Computer rehab time already?
4 minute read
January 6, 2010, 9:14 PM
Next month marks three years since I got my Dell. And that means it’s almost time for my computer’s mid-life rehabilitation. Why get a new computer when you can make your current one last another few years with a little TLC, eh?
Yes, I do my computer like transit systems do rolling stock. Go for such an amount of time and then rehab the thing. It’s just like Metro recently did with the Breda cars. Rail cars generally last 40 years. So at roughly the 20-year mark, they do a mid-life rehabilitation on them. That brings them up to more modern standards, and gets them ready to go another 20 before retirement. Computers have about a three-year life span in my experience, and so a mid-life overhaul makes it go another three. Which means that I won’t need to replace my current box until 2013 or so. Now my last computer lasted nearly nine years. It went three years, had its mid-life rehabilitation, and then went almost six years before it finally was put out to pasture. That was for financial reasons, though – I couldn’t afford a new computer, since I wasn’t doing as well money-wise.
On my last computer’s rehab back in 2001, I upgraded from 128 MB to 384 MB of RAM, upgraded both optical drives, went from a 10 GB hard drive to an 80 GB hard drive, upgraded the video card, and upgraded the TV tuner card. I deliberately didn’t replace the motherboard and upgrade the processor, because that’s about where I reach my level of incompetence. Everything went quite well in the rehab, and it got me to 2007. I was pleased. I had contemplated a second rehab around that time, but I ultimately determined that a second rehab was more than I wanted to do for an eight-year old computer, and so I replaced it.
Continue reading…Categories: Cell phone, Computer, Fire alarms, Work
“ZOID”?
5 minute read
December 30, 2009, 11:01 PM
Mom and I went to Roanoke today to get my outfit for Sis’s wedding that’s coming up in a few weeks. I’m the photographer, and we got a really cool black-on-black-on-black outfit for me. We got black dress pants, we got a black shirt, and the surprise: a black vest as well. Mom saw it and wanted to see it on me, and it actually looked pretty good. So we got it. Excellent. I’m covered for the wedding, and at less cost than renting a tux. Oh, and unlike the rest of the boys, I get to keep my new threads after the big “I do”. Plus I’ve got my Metrobus tie that Sis is letting me wear, and we’ve got it all covered.
Then afterwards, we went to Panera Bread for lunch, where the food was good, but a little pricey. Fun stuff, if you ask me. Then after that, we went over to Valley View Mall, mainly just to wander around for a bit. We spent most of our time in three stores.
First, we hit up Bath and Body Works, where Mom got various treatments to mask stinky air in the bathroom. There, they had these giant rubber duckies. I, of course couldn’t resist picking one up. I wondered if they were functional or for looks. So I squeezed it. It let out a squeak that just made my face light up. This was fun! Then I got Mom to take a photo of me with the duck. And here we are:
Categories: Family, Mercury Sable, Roanoke
Something tells me that they’re closed.
4 minute read
December 27, 2009, 11:50 PM
First of all, hello from Stuarts Draft, Virginia, where I’m writing to you from the Lappy at my parents’ kitchen table instead of my real computer.
On the way down to Stuarts Draft, I stopped to photograph the Safeway in Wheaton. The Safeway in Wheaton recently closed due to a pending redevelopment. They’re supposed to be tearing down the existing store and replacing it with a mixed-use development, including a new modern Safeway store at street level. The store closed on the 19th (the day of the snowstorm), and, to my surprise, was completely boarded up following the closure. I saw it boarded up on Christmas Eve, and was like, whoa! when I saw it.
First of all, here’s the store as it appeared when open, courtesy of Google Earth:
Image: Google Earth
Snow in Dupont Circle…
2 minute read
December 25, 2009, 9:05 PM
First of all, I hope everyone had a lovely Decemberween, as images of Dr. Christmas and the Dethemberween Thnikkaman dance through everyone’s heads.
I took some photos with my phone on the way into work on Tuesday, the first day back at work after the big snowstorm caused a snow day on Monday. These photos are of the snow encountered on my usual walk from the Dupont Circle Metro to the office.
Snow on top of the canopy over the south entrance to the Metro station.
Categories: Snowpocalypse, Washington DC
“You broke the bowling alley!”
4 minute read
December 20, 2009, 5:22 PM
Meanwhile, before the snow, I had a fun Friday night out on the town. The town of College Park, that is. I got together with JB, Anyman, and Burnt Toast from Anonymous, and we went out for bowling and dinner. We had a blast.
We went to College Park Lanes for bowling, where we rolled three games of duckpins. Of the three games, Burnt Toast won the first two, and Anyman won the last one (by one pin over Toast). JB hovered between second and third place, and then I came in last on all three games.
The strangest moment was when I accidentally broke the pinsetter. I wasn’t quite paying attention, and rolled the ball thinking that the pinsetter was finished. Turns out it was almost finished, but not quite. As a result, the ball hit the pins while they were still in the pinsetter. Oops. See, unlike in regular ten-pin bowling, a gate does not come down across the entire lane when the pinsetter is in action. So my ball hit the pins, and knocked a few of them out slightly left of the center. Yeah, if they hadn’t been in the pinsetter, that would have been a great shot. So the pinsetter sat for a minute or so, and then rose up with the pins it still had. Then after another minute or so, it unceremoniously spewed out the pins that it had been holding. Seriously, it just dropped them all to the floor, like as if it was carrying a bunch of stuff and accidentally dropped it all. We tried to get the lane to reset the pins from the controls we had, but it wouldn’t respond. That led to the comment, “You broke the bowling alley!”
Categories: Friends, Snowpocalypse
It’s like playing “find the buried treasure”…
3 minute read
December 20, 2009, 3:02 PM
Remember how I said I wasn’t going to clear my car until at least Monday? Well, I lied. First of all, I was bored, and it was something to do. Secondly, I started to think about things a bit. If I have work tomorrow, this will be about the only opportunity I’ll have to clear the car out in daylight, because this time of year, it’s dark by the time I get home. Plus if there’s any melt-and-refreeze action, it might make the snow harder to clear later.
So I went out to the parking lot of my apartment complex with a broom, and kind of dug out my car. Note the use of the term “kind of”. I cleared most of the snow off the upper half of my car. The lower half is still firmly embedded in the snow, and I don’t have the tools necessary to clear that out. But at least you can see the windows, and know that yes, there is actually a car under there (though mine wasn’t buried as deeply as others’ were).
But at least the car has lost its hat, and you can distinguish enough features to tell that it’s my car. The windows are clear, and the foot or so of snow on the roof is gone. So here’s the result of my handiwork:
Categories: Snowpocalypse
Sun’s out!
2 minute read
December 20, 2009, 10:28 AM
The sun is out, and it’s looking like it’s an absolutely beautiful day. That, of course, means it’s time to dig out. And people have been doing just that, getting the snow off their cars and such. My car, meanwhile, still wears its hat:
Categories: Snowpocalypse
As the snow stops, here’s what we’ve got…
3 minute read
December 20, 2009, 6:44 AM
Well, it looks like the snowfall is over. The snow has stopped, and the folks at Capital Weather Gang say that clouds will decrease during the day. Meanwhile, we’re pretty much buried in the white stuff, and here’s the proof:
My car has a foot or so of snow on top of it. That snow is expected to stay on there until at least some time tomorrow, because there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere today.
Categories: DC area local news, Snowpocalypse
So needless to say, I’m not going anywhere today…
2 minute read
December 19, 2009, 4:13 PM
Categories: Snowpocalypse
This is going to be a lot of snow…
3 minute read
December 19, 2009, 2:43 AM
The second snowfall of the year is officially underway, as of around 9 PM Friday night. And here it is:
Categories: Snowpocalypse
“Whammies, you can drop dead… STOP!”
2 minute read
December 16, 2009, 10:15 PM
I do a trivia contest at work every year to divvy up some freebie items that we get from our office supply company. The past two years, I’ve done a shout-it-out format, where I come up with some questions, and then the first person to shout the answer wins a pick at a prize.
However, a few of my coworkers have been saying that they would like to see me juice up the format a little. They suggested teams, but I couldn’t come up with anything that would achieve the desired result (getting rid of all the prizes), and still not make it too overly complicated, and still get a lot of gameplay and participation. I’d thought about pricing games or something for it, but couldn’t come up with something that we could fit into an hour and get rid of the prizes (we usually have around ten or so).
But then it hit me. I came up with an idea of how to spice it up. I determined how to work in the trivia bit, and get some action. Each correct answer will earn spins. Then they take those spins and win points. And the spins, when taken, will look like this:
Categories: Television, Work
I’m surprised that this made it through…
4 minute read
December 14, 2009, 7:48 PM
A friend recently referred me to a Dr. Gridlock column where Les Dorr Jr. of Frederick, Maryland wrote this:
Is Metro trying to increase public confidence by renumbering the 1000-series rail cars? I ride the Red Line every workday, and recently I’ve been aboard two very old, obviously 1000-series cars that had “4000” series numbers on the end doors.
Dr. Gridlock was very cordial about this accusation being slung at Metro, saying, among other things, this:
The 4000 series of 100 cars, built by Breda, entered service in the early 1990s. The 1000 series is scheduled to be replaced beginning in 2014. But the 4000 series also is reaching an important milestone: A midlife rehabilitation needs to be done over the next few years, at a cost of more than $1.5 million per car.
If I were going to fake a number in the Metro fleet, I would have picked something higher than 4000. Still, riders would see through it: The cars are very obviously showing their age.
Categories: DC area local news, WMATA
I handed a “You Found The Card” card to Ralph Nader! EPIC WIN!
5 minute read
December 12, 2009, 11:08 PM
The December raid was particularly epic for DC Anons, as we had a good time, and got the word out to many passers-by. The crowd was small, however, as a few Anons were feeling under the weather, and I believe the cold scared a few people off. Cold has that way of doing that to people. But the crowd that was there was dedicated.
Early on, we just had 3rdman, Purple Hair Anon, and me. But that was sufficient to get the epic win of the year. We’re raiding, doing what Anons do outside the Ideal Org, and here comes Ralph Nader down P Street. I greeted him, explained that we were protesting the abuses of the Church of Scientology, and gave him a You Found The Card card. Nader questioned why we were at 16th and P Streets, and not at the Fraser Mansion, not realizing that Scientology moved from the Fraser Mansion to the Embassy Building a month or so prior. I explained that they had moved, and this was their new location. That’s when he noticed that Scientology was over there. In departing (as Nader had places to go), he told us to “Keep up the good work.” Awesome! The only regret is that we never got a photo with the Nader, since he left too fast for us to get a photo.
Otherwise, today seemed to be bring-your-children-into-the-cult day, since we saw a zillion children going in and out of the Ideal Org with their parents. School-aged children, toddlers, kids in strollers, you name it. Like this:
Categories: Project Chanology
Turned out to be a three-pronged strategy…
3 minute read
December 9, 2009, 11:53 PM
My office had its annual “holiday party” this evening, at Bossa Bistro & Lounge in Adams Morgan. All in all, it was a fun party. I stayed for three hours and had a good time.
The thing that was the most entertaining was the slideshow that featured pictures of all the stuff that the office did over the last year (or so). The slideshow had pictures taken in the office, pictures taken at various official events, plus various “extracurricular” events (i.e. things coworkers did outside the office). Most surprising was that a good chunk of the photos were either of me or taken by me. I often volunteer to do the photos, plus a lot of photos of me ended up in the rotation. They actually had what I called a “three-pronged strategy” in digging for photos: Official photos, Facebook, and Schumin Web. This was one of the more amusing photos of me that ended up in the rotation:
Categories: Work
So it looks like the season’s getting off to a very good start…
< 1 minute read
December 5, 2009, 1:28 PM
While winter doesn’t technically begin until the 21st, this is possibly a good sign of things to come:
Categories: Winter weather