So, despite having the new computer, I haven't been updating my blog very much lately.  In part, that's because it had Vista on it when I got it.  Thanks to some help from friends on the web, I now have XP reinstalled on it.  It took some doing, because Dell doesn't supply any of the drivers or anything for XP on this machine.  Fortunately, Samsware.com has a nice set of drivers and a step-by-step tutorial for installing XP on the Dell Studio 1537.  I actually have the 1737, but the screen size seems to be the only major difference.  All the drivers seem to work great.  Whenever I get a new job, I plan to donate a little to the site, because they definitely saved me a huge amount of frustration with Vista.  That's one dog that I'll never have on a computer again.  It's like Millennium Edition for the next generation or something.  Some really cool features, but the fact that more than half of my software and hardware wouldn't work, plus the fact that I could never get the networking to work worth a crap, made it far more of a problem than any of the neat new features were worth.

Now that this machine is working again, I have no real reason why I shouldn't be updating my blog more often.  I've been installing all the software again.  I've also been going through a bunch of my old data backups and such, trying to figure out what I have on all of those couple hundred CDs and DVDs.  That's been taking quite a bit of my time, and most of what hasn't been taken up with that has been going to trying to find a new job.  Anyway, I'll try to stay a little more current, but that's it for now...

Vista, Round Two.

Well, fortunately it didn't take a whole lot of time to get the DVD drive problem fixed on the new computer. Dell had a link to a fix on the Microsoft site, and running the little automatic fix program did actually get the thing back available on My Computer. Of course, the fix said that things like iTunes and similar programs might not work without being reinstalled, so I'm not sure what will happen with the DVD burning software which I haven't tried out yet. Of course, the software they have for that is part of Windows itself, so it should work properly. I hope...

My Vista experience. Round One.

So, four days into the Vista "Experience," the first bomb drops. I woke up this morning with the computer's little power light blinking at me. I wasn't sure why, but when I started it up, it told me that it had installed an update and had to turn off the computer when it did. Okay, that was a bit annoying, because I don't know if it finished copying all the files I had it copying before it rebooted. That's not really something specific to Vista, but happens with pretty much any of the operating systems since Autoupdate has been available.
Anyway, I figured I'd just check the folder where I was copying the files against the CD I was copying from and make sure they were the same sizes and such to tell me if the process finished. But, wait!, there's no DVD drive in My Computer. It was there yesterday. So I restarted the computer, thinking that if it did a reboot while installing updates, it might have had some little kink in the works there. No, rebooting doesn't help. I try logging off and logging in as a different user, but that also doesn't help.
I went to the control panel, and it told me that it couldn't load the driver. I reverted back to my old tech support thoughts and tried uninstalling the driver and letting it find the device again. But it tells me the best driver is already available, so it doesn't update it. Of course, it can't load that best driver. So I tried rolling back the updates it did last night. So far, no luck with that. If this is how Vista regularly works, I guess I can understand why so many people despise it so much. I wish I'd just ordered a damned computer with XP on it. Maybe that move to Linux isn't so far off after all. Fucking Microsoft...

Just stuff and things...

I'm getting by still. It's been a fairly useless day, although I did send off a couple of applications that I found in the paper this morning. I haven't heard back from very many of the companies I've sent resumes to, and so far every one that I have heard back from has been a negative response. Either I'm not qualified enough, they have already filled the job, or I'm overqualified for the entry-level positions I've applied for. It sucks. Aside from that, the day was mostly spent copying data from my old desktop computer to the new laptop. I do hope to eventually get everything moved over onto here, so I can retire both of the old beasties, since I really don't use them any longer. Once I make sure I have everything off the old laptop, I do believe I'm going to load Ubuntu Linux onto it. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep my career moving along the computer track, but at least I can kind of keep up with the whole Linux deal. It won't hurt, anyway...

I think I managed to kill my sourdough starter. I think I tried adding the tap water a little too early in the process, and it killed off the yeast. I guess I'm going to have to try it again, and this time I'll keep using the filtered water for the duration. I guess it really doesn't cost anything, so I might as well. Not sure why I really bothered using the tap water anyway. Live and learn, I suppose...

Hockey's on again tonight. Canada's last hope, the Canucks, got eliminated by Chicago last night, damn it. I just really don't think Chicago is going to be able to do very much against the Red Wings, and I have the feeling the Red Wings are going to close out their series against the Ducks tonight...

Because of all the hockey and playing with the new computer, I haven't had much chance to watch a lot of baseball lately. Oh well...

A useless, depressing kind of day...

I did a little test a few minutes ago, and I found that, unlike with some of the blogging software I've used, Blogger apparently allows you to insert older posts before you're more recent ones, so I don't need to update all of my vacation posts before doing my regular postings. That makes things a little bit easier for me...

Anyway, yesterday after getting home from the Easter festivities, the girlfriend and I lounged around for a bit. Neither one of us really felt like moving all that much after all we'd eaten at dinner. I didn't actually eat anything else except one of her cookies for the rest of the day. Definitely had more to eat at dinner than I'd had for a while...

After we'd rested and digested for a bit, she called Hastings to find out if they were open, which they were, and we headed down there so she could find a book to read during her downtime at work. They were indeed open, so we headed on down. Unfortunately, they didn't have the next book in the series she's been reading, plus they didn't have the book that we're supposed to be reading for our next book club. And they really didn't even have anything else she wanted to read. So we headed over to Barnes and Noble.

Even if it wasn't Easter, B&N would have been closed. It was already almost eight by the time we got there, and they close at seven on Sunday. So we had to admit defeat and headed back home.

After we got home, she wanted to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and I didn't, so she headed off to the bedroom and I sat out here in the living room and watched a baseball game. After the game was over, I went in and watched some of her home shows with her before we tried to get to sleep. It was another one of those nights where neither of us could sleep very well.

She had to be at work at nine this morning, and I should have got up at around the same time, but I didn't. Instead, I drifted in and out until almost noon. I finally decided I'd better get up and do something with the day. When I got up, I saw that there was something taped to the door. Turns out it was the new utility bill, even though we only received the last utility bill last Sunday. I guess the landlady is a little behind in getting the bills distributed. That made me feel even a little more depressed than I already was, because I certainly can't afford to pay even my share of that bill, let alone the whole thing like I've been trying to do for a while. I did finally write out the check for the last utility bill, figured out how much postage it needed, got the envelope addressed, and got it all put together. Now I just need to get down to the post office and mail it off. I also found out that the cost of a stamp goes up two more cents in May. Great...

After I took care of that, I made myself another pot of coffee. I figured I'd at least do something useful with the day, so I emptied the dishwasher and folded the towels that were in the dryer. I dug the classified sections out of the newspapers, but I really haven't gone through them yet. I also went through the musicians classifieds on Craigslist, but I haven't sent off any replies to any of the ads I found interesting.

The girlfriend came home for a short lunch around three. We had some leftover brisket and potatoes from the Easter dinner for lunch, and I again feel like I might not have to eat anything else for the rest of the evening. That stuff's a lot more filling than I thought it would be for as much as I ate.

After she headed back to work, I dragged the top of my desk in from the car and upstairs. I got it attached to the main part of the desk and started getting things hooked up, but I realize that I'm going to have some problems because I don't have a wired network connection up there. I think I'm going to move the wireless card from my music computer to my regular desktop, then hook everything in that room using my wired switch. I don't really need an internet connection from the music computer or any of the project computers, so just having the wireless on the main should be all right...

Now I'm sitting here watching another baseball game, after watching some history stuff earlier. The girlfriend is in the bedroom watching her home shows. I was a bit standoffish when she got home, and I hope she's not annoyed at me. I guess I'll find out when the game's over. Sigh...