Bundled Software That's Actually Useful? Where Am I, Bizarro World?

So the setting up of the new Hugin continues.
I have to say that setting up was much less of a hassle with this system than with systems I’ve owned in the past, given that this one didn’t come bogged down with a bunch of useless bundled software.
I think HP is probably the worst offender when it comes to pre-installing a bunch of crap that no one could ever possibly need/want, most of which tries to launch all at the same time as soon as you start up, though the old Munin, which is also a Dell, actually overwhelmed me with the stuff the first time I turned it on, which led me to wonder what the experience would be like for someone less experienced with computers.
However, with the new Hugin, I was able to opt out of most of the crap during the process of customizing my system when I ordered it, so I was able to say, for example, that I didn’t want any sort of ISP software pre-installed, or that I had no interest in having MS Works installed.
As far as the software that did come bundled, it’s all actually useful (and not obnoxiously intrusive), such as a copy of Power DVD which includes support for high-definition DVDs, or Roxio Creator, which has some useful CD/DVD burning features beyond those built into the OS (being able to burn a DVD from an ISO file, for example).
As a PC-based answer to the Mac’s iLife suite, the system also came with the Adobe Elements Studio, which includes the “Elements” versions of some of Adobe’s flagship applications. The “Elements” applications are stripped of some of the more advanced features of the apps they’re based on, and are designed to be accessible to non-professional consumers. The applications that make up the suite are Photoshop Elements, for photo management and editing, Premiere Elements, for video editing, and Soundbooth, an audio editing tool.
I don’t necessarily need the Elements versions, but they are at least more useful than the standard bundled apps.
In any case, here are a couple of pics of the new set up:



Here we see the sleek black and easily-smudged front of the new Hugin. Along with various CDs containing OS, application, and driver files, Dell included a cloth for wiping clean the easily-smudged façade (along with a pretty decent pair of headphones and a nice little organize for manuals and discs and some velcro cable ties – cable ties that, as you’ll see in the next picture, I haven’t really put to good use). Though you can’t see what it’s displaying (a graph of memory usage), you can see the SidesShow display on top of the tower.



Here’s the whole shooting match, complete with the insane tangle of power and USB cables in the back. Note that I have so much stuff connected to it that I need two Uninterruptible Power Supplies. Also, though winter is over, I’m still in a wintry enough mood that I decided to make my HOLY FREAKING GOD portrait of figure skater Sasha Cohen my wallpaper.



And here’s the old Hugin/not yet new Munin, shorn of its peripherals and looking forlorn. Don’t worry old Hugin/not yet new Munin! Daddy still loves you and will put you to good use. I’m thinking about hooking it up to the TV for the time being until I buy the Cintiq and free up my old 20.1” monitor. Maybe I’ll even pick up a BD ROM drive to throw into it and use it as a not fully functional or stylistically integrated Media Center.

Rip Off!

On Wednesday when I was on my way to the comic shop I very nearly got into an accident, which wasn't a lot of fun. I was driving along Belmont Ridge Road, a winding, hilly back road that cuts across Route 7 and leads to the town center where the comic shop is located.
There's one last valley right before you get to the light at 7, where a side road/driveway connects to Belmont. It had been raining most of the day, and the road was pretty slick.
As I was heading down into the valley I noticed something odd a couple hundred yards ahead of me, though it took a second for it to actually register. Someone was trying - unwisely - to pull out onto Belmont from the side road, which caused the driver ahead of me to slam on his brakes, which caused the car to begin spinning out of control on the rain-slicked road.
I hit my brakes and felt my car start to skid, so I eased up on the brakes to avoid mimicking the actions of the car ahead of me that was getting ever closer. I did my best to slow down carefully, fully-realizing that I was unlikely to stop in time to avoid hitting the other car. Fortunately the other driver gained a modicum of control in the nick of time and was able to pull off onto the side road, very narrowly avoing what otherwise whould have been an inevitable collision either between me and the spinning car, or me and the car in the opposite lane.
So yeah, not a lot of fun.
Once I got to the comic shop, I decided to settle my nerves by splurging on one or more of the more expensive volumes in the shop. I was thinking about buying the entire Sin City collection, but ultimately decided instead to purchase another Frank Miller book: Absolute Dark Knight, which contains his 1986 masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns - beautifully recolored and generally given the "Absolute" treatment - and his early 2000's minorpiece The Dark Knight Strikes Again. I didn't buy it so much for the latter work. In fact, I bought it in spite of the fact that it includes Strikes Again. Once I got home I put my comics in their standard least-anticipated to most-anticipated order (at the bottom and most-anticipated spot: Fables #71, which features this wicked awesome cover), and set them aside for later reading. Somewhere along the line I had to adjust the order because I noticed something odd on the cover of Birds of Prey #116: the cover stated that it was written by Gail Simone.
Gail! Back on BoP! I have to admit that, in my opinion, the guys who have been writing BoP since Gail left haven't done a terrible job, and really, it's a decent title - certainly better than a lot of stuff out there - it's just that...well, they're not Gail. Gail is a phenomenal writer in general, but in my opinion it was her run on BoP that really stands out as her best work to date, and I was very sad to see her leave the title. I knew that current BoP writer Sean McKeever was leaving the book after a very short run, but I didn't think he was done yet, and I'd read that Tony Bedard, who was the fill-in writer between Gail's and McKeever's runs was taking over as the new regular writer.
So did McKeever bail early?
Was Gail just doing a fill-in issue?
Was she - one dared to hope - coming back as the regular writer?
Whatever the case, I was thrilled to see Gail back where she belongs. And then I actually opened the book up and found that Gail was not back for either a fill-in or permanent run.
In fact, she wasn't back at all.
While the cover said Gail Simone, the interior credits said Sean McKeever.
Why did it say Gail Simone on the cover? I have no idea, but whether it was an error or a bald-faced lie, the fact of the matter is that, per the interior credits, and the style of the writing, it seems that Gail did not write the issue.
So that was a bummer/rip off.

It's Not A Half Day Or Anything Like That...Oh, Wait, It Is.

So yesterday I officially made the transition from one boss to the other.
While getting lunch at the café in the building next door, I encountered my new boss who asked, “Have they sent out any kind of notice about tomorrow being a half day?”I confessed that I had seen no such notice, to which she said, “Well, just plan for tomorrow to be a half day.”
She got no argument from me, and shortly after noon today I was on the road and headed home, though I did make a brief stop at Best Buy.
Why? Well, the last time I’d gone to Dell to check on the status of my order, it said that it was “In Production” and the estimated shipping date was 3/25.
However, when I got to work yesterday and checked my mail there was a message saying that my computer had shipped on Wednesday. I thought, “Oh, well it’s two day shipping, so it should be here on Friday. I’ll have to see if I can arrange for Kathleen to be at the house.”
Then I clicked on the tracking number and discovered that it was already in VA and on its way to my house.
Unable to get a hold of Kathleen, I was annoyed when I checked the status during lunch and saw “Delivery Exception – Customer not at home or business closed.”
*Sigh*
By that time I knew that it was possible that I would be home in time on Friday, given the half day thing, but I couldn’t be certain, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to sign the signature sticker that I found waiting on my door when I got home, which would have authorized them to simply leave the package outside my door on the next delivery attempt. Even in the nicest neighborhood you don’t want a big box that says “Dell” on it sitting unattended outside your door.
So I called FedEx to ask if it would be possible for me to go somewhere to pick it up, as the most likely alternative was waiting for the third delivery attempt on Saturday. Sure, that would have meant getting the computer sooner than originally anticipated, but now that I knew that it was so close, how was I supposed to wait?
The lady on the phone told me that I could pick it up – from Winchester, which is a pretty good distance from Leesburg – particularly given that travel is measured not in distance but in time in these parts – which was a pain, but which still beat the alternative.
Looking online, I saw that they had more than one facility in Winchester, so I called back to make sure which one it was.
This time I was told that I couldn’t pick it up. Picking up a package from a service center is only an option after the third and final attempt at delivery has been made.
So I was annoyed.
However, sometime later I was upstairs in the office and heard a noise outside. I looked out the window and saw a FedEx truck parked next to my car and the driver heading for my door.
The driver – who is now in the running for “Jon’s Favorite Person” – decided that he should swing by again to see if I was home this time.
(While I was signing for it, he was peering over my shoulder at my TV and raving about how wonderful it is.)
So, long story long, I have my new computer!
I don’t, however, have my Digital TV Tuner, as that will be shipping separately. It’s not a big deal, as I need to schedule an appointment with Verizon to have a tech sent out with a CableCARD anyway, and will need to be home for that. I’m hoping the Tuner comes soon, though, so that I can try to schedule the appointment for the 9th, as I have that day off. I’d requested it off – along with several other days – because that’s when my mom’s flight will be arriving, and we’d originally anticipated her arriving earlier in the day. Turns out she won’t get here until around 10 PM, but hey, a day off is a day off.
In any case, most of my time has been spent transferring files and settings (made, appropriately enough, easy through the use of Vista’s “Easy Transfer” application), and installing essential applications.
I had hoped that the new Hugin would come with Vista Service Pack 1 already installed, as MS did the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) of SP 1 back in February, but alas, such was not the case.
In fact, since turning the new Hugin on and hooking it up to the network I’ve downloaded hundreds of megabytes worth of updates and patches.
I’m holding off on SP 1, though.
I actually installed it on the old Hugin the other day without incident, but the old Hugin has an ATI graphics card, whereas the new Hugin has an nVidia card, and so far most of the SP 1 horror stories I’ve seen have involved issues with nVidia drivers.
So I think I’ll just wait until it gets served to me via auto-updates in the hopes that MS will have the kinks worked out by then.
Anyway, the reason I stopped at Best Buy on my early trip home today was that while the new Hugin came equipped with a respectable number of USB ports, “respectable” isn’t a high enough number for me, what with external drives and the graphics tablet and whatnot.
(There are some extra ports in the front, but I don’t like to use those for permanently-connected devices.)
I was going to transfer the USB card from the old Hugin to the new Hugin last night, but then said, “Meh, I’ll just buy another one.”
So I did.
While I was there I considered picking up a Blu-Ray DVD or two to test out the new Hugin’s drive, but couldn’t really find anything that I was terribly interested in owning.
At least, I couldn’t find anything that I didn’t already own in standard DVD form, and I’m not going to start replacing my regular DVD collection until after I have a Blu-Ray device permanently hooked up to my TV.
While I was looking at the Blu-Ray titles I noted that the HD DVD add-on drive for the Xbox 360 is selling for the fire sale price of $49.99, which, given the death of the format, is hardly that surprising. I don’t own an Xbox, but I did note that it connects via USB, and wondered if it would be possible to hook it up to a PC. It turns out that it’s more or less possible, with some caveats, so I may see about doing that so that at some point when I make the switch to Blu-Ray I can convert my existing HD DVDs over.
In any case, once I got home I put in the USB card, hooked up everything else that needed to be hooked up, and am now going to get back to the task of installing applications.
I’ll likely be back later, possibly with pictures of the new rig.

To The People Behind The DC Animated Movies

Dear Mr. Timm, et al:

Seriously, what did I ever do to you?
Things started out great; you announced that you would be adapting several classic DC Comics storylines into direct to DVD animated movies, movies whose style was to be based closely on the styles of the source material, and movies that would involve the active participation of the original creators. That alone was good news, but it was made even better news when I saw that one of the stories being adapted was the classic New Teen Titans story The Judas Contract.
It's impossible to overestimate how much I loved that story back when it came out. The Judas Contract was my Watchmen before the actual Watchmen came out. It was the culmination of a story that was years in the making and featured sweeping themes of betrayal, love, loss, villainy, heroism, and hope.
After the abomination that was the Pokemon-esque Teen Titans cartoon, I was thrilled to see that the Titans of my memory were finally going to get some respect, and I couldn't wait for the animated movies to finally arrive.
When they did, I was thrilled. Superman: Doomsday? Loved it. The New Frontier? Absolutely gorgeous.
Up next, according to what had originally been announced, and according to the fondest hopes of my fanboy heart, was The Judas Contract.
And then, with the preview on The New Frontier, you broke that fanboy heart, at least a little, by showing me that next on deck was a Batman movie. A Batman anime movie at that.
Still, I could understand the reasoning behind it; with a new live-action Batman movie coming out, why not try to cash in on Batmania? So, while dejected, I was willing to wait a little longer for my Judas Contract movie.
And then I read this article about the aforementioned Batman project. I was pleased to see that Kevin Conroy will be - as he should - reprising his role as the voice of Batman. Conroy as Batman is a no-brainer, and while still annoyed by the anime aspect, I thought, "Well, at least they got that much right."
And then I got to the part of the article listing some of the special features that will be on the DVD. Most notably this:

“Sneak Peek: Wonder Woman” - DC Universe animated original movie

W
T
F
?
Why are you doing this to me? When will I ever know the joy (or even bitter disappointment - it almost doesn't matter which at this point) of seeing The Judas Contract brought to (animated) life?
Why must you insist on torturing me so? I've been a huge fan and avid supporter of your DC animated efforts over the years, and this is how you repay me?
How can you be so cruel? Was the promise of a Judas Contract movie all a ruse? Was the hope of such planted, Terra-like, into my mind as part of some intricate plot to destroy me?
Who's really behind the DC animated movies? The Terminator? The H.I.V.E.?
*Sigh* Now I know how Changeling felt at the end of The Judas Contract.

But Mine Is Probably Geniusier...Err, Or Something

Well, if Scott's blog is at this level, how could mine not be as well?

TV Reviews

Recruit This, Putz!

So a bit ago my left hip started vibrating and I realized that someone was calling me on my cell phone.
I answer, and have the following conversation:

"Hi, is this Jon?"
"Yes."
"Hi Jon, my name is Rajit. I'm calling because your contact information was passed along to me as someone who might be seeking out employment opportunities. Is this a good time to talk?"
"No. I'm not seeking out employment opportunities."
"You don't even want to keep your options open?"
"I'm happy where I am and have no interest in seeking out any other opportunities at this time."
"Oh, well most people like to keep their options open...but I guess they're not as lucky as you."
"I guess not."

He then went on to ask if I knew anyone who would be "interested in a six-figure management position," or was looking for part-time work.

"No."
"No? You don't know anyone?"
"No."
"Okay, thanks for your - "
Click.

Yes, because I want to refer my friends to some passive-aggressive jackass who uses lame attempts at reverse psychology to cajole people into seeking out his services.

It's Hard Out There For A Geek

Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90.
There's been a rash of Geek Icon deaths in the past month or so; I hope it stops soon.
As Dave Campbell pointed out after the death of Dave Stevens, it's been a bad month for geeks.
First Steve Gerber, then D&D creator Gary Gygax - not being into D&D, this one didn't affect me personally, but being a geek I can't help but sympathize - the aforementioned Dave Stevens, and now Arthur C. Clarke.
I've greatly enjoyed all of the works of Clarke that I've read, and he will be missed, though I have to say that, while even at 90 it's still too soon, unlike the others who were taken far, far too soon, Clarke did have a good long run.
As for what's been up in my life today, don't ask. Work stuff - that strictly speaking isn't even my work stuff - spilling over into my off the clock time = annoyance.
On a positive front, I had an eye appointment and things are going swimmingly. So much so that I don't have to go back for two months.
There was more I was going to write, but it's going to have to wait because I don't feel like writing it now.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Shortly after I got to work this morning I realized three things:

1. It was St, Patrick’s Day
2. I hadn’t worn anything green
3. I didn’t care

Of course, as it turns out there’s some green on my badge, so I suppose that would have counted, had anyone said anything to me about my seeming lack of Irishness.
The last time I remember doing anything to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day would be…1999, and the fact that I was out drinking was pretty much coincidental with the fact that it was St. Patrick’s Day, as I didn’t need a special occasion to get loaded.
Which is why I would assume that I did much the same thing in 2000, though I have no specific memory of doing so.
In 2001 I went on a date on St. Patrick’s Day, though I was sober then, and, again, the timing was merely coincidental.
One thing I remember about the 1999 experience was someone at the bar faulting me for not getting into the spirit of things and not being “Irish enough” because, unlike him, I wasn’t drinking green beer.
When I pointed out that I was being considerably more Irish than he was, given that I was drinking Guinness while he was drinking Bud Light with green food coloring in it, he gave me a confused look and then turned away to talk to someone else, which, to be honest, is pretty much how I wanted the whole situation to resolve itself anyway.
When I was in Best Buy the other day there was a chick wearing a “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” shirt, and I found that I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had attempted to take her up on it. Not because she was cute – she most decidedly wasn’t – but just for the pure shock value of it. Naturally I didn’t, and, though she didn’t even know that the thought had passed through my head, I’m sure she’s grateful for that fact.
Besides, I’m sure that even if she had been okay with it, her husband probably wouldn’t have been so magnanimous.
Of course, given that the trio – they had a baby in a stroller – was consistently in my way at every turn, her shirt inspired me to come up with a similarly-worded slogan of my own: “Get the fuck out of my way, I’m Jon.”
Tomorrow through Thursday, one of the big vendors my company deals with will be in town for meetings with us. Evidently we do this every six weeks, alternating between meeting here, and meeting at their facilities in Kansas. The last meeting in Kansas took place right after I’d started, so I didn’t attend (though I did join in on conference calls for some of the sessions), but next time I will be heading out to Kansas.
Somewhere along the line I’ll probably be traveling to Buffalo as well.
Sadly, it seems unlikely that I’ll ever have to go to Hawaii, which, once upon a time, might have been a possibility.
In any case, the next two days are going to be spent in and out of meetings, which will likely be just as exciting as it sounds.

Yes, Despite My Charm And Poise, I DO Often Enjoy Solitude

Even by my standards it’s been a pretty boring weekend.
Yesterday I sat around not doing much of anything – and not wanting to do much of anything – before finally deciding sometime in the afternoon that I should do something and get out of the house for a little while, even though I really couldn’t think of anywhere to go.
So I got into my car and headed out on Route 7 with no particular destination, ultimately deciding to stop at Circuit City. Why there? Why not?
I wandered around the store aimlessly, unable to find anything to buy, then walked over to the nearby Office Depot to do more of the same, and then over to the Target next door to repeat the process.
Eventually I noticed that it was after 3 and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since the waffles I’d had a bit before 10 and decided I should do something about that, choosing to stop at Burger King.
From there I headed home, stopping at the Best Buy in Leesburg, where I continued the tradition I’d started at Circuit City.
And that’s pretty much all I’ve done for the entire weekend, beyond watching some TV, including two movies that I was never particularly interested in seeing but which I recorded simply because they were on.
One was The Tailor of Panama, which I watched last night, and which was actually pretty entertaining, featuring as it did Pierce Brosnan playing a role that was essentially James Bond minus any of the redeeming characteristics of Bond.
The other, which I watched today, was Original Sin. I’d never had any real interest in seeing that until, as now, the option of seeing Angelina Jolie’s boobs in HD became available.
While Angelina’s HD boobs were a wonder to behold, the movie itself was only okay, and I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in the fairly cheesy ending.
There are a couple of other “might as well record it” movies that have been sitting on my DVR for a while, but I don’t feel up to watching them.
Basically the problem this weekend was, as it usually is, that I have nothing to do at home that I really want to do – there are plenty of things I could do around the house – and not being able to conceive of anything that I would want to do outside the house.
(Take note of that important condition: something that I would want to do. There are plenty of things that I could conceive of doing outside the house, but imagining myself wanting to do them, or enjoying doing them? Not so much.)
Without wanting to sound like I’m complaining about the friends I have, because I most assuredly am not, it does sort of make me wish I had friends I could call up to invite to do some spur of the moment thing, or who might call me up for the same.
Kathleen is always running around doing something or other, so she’s not really an option for spur of the moment stuff most of the time, and I tend to just leave it up to her to contact me if she wants to do something, as it’s just easier that way.
And of course Scott has his family life, and really, the only spur of the moment thing I could think of would be to ask him if he wants to see a movie, and there’s not really anything out right now that’s not rated R that I want to see (and nothing that’s rated R that I want to see sufficiently to head to the movies by myself), and unlike with Kathleen, there’s the distance factor, what with him all the way down in Manassas.
After writing the last paragraph, I paused to check out some of the online dating sites, taking the time to create a profile and taking the time to do the “chemistry profile” at chemistry.com.
Unlike eHarmony, chemistry.com was able to provide me with matches, or rather, a match. However, the very first sentence of her profile showed that this was a false positive: “I like to take my dog for walks in the park.”
I think that overall the profile of me that it created was accurate(ish), but I think their methodology for interpreting the implications of my profile is off.
For example:

You have executive social skills, easily picking up the gestures, facial expressions and speech patterns of others. You are intuitive; you generally understand people, and your sympathetic nature makes you pliant, adaptable and likeable.

Okay, yes, I can read people and understand them pretty well.
But does this really make me pliant, adaptable, and likeable? Hmm…
Then there was this:

Yet despite your charm and poise in large social situations, you often enjoy solitude or intense conversations with just one individual or a few close friends.

Umm…my what and what in large social situations?
In any case, I don’t foresee chemistry.com reaching into my wallet and pulling out the required $26-$50 a month (depending on whether you sign up for a month-to-month subscription – which is $50 – or for six months.).
In any case, I suppose that I should set aside some time to figure out what I’m going to do about feeding myself, as I neither ordered groceries via PeaPod, nor went grocery shopping at any point in the last couple of days.