Last night was one of those nights where I woke up the next morning saying “what was I thinking?” I was late to meet a friend after work so I convinced myself that it was OK to go up to the city and hang out to compensate. Now, this friend and I have a history that includes me dancing wildly and a lot of drinks.

Last night I had the drinks part down well. I skipped the dancing.

Today I’m feeling the effects long after the memories start to fade. I think this is my body’s way of telling me “dude, you’re getting older!” I felt pretty awful all day (as did the friend) and I’m now ready to collapse. I suppose the lesson here is: live and let live, except on weeknights.

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I had one of those days again. You know, the ones where a lot of things seem to be fine and then everything comes crashing down at the end. Does it have something to do with my overuse of PCs? Maybe. But you be the judge:

1. Playing games on a PC should work.
2. Installing new device drivers should work.
3. Setting up new applications should work.
4. Editing web pages and script files should work.
5. Searching local hard drives should work.
6. Attempting to do 1 through 5 evidently doesn’t work.

I’ll admit that I tend to push things, but come on! How hard can it be for a PC to just do what it’s told. Oh, right! I help make these things so I should know how unstable they are. Bloody PCs!

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First off, I’m still thinking about doing my newsletter, so just be patient.

Second, the feedback links now appear to be working. You can try them out and let me know.

Finally, I read a story about Intel’s High Definition Audio, better known to some as Azalia. I have many opinions but on this subject let me be clear: folks, its more of the same old crappy PC audio coming for you. Why? Because the people who buy the parts want them to cost $.50 and they don’t care about quality. So no matter what the press release says, this is one standard that’s headed for the dustbin before it even gets going.

Now where’s those earplugs when you need them?

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Massive floods, mudslides, earthquakes, airplane crashes, blizzards, and fires. Religious fundamentalists killing everyone in sight. Weapons of mass destruction hiding in developing nations. I could accept all of this as normal. But then I got someone who a) spoke English and b) was actually helpful; who spoke to me at Fry’s today.

That’s it: the global apocalypse is finally upon us. I’m stocking up on water, batteries and chocolate. Now where’s that bomb shelter when you need one?

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I am a self professed gaming junkie. As such I need the proper tools for the job. Last year, the TSA (our friends at the airports) decided to break in two one of my primary tools: the joystick. It just so happens that this joystick isn’t made any more.

To make matters worse, the product in question is from Microsoft. By now everyone should know that Microsoft has more money than anyone, certainly more than the GDP of several industrial nations combined. So why is it that they took a successful product like their joysticks and discontinued them? My bet: they wanted to make it harder for me to play games. Not just anyone, but me specifically.

Guess its time to fire off an email to the guys in Redmond.

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I’ve finally made it back to the homestead. The quick summary of this day’s events is as follows:

- 7:20am – Wake up
- 9:08am – Leave Incline Village, NV for home
- 10:00am – Stopped at chain control on highway CA-267
- 2:00pm – Leave the CA/NV border back into NV on highway 50
- 9:18pm – Arrive in San Jose

Time for some sleep.

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Sometimes getting new computer things is cool. Often its just a big pain, since you have to re-install and re-setup everything from scratch. Today I am living that nightmare over and over again. The worst part about it all is its a disaster of my own making. It could all be prevented by getting off the upgrade treadmill.

I’m a big fan of progress, really. Just not when it requires me to work.

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I believe I’ve cracked the code as to the source of my Christmas and Thanksgiving flights to OK disasters: DFW airport. Again today I get to Dallas and I meet up with non helpful gate agents threatening to leave me at the terminal rather than let me board the plane. All because I brough 3 carry ons instead of 2. Happy holidays to you too, wicked witch of the central US!

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File this one in the “I though Toyota’s were supposed to be reliable” folder.

Last night the “check engine” light came on in the 4Runner. Since I’ve never seen it before I was concerned. I checked all around the engine compartment, looking at hoses, wires, fans, and the like. I looked under the truck for leaks. It all seemed fine.

I took it in to Toyota to have them give it the once over this morning. I get a call barely an hour after I get to work. “Well, there are some problems,” they begin. No, really?

Long story short, at this point in time I’m out at least $1200. Most of that is labor considering they have to crawl around inside the engine area. What happened to the always reliable, never breaks down Toyota mantra? Bah!

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Some days it just doesn’t pay to get up in the morning. Today I spent all day working on various odd tasks to make up for a day long trip I have tomorrow. As fate would have it, I spent two hours at the end of the work day building a new PC image only to have it completely fail when I bring it home. The kicker? I need it to work for my trip tomorrow. And my flight leaves at 7am. And its coming up on 11pm now.

Can you say no sleep? Sure you can.

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