7

Windows 7 came out this past week and it has made my netbook go from kind of slow and moderately frustrating to just as fast as my other computers. I’m amazed. It seems as if Microsoft got together with a group of their developers and said, “Hey, guys, let’s try to make this operating system not be terrible, okay?” We have to use Vista at work and I’ll say this is much like a breath of fresh air. Along those same lines, we have an early release version of Ubuntu at work (one of the guys I work with is also a developer) and it’s looking good. Throw 7 and Karmic on a dual-booting system and you have quite the combo!

There is a new artist out called Owl City that reminds me a lot of the band freezepop. It’s kind of pop/synth music that gets stuck in your head. There is a song that’s been all over the radio lately that he sings about fireflies. I have a propensity for replaying a song 1000s of times over and over if I like it. I looked at my iTunes the other day and realized I’d heard that so 128 times in the three days since I bought it. Maybe it’s time to find a new band to listen to.

I’ve found that it’s hard to live without a washer and dryer in the same unit/building as you. It creates a lot of walking with laundry baskets which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When it starts raining or getting really late, it would be a lot nicer to be able to walk into the next room instead of having to walk across the parking lot or walk to the car and drive somewhere with washers and dryers. It’s also a lot cheaper because the only thing you have to worry about is paying the water and electricity bills instead of having to maintain a huge amount of quarters. Quarters are way too heavy to be useful.

Tires

I got new tires for my car which has provided me with two things. First, the letters are still blue on my tires because I haven’t gotten around to washing that off and second, I get mildly better gas mileage now. I’ll have to keep driving it to see what kind of mileage I get now, but so far I’m getting 17 mpg now instead of 15 to 16. I figure any increase is worth celebrating.

Although the tires are great (it makes the ride a lot smoother and quieter), it took me nine hours and three appointments to get them put on at Walmart. The first appointment I made was written in the wrong book, so they weren’t ready for me. The second appointment was made for the wrong bay, so they couldn’t do it there. Finally, they got me in at the third appointment. Each time, I had driven back home and returned to be able to try again. Once I finally got into the bay, it only took around 50 minutes to put the tires on and get them balanced.

I would like to think that the world’s third largest company would be able to streamline the process a little bit to reduce consumer inconvenience.

One of the people at work today saw my wallet and started laughing at me. I have the insert from an old Fossil wallet and a couple months ago it started falling apart. I tore the back part off and duct taped it up so that it is now just a single pocket with a window in one side. It holds my four cards perfectly though it doesn’t make it easy to carry cash around. Thankfully there aren’t many places that don’t take plastic these days. And places that don’t are the kind of places that may not receive my business too much longer. It’s becoming more and more inconvenient to go to an ATM for just a couple dollars when all I want to do is go to lunch.

Butterflies

Lately there have been a HUGE amount of butterflies and/or moths outside which makes my vehicle look like a insect horror movie. I have wings and legs sticking out from every surface on the front of my car and I’m pretty sure I hear the screams and moans of a thousand tiny souls every time I turn my car on. Sorry, insects; I have to drive to and from work every day and you guys need to get out of the way. If you don’t, you and your family will be having a much less cheerful day.

We went camping this weekend because we had the day off on Monday (Columbus Day) and couldn’t think of anything better to do. It was actually really chilly. I guess I’m getting used to the weather at home so being outside that temperature zone makes for a vastly mismatched wardrobe. I had to wear most of what I brought with me all weekend. With a little bit of rain that means our tent had a small amount of water that came in. It turns out I’m a really nice person even while I sleep because I thought enough to absorb all the water with my clothes so the other guys in the tent didn’t get any water on them. My sleeping bag, my clothes and my bag were soaked. That was one of those moments where I woke up and had NO IDEA what was going on; it was a pretty confusing 30 seconds or so while I came to and tried to figure out what was happening to me.

On Thursday, a friend and I went and saw Couples Therapy. That was the worst movie I have seen in a long time. Do not waste any money on that film.

It turns out that when you camp on the sand and you have a stiff breeze, everything you eat and wear gets covered in sand. I have ingested more silica than I think is medically advised and when I washed my clothes, the washing machine had a small sandcastle in the bottom of it. Taking a shower was one of the best things all weekend because we finally got clean of all the grit. My car has not been so lucky. I will be headed to a vacuum place sometime this coming week to try to clean out the beach that now resides on my car floor.

I actually cheated, this post was written on Monday night. Turns out there isn’t ANY cell phone coverage where we were for the weekend.

Glee

I’ve been watching the show Glee on Hulu and I’m starting to realize something about TV.  Let me explain my current situation; I watch all my TV online either via iTunes or Hulu and even when at my place, my TV doesn’t ever turn on save for Netflix DVDs.  The idea of a network is quickly becoming less and less important.  It used to be that networks wanted great shows to draw a share of viewers that would tune in and maybe stay loyal to that particular network once the credits rolled on their favorite shows.  With time-shifted TV, that has become an antiquated way to think of television.  I bet you there is a large number of people out there who couldn’t tell you what network carries their favorite shows because people just hit play on their DVR and fast forward through all the commercials without caring what channel it is on.  I hope the networks are keeping up with this trend lest they become obsolete.

And if you haven’t checked out the show Glee, you really should.  It’s hilarious.

I woke up on Friday feeling a little off but didn’t think much of it.  I went to PT and work per usual and then went home and went to bed to try to sleep off the odd feeling.  I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and took my temperature.  101.  That was just the beginning.  If there is a symptom, I had it.  Sore throat, cough, headache, nausea (though no barfing), achy everything, cold sweats and high temperature.  And anytime my friends heard either from me or from someone else, I got a text message that said something along the lines of: “Swine flu?!”  People, I don’t think it’s H1N1, but I’ll keep you posted if I find out it was.  Thankfully most of the symptoms are gone today and I think I’ll be able to get through this by tonight.

I ordered new tires online at Walmart and now I’m just waiting for them to show up at the local store so I can go get them put on.  The tread of my current tires is getting a little low and I think it’s best I get a new set.  At my apartment complex, when we got rain I would usually put my car in four wheel drive to get up the hill (hills aren’t really an issue right now) to keep from slipping.  This time I chose a tire that had a rating of 9 out of 10 for dry, wet and snowy conditions.  Add to that a layer of Kevlar and I have bulletproof, slip-proof tires it seems.  I just wish they didn’t cost so darn much!  I mean, is there a small layer of gold, diamonds and pixie dust in there?!