remiss....

i must admit, i've been remiss with my posting schedule. truth be told, there's not a lot to tell. which is not the same as not a lot going on.

work is insane, but there's no point in bitching about it. i've decided i don't hate my job. but i am frustrated by it, and there are things that are suckage to the nth degree, but it's a job. were it not a job, it would be fun. okay, so i'm not doing something i love (insert little popping hearts and cornball soundtrack here) but i need to figure out what that is.

ok, so my job is keeping me from figuring that out. whatever - that's more than enough about work.

other things are busy - took a couple of turning courses. more about those will be posted.

continue to have health complications. gout continues to be a problem. gout medication has turned into a problem. i'm anemic enough i should be dead. ironically i'm often told i look like i am dead. due to this, i'm somewhat lethargic and apathetic except when my boss uses a cattle prod. the work boss - but enough about work. and enough about health.

so what to talk about then? there's always the weather......

i know, a week out of date, and already done by others, but i was speaking with a work acquaintance who lives in toronto, and it made the front page of the newspaper. the last time i remember that happening was almost 20 years ago - when we had a chinook in february. the photo that ran on the front pages was a group of people out playing baseball in shorts and t-shirts, in february, in 2 feet of snow.

you'll understand when you see the photos.

so... the scenario. a pleasant wednesday, mid-may heading toward the end of may. nice and warm - about 12*C (54F). look out the window about 1:30 headed for bed - and notice it's snowing. lightly. wake up the next morning (thursday) - to 8 inches of snow. heavy snow. ugly snow. lots of tree damage throughout the city. shake the trees. shovel the sidewalk and the car. head to work. return home 9 hours later - to green grass. friday we're back to 18*C (64F).

from the front door leaving for work

what used to be a 10 foot hedge
(now about 3 feet)

branch that used to be about 12 feet above the slide
in the park next door

closer photo of the same park
(same day - about 9 hours later)

arrived home from work

i guess you could call our weather a forecast of huh? with some occasional flurries of wtf?!

vista....

my opinion? run away screaming.

it's late, so i'm going to keep this short. it's not that i don't like vista. they've done some nice things. i like the new interface. some great features. but......

i tried upgrading my home system to vista this weekend. my home system is a p4 2.4ghz processor - about 4 years old. i have a gig of ram. the pre-install check told me it would install with most of the bells and whistles, an "experience" marker of 3.4 - same as my work machine. however the limitation at work is a shitty graphics card. the limitation at home is an older processor and a lack of ram.

yes - it makes a big difference. yes - sucks to be me.

if you don't have a new machine (core 2 duo) i would suggest waiting. if you have an n-vidia card, i would also suggest waiting (don't think they've ironed out all of their driver problems.) and speaking of problems - if you use a decent amount of software (that isn't made by microsoft) i would suggest holding off until they have a vista version.

which probably means upgrading to a new version. on top of upgrading your hardware.

after 3 days of random lockups. bsod's. and other assorted errors i can't name (tough when you turn your monitor on and your computer has locked up with no display) we're going home.

back to windows xp.

at least until i buy a new computer - then i'm left with no choice since they all ship with vista now.

that's progress, i guess.