Mark’s Notes On The Go

So, all my life, I’ve noticed that I’ve combined the best and worst of my families. I can be incredibly tight-fisted with money, and then I’ll go bonkers and spend like there’s no tomorrow on which to worry. So, I’ve recently been more on the latter end of things. For instance, I’m sitting here typing this on my laptop in the middle of the living room floor. So, yes, I bought the laptop mentioned earlier, wireless router, etc. The latest purchase was a laptop desk, more to keep the laptop from getting it’s vents blocked up than anything else. I could tell sometimes when it sat on blankets, my lap, etc., that the vents were not fully open. I can tell the difference. It didn’t particularly get hot before, but now it’s quite cool.

And then there was the remote control over the weekend plus plants for the yard.

And fate or kismet seems to always bite me for these sprees. That would be the hot water heater that’s being installed tomorrow….

I came back from last evening’s walk and needed to water some plants. I had yet to turn on the supply to the faucet out back, so I went into my little utility shed attached to the rear of my townhouse to do so… and stepped in water… huh?? Oh great… Nothing huge, but the water heater was building a puddle. No idea how long as I don’t go in there very often. It’s been at least a month since I had cause to. Oh well… At least I noticed it before I woke up to no hot water for a shower and a back yard full of water.

I went to Lowe’s at lunch today and got things set up for the new water heater to be installed. Had some small hope that I wouldn’t have to be home for it, but no dice. Plus I have to have an expansion tank put in to get me to code… I had heard as much from a neighbor who had to replace their water heater last year. Joy… The price escalates from there, of course.

My boss and his boss both asked me why I didn’t do it myself… Okay, now, I tend to be handy. I’ve put in tile floors in my bath and repaired the one in the kitchen. I’ve done my share of painting, some small carpentry type work, etc. I’ll install ceiling fans, and do some light electrical. But for whatever reason, I draw the line at large heavy objects that can explode (my water heater is gas). One is like major do-it-yourself guy and he kept persisting until I pointed out that I could either take off part of tomorrow and pay someone to do it, or take off three days to do it myself. He suddenly opted for my route!

So, one other thing that came today along with my laptop desk is a new cd that I ordered from Amazon at the same time. I finally broke down and got James Blunt’s Back to Bedlam. I had somehow not heard of him before my visit to Italy. While in Sorrento, we had some cable channels. The only ones that had any English were the music channels. While Brandy would defer to watching something in Italian, I preferred my reminders of home. Okay, so he’s British, it’s the language I’m speaking of. And thus, I kept hearing “You’re Beautiful” and “Goodbye My Lover” with some frequency. I’d already heard them a few times in Rome as I meandered about. But now I had an artist name to place with it. There was also an Italian song I somewhat liked but unfortunately I didn’t keep up with the artist name and now can’t even recall the melody. But finally, I decided that this was a good album and a reminder of my trip through music. Have enjoyed the album so far. Heart felt lyrics, up tempo music.

Now I just have to figure out where I’m putting all the CD’s I’ve gotten in the past few months. Mid last year during my purge, I sold off a pile of CD’s I had not listened to in ages and had no desire to anymore. Still no regret, so I think it was a safe move. But I’ve more than replaced them since then.

I do listen to music more in the MP3 state these days than on CD, but I still can’t get myself to just buy the MP3’s. I want my CD’s. I want that little piece of plastic. I don’t feel like I own it otherwise. I know that’s antiquated, but that’s still where I am now. I’m sure eventually I’ll be used to the idea of having some mass storage device where all my music lives.

Oh well, time to go dream of a shiny pretty water heater that lives in a dark hole I never visit. I’ll enjoy the hot water (and hopefully a little savings on my gas bill), but it’s still not a fun purchase.

Long day…

This morning, I managed to crunch my universal remote control. Mind you, this wasn’t a cheapy one, but one that I had bought a few years ago that could learn from other remotes and could record macros so that I didn’t have to hit a thousand buttons to power up the TV, cable box, receiver, etc. I accidentally kneeled on it and the LCD cracked. WAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

or maybe…

KAHHHHHHHNNNNN!!!!!!!

Anyway, I digress…

This prompted an unplanned purchase. I did a little online research and then went to Fry’s. I found a good deal there on a remote that seems to be better than the old one. Actually, I could have replaced the old one with another remote with similar functions for only about $40. But of course, I can never be quite that clever. I ended up opting for a Logitech Harmony 676 - which has “activity buttons” which are along the same lines as my macros but a little more intelligent. It also has a USB connection and web interface for programming it. All pretty slick. It took a little monkeying to get the inputs on the TV to switch through it, but all seems to be well now. Wooohoo!!

Ironically, this comes after I had all but convinced myself to splurge on the upgrade from PS elements to Photoshop CS2. I’ve started getting a little more creative in my work with photos and over and over I hit things that I know CS2 will do that I can’t quite get with Elements… GRRRR… Of course, now having spent $100 on a remote control, I’m back to the undecided mode. It’s not like I have to do it today or anything of course.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing yard work. I put plants in most of my pots and planted a few in the beds. Still more to do but I’d reached my limit in the madhouse that was the lawn and garden dept at Home Depot this afternoon. I spent the rest of my energy on doing some trimming to my shrubbery. I filled up three bags before I decided to stop. Well, I was out of bags, but I was also tired.

I spent a little time surfing airfares last week, first for AZ next month. No good fares right now, but I also ended up looking at London (yes, forgive me), Paris, and Dublin. Nothing particularly good right ow, but it got me to thinking of perhaps a road trip (not that gas makes that cheap), but I’ve been wanting to go to Jamestowne, VA, for awhile. The first of my Euro ancestors landed there in the early 1600’s. So, some history both in general and personal is there. Hmmm…

So the reading list has been sparse lately as I’ve been waiting for the first shipment of comics via mail since the last pick-up from Chris.

In the interim, however, I’ve had time to work on some of the trades, etc. that have been waiting my attention.

Maybe as long as a year ago, DC Comics, seemingly with little fanfare, released Volume One of The Batman Chronicles, which I read months ago. This is DC’s reprinting of Batman’s earliest stories, in the original order published. Definitely worth a read for any fan of the dark knight. Another volume is scheduled to come out later this year.

Adding to the nostalgia, DC has also recently released Volume One of The Superman Chronicles. This volume reprints the first Superman stories from the period spanning 1938 and 1939. Featuring over a dozen classic stories, the volume shows readers today why Superman is still leaping tall buildings today.

I was amazed at the social issues that the Golden Age Superman faced in only his first year under Earth’s yellow sun. I’ll save any particular details since as crazy as it sounds, you can spoil 65 year old stories. After most anyone reading them today was not alive when these were first published.

While the Superman of today seems more at home fighting cosmic menaces, the writers occasionally toss out stories reflecting our world’s social ills. However, the originators of the man of steel, pitted him against the likes of abusive husbands, drunk drivers, arms dealers, and unsafe working conditions. I kid you not, the original Superman was practically anti-establishment.

While admired by many in his fictional world, you’ll find that Superman was a wanted criminal. In an incredible treatise of the ends justifying the means, he broke the law to improve the lives of some of Metropolis’ lowliest citizens. And as result became a man with a price on his head.

I was not expecting these stories when I picked up this volume. I wasn’t expecting the stories to be far more dated. For sure, some of the common language has drifted away since these stories were written, but as one begins to get sucked into the storytelling, it doesn’t matter. And suddenly, by surprise, you realize that this time capsule you’ve found is the birth of a legend.

While comics have gotten more spotlight lately with all the move attention, I can’t help feeling often that we’re either at the end of the era of narrative storytelling via art or the dawn of a new means of delivery. Brick and mortar stores are folding and every Con I’ve been to exhibits an aging audience with relatively few newcomers. So, here at the possible twilight of comics, get out and enjoy some stories from the golden age.

Life is Random

Yesterday, I was heading home from work, barely a couple of miles from the office when I saw a white blazer waiting to merge in with heavy traffic from the opposite side of the road and doing my bit of good kharma, let the driver in.

Now the funny part is that after the blazer merges in front of me, I spot the Autobot symbol on he rear window. Neat, I think, a Transformer fan. And then I think how odd that is since my cousin, Brian, drives a white blazer with an Autobot symbol, but he doesn’t live near me. He lives in… and I spot the Gwinnett county tag (Brian still had an Alabama tag the last I noticed). stranger… tag month is January… that’s Brian’s birth month… I can’t see the driver, but I decide what the heck, it’s been awhile since we talked. I pull out the cell phone and ring Brian. He answers and I say, “I know this is a weird question, but did a red blazer just let you in?” At his point even though I can’t see the driver, I did see him reach down and pick up a phone when I called, so I’m fairly sure it is him. He responds, “As a matter of fact, I was about to ask you if you just let a white blazer in!” Turns out that his new job is hop and skip from mine. Small world I guess.

Living La vida Lazy

Today has been a day spent being mostly lazy. I slept late but I was also up late, so I didn’t really catch up on any sleep. I’ve had laundry running most of the day. And I’ve been busily working on going through my PC files.

You see, last week, my new laptop arrived! YAYYY!!! It’s the first laptop I’ve ever owned. I’ve always been more of a desktop person, but I finally decided that I don’t like being chained to one spot so much. For now, I’ll keep the deskop. But I’m not sure what I’ll use it for.

I had a second 200gb hard drive in the old PC. I’d figured on using the network to access it from my laptop. That worked somewhat, but if the PC went into standby, then I was shut out. Plus it seemed insane to keep the whole PC running just to access a hard drive. So, yesterday, I bought a network attached enclosure so that I could put my hard drive on the network and access it from whichever PC I’m using. The best laid plans…

You see I have a bone to pick with Netgear. Granted, this purchase didn’t have NEARLY the level of research behind it that the laptop did. However, this appeared to be exactly what I was looking for. A way to offload files from my laptop and PC and a place to back-up some stuff. Even better, I could use the hard drive I already had and there’s still a spare bay for future expansion. Okay, so the problem? There’s not much to the instructions in the way of warning you that the file system the device uses is different than windows. Not a big deal had I known that. But my first warning of this?

Was when I went through the wizard and it informed me drive formatted…. Huh, what???

And I had a couple of months of photo files that I had not yet off-loaded onto DVDs or CDs… Plus plenty of other files that I had updated since the last back-up. So, partly this was also a wake-up call to be more consistent on back-ups. But it was also a story of stupidity on the part of a company. I found one SMALL note on page 3 of the instructions, which I was reading but this note was AFTER the point of running the wizard that indicated the device uses a different file system than windows so drives couldn’t be swapped between the two…

GRRRRRR!!! How hard would it be to put that warning in large letters on page 1? Or to have the install wizard warn that there are files on the drive and “are you sure you want to format” rather than just giving the message after the fact…. Luckily last night, I found software to use to access my data. It had been formatted but nothing had been written over it yet… oh thanks… Thus I went to bed about 4am. I just couldn’t sleep until I had succeeded in retrieving everything and burning onto DVD.

The end of it is that everything worked out alright. I lost nothing (but sleep and sanity) and the network drive is working well. I can access it from the laptop over my wireless connection or from the PC which is wired directly in to the router.

Bored yet?

I was in fact awake last night when the storm came barrelling through. The wind here howled around my house. A few torrents of rain seemed to drive into the side. And then it was over. Well, I definitely pick that over destruction, loss of life and property any day, it just seemed odd.

Slept for hours and was up all of half an hour when I got a call from a friend, April, who was nearby with a blown out tire and her parents on the side of GA 400. I drove out to see if I could help, but I got there and they had TWO HERO trucks helping them out. I waited it out with them since I was there anyway. They left behind me and were heading to the garage where they had gotten tires two hours before. Needless to say, the timing of that is suspicous. I think, having been on the side of the road in today’s damp weather, April’s mother was intent on bodily harm.

While files have been whizzing about to hard drives, etc. this afternoon/evening, I’ve spent time catching up on some reading while absently listening to the TV. The dream of doing real house-cleaning today has not materialized. But I suppose there’s still tomorrow. The only real plan for tomorrow is to try to get out for part of the Dogwood fest. I went last year and they had some great art. Considering today’s weather and that tomorrow is the last day, I predict if the weather is decent, it will be crowded.