Got A Beer Complaint? Tell Me All About It! The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Jeebus, I hate computers sometimes. I’m trying to install a Hauppauge WinTV USB2 external PVR (I can’t use my internal one because the only free slot is blocked by my behemoth video card) and it all goes well, except for the spontaneous reboot when I tried to install the drivers. Yay for crappy programming!

Anyway, system won’t reboot. I won’t bore you with the details except to say that I spent a good 45 minutes before I finally nailed the problem down to a rogue USB device that was inexplicably causing it to try and boot (and function) at approximately the speed of congress. Yep – took 5-30 seconds just to register a single keypress in BIOS. Sweet! :rolleyes: Anyway, turns out the USB dock for my Treo phone is causing all this hubbub. It’s gone wonky. Yay for crappy hardware design! Damn, Palm. First you screw yourself out of market dominance in the Smartphone arena, then you start designing shoddy hardware to boot. Bite me, Palm!

Anyway, now that that’s sorted I’ve got the PVR/TV tuner up and scanning stations right now. (It’s remarkably slow at that.)

gardentraveler/Heff&Roo - Aww, thanks. Someone noticed! :smiley: Yeah, the abcess is going away. Again. I’m going to have to make sure ti stays that way. It means I have to buy another bottle of Dequadin though because I’m almost out. (They’re ridiculously tiny bottles.)

Anyway, off to bed.

62

Dotty, here I am, front and center. I should be going to bed right now, but I was a good girl today, so I’m up a few minutes longer.

That’s a wonderful song! I love it!! Thanks.

And my contribution: Another Nat King Cole

[Nat King Cole]Dance, ballerina, dance
And do your pirouette in rhythm with your achin’ heart.
Dance, ballerina, dance
You mustn’t once forget a dancer has to dance the part.

Whirl, ballerina, whirl
And just ignore the chair that’s empty in the second row.
This is your moment, girl,
Although he’s not out there applauding as you steal the show.[/Nat King Cole]

Have a wonderful day, Dotty!
(and you too Lunch)

Sleep well, everyone else.

63

Lots of interesting stuff above – I’ve actually read all of the stuff, just too busy to respond to much. I’ll just sympathize with Mork’s and Rigs’ 'puter woes.
And suggest we start calling **LOUNE **“Seymour” (Feeeeeeed meeeee!). Wait – :smack: what was the plant’s name…? Nevermind. Where’s my coffee? Do I have to get everything for myself here? ::whine::

::Eyes **Roo **suspiciously:: You trying to set me up with a guy again? This mean I haven’t been able to convince you of my prowess with girls? :frowning: :wink:

Well, being a guy and all, I lack the dairy parts, so I think that’s OK… and if you don’t want to eat a whole Lunch, I guess you can always settle for just the sausage… :stuck_out_tongue: :eek: I’m never going to live this one down!

Post #48. Read the previous pages before jumping in! :stuck_out_tongue: (Or at least admit you didn’t, just like the rest of us…)
(Long pause for meeting) Ah, I see Roo answered you already.

And… you didn’t miss meeeeeeeee…!!!? ::sulks:: :smiley:

Anyway – good morning everybody (especially you, Dotty; And **Nava **and **BooFae **, if’n they ever deign to descend back down to our level again!)

And Good Night, Roo! :slight_smile:

64

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ here. Soon it will be time to get ready to go make the beer. Light blue pocket t and black jeans are the attire of the day. I gotta admit, I kinda like dressin’ like a semi-slob for work everyday. This week I am learning all about “Tap-O-Matic” which is referred to as “Tap-O”. That’s kegs. Yep, I am learning all about how to put beer into kegs. That should actually finish up today or tomorrow as Tap-O typically runs only two-three days a week. Anywho, the kegs I’m learnin’ all about are called half-barrel kegs. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but beer productivity is measured in “barrelage”, a barrel being 34 gallons. What? We’re Amurrkins and that’s how we measure stuff. So, that’s big kegs with 17 gallons of beer in ‘em. It’s not as noisy as I thought it would be, what with the kegs bein’ metal and bangin’ up against each other and all. It’s a pretty cool process.

Yays, boos, hugs, awwws, etc. as needed.

Happy Tuesday Everybody!

65

Hi, I’m back!

In London I took the Northern line, which I don’t know why they consider it a single line when it’s actually sort of two… which line do you usually work, zz?

Friday of week before last I got on a train from Basel (Switzerland) to Paris (France). Then I crossed three streets to go from the Gare de l’Est to the Gare du Nord. Then I took another train from Paris (still in France) to London Waterloo. Then the Northern Line to Euston Station, and a ridiculously expensive train to Liverpool, where I was picked up by my friend Mike. He’s a “site manager” for a bunch of sites, in a company that does IT work (amazing, a friend of mine and he’s in IT related stuff… never happens, nope, not my friends) and had been working in Liverpool sites for the last couple days. We went to Sandbach, where a grand weekend was spent in the company of over a dozen Englishfolk, two Cornishmen (one of whom is completely crazy but the Englishmen say he’s actually normal for a Cornish), an Englishman who lives in Belfast and two Swedes. We’re mostly from the same guild in WoSW, Moonglade server. A couple of the non-playing spouses looked kind of wary at first but finally reached the conclusion that we weren’t as horribly weird as they’d feared. Most of the conversation wasn’t about the game at all, and the few times it was, it was mostly about social things like me lobbying to make sure everybody in the guild hears about these meets… I’d missed the previous one because I never heard of it until it was over, and that makes you feel excluded when actually people thought you’d heard about it from someone else, yanow?

Spent the week at Mike’s in Nottingham. We watched a lot of Firefly, played a lot of WoSW, took a walk around Sherwood Forest, went to Lincoln, and spent last Saturday with his best friend/boss (who’s getting married next year and Mike’s bestman), BF/b’s fiancé and sister and some other relatives, including 5 kids who were mostly quite nice although one of them seems to think that crying is the solution to world hunger.

I’m scared, kind’a. It’s nice that with him I can say about anything without fear that he’ll “take it wrong” when it wasn’t intended that way - many people in my life worked from mental images of what I (not me personally but “my daughter” or “my girlfriend” or…) would be like and got angry if I did or said something that didn’t match that image; then they’d either stay angry or decide to ignore my reality in favor of their illusion. With Mike it ain’t like that. But what kind’a scares me is how many times we have the exact same reaction to something… is it bad to be joined at the brain? To another brainiac, to boot.

66

Caffeinated and vertical.

Nava, glad you had a good time.

{{rigs}}}

67

Hey Nava - sounds like it was a fun trip!

I did see post #48 - I was wondering where Roo was this morning my time - she’s normally bouncing around asking where we are by the time HRH gives me a chance to post!

Yes Nooner, I missed you too - you’re so cute when you sulk. :: pinches Nooner’s cheek and ruffles his hair::

BTW, I am sooooo glad we are not having bangers and mash for lunch! :: pukey smile::

Gah, it is soooo hot today - actual temperature of 41[sup]o[/sup]C (106[sup]o[/sup]F), with an apparent temperature of 51[sup]o[/sup]C (124[sup]o[/sup]F). :mad: And to add insult to injury, the Ministry of Electricity decided today was a good day to ration electricity and switch off half the power to our house (including most of the ACs and all the lights, except the kitchen), leaving one window/wall AC unit in the spare room to try and cool the whole downstairs of the house! It’s a good thing Noor isn’t bothered by being nekkid!!! At least she can sleep in the spare room in her porta-cot!

Oky-doky, off to finish making my Murgh Makhani!

68

Lunch, should we both pretend you didn’t say that?

Thank you for the offer, Noor’s Mom, but I think I’d be gnawing on my own leg by the time it got here. Besides, today is pizza day at the office.

69

So now I’m Nooner, too? :slight_smile:
I’m despairing of figuring out what my name here is. I think I’ll just start responding to “Hey, you!” :dubious: :smack:

And Dotty, what’s the deal with Electricity Rationing? Demand outstripping production capability? (Somehow I doubt it’s an attempt to save money by burning less fuel…?) WTF!? :confused: I hope you get electricity back soon!

Swampy – don’t you have to sample each barrel for beer quality? If not, I think you should suggest it as a better practice! :smiley:

Hi Nava! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Missed you!!

70

Blargle

I am all festivalled out. And I’m bored with being ill.

Did you miss me?

Appropriate hugs, yays, boos and other responses all round 'cos I will be taking the next couple of weeks to catch up!

71

Lucky for you, Hey you! is, I believe, already taken as a real screen name.

I’m up. Off to work.

Welcome back, Nava! Sounds like a great time. Being joined at the brain is generally a good thing, I think.

Yes, what’s up with the electricity rationing, Dotty. That sounds awful.

Oh… and hi BooFae…we were starting to worry!!! Welcome back!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

GT

72

Yeah, after your traffic cone incident, we hadn’t heard from you. We thought you got picked up by the Deartment of Transportation or something.

Are you at least stackable?

73

Ah, all the Old Worlders are back to roost :slight_smile:

Just wait… a bit of recruiting, and we’ll take over the MMP yet! :stuck_out_tongue:

(waves to BooFae) – Yes, we did miss you. Well, I did, anyway. Hope you’re not ill any more?

74

I keep forgetting you’re Canuck. Hoppin’ John is a southern thing; I never saw it when I lived in Indiana.

Rotel ‘maters and chilies could be a little easier. Look for them in the same aisle as the canned tomatoes, but off to the side. They come in several strengths, ranging from wimpy to ‘burns chest hair’. You can approximate it with canned chilies and jalapenos mixed with crushed stewed tomatoes. Add black eyed peas, and you have Hoppin’ John.

I luuuurrrrves me some Brussels Sprouts. Time to reload… :eek: :wink:

75

Well, I hate to be a downer after Swampy’s great OP.

My boyfriend is flying to New York today to see his mother. She suffered 3 aneurysms in her brain this weekend and went into a coma. They were able to repair one surgically but they could not repair the other two and they had to leave a part of her skull off so the blood could drain off. Her chances are maybe 50/50 of surviving but if she lives she could end up living on machines. I don’t know her exact age but I think she had her kids pretty young and she was probably in her late 60’s. She was always very active and seemed healthy so this is quite a shock. She would travel back and forth between Florida and New York to spend time with her kids, her boys are in Florida and girls are in New York.

My boyfriend and I were going to drive to Dragon*Con this weekend but I’ll be driving up myself. He will probably join me there because he and his brother planned to fly back on Friday anyway and there’s a stopover in Atlanta. He could use the distraction, she’d want him to go and if he came all the way home he’d probably end up sitting in his apartment by himself and he doesn’t need that.

On a side note I think I got hit by Karma last night. I went to the grocery store and a young man approached me in an otherwise empty aisle and asked if he could use my cell phone. I thought it odd that he approached me when the store was packed with people except for this aisle which he seemed to look down and walk down when he saw me. So I had visions of him running off with it and me trying to quickly get a replacement before my trip or my boyfriend trying to call with news about his mother and I said I couldn’t risk loaning it out. Had I let him use it I would have discovered last night, instead of this morning, that I had left it at work. So if I hadn’t been paranoid and untrusting I would have realized I didn’t have it and could have easily swung by work to pick it up and I wouldn’t have had to let him use it anyway since it wasn’t in my purse.

76

Ouch, Wiley

77

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Rotel tomatoes in Canada, and I’ve looked. I don’t think they’re available here up North.
Welcome back, Nava! Sounds like a good trip.
I don’t mind Brussels Sprouts. Especially if they’re roasted. Hm. Two months till Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing and gravy and sprouts. Yum.

Bleh. I threw up twice yesterday. The second time was after coming home from dinner with the inlaws (who are moving to Niagara-on-the-Lake on Wednesday). Mr. Lissar helpfully pointed out that it looked like I was only throwing up dessert, so I got to keep my dinner.

Bleh.

I really hope I don’t puke today.

78

Grrrr. Hrrrrrgh! NGGGGGKKKHHH! ARRRGH (Hulk smash.)

When it comes to technology, I can’t seem to catch a break. Every problem that occurs seems to set off a chain reaction.

Okay, so I found the rogue USB device that was buggering my system’s boot process all to heck and back. Fine. This morning I wake up and the computer is all but frozen. (The mouse moved, but nothing else did. I keep the computer on, y’see.) Great. So I reboot. Sorry, buuuuh-dee. Not gonna happen. The system tells me “Secondary slave not ATAPI compatible.” (That’s the computer’s way of saying “Where de hard drives at?”) Lovely! I reboot, thinking it was a momentary glitch. Nuh-uh. So I begin unplugging things and experimenting. I finally get it to boot to the point where I can access BIOS. (That’s that part of the computer right at the beginning commonly known as “setup” where all the really basic system settings are stored, like what hard drives you have, how big they are, what order they should boot in, CD/DVD drives, system time, all those techno-geek settings for RAM and CPU timings and voltages, and so on.) Except it says “BIOS not configured. Press F1 to enter setup.” Er, what? It’s forgotten it’s settings? Great. Fine. I get into BIOS and set up the basics. (I have everything unplugged at this point so I can’t go further than that) I turn off the computer and plug things back in and try again. It boots this time. Only now it says “BIOS checksum bad. Press F1 to enter setup or F2 to load defaults and resume.”

Crap. I enter setup again, set everything back up how I like my BIOS set up, set the drive boot order and all that crap. Reboot.

“BIOS checksum bad. Press F1 to enter setup or F2 to load defaults and resume.”

That’s lovely. Just lovely. Now it can’t remember its settings from boot to boot. That means one of two things:

  1. The little itty bitty RAM chip where the BIOS settings get stored is dead or flaky.
  2. The BIOS battery is dead. (Its settings are remembered because the RAM the settings are stored in is kept “alive” by a little CR2032 battery, the ones that are about the size of a quarter.)

1 is possible but unlikely. Very unlikely. Like, I’ve never even heard of this before much less encountered it unlikely – but still possible in the grand scheme of things.

2 is even more possible, but also unlikely. Those BIOS batteries typically last 4-5 years. I bought this motherboard in late January, 2006 – a year and 8 months. That battery should still have at good 3 years or so left on it. I’m going to try changing it tonight and see if that helps. In the mean time though, ARGH! I know my motherboard has been kind of dying off in pieces lately. (My on-board network controller died a few months back, forcing me to plug in a network card and use that – this is what caused me to have to get that external PVR/TV tuner I was setting up last night in the first place; that network card took my last free slot.)

Oh, and now I just got off the phone with MindWife and she can’t even get into Windows now. Not even with the method I used to get in there this morning.

If there is a God of technology, I would like to kick him in the yambag.

79

At least Mindfield can diagnose his puter woes. I can’t even find the stupid url to send my stuff to. No matter,** Mind**, we’ll take turns holding that god down as the other pummels him.

BooFae is back! Did we know you were ill? Do you have the human equivalent of mildew (did it ever stop raining over there?). Also, I have decided to purchase Burghley House. It seems a nice place to get lost in…

niceplace

IMS, it’s a quarter mile from the Old Kitchen to --well, somewhere (billiard room?). I read an article about it the other day. Apparently my mind is going as well as my puter “skills”.

Must go run errands today. Bleh. Class tonight–430 til 845. I will either has an ass broader than a barn door from all the sitting or I’ll have started a pressure ulcer from same.

<badly in need of attitude adjustment, ie, humor impaired today>

80

I think I need to make a little shrine to Hat, the Vulture-Headed God of Unexpected Guests. Anyone got any ideas about how to make a statue?