on it, he shot them. Five people are dead. To quote the local deputy, “Why? I mean, five people dead because somebody was trespassing on property. It makes no sense.” I really don't understand the world anymore.

Speaking of things that defy all rational understanding, today marks the 41st anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. I don't understand why it's only the good presidents that seem to get killed, whilst the real morons stick around forever. You know who I'm talking about. JFK Reloaded is a new game that was released today, inviting players to try and recreate the three shots that killed the president. Lots of people are outraged by the game, but I think it's a very interesting concept. For one thing, this game doesn't make him any deader, and assuming that it accurately recreates the original setting, it might lead to new theories as to how this man was magically killed. The so-called docu-game genre has some real potential.

Anyway, it's time for me to enter the enclave of software engineering. Wish me luck.

November 19: Let's Get Retarded

I have the bass line from the beginning of “Let's Get Retarded” — oh, I'm sorry, “Let's Get It Started” — stuck in my head. Why? Somebody tell me. I'm going nuts. Dududududududududududududooo...

Anyway, I've been experiencing a flash of deja vu since last night, because I went and got my new computer. I felt comfortable enough with the progress of the HP dealings to go ahead and get the new system, although it did require a bit of financial wrangling*
(Mad props to Janet on that one.)
to do so successfully. However, meet Nano. She's lovely. The keys are arranged just like they were on Pixel, which is oddly comforting, and it has such a bright power light. The speakers really do suck, but I love it nonetheless.

I'm currently engaged in the activity that has become second nature to me over the past few months: installing software and setting everything up. Since I bought Megapixel in May, I've done that four or five times, which is sick. Especially when you consider the fact that out of those six months, it was only in my posession for about three.

So, what have I missed? What's there to do? What music is hot and what web sites are blissfully offensive? Come on, I'm dying here.

November 17: Your Dark Defines Your Light

My frustration with Hewlett-Packard is once again growing, after a few days of remaining level (if not decreasing somewhat). Progress now lies in the hands of someone named Fabio in the “IPG solutions department” — whatever that is. I first learned that he would be in touch with me last Thursday, and took it upon myself to call him instead of Monday. He told me that he was waiting for FutureShop to call him back and would call me yesterday, which he did not. And he hasn't been answering his phone all day — I've probably killed about 5% of my phone card airtime today alone, listening to his answering machine message. It's very frustrating. I like to think that I've been fairly understanding throughout this entire ordeal, but the fact is, it's been more than a month since this whole thing started and I have, effectively, been without a computer for more than two months. I'm really sick of checking my email on my mom's computer, and working on assignments in computer labs. It's not a privilege that I shelled out $1899.99 (plus tax) to experience, and every time I think of that, I get even more insulted that HP only offered me 75% of my money back at the beginning. They should have given me $546.25 (the disputed amount) just for the trouble they've caused me. Anyway, at this point, all I can do is wait. I'm just very fed up.

In other news, school is going pretty well (I'm getting a good handle on my compiler project) and the weather is good and wintery. I like it that way, although I do feel a twinge of guilt for the 10,000 or so people who are still without power, especially since it is a bit chilly outside. I really hope Nova Scotia Power is forced to fix itself after this — the storm wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the winter time, so they don't really have any excuse. Some guy in Digby is trying to rally up all of their customers and get them to pay their bill late this month, just to show them who's boss. I doubt anyone will, but it's the thought that counts.

Anyway, I'm ludicrously hungry, and my homo-style chicken strippers are buzzing. So, with that, I bid you adieu.

November 14: I Hate Bugs

Ah, snow. Everyones favourite white powder (well, not everyone's favourite — I hear that cocaine addicts are quite fond of that stuff) has once again enveloped Halifax, taking everyone a bit by surprise. Generally speaking, winter here starts out with a few weeks of occasional flurries, which are fairly dry and more like flaky ice than real snow. Not so this year — I love how the environment has gotten random and unpredictable.

Webcam

The drive to work was less than fun, even though I love snow. I think it's the same for everyone, and I blame it on three factors:
  1. Lack of winter tires being on cars. Most people wait until the snow actually starts to fall before taking this precaution, if they do it at all. We haven't done it yet.
  2. Lack of snow plowing. I would imagine that, like the snow tire issue, the city hasn't bothered to get all of the plows ready to go yet. I only saw one on my way here, and it was parked.
  3. Lack of practice. Basically, the first time the weather is bad, it's been at least six months since we've had to drive in snow, and it takes a while to get used to it. Winter driving isn't always a joy, but it's not so bad once you've gotten into the swing of it. Which I haven't yet.
Anyway, it's just about time for me to head back to work, so barring the urge to write on my longer break, that's it for now. Incidentally, I just discovered a very annoying bug in Windows. I urge you to recreate it so you can see how stupid it is.

In some program — it doesn't matter which, but I found it using Microsoft Paint when I was saving that webcam image — save a file. In the Save As dialog that pops up, select a file that already exists. Press F2 to rename the file to something different, and then hit enter to actually rename it. Notice that the “File name” field at the bottom of the window will still have the old filename in it. However, if you hit the Save button, it will say that the file already exists and ask if you want to overwrite it. This fact just isn't true: the filename entered at the bottom of the window doesn't exist. Hit yes to “overwrite” the file that doesn't exist, and mysteriously, the newly renamed file will indeed be overwritten, even though a different filename was specified. How obscure is that bug?

I still hate it.

November 11: Lean on Me...When You're Not Strah-ong...

Arg. I can't believe that Bush wants to drill for oil in a wildlife refuge. It just blows my mind that someone could not only not give a shit about the world, but not give a shit so much. It's insane, and it's stuff like this that's making me lose what little faith in humanity I have. I sure am glad we've got to worry about him for another four years.

I just got off the phone with the lawyer at HP who's been dealing with my case, and things are going good. It looks like, sometime within the next few days, I will bring Megapixel to FutureShop (weird, I know) and they will pick it up from there. And approximately ten days later, they will be sending a cheque to the FutureShop credit centre to pay off the computer. After that, I'm home free, and it'll be time for a new wee beastie. I can't wait.

Anyway, I've got an assignment to do, so I'm off. Cheers.

November 11: Je Me Souviens

Poppies

This Remembrance Day is brought to you by my grandfather, Eldon Davidson, 1921 - 1994.

November 09: Firefox 1.0

I've been waiting for this for a LONG time: Firefox 1.0 is finally out! Of course, the main Mozilla server seems to have shat itself, no doubt thanks in part due to Slashdot. But, being the clever geek I am, I got some mirror addresses from Google's cache.

Get Firefox 1.0 right here, or download the torrent file and spread the love!

This may be the happiest day of my life.

November 06: Letters From Fecetus

I'm sure you all remember Ian, everyone's favourite wanna-be religious leader and creator of such hits as Edwinism: Worshipping Ian for Everyone and Letters From Fecetus. After jetsetting his way to Scotland a few years ago, he's back. Anyone who wants to come verify that he finally got rid of that mohawk is welcome to contact me and I'll get you in touch. We're supposed to hang out at some point tonight.

It's a dark and windy Saturday outside and I slept the day away. As much as I love my backshift, it's pretty depressing once the time changes and I wake up to find that the day is already over. In the summer, it wasn't an issue: it got bright outside at least an hour before I went home and stayed well-illuminated just about until my next shift would start. Backshift caused me to live in a time of perpetual daytime. I guess it's time to pay the proverbial piper, because I'm stuck in a winter-esque pit of nighttime for the next six months. Bah.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that everyone enjoyed my last entry and had a good debate (to recap: George Bush is an evil, retarded moron with evil, retarded beliefs. If you're different, be affraid.), especially Apollo and Jen. I think you two are in love. Nothing nearly as interesting to bring up for debate today, I'm afraid, except for the usual: several dozen more people are dead for no good reason. And, some weirdo in China payed $215,000 for a “lucky” phone number. Even a phone number as cool as, say, 266-2437 (BOOBIES) isn't worth that much. It's just a phone number, man, back off!

Ahem. Anyone else find any stupid newstories of late? Let me know. And don't forget: Firefox 1.0 on Tuesday. Get excited.

November 03: And the Winner Is...

Sigh. American elections take so long — they stretch on forever and ever, months before the actual voting takes place, and once people have finally voted, it takes ages for them to decide on who wins. I don't understand — it's so much faster in Canada. I guess that's just because it's a lot easier to count votes when you're weighing boxes of pinecones (even though some can weigh up to a kilometre).

Sometime today, Kerry finally conceded defeat to GW. I was hoping that the Americans would actually think before voting, but I guess not — it looks like born-again, racist, homophobic, anti-science agendas will continue to be the norm in the south. How unfortunate. Regardless, I will concede that Bush actually won this election, instead of just taking it. And this means that he'll be gone for good in another four years, thank god.

Today wasn't a bad day — I had two midterms, which caused me great panic, but both went fairly well. Last night, I picked up the official FutureShop invoice that they'd prepared for me, and that got sent off to HP today. Hopefully, this whole laptop ordeal will be over with within the next little bit. I can't wait — not only am I bored out of my skull, but my marks at school have suffered significantly. Who would have thought that having a computer would be so important for computer science? C'est la vie.

Anyway, it's time to do dishes and eat, so I hereby sign off.