Today one of my users came to me saying the hard drive on his development system had serious problems. I go into the usual spiel as we walk down the hall, warning that even if we do get it working, we need to focus on getting his files off before it fails completely. Unfortunately, it made a horrible clacking noise on boot, and failed to even ( Read more... )

I keep telling myself I should start posting again, but the backlog is always so daunting I don't know where to start. I'm also not sure I'm willing or able to write about many of the things that have been stressing me over the last several months, or whether it's a good idea. So I'm going to try posting some light stuff for a while just to get ( Read more... )

I've gotten out of the habit of blogging, for various reasons. For those who wonder what my year's been like, this video (worksafe) really sums it up more than is comfortable, in a "really funny except for the moments you realize it isn't" sort of way. I keep telling myself I need to get back to writing, but we'll see if it happens.

There's currently an offer that if you buy a qualifying Blu-Ray player (including, for instance, a PS3) between 2007-10-01 and 2008-01-31, you can get five free Blu-Ray movies, chosen from a somewhat peculiar list. (There was a similar offer over the summer, with a slightly different list.) As much of my flist are more into movies than I am, I ( Read more... )

Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder;
I'm an over forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.

Figures. Spend all day alone in a windowless server room swearing at Microsoft updates, and miss the end of the world.

Nobody knows I'm here, and the building seems quiet... ( Read more... )

* RL: The focus at work lately has been getting ready for and running a technical symposium this week. Finally don't have to wear a suit for it, but it's still 12+ hour days (most of the hassle of being staff at a fandom con, but without the fun ( Read more... )

Today the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) announced the first potentially Earth-like exoplanet in the habitable zone, Gliese 581c. The preprint has a few more interesting details. With the potential to be *very* Earth-like and only about 20 light years away, if Hal Clement were alive today I'm sure ( Read more... )

* FF-XI: Finally beat the Dynamis Lord in Dynamis-Xarcabard on Monday; while it doesn't really get me anything other than a couple of cool titles, it's another major plotline wrapped up. Still only 3/5 on RNG AF needing both the northlands pieces, so Dynamis is still going to be taking up a bunch of my online time ( Read more... )

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