so stuck inside

Work was more crazy today. They are getting ready to ship the first test batch of modules processed with the new computerized system, but several modules are locked up in my area of responsibility and I couldn't process them because the system is still broken, so not-my-bosses have been putting pressure on me to do whatever it takes to get the shipment ready.

My computer is finally holding up nicely so I worked out how to salvage data from my corrupted xD card. The pictures aren't great because the museum had terrible lighting but some of them came out pretty good, so I put them on facebook. Now I am going to go read The Selfish Gene in bed. At least I don't have to go to Canada at 4AM like PJ. Sucker.

camaro

camaro interior

more fun than watching static

With my luggage situation resolved and some other errands done I decided to tackle my computer issues. I managed to clear up the malware issue but adding that fight on top of previous Windows rot left my computer not entirely stable. I decided to go ahead with a reformat, but it ended up taking four before I got all my troubles resolved (mostly involving Outlook). On the plus side it seems XP service pack 2 is able to uncover the extra unpartitioned space on my new hard drive, so I was able to add another 21GB to my data drive. I was fortunate these reformats were on my terms so all my data has been backed up, although I don't want it sitting on the external drives for too long.

In order to stay sane during the long and drawn out reformats I have been powering through Northern Exposure, I got through two and a half DVDs this weekend. I also went to the bookstore and got The Selfish Gene, which I have never read because I don't know anything about biology.

On a note more in line with normal behavior, more spy photos of the Camaro turned up last week showing the interior which is apparently closer to the concept than I would have guessed, down the the gauges at the base of the center console. There was a note later that day on GM's blog that the Camaro prototypes will now be run without camouflage to test aerodynamics and cooling efficiency. My primary concern is still whether they've put in enough headroom for me.

nowhere near here

My luggage finally showed up yesterday. I promptly went looking for more trouble, which I found in Xbox Live. It turns out that you can easily renew the Gold subscription through the Xbox itself, but in order to cancel and go back to Silver you have to call up an idiot in India. The Indian guy took all my personal information and my credit card number before transferring me to the guy who actually did the work. After getting that settled I decided to remove my credit card number from my Xbox Live account, which is an even murkier procedure. This necessitated another call and the first guy I got was a jackass who put me on hold for 45 minutes before I hung up and tried again. The next guy was much more helpful but even so it takes a full billing cycle to process. The moral of the story is that Microsoft is really scummy and you should go with the prepaid cards in stores because when those expire they can't start screwing your credit card.

2008

2008 has not been kind so far. My computer got bogged down with some nasty malware, my diploma still hasn't come in the mail.

The worst offender by far though is Southwest Airlines, notably their Chicago branch. They caused my flight to be late out of Detroit, then they told me I only had 10 minutes to catch my connection, then the connection sat on the ground for an hour waiting for luggage to be loaded, the plane ended up having some loser with a peanut allergy on board so nobody was allowed to eat anything, and then when I finally got to Portland my luggage was still in Chicago.

The luggage office told me my stuff would be on the first flight to Portland the next morning, but as it turns out they can't find their asses with both hands so my bags were still MIA last night until 11PM when they tried calling me to say they turned up, even though I had gone to bed at 9 because I am still jet lagged. Southwest then tried putting my luggage on a midnight delivery truck so I have a voicemail from some Russian truck driver at 2AM wondering where I was. I appreciate their urgency but that was a little silly.

merriment

Christmas today. Among other things I got the entire set of Northern Exposure, a TV show I've vaguely heard good things about but I've been oblivious of it until now. Checking that out should be neat, especially with normal TV running completely on empty now - no Heroes, no Top Gear, no QI, nothing. Tomorrow will be Lansing for Christmas with grandparents. I haven't been up there in a long time, and I've not really been out and about since I got back except for a pizza run.

With Christmas festivities almost over I can try and concentrate on making the most out of being in Michigan. Unfortunately I caught a minor cold en route, so I have been a little out of it since I got back.

where will you be when this is through

Much quieter today with no family xmas events. I even managed to divert the CTS for the purpose of going to Gregg's for lunch. I am trying to pull down the last Top Gear of the series but the time zone difference is not as favorable here. I dug around my local book collection and found Player Piano by Vonnegut, but it's not great. My family has finished wrapping presents but we still have to wait another stinking day until we can unwrap them.

I'm sad I'm going to be missing the Detroit auto show because they will have both a Corvette ZR1 and an R8 convertible. Audi might also bring a V10 R8 if they can figure out how to make one that doesn't burst into flames. My extended family is praising the virtues of upcoming 'clean diesels' but I still have my heart set on the last bastions of petrol, before the new MPG laws ruin anything interesting.

I am continuing to apply labels to the archives as I see fit. It's somewhat bizarre because for the most part I am going backwards, so a post about 'went to see the Hard Lessons' is followed by 'Hard Lessons in one week!'. A minor disclaimer is that I am also engaging in some limited revisionist history, mostly tweaking hindsightedly stupid lines and removing italics applied for similarity to Tycho's writing style.

I also ran this URL through a blog readability tester and I've apparently been upgraded from high school to genius, despite my continuing to rant about cars and technology as usual.

if all goes as planned

Travel day today. I expected things to be crazy getting to the airport but it was only usual work traffic. Southwest has changed their boarding system and I like it, although I would have gotten even better priority if the network at work had not been in the process of crashing when I was trying to check in. The first leg of my journey was from PDX to Kansas City. For some reason I picked a window seat that had no window, so I got to stare at the wall for three hours. I discovered Kansas City has an inane system where every five gates gets their own security zone, so I had to go back through security. They had some Jags littered about the place, I was hoping to see an XF but they were just XJs. The next flight was a hop to Chicago, which apparently was besieged by advisory-level fog but we got in and out with no issue. I didn't even get off the plane because it continued straight on to Detroit.

template

More screwing around, this time I upgraded the template that governs this site. I have no idea if that actually did anything.

Still working on the labelling. I have 344 posts to get through. I was also going for a couple more achievements in Orange Box.

Last.fm is gone now.