Goddamn Fucking Microsoft

Why does their shit have to be so friggin' unstable?
My computer decided it was time to restart on its own this afternoon. No worries, it looks like everything it going okay - no beeps at least. Turn on the monitor - no signal...WTF, computer is on. Troubleshoot everything, the TV, the DVI-cable, etc. No signal. I'm thinking fuck. My video card is hosed. Dammit, they're only like 6 months old. Fer chrissakes....

Get frustrated, but decide. Let everything cool down and take a break. So Chrissie and I check out the movie 1408 at the base theater. Pretty good. Nice little mind-fuck movie. I enjoyed it anyway. Well we get back and I fire-up the 'puter (fingers crossed). Joy - I can see the start-up process. Monitor input has fixed itself.

But then the computer doesn't boot up. There's an error in the system config file. It must've gotten corrupted earlier that afternoon. Well, long and boring story short (there really is NO was to spruce up a description of trouble-shooting a start-up error with the folks from Alienware for an hour without copious use of F-bombs, s-bombs, et al) The error was not one from which my system can recover. We tried running chkdsk, fixing the boot, etc. Some things said they worked, but none of them actually HELPED let my computer complete the boot-up cycle. Even got the blue-screen of death one time, and the error code solution the tech looked up - basically said: Computer fucked, re-install operating system.

GODDAMN FUCKING MICROSOFT

I've got a bit of work ahead of me tomorrow. It was just too late to be bothered today. And getting all those programs back. Downloading all that shit again. Not to mention losing a few things. We may lose some recent photos, depends. Ever since my primary rig went kablooie (actually it was Alienware mis-diagnosing a bad memory card that turned into an odyssey) and I thought we'd lost it all, I've been pretty good about making sure things are backed up. That said, we're going to lose a few iTunes songs I imagine. (I just make sure all our TV Shows were backed up). Some other stuff won't be up-to-date - Like our Master DVD and Alphabetized movie lists...fuck, I just thought of that....fucking-A, it took me like 2 hours to get that thing up-to-date, and I don't think I saved a copy onto an external....frig it...can anyone recommend a good online back-up utility?

Is it time to get a Mac?

OK OK, Time to Blog

Well folks, my Reserve time is just about at an end, so its about time to start chiming in again. So rejoice, my cynical fans, both of you. Anybody want to know what the reserves is like? Drop me a line.

Hmm, so what should I rant about?

How about how July sucks because I now have to wait all frickin' month for Eagles training camp to start. AUGH! And its not like I can use some summer blockbusters to whittle away the time - Transformers doesn't premiere until August. Harry Potter starts on the same day globally, so I'm good there....but other movies haven't come out yet here, like Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Die Hard 4 (oh, well that's another late July showing)....you get the idea. I want to see 1408, but I doubt it will be shown here unless it really makes a splash in the states.

I think Newsweek's review of Michael Moore's new movie Sicko is probably right on the mark when it says "But if Moore can be irritating, he's also indispensable. I think this time around a lot of people who don't cotton to the filmmaker's politics are going to find themselves lining up on his side. The simplicity of "Sicko's" argument is also its power. It asks us, as Americans, a few basic but haunting questions: Who are we? What have we become? The follow-up question is left unstated: What are we going to do about it?" I mean, I love Roger & Me - and thought of Michael Moore as a champion of the working-man. Then he turned left, way, way, way fucking left - I DON'T AGREE with his politics, not in the least, but I do hope that we start talking about ways to deal with our have or have not health-care system.

What else is going on?
The Philadelphia Eagles have changed their website. I can dig it. Its had the same look for a couple years now. Time for a fresh coat of paint. So long as the content stays, I'm down. The good news about the down time. I can focus a little on my Chinese, and sort of catch up with what's going on with the team.

Speaking of which....