24 December, 2004
Technology
The other day, We wanted to watch a DVD on my Dell laptop. Instead
of popping the DVD in the drive and enjoying the cinematic horror that
is Van Helsing, I had to download the latest Windows Media Player.
We ultimately watched the DVD on Anna’s PowerBook, because the Dell
was taking so long to download Windows Media Player.
Today, we had Saturday Night Live:
Best of Christopher Walken. I figured that we could now watch it on the Dell. However, when I put the disc in the drive, Windows rewarded me with the message:
No wonder I prefer Macintosh: it just works.
(And if you tried to click on the image above, hah! Bill has you so
programmed…)
“I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder, should I get up and fix myself a drink?”
– John Lennon/The Beatles
I’m
So Tired
Some of you out there in blog-land might be up at the crack of dawn
against your will, getting ready or heading out to make a buck. I feel
for you. Some of you might be the insane sort who enjoy the darkness
and solitude of 5:15am. I think you’re a bit wacky, but I know how hard
it can be to find some quiet time these days.
I’ve been up since about 3:15. And this is not the first day. I
don’t even know anymore how many days in a row it has been, and I don’t
suppose that I’d like the answer very much should I ever figure it
out.
Point is, I am damn tired, and there doesn’t seem to be anything I
can do about it. It has become an all too familiar pattern: all is
quiet, and sometime between 3 and 4 in the am my bladder expresses an
urgent need to empty. Yes, I’ve tried to quiet it by not drinking
anything before I go to bed. No, I can’t seem to convince it to wait
until the sun comes up and warms things up a bit.
So, I reluctantly shuffle to the bathroom, and answer the call of
nature.
This usually sets off phase two. By rising, I disturb the one or two
cats who have been acting as heat leeches during the course of the
night. I attempt to coax them back into bed by making kissy noises,
patting the bed next to me, or making whispered threats, but to no
available.
Thus begins a variation of the Kitty-Kat 500, a two or three-hour
race/steeplechase/rollerderby. It has no set course, although back and
forth across the length of the apartment seems a popular choice. One or
up to four (yes, we have four, in case you have forgotten) cats joins
in the fun, only pausing for a brief halftime show wherein one of our
felines does their impersonation of an American Idol losing
contestant.
By about 6 or sometimes 7 am, the show is over, and the little
athletes rest for most of the day. Unfortunately, the damage is done
and not only am I usually unable to sleep, but even if I do I am a
zombie for the rest of the day.
I am going insane, but I thought at least this recap would entertain
at the hearing…
19 December, 2004
Technology
Until we finish moving, we’re reduced to watching movies on our
laptops. Because the Dell I’ve been issued from work has a large, wide
screen, I thought we’d watch that cinematic marvel, Van Helsing, on it.
One of my first acts when getting any Windows computer is to
uninstall lots of stuff and install other stuff. In the uninstall
category is Windows Media Player, because it constantly tries to grab
ownership of media files and because it’s yet another way for malicious
bastards to infect my computer with viruses and other nasty
software.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been too surprised that there was no
other way to view a DVD. Leave it to Microsoft to bundle
everything into one application. Of course, the DVD viewer
application installed from the DVD didn’t work either — I guess it
didn’t recognise the DVD driver or the decoder or the moon wasn’t in
the right phase.
Anna suggested that I could install Windows Media Player. It’s a
free download after all. Hah!
Because Windows Update is rather confusing and doesn’t list all the
updates on one screen — prefering to make me skip between
high-priority updates, optional software updates, and
optional hardware updates. Therefore, I accidentally left the
.Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 update checked.
After waiting about 5 minutes for the download, we gave up and
switched to Anna’s Powerbook. I slipped in the DVD, the screen went
black, and the movie started playing. What could be better than
that?
We gave up on Van Helsing about the time when he met the 19th
Century Q at the Vatican. And as I finish writing this post, Windows
Update still hasn’t finished installing Windows Media Player…
