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Albert Sims

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Argh... [Dec. 22nd, 2009|11:53 am]
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[Current Mood | nerdy]

"WebcamMax" had an update. I installed it. It wouldn't cooperate with "Webcam32". Uninstalled it, reverted back to the older version. Had to reboot twice in the process.
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Random Update to "Random Technical Question" [Dec. 5th, 2009|12:28 pm]
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[Current Mood | accomplished]
[Current Music |"Handel on the Law" on KFI640.com]

Just a quick update to the random "technical" question I posted the other day. After my son got all the files off the old computer he had in his room, I proceeded with formatting the hard drive. Figured, for the heck of it, I'd try using my full retail version of Vista for the install, and just type in the product key on the sticker on the side of the old computer, to avoid installing all of HP's crapware on the restore discs. Well, it worked fine. Install continued, and Windows also validated fine. After the install, I downloaded and installed Microsoft Security Essentials and the 103 updates that have accumulated since the first Vista release, all with no problems.

Bit of a "quirk" with my webcam uploading software though. When I start "Webcam32", I get a splash screen saying something about "10 day trial", but I go to "About Webcam32" under "Help", it says it is "Registered"... which it is... or was... the company that made it dropped it from their product lineup in 2006, but has been working fine all these years. Guess I'll know more in 10 days.
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16? Geesh, where does time go?? [Dec. 2nd, 2009|08:21 am]
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[Current Mood | lazy]
[Current Music |"Handel on the News" on KFI640.com]

Today Andrew turned 16 years old. As a result, I feel like I'm 92 years old! He's been wanting a laptop computer for his birthday, so his grandmother is going to take him to "Best Buy" when he gets in from school. I'll be going along as "technical advisor", to make sure he doesn't have my mom overspend. I've already asked him what he was mainly going to be using it for, and he said just watching online videos on YouTube, chatting, and browsing. For those rather lightweight uses, one $600 or less should be fine. Since the new machine will most likely be running Windows 7, it shouldn't need over 2 GB of RAM, because all reports say 7 is a lot "lighter weight" than Vista, which is the operating system on the PC I am typing this entry on.

He's not interested in computer gaming, since he has a PS3, and, as long as he stays out of trouble in school between now and Xmas, his grandmother has told him she'll get him the Xbox 360 he has also been wanting. Those two consoles should handle any game he would be interested in... he's shown no interest in any Wii games.

In other, completely unrelated news, the mom from "Family Ties", Meredith Baxter, has announced that she's a lesbian. Who woulda thunk??
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And Now For A Few Completely Random Things... [Jul. 5th, 2009|08:50 am]
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[Current Mood | awake]

Yesterday after work, I picked up a Norelco electric razor for my son. He's at that "magic" age that the "peachfuzz" on his face is getting highly noticable, and I wanted to make sure he got rid of it before the new school year starts, when he begins high school. I figured it would be easier in the beginning stages of shaving for him to use an electric, because that is what I used the first few years I shaved, not switching to a manual razor till about my mid-20's. I remember when I was about a year younger than him, my "peachfuzz" had started showing up, and I was heavily ribbed at school about it until I shaved it off. Course, mine showed up more than his, because of the dark hair I had then. As a bonus, got 10% off the razor, thanks to my employee discount. :-)

Wilbur's funeral is set for tomorrow at 10am, but I'm not going. I liked the guy a lot, but I HATE funerals and funeral homes in general. Haven't even attended most relatives funerals just because of that fact. I'm planning to donate what might be left of my body to "science" when I go... I consider "funerals" a waste of money and land space.

Off work Sunday and Monday this week. Apart from doing some laundry, taking Andrew to his psychiatric appointment tomorrow afternoon (the place is about to stop seeing him since his behavior has improved quite a bit)... I don't plan on doing much that requires "energy" these two days. After I send this post, going to shut down the PC, unplug it, take the side off it, and blow out any dust that may have accumulated in it since I bought it back in March of 2008...
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"Conflicts" of interest [Sep. 24th, 2008|08:55 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]

This morning, my son left me a note before leaving for school, saying his computer wouldn't boot. He was getting an error message stating, "Windows failed to load because the system registry file is missing or corrupt, file:\Windows\System32\config\system\". Andrew said he looked for the HP restore discs this morning, but couldn't find them (because I keep them in a safe place). He was apparently thinking of doing another complete wipe of the computer to fix the problem. After getting up this morning and reading his note, I took the restore discs, booted from them, got into safe mode, and did a system restore to a previous point (September 20), to not wipe out any data. Worked like a charm. Andrew is happy all his data is still there, and the computer now boots fine. I'm no computer expert by NO means, but I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night have been listening to Leo Laporte for at least a decade, so I knew exactly what to try first before wiping a whole drive!

Now, if I could just get the driver conflict on MY computer to resolve in some fashion, I'd be just fine! Ever since I replaced the "Living Room Cam" with a wider-angle model, the PC has been sporatically blue screening and rebooting from time to time. The cause, according to Microsoft, is camera drivers. Both the cam in the living room and the computer room are higher-end Logitech models, but not the SAME model. The previous cam in the living room was an older high-end Logitech, and it never gave me the pains the new one is.

Maybe I need to try and consult Leo... if I can ever get off on a weekend to call in to his radio show when it's live!
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LP Digital Conversion Update [Jul. 14th, 2008|07:03 pm]
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[Current Mood | drained]

Hooked up the new USB turntable this afternoon. Discovered there is some sort of odd compatibility problem with Roxio Easy Media Creator. It will record to the hard drive just fine, but using Roxio, you can't hear the album as you are recording it, which isn't very nice!

Soooo, after reading the support forums at both Ion Audio and Roxio, I decided the only option I have is to record to the hard drive using Audacity (with which you can hear the audio while recording), then do the track splitting and clean up in Roxio afterwards. You'd think Roxio would be able to handle everything, especially for a $99 program, but turns out that isn't the case!

Anyway, I have the A and B sides of the "James Bond's Greatest Hits" album on the hard drive now. Since I was "fighting" most of the afternoon trying to get the turntable to work properly with Roxio, I'll wait till tomorrow to do the editing. I need to get away from the 'puter awhile. Probably go to the living room and watch more DVDs the rest of the evening!
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Is it the second Tuesday of the month already?!? [Jul. 8th, 2008|11:39 pm]
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[Current Mood | blah]

Just noticed Windows Update started downloading... will probably have to do a reboot to install the darn updates!

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Grrr... [Jul. 7th, 2008|12:49 pm]
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[Current Mood | cranky]

There was a major update for AVG, and in the process, the program crapped out on me. Had to reinstall, then run the update again!
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New Keyboard [Jul. 6th, 2008|06:16 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]
[Current Music |This Week In Tech on TWiTLive.TV]

Bought a new keyboard earlier today. Got tired of buying batteries, even though in the wireless keyboard that came with the new PC I bought earlier this year they lasted an adequate amount of time. Found a nice wired PS/2 connected Logitech Media Center keyboard at my workplace for $18.86. Typing is even quieter than the keyboard that came with the PC, and I thought IT was quiet!

My son said by buying a wired keyboard to replace the wireless one, I was "living in the stone age". I made mention of that in the #twitlive chat while Leo Laporte was present, he mentioned me by name in the video streaming that I wasn't "living in the stone age", because wireless keyboards are a "security nightmare"(in his words). He said passwords, credit card numbers, etc, could be picked up by people that might be trying to pick that stuff up wirelessly. He apparently only uses wired keyboards as a result. And to think, I just bought a wired keyboard to save on buying batteries!

In other Leo Laporte news, I really want the audio/video broadcasting equipment he has:

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About to shut the sons internet down for awhile IF... [Jul. 6th, 2008|04:18 pm]
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[Current Mood | annoyed]
[Current Music |TWiT Live at TWiTLive.TV]

If my son doesn't turn off the bandwidth hogging apps he is running in his room, so I can watch/listen to Leo Laporte record "This Week In Tech" without sputtering video/audio, I'm going to disconnect the wireless router, and connect the modem DIRECTLY to my computer during the duration of the show!

He has started playing GTA4 online with people on his PS3, and streaming his webcam. Tried to explain to him that he has "nothing but time" to do things online, since he's out of school for the summer, and I don't have much time to do the stuff I want, being I have to work for a living. He just don't get it!

Desperate times call for drastic measures!
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Son is online again [May. 30th, 2008|10:44 pm]
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[Current Mood | tired]

When I got home this evening, my son was still making backup discs for the stuff he wanted to save, before doing a complete reformat. I was tired, but showed him how to make a backup of his Firefox bookmarks. Then, I decided to come to my computer, try downloading the wireless adapter drivers from the Linksys site, burn them to a disc, and use that to try to install on his machine. Same result as using the supplied disc... drivers would not install, and the adapter kept showing up as an "Unidentified Device!".

Went BACK to the Linksys site, and after a lengthy conversation with a person named "Pooja Pawar" in their live chat thingy, the same conclusion I had earlier about reformatting the system was reached.

Then something popped into my tiny little brain. I suddenly remembered some problems I was having with the old Intel PC Pro webcam. It had trouble with drivers in the XP and Vista systems it has been used on, until I unplugged it from one USB port, then plugged it into a different one, then it worked perfectly. Soooo... making a long story short, I tried that with the wireless adapter on his PC. What'd ya know... instant internet access! If I had remembered that little thing several hours earlier (counting yesterday), I wouldn't have had to go through all that other hassle!

Only seems to work in the front USB ports though... doesn't function in neither of the 4 ports in the rear of the machine. Worked fine in the back until that "optional" Windows Update for the device.

The mysteries of life....
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Just now trying out the built in FM tuner [May. 2nd, 2008|11:44 pm]
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[Current Mood | tired]

Just now trying out the built-in FM tuner in the new computer I've had since February. On the way home from work, on LA105.3FM, Corey Crowe and another Bob (not the one on "The News-Star Hour") were live on-air talking about the nasty storms going through the area tonight, instead of what they usually air, "Nights with Alice Cooper". After getting home, I finally hooked up that little wired FM antenna that came with the 'puter, started up Windows Media Center, went over to "Music", then "Radio", then put the local station into it, and it works just fine. They are STILL discussing the weather alerts as of this post, taking calls from listeners living in the surrounding areas.

Yes, I KNOW I'm a bit of an idiot by hooking an extra wire to the PC during a severe thunderstorm, but I'm just crazy that way!
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Updates, literally! [May. 1st, 2008|01:29 am]
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[Current Mood | geeky]

Just updated Semagic's LJ client to version 1.7.3.0U, and my paid AVG Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware to version 8.0.93(from the version 7.5 I bought the day I bought this new computer just recently).
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Nice program, so far anyways... [Apr. 16th, 2008|11:22 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]

The past couple of days, I've been trying out yet another "all-in-one" IM client. I was happy with Trillian Pro up until about the middle of last year. Back in late 2006, they put up a page announcing, "Trillian Astra: Coming January 2007". Well, here it is nearly a year and a half later, and all they've managed is a private "alpha" for testing. So much for Trillian in my book... they shouldn't announce something if they KNOW it's going to be so slow in development! Needless to say, I didn't renew my "Pro" membership. I had renewed it in late 2006 in anticipation of the Astra release. Methinks they were just out for money.

Since around the middle of last year, been using Pidgin (formerly "Gaim") mostly as my all-in-one chat thingy. Been quite happy with it. Totally free, open source program, updated regularly. No major problems with that program.

The other day, I saw a couple of folks over on BroadbandReports.com 's forums mention a program called "Digsby". Figured I'd download it and try it out. Not a bad program at all. Still in a "beta" stage, but hasn't crashed once (not YET, anyway). You can put most of your chat client info in it (AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, Jabber), and social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace). The developers aren't charging for the program (not yet, anyway, you never know down the line what might happen with "new" software!). The program has a nice, sleek, skinnable interface, doesn't look quite as "clunky" as Pidgin.
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Finally bought a portable MP3 player [Mar. 28th, 2008|12:36 am]
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[Current Mood | buzzed]

On my lunch hour at work, I generally like to go out to the truck to eat my lunch and listen to talk radio. I have no problems on days I work 1-10pm, lunch hour falls in the 5-6pm timeframe, and I can listen to Corey Crowe and Bob Teague "battle it out" on "The News-Star Hour" on KMLB 540-AM. I find that highly entertaining.

However, any other shift, or if the 1-10pm shift is on a Saturday or Sunday, nothing worth listening to on local talk radio (sometimes KMLB even just has "dead air", or a damn sports game on during that time frame), and I tend to get a tad annoyed. Don't want to listen to the classic rock FM station I listen to on the way to work... want something "new and informative". That is why I "broke down" and bought the MP3 device I bought this evening.



It's a Philips SA4111/37 model, 1GB capacity (more than enough for the "talk only" podcasts I'll be putting on it). I'll put a lot of Leo Laporte podcasts on it probably, and listen to those on my lunch hour.
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Getting things slowly set up... [Feb. 26th, 2008|05:49 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | eye straned]
[Current Music |"The News Star Hour" on KMLB.com]

After getting my federal tax refund yesterday, I made a trip to Office Depot and purchased a new PC. Now, I know you're probably saying to yourself, "Didn't that idiot just buy a new computer around this time last year?!?"

Answer is, "Yes I did."

However, the one I bought last year was a bit clunky when doing large video files, so I decided, instead of buying more memory, larger hard drive, better video card, etc... I figured it might be more economical to just buy a whole new machine with the features I needed, and, as I did last year, "donate" the new "old PC" to the son.

Bought another HP Pavilion(I've had good luck with HP and Compaq over the years), with a built in TV tuner that receives both analog and digital broadcasts, video input jacks on the front, 4GB RAM, two 340GB hard drives, FM radio tuner, 15-in-one card reader, LightScribe DVD/CD burner, HD-DVD/DVD/DVD Rom/CD/CD Rom player (yes, I realize I'll NEVER use that HD-DVD feature), some kind of "Media Drive" bays that I'll probably never use either, HDMI output, Intel Quad Core processor,etc.

Also decided to buy the full version of Vista Home Premium(32 bit), and install it over the supplied 64 bit version, because I have a LOT of software that won't work on 64 bit, also, I thought it wouldn't hurt to wipe out all the HP "crapware" on the PC. Hit a snag on the HP software front though... I wiped out the drivers for the Realtek ethernet card in the process and couldn't get online! Went to my sons room, downloaded the drivers, burned 'em to a CD, was "good to go" again!

Also bought AVG Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware (with a two-year license), and a new 19" HP LCD monitor (since Andrew hit the other one with a stapler and put a scratch on it a while back...he now has that monitor, to replace the 17" Compaq CRT that had originally came with my first PC (bought in 1999).

I'm slowly getting everything loaded onto this new PC, including the drivers for the new printer/scanner/copier I bought with part of my paycheck last week at my job (10% off don't hurt!). Haven't had a chance to try out the Kodak branded machine yet (bought that because the cartridges are cheaper), taking a break to listen to "The News Star Hour" online (or, "The Broom Closet Crew", in reference to an earlier post) as I'm making this rather lengthy, boring post. Strangly though, I can't get "captions" to work on Webcam32 on this machine... they worked on the other Vista machine (that wasn't using an "actual" Vista disc... it was OEM).

After buying all the above stuff, I came out of Office Depot around $2200 poorer... but hopefully it'll all be worth it!
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Is This Normal? [Oct. 19th, 2007|01:50 am]
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[Current Mood | curious]

Is it normal for a software program to take nearly 20 minutes to install on a fairly recent Windows Vista Home Premium computer with over a GB of RAM? No error messages or anything, just a boring 20 minutes for the thing to install... program in question is Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10. Installed it tonight, going to try it out on some video tomorrow.
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Random Question [Sep. 6th, 2007|06:19 am]
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[Current Mood | tired]

Don'tcha hate it when you're in an IM conversation with someone, then the electricity suddenly goes out for a little over half an hour?

Guess that's what I get for being online during a thunderstorm...
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My "Actual" desktop... [Aug. 12th, 2007|04:37 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]

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Watching and listening to Leo Laporte live... [Jul. 28th, 2007|01:02 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]

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Hmm, interesting... [May. 15th, 2007|11:41 am]
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[Current Mood | geeky]
[Current Music |Windows Weekly podcast]

As recently as two weeks ago, I went to BellSouth AT&T's website to see if 6.0 DSL was available out here in the boonies yet (been using 3.0). It wasn't. Went there again today... it was listed as available to my address. Needless to say, I ordered it.
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Arrgh.... [May. 15th, 2007|10:22 am]
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[Current Mood | bitchy]

Just tried to install that USB video input device I bought just late last year for nearly eighty bucks to the new 'puter, to transfer some more old video tapes to DVD... and it's not Vista compatible... not yet anyway. Apparently ADS is working on drivers... but until then, I'm screwed in regards to getting video into the computer... meh.
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Small World... [Apr. 16th, 2007|10:53 pm]
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[Current Mood | tired]

Discovered today that a LiveJournal friend I never before met in "real life" recently transferred to the Wal-Mart where I work, from Bastrop. Kept thinking her face was familiar, then it finally dawned on me who she was... it was [info]gestorter_engel!

In other "geeky" news... I'm happy with the cheap wired keyboard that came in the box with the cheap wired mouse that I bought recently, but not so much with the mouse. Doesn't maneuver or scroll well. So... this evening after work, I bought a wired optical "Microsoft" branded mouse. So far, "feels" and works a lot better than the cheap Durabrand ball mouse.... and got it for less than twenty bucks including tax after my employee discount.
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Well, guess it worked out pretty good this week... [Apr. 8th, 2007|11:48 pm]
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[Current Location |in front of the 'puter]
[Current Mood | tired]

My mom changed her off-day at the post office from Monday to Saturday recently. This week, I'm off work tomorrow (Monday). Andrew has no school tomorrow, still out for the Easter holidays, he goes back Tuesday. I go back to work Tuesday. I'll be home tomorrow to keep an eye on him since my mom returns to work after taking last week off to watch after him on his school break. So, Andrew will have supervision steadily at home and at school this week. Seems everything fell into place this week. Follow?

In other news, one of our CSM's (Customer Service Managers) at work revealed in the break room to someone that she had a "MySpace" page. The other person mentioned they were going to try and look up her profile. Tonight, not having anything better to do, I decided to try to look up her profile myself. Found it, after going through over 100 search page results. Clicked the "Add as Friend" link... not sure if I'll get beat up when I return to work or not as a result of that. Guess I'm just a bit "crazy" doing things like that. Not sure either when she'll see I clicked that link, since she mentioned she doesn't have a computer.

Also, I tend to like the "feel" of this new wired keyboard and mouse over the wireless ones that came with the new computer. Guess because they "feel" more like the ones on the old computer, and I was used to them.

My sinuses have been going haywire the past few days, because of the cold snap we suddenly got after the 80° temps we had started getting. Got down in the 30's last night, and in the 50's as a high today. Temps are supposed to be getting back to "seasonable norms" around Wednesday. Hope they get here and stick this time, for my heads sake!

Tomorrow, I have some "catching up" to do laundry wise. Bet I have at least three loads worth, not counting the bed linens. I'll be giving the ol' Maytag washer and dryer quite a workout!

Eastwood has had a habit lately of getting in the bathroom sink and looking up at the air vent in the ceiling. I've investigated, can't figure out what he sees in it. Next time I catch him in the sink, I'm going to turn on the faucet, and get his reaction (probably won't be a "positive" one).

I just realized I missed the HBO-West feed of "The Sopranos" final season first episode (didn't really get in early enough to watch the regular HBO feed). Oh, well... it IS HBO after all... they'll show it again... and again... and again...
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My Five Most Annoying Things (as of this day) [Apr. 7th, 2007|01:35 am]
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[Current Mood | blank]

1) People walking around with cell phones "glued" to their ears constantly... for some indescribable reason, I just want to punch them in the face!

2) The ex wife, even though I haven't heard a "peep" out of her in years.

3) "Wireless keyboards and mice", being they eat up batteries WAY too fast! (Replaced the wireless set that came with the new HP computer with a cheap wired set).

4) The two guys (out of seven) on the "cart crew" at work that are extremely lazy (and the CSM's don't do anything about them)

5) my son, just for everytime he hears a sound from my computer, he runs in here and asks, "What's that?!?"...
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Keyboard and Mouse [Apr. 4th, 2007|11:21 am]
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[Current Mood | bitchy]

I don't think I'm going to be very "happy" with the wireless keyboard and mouse that came with this new computer. Uses up batteries too fast. Already had to replace the batteries twice in the mouse alone in the short time I've had the computer! I think sometime after payday, I'll invest in a wired keyboard and mouse... and save a small fortune by not having to constantly replace expensive batteries...
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The new computer... [Mar. 16th, 2007|03:32 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | geeky]
[Current Music |"Security Now" podcast]



HP Pavilion, Windows Vista Home Premium, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+, 1024MB memory, 320GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE graphics, wireless keyboard and mouse, LightScribe DVD SuperMulti Drive and DVD-ROM drive, 9 in 1 media card reader, front access Firewire and USB 2.0 ports, and a 19" widescreen LCD monitor.
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Slowly Gettin' This Thing To My Liking... [Mar. 12th, 2007|04:02 pm]
[Tags|, ]
[Current Mood | accomplished]
[Current Music |Windows Media Player]

Stayed up ALL night last night since I was off today, fiddling with the new HP Vista Home Premium PC. Took a coupla hours nap this morning after Andrew got on the bus for school. Got a few things accomplished. Managed to get all three webcams to function in Vista, after searching Google for drivers, even the 7 year old Intel PC Pro "kitchen cam". Finally gave up trying to figure out how to get this computer and the old one I gave Andrew working with the router on my own, and around 2am last night, called Linksys support. They talked me through a ton of settings, had me change the pre-set local IP address in the router, because they said there was an IP conflict between the router and the new Netopia modem that BellSouth sent me. Now, Andrew has stopped asking, "When is my internet gonna start working?!?" Went through three female support people... the last one was the "Vista expert". The first one was a woman who called herself "Dorothy", who had a heavy Indian accent.

Still a bit disheartened that there appears to be no drivers for my 8 year old HP Scanjet 4100C scanner for Vista. Thing still works well, hate to just give up on it. But... alas... maybe it's about time to go buy one of those "all-in-one" printer/scanner thingy-mabobs... I was amazed that my ancient Webcam32 software (which the company stopped development on ages ago) actually functions perfectly on Vista. The software I use to "split" my "computer cam" picture between Webcam32 and instant messengers, Splitcam, apparently needs a Vista update by the developer. I get driver errors when I try to run it.

Bought a set of Sony branded computer speakers after I got off work yesterday. Only speakers this new PC came with were the teeny-tiny ones built into the LCD monitor, and those things sound TERRIBLE!! The new Sony speakers even have a subwoofer.

After my much needed nap this morning, I re-downloaded all the XP updates for Andrew's computer (did a "restore" before giving it to him). He's got the anti-malware software I use now, along with AVG Free anti-virus. Now, I'm listening to Leo Laporte's radio show podcasts I've been missing while working, and I may head to the living room later to watch a little more of season 2 of "I Dream of Jeannie" I bought the other day. Won't be off again till Friday.
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Partially Up And Running [Mar. 9th, 2007|03:14 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | geeky]

After work yesterday, I ran out to "Sam's Club" and picked up that new computer I've been threatening to buy lately. Got a few of my programs from the old computer up and running on it so far. Stayed up till nearly 3am last night monkeying around with the thing since I was off work today. Discovered that two of my three webcams aren't "Vista Compatible", along with my 8 year old HP Scanjet scanner.

Went ahead and put the old PC in Andrew's room, although it'll be awhile before he gets to actually use it. In the process of doing a complete system restore on it, and it's taking forever! Also, on my next day off (Monday), I need to work on getting this confounded Linksys router to function! Internet connection is fine with the new modem BellSouth sent me, but I for the life of me can't access the internet once it's connected to the router. Played around with it for nearly 4 hours this morning, to no avail.

Well... getting eye strain sitting in front of this 19" widescreen LCD monitor for hours on end... going to the living room to watch some of season 2 of "I Dream of Jeannie", that I also purchased yesterday, and try to enjoy my remaining time off from the cart pushing before I have to return at 2pm tomorrow afternoon...
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Random Updates... (Whilst I have the time to post) [Mar. 7th, 2007|08:33 am]
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[Current Mood | sore, tired]

UPDATE 1: Still working my feet and legs off on the "Wally World" parking lot. Discovered that the cart collectors aren't the only ones that work there that don't have a "set" schedule. Most of the employees hours vary from day to day. Example: I go in at 10am-7pm today, and 7am-4pm tomorrow. On my 7am days, my mom goes in to work a little later (since she works for the post office, she can easily ask the supervisor the day before for permission to come in later), so she can see that Andrew gets on the bus for school. Yesterday, since I had to work, she took the day off to take Andrew to his monthly psychiatrist visit. They re-upped his prescriptions, but someone from the place may be coming to the house day after tomorrow (since I'm off that day) to get me to sign some papers that "allow" my mom to bring him for visits there. Already have his next appointment date though, so I'm going to ask for that date off from work myself.

UPDATE 2: On the "new computer" front... someone I was talking to on my lunch break suggested a place to look at computers I had completely forgotten about... "Sam's Club". Only other places in town I could think of that sell computers locally are "Wal-Mart" and "Office Depot"... the place I bought this one, Radio Shack, seems to have gotten out of the computer selling business. Looked online, to see what the local Sam's might have in stock, and they had a couple of nice HP's, with better specs than the ones that Office Depot seem to be chronically "out of stock" of, at a price around $200 less. If my feet and legs can handle it tomorrow afternoon after work (getting off at 4, off all day Friday), I'm driving across the river to Sam's to see what I can get (already have a membership card that I got while working at the Wal-Mart remodel last summer that is still good).

Already got the new ethernet DSL modem I ordered from BellSouth AT&T. They sent a "Netopia" brand. Threw me for a loop, because all I ever hear people in the Broadband Reports BellSouth forums talk about are Westell modems. Oh, well... as long as it works, guess the brand name doesn't matter much.

If I get the computer tomorrow afternoon, I'll probably be spending most of tomorrow evening and Friday setting the thing up. I'll also need to buy a router, because I've already told Andrew that he can have this old computer (but not until after doing a complete "system restore" using the original CDs to wipe everything I've put on this one off it, then loading SP2 and all the subsequent updates... probably won't get around to that until my NEXT day off). The "fun" part will probably be setting up the "network". Up until now, there's only been one computer in the house, and I've never had any dealings with a router in my entire life! Feel like I'm moving into "uncharted territory"...

UPDATE 3: Now for a bit of a "rant"... nearly killed myself trying to play "catch-up" after getting to work yesterday morning at 10am. The 7am person scheduled to come in to work on getting shopping carts to the front of the store called in, and no one was called in his place. I was the only one there until a little before 1pm, when Hank showed up. Hank, I, and to a lesser extent, one other guy, are the only three out of the six cart collectors that seem to actually want to work. The other three are constantly showing up late, calling in, or when they are there, spend most of their time just standing around or talking to each other, letting the lot get even fuller of empty carts. Unfortunately, it seems management isn't doing much by way of "discipline" at the moment, because they say it is very difficult to find people that are willing to work outside.

A couple of managers and the personnel manager have told me I'm doing a good job (even though I can barely move after getting off for the day), and the personnel manager said she was "pulling" to try to get me to an "inside position" as soon as it would be possible.

Well, need to get off this thing, fix a bite to eat, and finish up the laundry, before leaving for work....
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