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2001:
Winter of our Discontent
IN MY OPINION
Books Read in 2007 "The
Slide Show" Flash
Version here My Favorite Video Blogs Missbehavens (for others, see Links page)
Penguins Chasing a Butterfly Kitten on the Keys Guinness Hands Video The Machine is Us/ing Us Andy Taylor & the Patriot Act New on My
Support liberty and justice for all
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MOUSE WITHDRAWAL 13 February 2007 I love having a shiny new fast laptop computer. I hate having to learn it. It's like writing. I love having adapted to new things. I hate having to adapt to new things. New things to learn. Argghhh. I hate new things to learn. There is, for example, no way to plug in a mouse on this computer. I love my mouse. I used a mouse instead of the little button in the middle of the old laptop; I would love to use a mouse instead of the finger pad. I don't know if a cordless mouse will work. I'm not sure how you manipulate graphics when all you have is a finger. Vista is supposed to be more intuitive. Not so far. It took me an hour to find that it actually does have notepad installed. But I find that it has something called "gadgets," which I could not find (it doesn't come up on the "search" function). Then suddenly I pressed something (I don't know what) and whaddya know--there were the gadgets available to install on the Vista Basic desktop. Oh joyous day! Well, I tried installing one and it tells me I need administrator permission to install it. Whaaaa??? I thought I was the administrator of this computer. If not me--who? God? I've tried the "help" (I use the term advisedly) screen, which tells me why I shouldn't have an administrator account, but doesn't tell me how to give myself permission to install a gadget. Why do I feel I'm caught in some sort of Gilbert & Sullivan topsy turvy world? There is an Mac ad running currently -- those two guys who play the Mac and PC (Justin Long as the Mac and The Daily Show's John Hodgman as the PC). I understand the Mac "Security" commercial much better now! (And a mouse would make it ever so much less annoying.) And of course there is nothing even remotely akin to a manual, or instructions or anything else having to do with Vista which came with this machine. Even in the help menu. In order to get anything remotely akin to a manual, you need to go on line and find it, which means you have to use Vista to connect to the internet, which means you need to intuitively know how to USE Vista in order to get any sort of hint about what you can do with it. You have to be either a rocket scientist or have a second computer to use to check for how-to's. Nor is the Vista page much help. It assumes too much. Is a "how to install programs" title too much to ask for? When I have new programs with XP, I insert disk, and it click on the command "install" (or it does it automatically). There does not appear to be that command. At least not on the programs I've attempted to install thus far. I foresee a serious problem ahead. I will ultimately bond with this computer. I always do. I will ultimately love it. But there will be a lot of expletives deleted between now and the time that "bonding" sets in. I'm going to my mother's again on the 19th, to spend a week. I know she is looking forward to my joy in having this new expensive gift she has given me. How can I balance the joy that I know will come eventually with the hell I'm going to have to go through between now and then. I guess the solution is to only turn on the computer at night, after she's gone to sleep! And rave about it in the morning. The good news, however, is that my desktop computer locked up again a bit ago. This meant I had to shut it down. I did it v-e-r-y carefully, not rushing through anything, not getting exasperated and turning it off manually. When it shut down, I started it up again and....voila! It worked! No blank screen. No wallpaper without programs. All back the way it was. Sometimes things are good. Now I can spend time trying to decipher the "instructions" (that aren't really instructions) on the Vista web site. (It is kind of cool, tho, to be one of the first kids on the block to have the hottest new operating system) So I spent the day getting ready for my interview tonight, with a guy who is directing a lifesize puppet production of Man of La Mancha. I was to meet with the PR person for the University, then meet with him and interview him, and then attend a rehearsal so I can write a feature story. I feel so fragmented that I felt like I was all at loose ends trying to get organized for this thing, doing on-line research on the guy and on Bunraku puppets, finding clean clothes (went through 3 tops before finding one that didn't have set-in stains), getting new batteries in my dictation machine and finding a tape that would work, looking for my cell phone and my camera (never go out without a camera, especially if you are interviewing a guy who works with lifestyle puppets!). I finally got it all together, got into the car, backed out of the driveway, drove about 1/4 block and there was a nagging thought in the back of my head that it was TOMORROW that I was supposed to meet this guy. I called the PR person and she confirmed it, so I made a couple of u-turns and pulled back into the driveway again. Now I just have to be sure not to get stains on this top before tomorrow. I have a feeling that this entry is as disjointed as I feel, mentally, today! OH! Guess what! My mother's stepson, Ed, fixed the broken chair. I am not going to sit in it, ever, ever again! Here's a chuckle from Walt's Duct Tape calendar:
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
This is what Snopes has to say about the photo
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This is entry #2511
