I would like to take this moment to welcome Beth the Laptop to the staff of Battling the Current. Yes, I took the time this weekend to go out and buy a new machine to replace Natalie, who best I can gather suffered a video card failure made worse by the fact that the video card is integrated into the motherboard. I still might try to perform some surgery on her but in terms of efficiency it was simply easier for me to buy a new laptop. Beth is basically a newer version of Natalie in terms of make and design but she already seems nicer and more serene than Natalie (much in the same way that Beth Orton is compared to Natalie Portman.)
I will have to offer my apologies for the abundance of typos over the next few weeks as I begin to adjust to a new keyboard. While I am a forty words a minute typist I’ve never had any training so my typing style is abysmal and dependent on muscle memory so any change in keybpard size makes my typing just bad until I relearn the system. This doesn’t look to be too bad but I’ll just warn everyone up front that my posts may make less sense than normal.
(And yes, this means that I am going to have to rerip my entire CD collection to my laptop once again. Well, I guess I really don’t as I did it the first time to load my Zune and I’ve done that but it was very nice to have all of my music at my fingertips no matter what room I was in. At least when I did it the first time I was unemployed and could easily take care of fifty discs at a time while I was submitting resumes to the infinite void online. Now I will have to do it while I legitimately have better things to do with my time.)
Also for those wondering I finally broke down and put Delaware plates on my car today. Yes, as of this evening I no longer drive a car that is from the state of Missouri. I held off for as long as I could but at some point I just had to admit that I had moved. It is not that I have an incredibly strong attachment to Missouri (great friends from there but no real connection to the geography) but there is some strange reaction I get whenever I begin to realize that I am a resident of Delaware. Mainly because I can’t think of anyone else who lives in Delaware besides Joe Biden. I’m serious about this. I’ve been living here for month and I don’t know who else lives here. I assume that there are at least a dozen or so people in the state but to be honest I have no proof of that fact.
The good news is that now that I have that and my laptop situation salted away I can get back to my usual writing schedule. That means that we will have the 15 Influential Television Shows this week as well as the 15 Influential Pop Culture Moments. Also, a return of the music videos, posts written while I am still awake and all of the other fun parts of the blog. Again, apologies for the randomness of the last week or so. When I am sans computer and high speed internet I tend to lose my ability to write.
Best of 120 Minutes: In honor of Beth I find that it is only fitting that I feature a video from her namesake. If someone can explain to me why Velma from Scooby Doo appears halfway through the video I would greatly appreciate it.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Ben Folds Five “Ben Folds Five”
2) Damien Rice “Live from Union Chappel”
3) Tift Merritt “Tambourine”
4) Tift Merritt “Another Country”
5) Tori Amos “Under the Pink”
Showing posts with label Technical difficulties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technical difficulties. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Now boarding group 26
Technical note: Still dealing with laptop issues as Natalie may have gone to a better place. Well, given that she has lived in Kansas City and Delaware that really isn't saying much but let's say I now have less hope for a quick and easy solution. I have gotten Julie back up and running but as an eight year old laptop she has a few quirks. Such as I am not sure how to hook her up to my cable modem so I am on dial up at the moment. I knew I kept that AOL account for a reason. Again, posts may be short and sporadic for the near future. I'll make up for it, I promise.
Now that I live in Philadelphia...well, I don't actually live in Philadelphia. Don't really live anywhere near Philadelphia. More like, "Now that I regularly fly out of Philadelphia I have had to learn to live with the wonders that is the Philadelphia airport and U.S. Airways."
On the surface the Philly airport has a lot going for it. Right off the expressway, on the right side of the city for me, a large parking garage connected to the terminal, and even a Chick-Fil-A inside. However, it still seems to annoy me to no end. First off, can anyone explain to me how the parking works there? There is a remote lot that I a) can't ever seem to find and b) the wait for the buses always seems to resemble the line for the last copter out of Saigon. As a result I pay more to park in the main garage. Every time I go I get a ticket and when I leave to pay I a) hand the cashier my ticket, b) they then ask what state my plates are from (for a reason that baffles me), c) am told that the machine can't read my ticket even though my time is clearly printed on it, and d) that they need to call in a supervisor. This happens every single trip. I was accused of trying to cheat the system this time around. Quite annoying given how freaking expensive it is.
U.S. Airways is the main airline in Philly and as a result is the one I use whenever I need to get anywhere directly. However you should really be careful of any airline where landing in a river is not an uncommon experience. That doesn't bother me (in fact, the actual flying of the planes has been the least of my worries). No, it is the cost cutting measures that are driving me insane.
First off, they charge to check bags. That is not a big deal for me because I just consider that a cost of doing business. It sucks and is horrible but I either need to check a bag or don't and that is never dependent on a company's policy. However that puts me in the minority as now on any flight you have people who have gone beyond bringing on a carry on and have now brought on luggage. This makes getting oberhead bin space a freaking war of attrition and people like me with our wee little overnight bags suffer for it.
This is also an airline that at one point started charging you for that half cup of soda that is three quarters ice. They've cancelled that policy now but I still spend a portion of my pre-flight routine buying gummi bears and Vitamin Water for the flight. (Don't ask why I now drink Vitamin Water. I've been brainwashed by the concept that flavored water is somehow healthy for me.) While they have assigned seats for some reason this makes boarding the plane more difficult than Southwest's Oklahoma Land Rush method. I even think their seats are three inches too short. But they are the one airline I can use to get where I need to go so I use them.
Do I have a point to this rant? Not really. But it makes me wish I had a few more options to get me where I needed to be. Either that or I must really start to work the bugs out of my teleporter.
Now that I live in Philadelphia...well, I don't actually live in Philadelphia. Don't really live anywhere near Philadelphia. More like, "Now that I regularly fly out of Philadelphia I have had to learn to live with the wonders that is the Philadelphia airport and U.S. Airways."
On the surface the Philly airport has a lot going for it. Right off the expressway, on the right side of the city for me, a large parking garage connected to the terminal, and even a Chick-Fil-A inside. However, it still seems to annoy me to no end. First off, can anyone explain to me how the parking works there? There is a remote lot that I a) can't ever seem to find and b) the wait for the buses always seems to resemble the line for the last copter out of Saigon. As a result I pay more to park in the main garage. Every time I go I get a ticket and when I leave to pay I a) hand the cashier my ticket, b) they then ask what state my plates are from (for a reason that baffles me), c) am told that the machine can't read my ticket even though my time is clearly printed on it, and d) that they need to call in a supervisor. This happens every single trip. I was accused of trying to cheat the system this time around. Quite annoying given how freaking expensive it is.
U.S. Airways is the main airline in Philly and as a result is the one I use whenever I need to get anywhere directly. However you should really be careful of any airline where landing in a river is not an uncommon experience. That doesn't bother me (in fact, the actual flying of the planes has been the least of my worries). No, it is the cost cutting measures that are driving me insane.
First off, they charge to check bags. That is not a big deal for me because I just consider that a cost of doing business. It sucks and is horrible but I either need to check a bag or don't and that is never dependent on a company's policy. However that puts me in the minority as now on any flight you have people who have gone beyond bringing on a carry on and have now brought on luggage. This makes getting oberhead bin space a freaking war of attrition and people like me with our wee little overnight bags suffer for it.
This is also an airline that at one point started charging you for that half cup of soda that is three quarters ice. They've cancelled that policy now but I still spend a portion of my pre-flight routine buying gummi bears and Vitamin Water for the flight. (Don't ask why I now drink Vitamin Water. I've been brainwashed by the concept that flavored water is somehow healthy for me.) While they have assigned seats for some reason this makes boarding the plane more difficult than Southwest's Oklahoma Land Rush method. I even think their seats are three inches too short. But they are the one airline I can use to get where I need to go so I use them.
Do I have a point to this rant? Not really. But it makes me wish I had a few more options to get me where I needed to be. Either that or I must really start to work the bugs out of my teleporter.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Please stand by...
We here at Battling the Current would like to apologize for the lack of a post last night. I know many people were looking forward to the 15 influential television shows and whether or not Manimal (he's part man, part animal) would make the list. Sadly, on Wednesday night a vital member of the Battling the Current team was incapacitated. Specifically, Natalie the Laptop had either the screen completey fail or the graphics card explode. All I know is that the failure was massive and spectactular.
As a result I was unable to use my primary laptop last night. I am preparing to go back to Julie the Laptop in much the same way as one returns to an old girlfriend. Mainly a lot of groveling and pleading and explaining that yes, I was tempted by a newer and sleeker model but I have now seen the errors of my ways. It will take some effort and probably a great deal of gifts to get her back online again.
(This would be easier if the computers at my apartment complex would allow me to login to blogger. For some reason that site is blocked.)
So until I address all of these technical difficulties expect updates to become slightly sporadic. I promise that I will finish the influential fifteen. I just have to try to figure out what is wrong with Natalie or see if I need to get a new laptop. Which means we'll have to go through the whole naming process again.
As a result I was unable to use my primary laptop last night. I am preparing to go back to Julie the Laptop in much the same way as one returns to an old girlfriend. Mainly a lot of groveling and pleading and explaining that yes, I was tempted by a newer and sleeker model but I have now seen the errors of my ways. It will take some effort and probably a great deal of gifts to get her back online again.
(This would be easier if the computers at my apartment complex would allow me to login to blogger. For some reason that site is blocked.)
So until I address all of these technical difficulties expect updates to become slightly sporadic. I promise that I will finish the influential fifteen. I just have to try to figure out what is wrong with Natalie or see if I need to get a new laptop. Which means we'll have to go through the whole naming process again.
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