It's Hot and Sticky so it's no wonder that my hard drive had made like an egg and fried itself. So I had to decide between buying a new laptop or fixing this one. If it ain't broke don't fix it, but if it is broke and you can fix it then why not. So I picked up a new internal hard drive and despite the installation instructions which read, "NO installation instructions are provided with this device. We strongly recommend installation by a certified professional.", I managed to get the thing up and running again without too much agony. And I only have 2 screws left over :) Of course, in light of the apparent success I fully expect the thing to burst out in flames at any moment!! But I must say there is something refreshing about starting out with a crisp clean and empty hard drive especially now that I have 3 times the amount of space.
Well things have slowed down for the moment regarding work. We just did a mini-charter down to Miami and as far south as Key Largo. It was a "Manager of the Year" reward for one of Michael's employees and he took the opportunity to get married on the boat. Who knows if the marriage will be as much of a sham as the myth that captains have any authority what so ever to perform marriages. Maybe their was some truth too it 200 years ago when sailors where on board and away for years at a time, but today a taxi driver or a mermaid has as much authority to perform the service. In fact in the U.S. and British Navy a captain could wind up in the brig for marrying people! And on many boats they have signs which say "Any marriage performed on this vessel is only valid On This Vessel!" BTW: 200 years ago how many woman where aboard as sailors to marry? (I can't imagine marrying ones spoils of war) Or was it the present day equivalent to "Civil (gay) Unions"? Anyway, I digress.
OK. I hate when you fulfill a self-fulfilling prophesy! NO Lie! My mouse pointer just froze and forced me to reboot. Not quite bursting into flames, but not a good sign. I should mention that I "upgraded??" to Windows XP Home. It is Win 2000 based so it should be relatively stable and it has some nice qualities, but it's still Windows to Hell !!!
Can anyone tell me why when you try to update all hell breaks loose! (and God knows how many patches Winblows requires. It has so many holes they should call it "Sieves" not "Windows") (Or "Screens", which come to think about it may very well have been in the running until someone (most likely outside the company) pointed out the connection) (Has anyone contacted the Swiss government about a class action suit for Swiss cheese copyright infringement?) I can't install the updates that I downloaded because the install process takes over my Wi-Fi port and hangs up the connection which of course is required to install. If our government is going to let the monopoly continue at least make sure the shit works. Back in the day Ma Bell wouldn't have lasted nearly as long if every time you tried to make a call the operator asked you to press the non existent "Moon" button to connect. Now it's nice that Gates has become the philanthropist, but maybe he should be paying back each and every Windows user a couple of grand for all our mental and emotional anguish and time lost due to his product! Don't get me started!!
So there you have it. For better or worse I back in the computing game and work is slow. Pierre is back in France getting a second opinion regarding his heart condition so I'm holding down the fort again and hoping we don't get a hurricane this week. Regarding the American medical machine: The doctors here were immediately ready to burn out his Thyroid with a radioactive pill and put him on medication for the rest of his life. He's 35yrs old! Radiation, Burned out thyroid, lifetime of medication!?!? $$$$$Cha-Ching$$$. That's all I have to say! F**king Quacks!!! Corporate Drug Dealers!!! Hey kid, first ones free!!
So in France they diagnosed him with Graves Disease and with 6-12 months on meds they are confident that he'll should be stabilized and fine. Never trust someone who spends their entire life not working, but having a "practice". How much practice do you need? Maybe you should rethink your approach if you aren't getting it right in a reasonable amount of time. How is it that such a huge group of people full of compassion and sense of duty go into medicine and wind up selling their souls?
Well, it turned out to be more of a bitch session than an update, but it's a slow news day and that's the way the cookie crumbles.....
I was going to load up some pics of the wedding, but you'll just have to use your imagination. I didn't take any pics with my camera so all the photos I have from other cameras are too big to post. They need compression which I don't have right now with a new hard drive and all. I tried resizing them, but that made them fuzzy like a TV show blurring out nudity. And it wasn't that kind of wedding. But it is your imagination so if you're so inclined....... ;)
Enjoy the remaining days of summer.....
DJ
www.whereisdjtoday.com
Carpe diem
