Ready to go... Mostly

My mother-In-Law had the misfortune to have a hard drive failure 2 weeks ago (it was due to a fan failure and overheating). She consulted me and we ordered her a new hard drive and fan. Once they arrived, I spend a couple of days re-installing Microsuck Windows 2000 and updating it as well as drivers, etc. (it wouldn't have taken 2 whole days, but I do have other things I have to take care of.) After that, the old drive with all her data on it was so damaged/mangled that it took me a solid week of do this and do that to make the drive readable! As it turns out, it appears that all her data was still intact, so I transferred it to her new drive. All that's left is to install her printer software, digital camera software, and integrate her machine into the local network at her house. All that should take about 20 minutes or so, but they're out of town!. I'll probably go do this later on today at which point the project will be complete. Hopefully, her current machine will last her another 2+ years (depending on how many other components were damaged by the heat) before she gets a new machine. She'll have completely bypassed Window XP if that happens. Funny, eh? :)

Anyway, I just thought I'd give a plug to the software titled HDD Regenerator. It's good stuff!

That's all for now. This post was brought to you by the letters S, J, T, and the number 6.

Organized Religion and stuff...

Rant Warning! If you don't want to read this post, I'll understand. If you do and are offended, please know that you were warned!

I've decided to let it be known that I hate organized religion. I can't see any reason for it. The vast majority of organized religions I've seen seem to place more emphasis on what other people see you doing rather than what you actually are doing. Example. People make a big deal of getting into their "Sunday Best" in order to let anyone who happens to see them that they've been to or are on their way to an organized religious meeting. Of course some of them claim that it's to show respect to whatever religion they happen to follow. I concede a small claim to that, but I also claim that the same can be done by not wearing the worst things you have. Besides, isn't it claimed in the majority of organized religions that God (in whatever form you choose) can see you all the time anyway? I think it's more likely that this behavior is so that others can see you observing your religious gathering.

Then there's the idea of the religious gathering itself. It appears that people are going to worship together, when in most cases, it's so that one person can tell you his/her interpretation of a particular piece of text and expect you to accept and believe their interpretation blindly. What good is the free will that God gave us if we don't interpret the texts for OURSELVES and come up with our own conclusions? It seems more likely that those organized religions want to dictate how people act. To that end, they denounce this thing and that action publicly.

Speaking of which, this country was founded on the premise that there was a separation of church and state. If that's the case, then why do so many religions feel the need to destroy that distinction? Why can't they see that their actions are moving this country towards a place where our founders eschewed? Ever heard of "Freedom of Religion?"

Religion should be a personal thing between you and the pantheon you believe in. It doesn't require anyone else to participate. It doesn't require any place else either. I'm a religious person, but I don't think it's necessary to blatantly shove my religion in anyone's face. I also feel that there's a place for religion in everyone's life (whatever you believe), but I believe it a personal thing and should be kelp between you and your pantheon only.

This post was brought to you by the letters F, E, D, U, P, and the number 9.

Lost.

I like the TV show "Lost". Unfortunately, I'm not up to speed with it so I have intentionally not watched any of Season 3. "If you like it so much, why intentionally miss it?" you might ask. You'd have a really good, pointed question if you were to ask it. My answer is this: We missed about half or so of the second season during the occupation of my mother-in-law's basement as she doesn't have cable and her over the air reception of that particular channel was pretty much non-existent. We have DirecTV now, but I'm so far behind, I may never catch up.

On the bright side, I know someone who has Season 1 on DVD and a colleague at work allowed me to borrow Season 2. We'll be able to catch up now. :)

I'm not going to say much about work other than it's sometimes a giant pain to try to work well with others. Especially when the others all couldn't care less about any department other than their own. It doesn't seem to matter to them that they wouldn't be able to do a thing without my department. I'm the head of the IT department. :) I'm sure that they'll get over the silliness at some point, so I'll continue to have as much patience as possible and hope they start thinking sooner rather than later.

I've begun reading again. I go in cycles. I've recently begun a cycle of heavy reading. In the past 2 weeks, I've read 4 fairly large books and have started a 5th. I haven't played as much WoW as before, but I plan to try to balance the 2 a bit. :) I also haven't been able to do any gaming at all as my game masters have been canceling on me. Usually at the last minute. I'm not bitter or angry, but I need my fix. Perhaps, I'll just drop them and get involved in another gaming group. Post a comment if you're interested in what I play, or starting a group. :)

Anyway, consider yourselves updated! :)

This post was brought to you by the letters D, L, E, and the number 1.

Military

I saw this posting on CNN today that was a link to a letter written by a Marine in Iraq. I thought it said a lot without saying anything classified. It really made me think a bit about people. I hope you'll all read it and take a moment for whatever. The link is to the printable version of the letter.

This post was brought to you by the letters U, S, M, C, and the number 1.

Random Headache

I woke up with a pretty bad headache this morning. That's not a good way to start a day. This was significant because We have Managers' Meetings on Tuesdays. I hate to go into one of those with a headache. It sucks!

Speaking of Managers' Meetings, ours was actually productive today. We decided on a few items and got a clear indicator as to what next steps to do on other items. Of course, the Marketing department wasn't represented in this meeting and so it wasn't pre-empted and turned into a Marketing Meeting. :)

Speaking of Marketing, if any of you readers, like cartoons, like technology, and dislike marketing, you'll probably like the online cartoon by the name of User Friendly. :)

Not much else to say today other than it feels like the season is in transition (which it is), but I don't feel like it's quite Fall. We're sort of in limbo around here.

Anyway, that's all for today. This post was brought to you by the letters D, Y, K, and the number 5.