Fuzzy Thoughts » Shiney!

Thinking of a Tablet

Michelle — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:52:09 +0000

I’m thinking of getting Aia a tablet for her birthday or Christmas. She wants something she can read books on and play games. I’ve thought about an iPad but in truth, I’d rather not go that route or have her dealing with iTunes.

I’ve played with a few Android tablets. However, so far, the differences seem nitpicky. Frankly, one 3.2 Honeycomb tablet acts like another, even in price. I kind of like the transformer.

I thought about a kindle or other ereaders….however not sure there either.

Of course I may just call it all good and go with a phone.

NPR’s List of Top Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

Michelle — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:59:38 +0000

Hey, look a new book list! So which ones have read? I’m sure you’re (not) curious to know. Unlike most lists, this one has a lot of whole series on it. So pink means I’ve read them or are in the process of reading them. Green means I have them but haven’t got to them.

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide the the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
12. The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer by William Gibson
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
22. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
23. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
24. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
25. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
26. The Stand by Stephen King
27. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
28. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
29. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
30. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
31. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
32. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
38. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys
39. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad by David Eddings
42. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

It Sounds Like a Pickup Line

Michelle — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:59:43 +0000

Hey, JesusPrayerRug, Twitter’s got some recommendations for you.

Catching up from the Two Job Fog

Michelle — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:17:13 +0000

Getting in the swing of things after my first few months on the new job. Seems to take that long to get into the swing of things. Now I just need to get back to doing…what I’ve been not doing. Which is painting, knitting, and working on RPG stuff. Rpg stuff has to come first. Take a look.

Also got to finish my module for pulp. At least I’m nearly done with that.

Don’t Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Internet Stupid

Michelle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:19:23 +0000

Look, I know you don’t understand this whole internet or the whole gaming thing. You think it’s just a kid thing. Wake up. It’s the 21st century and you are raising your children to be illiterate. They will lose all their money, they will be locked out of accounts they paid for and worse of all they will be unable to function. Take responsibility, tech support can’t help you if you’re stupid. Your kids will need to learn these skills if they are to survive in this world. Computers and internet are not going away.

Lesson 1: WRITE IT ALL DOWN

It doesn’t matter if it’s for Super Poke Pets or your bank. Write down the Name on the account, the billing address, any credit cards, the phone number, the email address, the profile name, the secret questions, passwords and any information you put into that account. Why? Because there will come a day when you need to provide that information to get access to your account and if you don’t know it you will be out of luck.

Lesson 2: DON’T MAKE SHIT UP

I know you think you’re being all secure by putting fake information in your account? No, you are shooting yourself in the foot. When you have an issue with your internet account or you’re gaming account you will be shit out of luck. Tech support can’t enter your account with your information. They cannot reset passwords without valid answers to questions or email address. This practice ensures you will never see your account again and will probably get you banned.

Lesson 3: READ ALL TERMS OF USE, SERVICE, ETC

Have you ever been in front of a judge? Try saying I didn’t know what the speed limit was..just try..I’ll wait here.

Out of jail yet?

There internet is just not just some pretend game. It’s real life. Not knowing the rules of a community, a game or a service gets you the same treatment you are banned, kicked out or worse you go to jail. Treat the internet, games and everything else online as if you were talking to a real person because you are.

Lesson 4: WHAT YOU DO ONLINE IS FOREVER

You can’t delete the information. Canceled accounts, old web pages, forums posts, pictures, anything you do online is forever. Delete a crazy post about how you like being a bigot and it will be all over the place in an instant. There is even a name for this: the Streisand effect.

So before you start calling people names, be racist, trash another person, company, product or race. Before you lie, cheat and steal. Think. Sit down and say, “If I was going to say what I’m about to post in front of a 250lb man would I die?” If the answer is yes, don’t post.

Ignore this advice and one day when you need help people will Google you and your name and ids your old mistakes will come up and you will be shunned. This is real life people. Get it straight.

Lesson 5: IF IT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU THEN ACT LIKE IT

Do you love your Xbox gamertag? Would you die with access to WOW. Then fricking act like it. Write down all the information to your account. I don’t care if you are 4 or 94. Write it down. No one can help you if you can’t be bothered to use a real email address or write down a password. You will be screwed. Then keep it SAFE. Don’t give it your buddy, don’t post the information online. Don’t expect that your 8 year old will be responsible with your credit card if you just hand it to him or her. They will all abuse it.

It seems like common sense, but it is not. Anyone can act like a moron. Only a few actually protect themselves. Take responsibility and realized that the internet is not a toy. This is real life.

Jorge Rivera, Filled with So Much Win I Cannot Tell You

Michelle — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:16:23 +0000

A few weeks ago I was running my Serenity game. This was the first day of the new reboot, and they all had new characters. Before we started, the I asked B., the new ship captain, if he had rules for his ship or any NPC requests for crew. He said, oh since we didn’t talk about it, anything was fine.

Hilarity ensued.

M. named two of the characters including Jorge, the well-meaning security guard. I hopped on the Googles and found a picture.

This last weekend I was asked to bring up his picture again for players that missed it. This time I clicked on the website it was from.

Hilarity ensued.

I’ve had other, throw away NPCs, that have become characters through the shear will of the players. Most notably Sammy Wu, who has had some incredible moments as a PC in my Con games. This includes the best out-of-the-ass character speech ever imo.

The picture of Jorge I chose turned out to be UFC Conquistador Jorge Rivera, who was taunting the word with his Acapella Apocalypse video.

I don’t watch UFC, I have never heard of this guy before but suddenly our Jorge became him. Aspiring singer, and a lover, sometimes fighter. I could no longer let him leave the ship in obscurity. We still need players for Serenity. Anybody want to be Jorge?

Here’s the video. It’s just all full of win.

Friday Roundup The First

Michelle — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:19:27 +0000

Unfortunately, kidney stones have kept me down this week. So I’m a bit behind. However I wanted to let you know what I’ve been doing around the web. I’ve been a busy girl so read and enjoy!

Over at Examiner.com:
I talk about the upcoming MAGNAcon
I do a recap of the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards and their love of nearly naked women.
I remind you all that Genghiscon is coming up!
And I get all nostalgic over Final Fantasy IX. Come over and tell me your memories of the game!

At Studio Mothers:
I wax poetic about the impending leap of doom I’m taking.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’ve nearly got the redesign of this site done. Promise!

DigiDudes

Michelle — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:19:17 +0000

Need a funky key chain that turns into a camera tripod.

I totally do. Seriously. I’ve been looking at getting at tripod and this is cute and functional!

You can find them at Quirky!

I am now attached to Google at the hip.

Michelle — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:20:43 +0000

So my phone died on Thursday and I headed to the T-Mobile store for a new one. Iphone was way out of my price range so I gave up on it. I was determined to end up with some sort of smart phone to piss people off with my twitters.

I got a google phone. Between being able spread out the cost of the phone over several, no interest payments and a HUGE discount, I have a phone that is exactly like the iphone except it has a real and a virtual keyboard, can sync with google calendar and has a built in camcorder….oh and the space is upgradable xd cards and…

Call it blasphemy but it’s totally better than the iphone.

I still love my itouch, and it shall still play my music. But dang this phone is fun and the notifications are great as are the themes.

I welcome and bow to out Google, not so evil, Overlords.

Refuting the Need for IE6

Michelle — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:18:09 +0000

The call to quit IE6 has gotten louder over the years. Now with the release of IE8 and PROOF that MS can make a standards compliant browser, those calls are turning to screams.

I am one of them.

Frankly IE6 is broken and old and should be tossed with the bath water. I am less and less inclined to bother checking my sites in them unless a client requests it. Why? Because there is less need. Lets go over the arguments for supporting IE6:

Most People Use It

While not only debatable it’s silly. First of all, just in case you had no idea (don’t worry most don’t), you can see who’s visiting your site with what. Most sites I develop have seen a serious down path in IE6 users over the last 7 years since IE6 release. Most sites don’t even garner 1%. Now if you want to say most people use IE as a whole you’d be right. But developing for IE7 is much easier and only needed a few tweaks and hacks…while so far IE8 needs NO tweaks or hacks. It’s a beautiful thing.

No one wants to spend the money to upgrade

Dude it’s free. Even MS isn’t that stupid. IE8 works on XP and Vista. If you don’t think it will run on 98 or Me (I’m sorry you’re still running that) get 7.

We are limited to IE6 at work because of proprietary software the company uses

Besides the fact they should upgrade for security reasons; you shouldn’t be surfing at work. I know we all do it, but you can’t cater to those who are doing something they shouldn’t. If, by chance, your job IS surfing the web you should be making a case for updating. Hammers aren’t screwdrivers. Get the right tools for your job, especially when free.

Websites shouldn’t limit the latest bling and I don’t need to see new bling on websites

IE6 not only doesn’t see the latest bling, it’s also 8 years behind STANDARDS. That’s right, it’s not to code. Things that IE6 can’t support have been around longer than IE6 and are no longer fads. Png, CSS, fricking padding are here to stay folks. MS upgraded the browers twice now. Even they know.

You can’t upgrade without a valid copy of windows

Dude pony up or get Firefox. FTL.

It’s time to drop IE6. Drop the support and you’ll have much saner webmasters.

Vue 9

Something Lighter

Michelle — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:17:40 +0000

Totally NSFW:

No related posts.

Driving a 2006 Cadillac STS

Michelle — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:23:31 +0000

J.’s car was totaled last week. So Friday he bought a 2006 Cadillac STS.

The car is freaky.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice car. It drives like a sports car; it’s fun. But the thing is freaky. J. gave me my own set of keys so that he doesn’t have to die a horrible squished death after I’ve gotten in. That’s because the car remembers who you are.

So when I got behind the wheel for the first time with my fob (car comes with a key but there is nothing to put the key in), the car unlocks for me (you don’t actually have to push buttons on the fob, but they’re there) and I sat down. I pushed the ignition button and all hell broke loose.

The wheel jumped out of my hands then pinned my legs down and blocked my view of the odometer. It also backed out of my reach. The seat dropped way down and moved and nearly crushed my daughter in the back seat as it laid down over where she narrowly jumped out of the way. The time changed on the navigator display, all the mirrors move out of usability range and the radio station programmed itself for an oldies station. Helpfully the display said Hi Jerry!.

J. showed me how to program the fob not to do that ever again. However I was still trapped by the steering wheel. We started pushing buttons because the wheel had no lever like my car to move it. I found out the display under the odometer will tell you all kinds of things…it even has an egg timer (seriously). Finally I found a knobby thing and moved the steering wheel, saved my settings and we were off.

Now keep in mind it was the 14th, so the St. Paddy’s Blockades were up. That’s why I panicked when I got on the highway and realized everything had changed to the metric system. J., still buzzed on beer, is trying to convert miles to kilometers on the fly because the STS doesn’t let you mess with settings while driving (that’s a good thing actually). Then the brights went on, then off, then on. I kept trying to turn them off manually but the car kept insisting they should be on now.

I had no idea how fast I was going but I made it home. J. then freaked out because it didn’t change back to the English system when he got in (he also accidentally erased his settings when he was trying to fix mine). So I got back in the Carrie car and looked at the buttons on the opposite side of the from the navigation/dvd player system.

Apparently one lets you cycle through info on the dash, another dims dash lights. Another one appears to do nothing…there is a hood opener but nothing for the trunk. And then there is EM.

Laugh all you want but there’s supposed to be a / there. So now that we are off the metric system the car seems okay. It even tells me Hi Michelle! now.

The clock thing we haven’t figured out though.

Of Goals and Other Squiggly Things

Michelle — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:07:57 +0000

Other than having strep I’ve been working on web pages. I have a large update ready for the Pulp website…but they’re changing the document now…so it’s best if I just wait. I need to get that new porfolio up and working too.

WH is coming along. I’m finishing up the last chapter. I’ve started a new program where I get up early, do the 5 Tibetans, meditate, and then write until shower time. Then I walk the spawn to school. So far so good. Today was the first full day of doing all four…I’ve been working up to it.

I would like to have a set of miniatures to bring with me to conventions for Serenity and maybe other games I run. This involves me getting more pulp miniatures, and some sci fi ones. Painting continues. This brings me to the Cynwall Dragon.

The Cynwall Dragon is a “mini” from the Confrontation line. I don’t play mini games…though I wouldn’t mind this one…if I knew a group that played. This mini is huge. J. gave it to me for Christmas last year. I finally started cleaning up and putting it together. This is my second dragon. My first was an old Ralpartha. I had to glue the tail and the head and the wings on. It’s a very pretty amytheist…but this was before I knew about sculpting. So it has a lot of gaps. I could fix it I guess. But it’s fine for what it is.

I was at Valhalla’s last week and found a Reaper limited edition Dragon vignette on sale. The base is the dragon hord with cliff The dragon is one piece just needing wings and horns glued on. The dwarven thief is pre attached to the cliff and just needs to be glued on the base.

Back to the Cynwall. Confrontation minis come in pieces. Even their tiny 1 inch minis come in many pieces. Now imaging a huge dragon. The body comes in not one but three parts that form a hollow shell. The head is separate. Not only are each wing separate but the folded wing? Two pieces. That’s if you don’t count the five claws that need to be attached to feet and wings. Bestly (that’s my new word for today) the tail part that needs to be glued on is the middle part…since the tail curls and all.

So this posed a problem. I needed a hobby vice. No screaming…I hadn’t needed on yet…some kind of gap filler and more glue. I already have a hefty glue and putty stash: Elmers, Aileen (clear, wood and regular tacky), wood glue, spakle, Insta-Cure thin, GW Green Stuff and probably stuff I can’t remember. The Insta-Cure is the best for putting together metal minis. I took one look at this heavy beast and decided I needed better glue. I debated picking up more of the Insta-Cure stuff…but it’s expensive and tends to dry out in the bottle IME. The thin seems to last the longest.

I headed to hobby lobby and my local train hobby story. I got some gorilla glue and some gap filler (I forget the company…but it’s called, predictably, White Stuff. So First I gorilla glued the two halves of the main body together. That took a day to dry. Next I gap filled the body and stuck the neck on. It came off. (Stop with the pinning. There will be no pinning) But the filler had sunk as it dried. So I refilled and stuck the neck on again. This worked and I cleaned off the bleed.

For the head I used Insta-Cure. Success!

This morning I tried to connect the tail middle. Stupid thing was not at the right angle to fit between the tail end and the tail base. I used my new vice to squish the piece into the right angle. Again I’ve used Insta-Cure.

The damn folded wing was back to Gorilla Glue.

This figure is going to take a lot of green stuff to fill the gaps. I have to attach the wings and the claws. In the meantime…I wish pulp, sci fi and western minis were cheaper.

Dollhouse

Michelle — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:15:25 +0000

I finally got a chance to watch Dollhouse last night. It was like pulling threads in embroidery. What you have is about 100 tangle messes that, with a little teasing, will straighten out into something pretty.

It was different and serious. So far I like it. I’m pretty laxBy lax I mean that she can watch anything I’m watching as long as it rates low on the this will cause nightmare scales. This is not a measurable scale system in reality and will confuse you. Dollhouse is okay, Terminator is not. Ugly Betty is fine, but there will be no Harry Potter beyond #2 for a while. She will not get to see Alien until she’s 18 but Army of Darkness is peachy. I told you; it’s complicated. on what the daughter watches on TV as long as I am the one watching it with her. She is only allowed to watch TV alone if it’s something I’ve seen before and makes approval. She spends a lot of her tv time on the Boomerang channel.

Aia found it a bit confusing but came up with the same questions. Why is Caroline doing this? What did she do? Who is after her? What is the true goal of the company? All fun questions. So now I’m up to four TV shows with another coming up. Anyone know when Torchwood comes back?

Dollhouse: Give it more time than two episodes

101 Method, A Return to IF

Michelle — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:45:35 +0000

My first day of return to IF was less than successful.

I’ve done IF before as I said (in fact iirc, that’s how I found Steve’s site, came for the IF, stayed cause I’m a fan of the novels, stayed longer because the conversation was interesting). The last form was the JUDDD method with limited calories allowed on down days. Worked well until we realized something else was wrong with me. Now that’s under control…back to IF.

The first day the voices were murmurs. I ended up eating an avocado salad (avo and lemon) and my protein shake. It was also time to set up another batch of mead (black berry and lemon ginger in three months!)….I did not partake of the ingredients. Unless you count my sophisticated aeration process, which failed when my thumb slipped and I splashed my front side with must. So my body was exposed to undue amounts of sugar, just not internally.

So after the voices laughed me into the shower…I was pretty okay. Go some lower body done last night. Feel pretty good today. I drink water and tea most days without fail. Lunch is salad with artichokes, lemon and pork, raspberries, and blueberries (we have the best farmer’s market ever…cheapest produce ever…if you live in Colorado look for Sunflower Market). Dinner is unknown…the SO is in charge of dinner on Fridays. Could be anything.

Tomorrow I’m preparing better. Teapots are clean. I do have party to be at, but no one will expect me to eat or drink there (bowling alleys are good for this).

I’ve spent some time on goal visualization today. It’s interesting and important. Keep it up say the voices.

What would you attempt in life if you knew you could not fail?

I would just go. Travel. Failure is having some thing stop me (money, etc). If nothing can stop me there are no limits. I once played a game where my only instruction was “You can do anything.” So when the gm asked me what I wanted to do, I told him I set my enemies on fire and fly up to a safe vantage point. He said, “how can you do that.” I said, “Does it matter? I can do anything!”.

Power is truly limitless.

So I think of what is stopping me from my goals: Weightloss…my own body, but I am fighting it. Writing…nothing but time. Relationships…nothing but time. I am excited. Because I can do this.

I saw a bald eagle today.

Michelle — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:51:08 +0000

Really! It buzzed my windshield twice.

Stupid Things I Did Today

Kitchen Redone

Michelle — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:18:55 +0000

I get home last night to a disaster. J., whenever he leaves town, leaves in a explosion of newspapers, plastic bags and whatever he was cooking before he left. This time it was Yucca, prepared like Potato Pancakes (none kosher style), but takes a lot more preparation (you can’t eat the waxy skin at all and you have to press the Yucca for several hours).

So I decided to get the kitchen cleaned up. I started with dishes, only to notice that the dish dryer rack (a thing I truly detest) was askew. So I lifted it up to find mold.

So I’m screaming, the dogs are howling and Yui (the black cat) is giving pitiful moans of “what’s going on” from the basement. I start ripping apart the kitchen to find that mold has moved under the microwave. About an hour later the microwave is saved (yeah!), the rack is trashed (yeah!) and I have moved all the appliances to the floor. I call M. to bitch a bit as I scrub the counter, first with bleach, then with soap and scrubbies, and then with bleach again.

I found the white counter top!

I start putting things away. I found no less than 4 flashlights, one rusty (it got tossed). I moved the microwave to the island, the small appliances to the corner…and viola!

We have tons of counter space now…long free flowing counter space that is only whispered about in the myths of rich people who don’t actually use their kitchens unless it’s trendy, otherwise they just cater.

I have more stuff to put away, then I need to tackle laundry, and perhaps my room, which has languished due to other things.

I am so eating out tonight so I don’t ruin kitchen. That can wait till tomorrow when I bake cookies.

It Came!

Michelle — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:24:10 +0000

Last night my computer finally came. Fedex took it back to the facility since we weren’t home at 2pm. Luckily Arvada has it’s own center so I did not have to drive back downtown. I got to the center, door ticket in hand, and lo had to wait a bit.

After about ten minutes the Fedex man popped his head into the waiting room to call my name. I followed him out and he took me to the pallet.

“2 boxes, right?” he asked.

“What?”

“Two boxes.” Okay there are two boxes here. One is obviously my new lap top. The other is a full Bose speaker system with a woofer. After getting the boxes in my car and driving home. I brought the Bose box into my house with the proclamation: “This is our Don’t Shoot Me gift from Dell.”

I think I managed to convince J. to hook it up to the upstairs stereo, and therefore hook the TV, Wii, and Satellite into the stereo for full surround. What? Did you think I’d be hooking up all that crap to the lap top? Maybe if I have a desk one day.

So after that ooo and ah, I started to dig into the laptop box. This is the part where you must realized, I am neglecting trash duty, laundry and present wrapping to do this. I did get the present wrapping done later and I managed to do the dishes, but my wardrobe today is a bit lacking in the not-so-white trash department.

The large boxed turned out to be a layer of two smaller boxes. The first contained cords and software (I have MS Office 2007 now. Another Dell gift). It also contained a leather day planner.

Okay, it only looked like a leather day planner.

When I opened that up, it had a convenient pocket for the manuals, sleeves for about 10 cds and a pocket for the included shammy and noise cancellation ear phones.

Cool.

So I pull the actual laptop out. The exterior is black warped watery thing with a few inches both vertically and horizontally on my last laptop. Instead of a pci slot, it has a remote control for watching dvds and playing music. The Dell logo lights up with that eerie diamond colored light that most laptop logos light up with now (think the apple logo, M.’s hp laptop does it too.) I have the added bonus that the gray gills on the back of mine also emit that light. I can’t control the color or brightness of it like I could with the M1710 or even the M170 I used to have. The lights on the side of the computer are also gone. However like the M1710, the M1730′s touch pad lights up, and I can change the color, as well as the front lights.

It doesn’t have the bio tech that the other laptops come with…but it has some weird gaming LCD at the top left…supposedly some games use it…but right now it tells me things I need to know…like the time and what my computer is doing with itself. Handy.

The screen is extremely clear. Since Dell has it’s own doc for icons, I’ll be trying that out. I can’t make it as small as Rocket Dock but it has groups. .

I only had enough time to put Firefox on the machine and uninstall various stuff I didn’t want to deal with. I now have two computers with webcams…hrm.

Stupid Things I Did Today

Michelle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:42:22 +0000

Realized that I had already fixed the database to print tickets via an MS Excel or Open Office Calc document last March.

I just forgot.

Less work for me…just need to get a printer so I can get it to feed right.

When Things Explode Everything will be Okay if you don’t Panic and have Towel

Michelle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:15:19 +0000

Not Panic (tempted to kick the shit out of an off the shelf Compaq server).
Towel (Dell Latitude Laptop)

Status: Server Software Installed, Website Software Installed.

Ticket Issue: SOLVEDWhile print from website would be nice, it’s just not practical. But export to excel then print…that’s common place. Don’t worry, open office is free..

I’m so good.

Realizing I’ve been over thinking the problem: Priceless.