Random Pointlessness (With Bonus Cookie Recipe)

Sometime around 4 AM I was awoken by an odd sound that I couldn’t quite place. It sounded rather like static, but not quite.
After determining that it wasn’t coming from my clock or computer, I realized that it was coming from outside, and so I peeked through the blinds and saw a world still blanketed in white and some poor schmuck trying to clean off his car. His scraping of ice was the source of the mysterious sound.
Over the next few hours I was awoken by a similar sound as other brave commuters tried to make their way out of the parking lot.
Given this, I wasn’t surprised when, at 8, my phone rang and I was greeted by Tabitha – that actually is her name – calling to tell me that the dentist office would be closed today, therefore my appointment was cancelled.
After that I went back to sleep for a little over an hour.
Beyond talking to my mother, the only thing I’ve done is go out and clean off my car and move it to a space that’s been plowed out.
Though there was heavy coverage on my car, it didn’t take long to remove it, as it was basically thick, wet snow covered by a hard shell of ice. Further, at the bottom it was beginning to melt, so all it really took was a shove and huge chunks, sliding on the wet surface and held together by ice, would slough right off.
I actually removed the snow on the roof of my car in one piece by simply it off.
The most effort went into moving my car, though even that wasn’t too difficult, just a couple minutes worth of rocking.
The sun keeps poking out periodically, and will likely make short work of the bulk of the snow if it manages to stay out from behind the clouds for a while. Even so, while the actual snowing has long since stopped, the ice is melting, schools have been cancelled for tomorrow as well as today. Why not just cancel them for Friday, too?
I just don’t understand why they think that a little snow and ice is such an intractable problem, especially considering how much money as the county has. Oh well.
Oh, one other thing I’ve done so far is a tutorial on creating a realistic-looking LCD screen. Here is the result, which I’ve personalized:



One thing that I’ve discovered after my upgrade to Vista is that I am able to once again get my LightScribe drive to work properly.
LightScribe is a technology that allows you to use your DVD burner’s laser to print labels on special LightScribe compatible discs.
I bought my drive a computer ago, and had no trouble with it in the HP, but after I’d installed it in the current Hugin, I was no longer able to get it to work, despite trying multiple fixes. It worked just fine for burning discs, I just couldn’t use the laser printing feature. I would get an error saying, “Unable to communicate with drive,” or something to that effect, which annoyed me, as I was always able to get the print preview feature to work, which required that there be a LightScribe-enabled disc in the drive. So it could communicate with it for the preview, but not for the actual printing.
Anyway, turns out it was lying to me the whole time, as once I downloaded the Vista drivers and software for it I was able to print without any problems.
So this is another instance in which I wish software and hardware followed the domestic abuse approach to interface design so that I could slap my LightScribe drive around for lying to me for so long.
What other lies have you told me, LightScribe drive???!
Anyway, this hasn’t really been a productive week.
Apart from going grocery shopping, I haven’t ventured out into the world at all. I still need to do that stupid emissions test and get my taxes done.
I’ve done zip in the way of drawing anything interesting. I had to give up on the one picture I wanted to draw because the low-res screen cap I was using as a reference is just too dark and too lacking in detail to allow me to even try to extrapolate useful reference information from it.
I’ve started on another picture, but my heart just isn’t in it.
I was going to make oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday, but I couldn’t manage that, as I don’t have any vanilla extract and I wasn’t about to drive to the store with there being actual weather outside and everyone in full end of the world panic mode.
I ended up making peanut butter cookies instead, which is okay, but I really had my heart set on oatmeal raisin. Oh well.
(Oh, and for those interested, here’s my three ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (or Splenda if watching carbs)
1 egg
Mix all ingredients together. Make little balls and place on cookie sheet.
Criss-cross fork impression on top of cookie to flatten a bit. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350.)
Anyway, I think that’s more than enough for one pointless, boring entry.

Computer Abuse

One new feature of Vista I’ve discovered is that it apparently responds to threats.
Even when I was still using XP I’d made the upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. Overall, it worked fine, addressing most of the issues that plagued IE 6, such as some Web pages not rendering correctly.
However, the combination of IE 7 and Vista seemed to introduce new problems with many of the sites I visit regularly. Some of them wouldn’t render correctly, while others would take a very long time to load, while still others wouldn’t load at all.
Those same sites loaded effortlessly on Munin, which is running IE 7 on XP, so clearly it was a Vista-specific issue.
Hoping that enough people would complain about such problems to inspire MS to release a patch, I resolved in the meantime to download Firefox to see if that would do a better job of it.
Everything worked fine in Firefox, so I contemplated making the switch.
Vista must have realized what was going on, though, and decided that it had better straighten up and fly right if it was going to keep me from making the permanent switch, so IE 7 just spontaneously started working properly.
I’ve long been a proponent of operating systems that respond to threats and to physical violence. I call it the domestic abuse approach to interface design.
Error message pops up? Simply smack the computer upside the monitor, and the message goes away and the computer does what it was supposed to be doing in the first place…if it knows what’s good for it.
So this development in Vista is clearly a step in the right direction. I like the idea of my browser doing anything it can to woo me back once I begin to stray. I want my browser to behave like some aging, overweight housefrau who drops the pounds and takes up pole-dancing and starts offering threesomes to keep her husband home in the evenings because she just can’t face life on her own. That’s how I want my computer OS and applications to be: desperate to please me because they don’t want me to abandon them or hit them again.
I’m kidding, of course, though I do often wish that my computer could feel pain, but the coincidental timing of IE working out whatever bug it needed to was pretty entertaining. At a guess, if it isn’t just a coincidence, I’d say that maybe the system switched over to a different rendering engine once I installed Firefox. Does that happen?
Whatever, I still find it kind of funny.
And for those of you wondering why I haven’t just switched over to Firefox anyway, the answer is that I don’t care.
What I mean is, what you might see as compelling reasons to make the switch from the “evil” browser over to the “good” browser, I see as a bunch of ideological nonsense.
IE is already on the computer. IE works. Therefore, I have no reason to switch.
That being said, when IE stopped working, I was willing to make the switch because then I actually had a compelling reason.
Now that IE is working properly, though, I’ll switch back, as I do have some complaints about Firefox that become compelling reasons not to use it when IE is working.
If you use Firefox, good for you; just don’t bother telling me why I should.
Same goes for your favorite OS (though if you do have one that responds to getting physically and emotionally abused, let me know).
It’s rather wintry out there today. Not sure if I’m going to head all the way down to Reston for that training. It’s not especially vital training, and it’s not a whole lot of OT.
Still, it is some OT, so I guess I’ll have to think about it.

The Gee Whiz Factor

Despite the fact that MS is touting things like enhanced security, powerful search tools, and improved performance, the real selling points for Vista are the "gee whiz" features, such as the snazzy new "Aero" interface with its semi-transparent windows, and of course this, the 3D cascading effect for open windows that lets you flip through them to pick which one you want to switch to:



Before I moved files back on to the hard drive, I'd chosen a rather cool Northern Lights image from the included pictures for my desktop wallpaper, but soon I found myself missing Scarlett's backside, so I switched back to it.
You can see my latest work in progress in the "stack." That may actually be the last you see of it with the way it's going. Too much shadow, too low a resolution, too little talent..

Minor Annoyances That Are Majorly Annoying

Okay, now I have Word installed. That Google Docs thing was okay, but this is more familiar.
I’ve run into a few irritations so far with Vista, most notably the UAC (User Access Control) thing.
The idea behind it is that you don’t necessarily want programs (or other users) being able to modify settings or install programs wily-nily. In particular, you don’t want pieces of malware installing themselves or executing remote commands.
So basically whenever you or a program do something, a window pops up and asks you to confirm that it’s kosher.
If you’re a user without administrative privileges, you will not be allowed to do it, period.
But, if you are an administrator, all you have to do is click confirm.
While presumably better than nothing, it’s not exactly ideal security, in that it requires no validation of your credentials beyond the fact that you’re logged in, so conceivably there’s a pretty easy way around it (malware does something, UAC window pops up, malware clicks confirm).
Also, it’s kind of annoying.
Kind of really annoying, especially when you’re in the process of setting up a new install.
In fact, once incident was positively infuriating me (What are the odds?).
As should surprise no one, I have a lot of downloaded pictures. A lot.
Keeping them organized can be a hassle, particularly since the pictures come from so many different sources and so there is no sort of universal naming convention.
The solution to this problem that I’ve found is a program called Picasa from Google. It’s got a great “batch rename” feature that lets me select a group of pictures of, say, Scarlett Johansson, which have names like “18.jpg,” or, “sjoh11.jpg,” or whatever. With all of the disparately-named photos selected, I can then give them all names that adhere to the same convention. In my case, the convention is [name][image date][image size].
So, in the case of Scarlett you might end up with something like Scarlett Johansson 2-4-2007 3-30-10 AM 376x490. Each picture would follow that convention, with a difference in date and size to distinguish them (it appends a number to the name if all the other data is the same).
Anyway, I had a bunch of disorganized photos sitting around in different directories that needed to be renamed before being moved over to the main folder, so I figured that now was a good a time as any to go in and get them all renamed. So I reinstalled Picasa, went into the folders, renamed the pictures, then moved them over into the big picture directory…only to discover that they still had their old disorganized names. WTF?
I tried renaming them again. No dice. And yet, some pictures I could rename.
WTF, indeed.
After some investigation I realized that the pictures that I could use Picasa to rename were pictures I’d downloaded since upgrading.
So it was a permissions issue.
If I went into the folder and chose to rename one of the pre-upgrade pictures, I got the UAC window. This was not being invoked inside of Picasa, so the changes I made weren’t being applied.
To solve the problem I had to change the permissions on the folders to allow everyone to modify the contents, not just the “owner,” which was no longer me because those folders were created by a different version of Windows, and not just by the administrator on a case-by-case basis.
So yeah, irritating.
Anyway, on a non-Windows topic, I should mention the experience that led me to go out and by Vista: my root canal.
(I’ll get to how the one led to the other in a bit)
My appointment was originally for 10:10, but on Monday afternoon the Cute Girl With Big Boobs Who Can’t Say Massachusetts (CGWBBWCSM), whose name I should really find out, called to ask if I could come in a little earlier, so I agreed to show up for 9:30.
When I showed up CGWBBWCSM once again greeted me with great cheer, asking, “Are you prepared?”I said, “Sure.”
She said, “Did you eat anything?”
I said, “No.” After all, I’d slept as late as possible, allowing myself only enough time to shower and dress.
She gasped, then said, “You’re gonna starve!”
I said, “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” she said, dubiously.
Most people get rather nervous about root canals.
I don’t, but that’s just because I’ve had so many of them.
(Hey kids! Here’s a tip from Jon to you! Take care of your teeth!)
It went pretty much like all the others, and after about an hour or so I was ready to go, with a Valentine’s Day appointment to start work on my crown.
As I was checking out, CGWBBWCSM was puzzled by the instructions as to how to bill me and asked the dentist for some guidance. He explained it to her (I’m not sure I understood the issue), and she said, “I’m always kept in the dark.”
I think I thought something dirty at that point – in fact, I’m sure of it – but I can’t remember what it was. Instead I just sort of smiled sympathetically.
And then I was on my way.
Because I was already out and about I decided I’d head to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. The thought then occurred to me, “While I’m there, I should pick up a copy of Vista.”
They were actually sold out, so I opted to hit the Best Buy near there on my way home, which is where I bought it.
And that pretty much brings us up to date (though I should mention that my mother called to see how my tooth was doing yesterday afternoon; I wasn’t especially talkative, as I was in the midst of my second upgrade attempt).
Anyway, now my time off is nearly at an end and soon I’ll be back in the three-day grind.

Trial And Mostly Error

Hmm.
I'm trying out the whole Google Doc & Spreadsheets thing (how Web 2.0 of me), as I have not yet gotten Office installed on the computer.
I did, however, manage to get Vista installed successfully.
Eventually.
For the first attempt I went with the Upgrade option, which is great in some ways (you keep your existing applications and data), but not really optimal for performance (a fresh install on an empty drive is ideal).
However, with Vista you actually have to have a version of Windows installed in order to be able to use the upgrade (with previous versions you could just put in a CD to prove that you have a version of Windows).
Anyway, during the information gathering period, the installer came back and said that there were three programs that I had to remove entirely before it could proceed.
Okay. I can understand that there might be compatibility problems with older programs that migh preven them from working in the new OS, but having to actually remove them? Well, whatever; I would be replacing those programs anyway.
Once that was done it came back and gave me a list of programs that might not work, but that they weren't deal-breakers like the other three, so I was cleared for takeoff.
The upgrade was underway and said it could take several hours (yikes), so I wandered off to the living room to fire up the Tablet PC to keep myself entertained.
Some time later I checked in on the progress and it seemed to be moving along smoothly.
A while later it said, "Please wait a moment while Windows prepares to launch for the first time." Okey dokey.
Next time I looked it appeared to be finishing up the install, saying, "Your upgrade has been successful." However, I was puzzled by the fact that it said it was rolling back to my previous version of Windows. WTF?
Wait a second, it said, "Your upgrade has not been successful."
Again, WTF?
Once it finished and I was back into XP, I went online to figure out what happened.I couldn't figure out what happened because, as I'd forgotten, people are useless.
Here are the typical results I got in my search:

Message board post: Vista said my upgrade was not successful, but didn't give any sort of error feedback.
Message board response: Buy a Mac.

Because, you know, that helps.
Hey Internet, you suck!
Anyway, I decided to try the other install option, which is to simply install it on the same drive as the existing version of Windows without upgrading.
Same thing.
During one of the restarts, though, I noticed that before Windows launched my computer was reporting a keyboard failure, as apparently it didn't recognize that my wireless keyboard was connected until Windows actually started.
It was a longshot, but could that have something to do with it?
Further, digging into old message board posts about the various beta releases, I found that the installer didn't seem to like being run from certain DVD ROM drives.
So, I plugged in an old keyboard, put the DVD in the other drive, and held my breath.
I exhaled once I saw it get past a point it had never gotten to before.
Suddenly, after 4 hours and 3 attempts, I had Vista!
Not sure what the X Factor was that made it work, whether it was the different drive, the other keyboard, or just some flaky bit of serendipity.
Once it started up it immediately began downloading updates (no surprises there), and then it began installing them. It got through the first 12 just fine, then the whole system crashed on lucky number 13.
Not a very promising start.
However, it became clear that the problem was that it had misidentified my wireless adapter and had attempted to download and install the wrong driver.
I couldn't find a working Vista driver for my wireless adapter (at the tim I was connected to the router via Ethernet, by the way, to make sure that I had an Internet connection should Vista not be able to use my wireless adapter), which is a few years old from a no-name brand.
I swapped Hugin's wireless adapter with Munin's, as Munin had a newer Netgear adapter, and Vista was able to find a suitable driver.
Next problem was sound, or rather, the lack of it.
There appeared to be a problem with the driver for my soundcard, so I spent (read: wasted) a good hour trying to find and install a new driver.
Then I noticed that the soundcard driver was already installed and Windows said it was working perfectly.
I then noticed that the little message in the notification area wasn't telling me that I didn't have a soundcard installed, like I thought, but that there were no speakers plugged in.
See, back when I upgraded my RAM, I had to disconnect everything, then reconnect it. Dell has these little pictograms next to the audio jacks that are utterly meaningless, so it's sort of by trial and error that you determine which one is for the speakers, which one is for the mic, and which one is the line out.
When I'd hooked everything back up then, I got sound, so I figured I'd gotten the right jack, and I ignored the little message that came up from "Sound Manager" saying that there was something plugged into the pink jack, and what did I want to do about that? I just told it to use them as rear speakers, which was one of the options, and thought that it was just some odd quirk.
Anyway, turns out that I had the speakers plugged into the line out jack, which was why Vista, without the benefit of Sound Manager, was unable to pump sound through them.
By that time it was pretty late in the day, and nearly time for my Tuesday night TV viewing. I managed to get Photoshop installed before setting my ass on the couch.
When I did the "cleanish" install, it didn't overwrite what was on the drive, it simply moved it into a folder called Windows.old. So all of my applications and data are still there, I just can't actually run most of the applications.
I hadn't been too worried about losing anything, as I'd backed up my data, but I forgot about my custom shapes, brushes, styles, and patterns in Photoshop, which all appeared lost, until I noticed the old Photoshop folder.
However, none of those things actually appeared to be saved there, as copying over the old folders has not made them reappear. Ah well.
Anyway, I'm still busily acquainting myself with Vista and getting it to where I need it to be, so I guess I'll get back to it.
Oh, and if you're wondering, overall, I like Vista so far. Not sure about the interface changes they made to Media Center, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Where Many Have Gone Before

I decided to pick up a copy of Windows Vista today.
I was going to just get Home Premium, but then said, "Screw it," and bought Ultimate, since Hugin is up to the task of running it.
Over the years I've upgraded the OS on many a computer without ever running into any serious issues.
Of course, there's a first time for everything. Here's hoping this isn't it.
Wish me luck.