Planned obsolescence

Funny that when I'm out riding my bike in the woods, I think about stuff like planned obsolescence. That's an old catch phrase from years ago. Originally I heard it referring to automobiles. Now days it totally can be connected to computers and software. You buy the best money can buy, and a month later it's slower than molasses. Of course buying the best money can buy does not accurately describe my purchasing strategy when building a new computer, but you look for the sweet spot when it comes to price vs quality.

So I know this guy... let's call him Elaine... No, Randy. He builds a new computer thinking that now he can finally run some of the software he has, on a computer that can finally handle it. He get's it all done, installs the latest operating system from Microsoft and then begins to come to the realization that most of the software he already owns will not run in Windows Vista. So a new operating system means all new software. Big shocker for the guy who only wants to use something he has already purchased. Now I remember when Windows XP was released... similar issues, but not like this! Sure, there were some software incompatibilities with XP, but installing anything not written specifically for Vista is a crap shoot. Randy was fucked.

Oh well, I'm not really complaining, in fact I like Vista. What Vista forced me to do was try open source software, and I have to tell you, I was pleasantly surprised. I now use open source software for image editing, office applications, and anything else I can. So much for buying Microsoft's over priced office suite. Oh yeah, so far the open source software works fine with Vista. So much for planned obsolescence.

Oh, what does all this have to do with this picture... absolutely nothing!

Mining

Yep, I'm a miner on the side. I get out and mine as often as I can. Today I got a pretty large bag of ore. It was so nice that I had to get a picture of it.

I also thought getting a closer look at one of the nice nuggets would be cool too, so here it is.

Ya gotta love it!!

Script errors..

Silicon diodes, cpu cycles, bios settings, or a bike ride in the woods... mmmm, let me see. Actually I like both of those subjects, one complementing the other in many ways. Yesterday I tried to help my friend Tom figure out what was wrong with his laptop. First it didn't have any free space on the hard drive. Finally got that sorted out with a little button that has "delete" printed on it. It wasn't as easy as it sounds but it's a done deal now.

Then he was getting these script errors when you tried to open "Event Viewer" or open the "User Accounts" applet. In addition, the search feature opened with a blank page and web sites were not rendering correctly in the browser... IE7. After a little searching myself on the internet I found that for some reason, sometimes, Internet Explorer 7 causes several dll files to be corrupted. Apparently those dll's are ones that control the functions that weren't working. So, uninstalling IE7 was the first thing to do. After that some stuff worked, you could get into the "User Accounts" but you still couldn't open "Event Viewer" or "Computer Management." More script errors. Anyway, to make a long story just a little bit longer I had to restore, or re-register, the dll files. My assumption is that taking that action corrected those corrupted files. So bandaid as it is I just downloaded Firefox and they can use that browser without difficulty as long as they don't try to go to a site that requires Internet Explorer.

Yes, I tried uninstalling IE7 and reinstalling it. Still caused the problems after being re-installed. Kind of a weird problem if you ask me. I use IE7 on both my Windows computers and have had no problem so it's something specific to that laptop.

So it was nice today for me to get out and ride my bike... best of both worlds.

Short Hike

Well, I went up the Janesville Grade the other day to get out in the woods. I brought my bike along but didn't ride it. I drive past this hill all the time so I decided to climb to the top and get a different view of things. In this picture it is raining and hailing but it shows the nice pointy top to this hill. Needless to say I got back to my truck just as the rain started. It would not have been a good place to be up on top as this shower also had some active lightning associated with it. The view from the top was nice, especially with the clouds.

This picture is looking back toward Susanville with Janesville in the foreground. It's supposed to clear up some later this week so I want to get back out and do more of this but it will have to wait. No matter what... ya gotta love it!!

Geek?

Who, me? Well, these days being a geek isn't a bad thing... at least not in my dictionary. My old friend Paul is the guy who talked me into building my first computer. He convinced me that it was the cheapest way to go, appealing to my frugal side. Well, that advice is no longer accurate. You can't expect to purchase all the parts of a computer and get anything better than a retail price for all the components. Large companies like Dell buy their parts in bulk. If you buy 1000 processors you can get a better price for them. So today I go out to visit my old friend Tom and his wife Helen. Tom was trying to do some video work and he was looking for some solutions. His computer has 256 mb of memory so they were using the laptop to render the video. Unfortunately the laptop has a small amount of free space so that didn't go very well either. After spending some time talking about the options, it appears that either upgrading what he has or just buying a new computer are his best bets. I just love computers. They end up costing you more money which takes care of that excess income... oh yeah!!

Well, that was today. The last couple of days I was out bike riding... big surprise, huh? Saw some beaver sign up at Devils Corral. Those guys must really have some sharp teeth to be able to chew wood like they do. On my way back down I decided that this tunnel looked picturesque.

It was a cool day, I was cold even with gloves and a sweatshirt on. In a couple of weeks I'll be heading down to Saline to bask in the warmth of the desert.