Hey! Stop sniggering!
So, I solved another computer-related conundrum. Sort of.
I had been wanting to buy a wireless router and notebook card set so that I can use my laptap anywhere in the house. I've been looking, but the hardware is still sort of expensive, but then I saw that Buy.com was offering a D-Link set with a $30 rebate. Considering that $50 (post-rebate) got me both devices for just over what I would pay for one if bought separately, I was waffling on whether or not to buy the set. It didn't help that the user reviews basically said "Don't buy D-Link!" But, I had time to mull it over.
I even consulted with my work's IS department asking the opinions of the various techs. That didn't help much. About half was for D-Link, the other half was vehemently opposed. Sigh. What to do?
Then I got a sale notice from Buy.com announcing a $50 rebate on the same set, but the time frame was within a few days, rather than a couple of weeks. Hmm, do I buy the set and take the chance that I wasted $30 (post-rebate)? OK, sure.
So I bought the set and it arrived almost a full week ahead of schedule! I have had nothing but great experiences buying from Buy.com and this early arrival is the latest evidence that Amazon.com should watch out. But, because it arrived on Christmas Eve and we already had plans, I couldn't install it until the day after Christmas.
Everything was going well until I got to one of the wizard setup screens. The wizard was supposed to determine the best connection method for my internet connection and it determined that I used PPPoE, which I do not. OK, cancel that and manually set it to use Dynamic IP. No problems. Until I tried accessing the internet. Nothing. I check the settings again. Everything seems OK. Still nothing. I power-cycle my wireless antenna and the router. Nothing. I reconnect my old Linksys router (which works great, btw) and check the D-Link support pages. The best I can find is to cycle power and try again. Uh-huh.
What else could be going on here? I disable the Windows firewall. That doesn't help. I even try changing MAC addresses (the D-Link automatically puts in the MAC address of the router, though the installation instructions say to "click on the Clone MAC Address button (optional)" which clones the MAC address of the NIC on the computer. Huh? But, OK, I try it both ways and still nothing.
Getting desperate, I go online (using the Linksys router again) and visit my ISP support chat room to see if there are any issues with my wireless connection and this particular router. The very nice tech runs through this and that with me. First, he suggests that we register the MAC address of the new router. OK, but then he suggests switching over from Dynamic IP to PPPoE. OK. Oh, wait, that won't work: my account isn't set up with the router's MAC address--it's the MAC address of the antenna. D'oh! So, basically, he tells me that he can do nothing for me. No!!! Sigh. But, says he, we can home troubleshoot for you at any time, just give us a call. Uh-huh. Thanks, says I, I will try to the D-Link support page again. (I poke fun a little here, but my ISP—First Step Internet—has always given me nothing but great service, especially those few times I needed some tech support help. Kudos to them.)
I start searching the internet for problems with this particular D-Link router, but mostly what I find are problems with the wireless connection, not problems connecting to the internet. But, I do happen to spot some messages about linking routers. Hmm, thinks I. Could this work for me? So, I read on and then try what is proposed. First, I connect my computer to the D-Link router, access the setup, and disable DHCP to prevent the router from assigning (or getting assigned) an IP address. Then I connect my D-Link to my Linksys router via Port 4. Cycle power again and voila! I connect to the internet via the Linksys and I can access the internet from my laptop via the D-Link.
I have not yet been able to figure out why the D-Link would not connect to the internet (if you have any ideas, please let me know), and that sort of bugs me (I don't like not being able to solve problems), but I get what I wanted anyway. So, I guess that counts for something.
And finally, I leave you with this bit of prophecy (found at the | ---textual harassment--- | blog):
H.L. Menken, "The Sage of Baltimore," The Evening Sun, July 26, 1920:"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
Yay!
House Republicans last week took steps to protect [House Majority Leader Tom] DeLay's position by changing a party rule that would have forced him to step aside as majority leader if indicted on a felony charge. ... Three close political associates of DeLay have been charged with illegally accepting and laundering corporate money for political purposes. ... Speaking to reporters last week, DeLay said the Democrats were engaging in the "politics of personal destruction.""At this particular time, our rules could be used against us and so they [House Republicans] fixed the rules so that the Democrats cannot use our own rules against us," DeLay said of the rule change that helped him.
Ahh, there it is, the great Republican hypocrisy.
Bush/Cheney '04: Because the truth just isn't good enough.
Bush/Cheney '04: Compassionate Colonialism
Bush/Cheney '04: Putting the "con" in conservatism
Bush/Cheney '04: Leave no billionaire behind.
Bush/Cheney '04: Making the world a better place, one country at a time.
Bush/Cheney '04: Thanks for not paying attention.
Bush/Cheney: Asses of Evil.
Don't think. Vote Bush!
George W. Bush: A brainwave away from the presidency.
George W. Bush: It takes a village idiot.
George W. Bush: The buck stops Over There.
Vote for Bush & You Get Dick!
Also take a look at One Thousand Reasons.com.
Courtesy of Rick Mercer from "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" CBC Television:
"On behalf of Canadians everywhere I'd like to offer an apology to the United States of America. We haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, I am truly sorry. I'm sorry we called George Bush a moron. He is a moron but, it wasn't nice of us to point it out. If it's any consolation, the fact that he's a moron shouldn't reflect poorly on the people of America. After all it's not like you actually elected him.
"I'm sorry about our softwood lumber. Just because we have more trees than you doesn't give us the right to sell you lumber that's cheaper and better than your own. I'm sorry we beat you in Olympic hockey. In our defense I guess our excuse would be that our team was much, much, much, much better than yours.
"I'm sorry we burnt down your White House during the war of 1812. I notice you've rebuilt it! It's Very Nice. I'm sorry about your beer. I know we had nothing to do with your beer but, we Feel your Pain.
"I'm sorry about our waffling on Iraq. I mean, when you're going up against a crazed dictator, you wanna have your friends by your side. I realize it took two years before you guys pitched in against Hitler but that was different. Everyone knew he had weapons. And finally on behalf of all Canadians, I'm sorry that we're constantly apologizing for things in a passive-aggressive way which is really a thinly veiled criticism. I sincerely hope that you're not upset over this. We've seen what you do to countries you get upset with.
"Thank you."
Another good show was UPN's Veronica Mars. Zap2It called the star of the show, Kristen Bell, a potential break-out star, and for some reason, I listened and decided to tune in. And I'm glad I did. The star and character are likable, even though she should be in big trouble for the stunts she pulls, especially against the sheriff. The whole helping her dad who's a private investigator thing is a little thin, but I'm willing to overlook it to see where this will go.
So, I was going to go stay in a cabin with some people (we were going to drive there in a fire truck—what does that mean?), and I decide I'd better change into my jeans (I was wearing shorts, it being summer and all) and grab another pair for the next day. I put on the jeans but feel something in the left leg, so I take them off and discover these slimy, worm-things attached to my leg. I'm thinking, This is bizarre, and proceed to pull them off. Not wanting to stick my leg back down my jeans, I hold them up and take a look inside. Suddenly the jeans are cavernous, like I'm looking down a four foot hole that's three or four feet in diameter, and I see these things flopping and writhing around. I begin to shake my jeans, trying to get these things out of them and they start to fall down the pant legs and onto the floor.
By this time, one of the guys I was going with to the cabin comes in looking for me because I'm taking too long and sees the pile of stuff on the floor. Look at that, I tell him. What are those? Oh, he says, those (pointing at the wormy things that were attached to my leg earlier) are leeches. And those (now pointing at what look like little fish, only not quite) are baby eels. And these (now pointing at the foot-long fish flopping around) are parrot-fish. And, indeed, they were. They had the bodies of fish (like a large bass), but the head of a colorful parrot, and where the gills would be there were wings.
Being the cautious type, I decide to check my other pair of jeans for inhabitants. I unfold them, open them up, and look inside. Same writhing mess. So I start shaking the jeans again, getting most of these things down the pant leg when one of the parrot-fish starts flying up toward me! I dodge its trajectory and finish shaking its roommates (pant-mates?) out of my jeans. And when I look down at the floor I see that most of the creatures have found their escape to a furnace duct, and I realize that I won't be leaving to go to the cabin anytime soon.
What the hell is up with that?!
Okay. So at first I did the suggested fixes: increase the virtual memory; put the game in Windowed mode; decrease the sound and video detail. And it worked...a tiny bit. I even got a little program called FreeRam to help (it didn't really).
Next, I deleted a bunch of stuff from my hard drive thinking the more room I had, the better the memory cache would be; maybe that helped, I'm not sure, but I was willing to try anything.
Then I ordered a new video card, upgrading my GeForce4 card to a GeForce FX 5200, and that helped with the video detail, but not with my constant "Lost Connection to MapServer" and eventual "Lost Connection to Server" problems. Okay, so probably not a video issue. I started wondering about my broadband connection!
All during this I have been trying to obtain additional RAM, but every time I ordered some, the place I ordered from told me the stuff was backordered (I'll tell ya, these online stores need to be better about listing stock in hand on their websites...) and I had a choice: wait for the fifth of Never or cancel my order; so I canceled. Finally, after four different tries, I finally received my RAM and guess what? Hardly anymore issues. Travel between zones is soooo much faster now. I've hardly gotten any MapServer disconnects and when I do, they are short.
Long story short: SWEET!!! The big chore to play the game (I could only play for about 30-45 minutes before having to reboot to avoid excessive lags) is no longer and I am loving it!
After you've looked at that short film, check out the parody Fast Times at Hero Times and Wonder Woman: Battle of Justice, just for laughs.
So, here's a couple pics of my main superdude, Starblaaz (it was supposed to be spelled Starblaze, after the character I made way back in 1981, but somebody in CoH already had that name when I created the character for the game—go figure):
And here's one of him flying! Note the blazing fists of power! :-D
Can you tell I really dig this game?
"He didn't ask my permission," Bradbury told The Associated Press. "That's not his novel, that's not his title, so he shouldn't have done it."Maybe Bradbury's just cranky in his advanced years, but the movie isn't the novel, nor is the movie title, well, the title of the novel, despite the obvious thematic link. Spokesperson for the film, Joanne Doroshow, said,
"Mr Bradbury's work has been an inspiration to all of us involved in this film, but when you watch this film you will see the fact that the title reflects the facts that the movie explores, the very real life events before, around and after 9-11."But Bradbury isn't satisfied with the homage. Instead, Bradbury was "hoping to settle this as two gentlemen, if he'll shake hands with me and give me back my book and title".
This appears slightly ridiculous to me. As a writer I can understand being upset that someone was paraphrasing something of mine—though it's the theme of Bradbury's book that Moore is harkening toward with the title, not the content—but methinks Mr. Bradbury, despite his claims to the contrary, simply doesn't agree with the premise of Moore's movie and doesn't want his book to be associated with it (he claims he's politically independent). I won't delve into the obvious hypocrisy here, namely, that Bradbury's book is indictment against censorship and a rallying cry for the need for critical, independent thinking. So, in short and with all due respect, Mr. Bradbury, shut up.
Or, perhaps these sour grapes have more to do with the upcoming reissue of the book (Fahrenheit 451 was first published in 1953) AND the new film version based on the book and how Moore's film will no doubt cast a shadow over (or is it "overshadow"?) them...?
Note: quotes above were taken from BreakingNews.ie.
Bigger news! We finally got a pet again, so now our new home is complete. We adopted a domestic shorthair cat we call Kael.
I finally have that story excerpt I mentioned in the last post in my Lit section. Go check it out.
City of Heroes has arrived! What is CoH? It's a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), like Everquest, only with superheroes. And it is way awesome cool! I have been waiting for something like this for 20 years (even if I didn't know it). I first discovered this game about 2 years ago and have been anxiously awaiting its release ever since. Go buy it, play it and look up Starblaaz, or Clearwater Raven, or Tungsten, or Tommy Storm, or Darklaw (if you read that excerpt you'll recognize two of those names!)....
Finally, my friend Tam asked me what I thought about the recent Angel finale, and here was my reply:
I don't like that Wesley died, but I did like all the cut shots of the Angel team taking out the bad guys. And while I liked the pathos of Lorne's murdering Lindsay, I did and didn't like Angel's betrayal of Lindsay. On one hand it shows that Angel is willing to make the very tough calls because there's something larger at stake, but on the other, do you really want to follow someone who is willing to go to those depths for the greater good, i.e., does the end justify the means?
Despite all that, my initial reaction to the ending was, "That's it?!" Of course, I wanted more.
I hope Joss doesn't leave TV behind as he transitions back to the big screen--it's such a desolate place without his writing/vision.
Last week I also finished that story I mentioned earlier. I'm cleaning it up and plan on posting an excerpt in the Lit area. It felt great to finish a story once again—it's my first since I completed my thesis three years ago. God, that's awful to admit. I originally meant to take a year off of regular writing; I wanted to play around, though my intention was to shop the thesis around (not a whole lot of luck there, yet). That's not to say I wasn't writing at all. I've started probably a half-dozen potentially solid stories (and probably another 6 or so not-so-solid stories), but "Tungsten" (working title) is the first I've finished.
One of things I've noticed about myself as I'm working on a particular writing project (my thesis and now my latest story) is how it starts the creative juices flowing. As I've been working on this story I found myself gravitating towards another short story collection that's got me excited and anxious to plan.
What's next on my immediate writing horizon (aside from the aforementioned collection)? I have two novels-in-waiting: one about the Biblical Cain (I've got the Prelude written and the start of the first chapter) and another about a man who, by accident, inherits the powers of the world's most popular superhero. But it'll probably be the story about a writer and his relationship with his Muse that I tackle first. Oh, and working on that whole publishing side of things.
I thought this was interesting (it's amazing what you find in your friend's Live Journal entries, or, in this case, a friend of a friend):
A butterfly???
I like this result better:
And yet another:
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! (Okay, that's enough....)
Hate to end on a downer, but I came home tonight looking forward to playing basketball with my daughter only to discover that her hamster had gotten out of its cage and ended up getting crushed by some furniture accidentally. Both Kitra and Brittany are very sad and I with them.
Been working on a story that was just to get me into the writing habit again and it's turned into a little obsession for me. I know this because I spent an hour revising the plot, in longhand. And then the next few days re-revising the plot, fine tuning the nuances, in my head as I drive to and from work. Not to mention getting irritated when life intrudes on my writing (and potential writing) time. Just today I wrote the ending, and now have to connect the first three-fifths of the story with the last page and a half. It's exciting and daunting, and I'm looking forward to the next project as well.
Read a few new comic collections recently: Formerly Known as the Justice League, by Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis, and Kevin Maguire; Supreme Power: Contact, by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank; and Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis and various artists.
Formerly Known as the Justice League is a kick-ass romp. Giffen and Dematteis show they have lost none of their humor and the unique ability to make fun of these beings we call superheroes, while at the same time endearing them to us even more. If you're not familiar with these writers' run on the mid-80s version of the Justice League, you missed out. Sure it wasn't the Justice League everyone knew, but it was still a wild ride, but Formerly Known as isn't just a rehash. It's an extension that requires a great dollop of suspension of disbelief that pays off in the end. I'll leave you with this: I laughed out loud several times reading this collection and I don't do that very often (take my word for it).
Supreme Power once again shows the power of JMS's strong abilities as a writer. In fact, I think he may be a better comic writer than television writer. Similar to Formerly Known as, Supreme Power is take off on a previous series, but in a whole different direction. JMS reimagines the Justice League's characters and puts his own spin on them and how they affect the world. This first collection mostly focuses on the Superman-like Hyperion—how he was discovered by the U.S. government, carefully raised by the government (to be a good American), and becomes a tool of the government (by helping in military skirmishes). Think of this as how the real world might treat and co-opt superpowered people. I'm looking forward to the next collection. (Note: Supreme Power itself is also a reimagining of a group of characters created by Marvel to serve as Justice League clones. You might want to check out Squadron Supreme to see the original take on these characters.)
Finally, we come to Transmetropolitan. This series of collections (I'm up to number 3) just kick ass. Warren Ellis is on fire with these stories. Set in the near future, the books focus on Spider Jerusalem, a once (in)famous journalist who's hooked on various narcotics and likes to scream at people a lot. But he's also got a penchant for sticking it to the Man and pointing out injustice, no matter who it may hurt. It's funny, poignant, and just plain fun.
Well, that's all for now, kiddies. Gotta get back to that story.
We asked to close by the end of January, so if all goes well, we should be all moved in by the end of the first week of February. We're so excited!
I just finished Wonder Woman: Mythos, part of the Justice League of America series of books. Don't waste your time. Carol Lay may be a good writer in some other venue, but I couldn't corroborate that with this novel. She just didn't have a good understanding of the characters, especially Wonder Woman, and her authorial voice was overpowering. If you want good Wonder Woman stories, go read Greg Rucka's current run on the monthly comic. Much better than Lay's foray into superhero novelization.
I also just finished aka Goldfish by one of the best writers in comics today, Brian Michael Bendis. I enjoyed it, as Bendis has a knack and a flair for realistic dialogue and plot. My only complaint is 1) that it needed to be longer to flesh out even more the backgrounds of the characters and to give us more page-time with them, and 2) the climax didn't connect for me—it was too quick and slick for any real emotional impact (or maybe that was the point...?). Regardless, you should check it out to see how comics are not just about people in spandex and masks.
