Warning: A lot of boring tech-talk

Busy evening. I needed to update the Humane Society's website, so that was on my menu for this evening.

A few weeks ago a client gave me her old computer because it "was starting to run slow, so I just bought a new one." I told her I could probably tune it up and get it back in order, but she said not to bother, since she already has a replacement. Cool - free PC. Turns out it has a 3.2 Ghz processor with hyper-threading technology, which means it's a pretty fast one. At least as fast as my current rig, and since the new one has Windows XP and mine is running Vista, I think hers actually is faster. Obviously, I want to switch them out.

She didn't have any of the discs (or didn't know where they were) so I had to order a restore set from HP for $16.50. Those came yesterday so I reformatted it, which took about an hour and ½ because it's across 8 CDs, then removed all the extra crapware that comes pre-installed (another ½-hour or so). Well, I must have removed something I shouldn't have, because after that it wouldn't load any Windows updates, and System Restore didn't go back far enough to fix it.

So I decided to take care of that tonight.

In the mean time, someone at work needed her laptop tuned up, so I had that planned for this weekend as well.

There I was, a laptop on my left, my main computer with the website in front of me, and the new computer on my right. All going at once.

So, I reloaded Windows on my new computer to replace whatever was missing. The next step was to install all of the Windows updates from the Microsoft site. After a good 15 minutes of downloading, it began to install. After about ½ and hour I noticed that it was installing Service Pack 2. What? I thought I already had SP2. I checked, and no, this machine only has SP1, which means I had been online for about 45 minutes with no firewall. There's no telling what web-cooties could have infiltrated my system, but after restarting, the (newly-installed) Windows firewall reported some app with a name like BackWeb or something trying to connect to the net. That was enough evidence for me. Before some backdoor dialer, rootkit, or keylogger ruined my life I figured it was best to just reformat (again!) and start over.

I was hungry, and had originally planned to cook up the scallops and I had bought earlier today, mixed with pasta. No way, I'm sticking with this job. SO I ordered a pizza from Domino's. I used the website instead of ordering over the phone, just to try it out. 30 minutes my ass! The website even tells you the progress of your order ("It's being prepared." It's in the oven." "It's on its way.") After 40 minutes I checked the site and it told me I was now enjoying my pizza. No, no I'm not. I'm still hungry. So I called and the girl on the phone had to put me on hold because she had never handled an online order. Turns out the guy was on his way. The total came to $12.19. I gave $13.00 and told him to keep the change. He mumbled a sarcastic "thanks" and muttered something else unintelligible as he shuffled off.

Here I am about an hour and ½ later, and it's just about done loading. I'm beat, so I'm going to crash before going any further.

To be continued...

Meet Keifer

My newest cat. Someone on Freecycle said he had to get rid of him because his significant other is allergic to cats. Too bad, because he's had the cat for 8 years. Well, Keifer is getting along fine with my other cats. He sleeps on the bed with me and seems very happy watching birds and rabbits through the window. I think he's also glad to have other cats to hang with. He was an "only child" before. In the first picture, he's the one all the way to the left. In the second one he's in the foreground.