Ghosts in the Machines?

Technology hates me. I no longer have any doubt in my mind about that.

Our TV (only 5 years old) died back in July, then the one we put in its place died, leaving us with a ridiculously tiny one. It looks like the old TV got pushed back about twenty feet through the wall.

I listen to music as I go to sleep. I pick the CDs that'll help me relax, press play, and drift off. It's just what I do.
From the beginning, my stereo (only 3 years old) never worked quite right. It would skip songs or entire CDs for no apparent reason. Sometimes it wouldn't even read a CD. It was pretty much just a minor annoyance, then it got worse...after the warranty expired.
A couple nights ago, it died completely. Dad opened it up and found the wires warped and discolored from heat as well as a hot smell to it.
Toast.

I haven't gotten a new video games in nearly a year. So, what happened when I recently got one?
If you guessed "the Playstation 2 died before I ever got to play the game", give yourself a gold star.

I love electronics...when they, y'know, work. Is nothing made to last anymore? This stuff costs so much to repair, you might as well just replace it. If you can afford it. Which I can't.
Bah.

I can't believe it's Halloween already. Where did the rest of the year go? This is the first year I haven't dressed up in at least a thrown together costume. We'll be carving pumpkins in a bit here and handing out candy later, though I doubt we'll get many trick or treaters with the chilly and rainy weather.
After that? Veronica Mars, Boston Legal, and tonight's live episode of Ghost Hunters. Low key, but works for me.
I'll probably watch Silent Hill tonight too, gotta have a scary movie. Reviews seem mixed on the movie, but I'm a fan.

Maybe I'll put up some pictures from Halloweens gone by a little later.

Have a fun and safe one!

Y2K...5 Years Late

Happy New Year, everyone!



Well, I don't know about you, but my 2005 has gotten off to a hectic start. We had a nice Christmas, Jolly Ol' Saint Nick was good to me. After a quiet New Year's Eve at home with Mom, I had a nearly constant flow of company visiting. Over Winter Break I even met three new friends!

Uh oh, what's this? I think...yep...I feel a shoutout coming on, watch out! Hey Bridget, Adrienne, and Eric!

Okay, the shoutout's over, is everyone okay?

So this weekend was the big finale game night before everyone headed back to college and it was good. Hands were tested, thumbs were blistered, and Jeff was named the new commissioner of our Playstation 2 wrestling league.

The following day I was just in a bad mood, feeling a bit down. 11 PM rolls around and I decide to get comfy, watch a DVD, and chat a bit on my laptop. So I get comfy, I get my laptop...it won't start, it just shows a blinking question mark. Obviously the work of the Riddler. So I give Batman a quick call to see what's up, but apparently the Riddler prefers Windows. That blows that theory, so I immediately call Corey, a fellow Mac user, to see if I can get a nugget of wisdom from him.

"You're screwed." Not exactly what I was hoping for, but hey, at least he's honest.

I went on my PC to see what help I might be able find online. I found a few things, tried them all, none worked. I worked until 3 AM before quitting for the night, not knowing whether or not I had just lost everything I had spent so much time working on. No, I didn't have backups. I know, I know, shoosh.
Oddly enough, I had been planning all last week to buy a nice big external harddrive, just incase anything like this would happen. The day I had decided would be good to order it...yesterday. Irony. Ha.

Yesterday, the first thing I did after waking up was call the Apple help line. The lady was very helpful, but extremely dry. This was a prime example of why I hate phones. I tried to lighten things up with a couple quick one-liners and I'm pretty sure I heard crickets chirping at the other end of the line. I swear I heard her sigh a couple times like I was interrupting something. What a fun conversation.

Anyway, after a fifteen minute phone call and about an hour of work, my laptop's back on track and none of my info is lost. I DO have to re-update my system though. 97 MB on a dial up connection, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Y'know, I've had this laptop for a while now and aside from a few hiccups, she's been really good to me. I think she deserves a name, anyone got any name suggestions? C'mon, consider it an assignment, folks. Bring on the names!

-Jacob