Randomness

[erastes]

Why does everyone hate Vista?  I'm not seeing any major differences. Word is a little different I suppose but it seems very user friendly.

Just heard from Running Press, they have confirmed that I can send over the outline for Mere Mortals which is a little hopeful!  However of course they need to see how the line is doing before they decide further.  Now of course I "just" need to write an outline. At least I'm not under any pressure to do it, anyway. 

Talking of Mere Mortals, I've skipped forward a tad to get to a scene that I wrote a couple of months ago, what's going on now is necessary for the plot to progress but I want to be writing the NEXT bit, because I know what happens now, I'm anxious to show what happens next.  It all starts to fall apart from here on in, and I hope I can keep it together--gather all the threads together and keep it on course. I'm sure I can--and I have the best beta in the world who will be all eagly eye--but not having done a mystery before, it's all a new experience! 

Phoned the garage, they should be able to do the car quickly tomorrow but can't be sure until they see the car as Nissan's have about 7 different exhaust systems. Gah.

I'm reading "Deliver Us From Evil" by Tom Holland. It should be thrilling, and interesting because it's set during the English republic, but it's not thrilling and it's not interesting. Deliver Us from Dullness, for God's sake.  I have been better reading with less of an editorial eye these days but it's difficult to do so when the continuity and description is so dire. Characters living in the wrong houses, doing things that make no sense, "As you know, Bob" dialogue (which I loathe, loathe loathe) and frankly uninteresting "horror."  Oh - and head hopping like you wouldn't BELIEVE!!!!  I've read better fanfic. I didn't like the Vampyre and I don't like this. :(

Ok thoughts on some shows: cut for the bored.

KINGS If they don't make more of these, it will be a travesty of justice, because they are so utterly SUMPTUOUS. An over the top word to use for a show that doesn't have beaded robes and crowns and such, but somehow it manages to give that impression without actually having those props.  It's all about morality, perceptions of morality, what people will do to be so, or to be seen to be so - and of course, it works as a political thriller, an allegory, a retold Bible story and gah! on so many bloody levels. The acting is fabulous, the special effects are seamless, the locations gorgeous - the only character I really don't like is the King's daughter, as she's just so bloody wishy-washy.  Truly marvellous.

TRUE BLOOD Oh Still my little pitty-patting heart, I have so much love for this show. Bill is brilliant - "I am a Vampire, Sookie, I am supposed to be tortured."(as in angsty, not tied to a wall) I love Bill's slightly archaic speech, and the fact he's not Buff, and I love Eric soooo much although I know it's wrong, and I love Lafayette and Sam - and I'm even getting very fond of Jessica and her new boy crush! Dallas - the vampire friendly city. *snigger * I don't like Maryann, and I think her storyline is dragging and repetitive, yeah yeah, you have parties, everyone gets horny blah blah blah - do we have to see THREE or more?  And what's with all the food? 

ENTOURAGE It was good to see the boys back, but OMG what a dull first epi! Ari shouts, Eric vacillates, Johnny is crude and cooks, Turtle does nothing much and the most exiting thing was watching a dull driving test. I only enjoyed the Lloyd bits, I can't wait to see what Ari has in store. But SHEESH, pep it up, boys!!!!


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Comments

[angrboda]

I don't like that the start menu doesn't fold out unless you choose the 'traditional' one which is pre-xp. I want the xp one with the start menu that folds out and the handy links to documents folder and such on the side.

I had the hardest time figuring out how to navigate the new windows and finding out where it put stuff. Nothing was where I was used to it being. (this, admittedly, is a small reason)

I seriously sincerely hate the import thing for digital camera. I need to find an alternative for that because a) I don't want to 'tag' my pictures, but I can't seem to turn it off. b) I don't want to rate my pictures with stars, but I can't seem to turn it off or hide the function. c) It doesn't remember which folders I had closed in the navigation menu on the side, so everytime I want to import stuff, I have to close folders of tags (that I don't use) and star ratings (that I also don't use), d) when importing pictures from my camera in Copenhagen, I sorted them into subfolders. As soon as I imported a new batch from the camera it took ALL the pictures in ALL the folders and subfolders and jammed them all together in the SAME folder. Every. Single. Time. We are talking about nearly 200 pictures here that I've sorted into their appropriate folders and subfolders three times in just as many days.

I am so tired of it asking me if I really want to start this or that program, or if I really want to install this or that update that I just tried to start. It's every single time I want to update something I've got installed to a newer version. I can see why there's a security in this but it gets old REALLY fast, and I can't turn it off.

A colleague of mine installed an antivirus program on her Vista machine. Either the antivirus program went weird on it's own or it was a flawed installation from the beginning. Vista refused to let her update to a newer version so she tried to uninstall it and either try to install it all over again or install something else. Vista refused to remove the program. No matter what she did, it just magically reappeared. She had a friend of her husband help her remove it. This guy knows Vista and he knows IT. It's his job to know that stuff. It took him an entire day and several frustration-cigarettes to get Vista to uninstall the program. And it involved a number of tricks that no 'normal' computer user would even know was possible let alone how to do

I'm getting way more this or that program is no longer responding messages than I have ever got from xp and response times on this new much faster laptop are frequently slower than on the old slow laptop with xp on it.

This is why I dislike Vista. I think XP was a much stronger system, but I'm getting used to it and I can't be arsed to go through the bother of reformatting this laptop and switching back to xp.

The only two things where I find Vista better than xp are the button that shows me the desktop without having to minimise everything and the button that shows me the stack of all open windows. But that's about it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

How weird, it never asks me if I want to open anything! And my start button does fold out... very odd. And with the voice recog software I just tell it to "open word" and it just does it while i'm loafing around lying on the bed.

I've always used Windows button + D for desktop, so that's never been a worry.

I admit i get very annoyed about being told I've just plugged in my headphones, because I DID IT SO I KNOW THAT I DID but if you ignore the box it fades in a moment or so, so I'm getting used to it.

[angrboda]

How the f!!!!!! have you made it do that? O.o The 'do you want to start this?' is turning into quite an enormous peeve for me. I'll have to remember to take a screenshot of it the next time it does it.

At least it never tells me I've plugged in headphones. Perhaps that has something to do with the model laptop?

ETA: Unsurprisingly easy to recreate. I tried starting something that CAME with Vista. An application for parents to use to child-proof the pc or some such. Vista calls it an unidentified publisher and asks me if I want to start it. Unidentified publisher. It CAME with Vista, how the F can that be an unknown publisher??? O.o Apparently when it gives me the message I can't take screenshots.
It also happens with just about anything in the windows controle panel.

ETA again Yay, I found a way to turn it off. Sort of. Because now I get a little red icon in the corner next to the clock telling me that my computer is in danger. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* So I go and try to find some settings for that. I can get the icon + error message (recommended), the icon + no error message or no icon + no error message (not recommended). Why can I not get an error message + no icon?
Vista thinks I'm a child, obviously, and incapable of controlling my own computer and it has no way of letting me tell it that I know what I'm doing.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I get that red icon, I just ignore it. :D

[angrboda]

It's nagging me. And what's worse, imo, is that if there is a real threat to my computer, there's a very good chance I won't see it because I'm used to seeing the icon. I'll just think it's because I've turned that controle-freak thing off.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Yes. The effing thing cries wolf. And wastes time checking what it's panicking about this time. We hates it, precious.

[angrboda]

It's very patronising. Which makes me want to childishly scream "I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!!" at it. *headdesk*

I'm sure it's all well and good for new users and people who aren't used to working with a computer and are afraid they'll accidentally tragically mess things up. I know such a person. Except when she gets a warning of any kind, she'll instinctively hit cancel, so all these warnings and are-you-certains will only work towards making her computer useless to her because she doesn't dare let it start anything.

All I want is a way to turn the hand-holding off without the shocked gasps at my recklessness.

(Also that's a very cute icon. That I had to see close up to spot the face. What I thought I was seeing was very disturbing and involved one kitten trying to crawl through the stomach of another kitten. I worry about myself sometimes... O.o)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's Amelia, aged about 8 weeks, standing on the lower cradle of the cat tree and arching backwards with her front paws on the upper cradle, trying to reach the dangling loop on the camera. Your kitty looks like it could be her littermate (she's about 3 now.)

[angrboda]

That was just a random kitten icon that I picked up because I thought it was cute. Looks like it's just about ready to pounce. :p I've taken similar pictures of my own Boannan (icon). She absolutely loved to scratch. If cats can have a hobby, scratching was hers along with drinking water straight from the tap. (And um... probably biting too, unfortunately)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's the virus checker? Mine came with McFee but i don't use that, as I use AVG. It's very odd mine just doesn't do any of this!

[angrboda]

Mine came with Norton which I kept for only as long as until the subscription ran out, then it got the boot and I installed Avast instead. Thankfully, unlike Survivor's computer, mine actually allowed me to uninstall it.

But no, it's definitely something windows does, it doesn't have anything to do with antivirus software.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I yanked the McAffee and put in AVG. My brother-in-law, a computer engineer (who is, alas, too far away to just yank the cover and fix this thing) says that the new Windows 7.0 is the Vista they should have released after another year or two of testing.

[angrboda]

Yeah it's a bit suspicious that they'll be ready with a completely new windows version so soon after they released Vista.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Everything above, plus the fact that it's got something called a "catalyst control center" that has some sort of chronic incompatibility with my monitor, and gives me a message that is four+ inches long in a frame 3 inches wide that CANNOT be stretched so I can see the full message.

I also had some videos that played ONCE and the damned machine is telling me it doesnt' have the app to play them. Except it did. There's a lot more, but I've only been trying to deal with this son of a bitch for about a week, so I'm sure there's lots more I just haven't stepped in yet.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

perhaps they've tweaked it and my version is better? I don't get any of this! I did have problems with a DVD - it didn't have sound on one of the programmes - but when i used the cinema thingy that came with it, it worked perfectly.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

The whole video system is a mess. It could be the UK didn't let them pack as much rubbish in the system--they sell different packages to different distributors. This machine was set up for gamers, I think--you should see the junk I uninstalled.

[angrboda]

Windows Media Player in general is crap, imo. Regardless of which windows version it's on. I've tried to understand that library organising thing it's got and it's just... incomprehensible. They're trying to do too much at the same time and I couldn't figure out how to turn stuff off. I may have my troubles with the itunes customer service, but for music files, it's way easier to use.

The cinema thingy I think is provided by the manufacturer though. At least mine says HP all over it (and is also, btw, pretty crappy) and on the old laptop it said Acer all over it (and is just about the only thing I miss from that old slowpoke. Just a shame that machine can't run a single episode of Stargate SG-1 from dvd without having to be paused two or three times during and catch it's breath, or I'd so still be using that instead of this one)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Mine's an Acer--I've used their stuff before. Windows Media tries to do everything and winds up doing nothing very well.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Mines an Acer too

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Hm. Maybe mine was cursed by a gypsy or something.

[angrboda]

Both my first two laptops were Acers and I was told by my dad to not buy Acer the third time. The first laptop was very noisy, then the cd-rom drive developed a life of it's own, then the usb ports stopped working (windows said they were working, it just couldn't 'see' that anything was plugged in), the power cable got slight unstable. The second one I'd had for a week when the K fell off because the little plastic thing holding it in place was broken. In the beginning I could click it back in place, but the key got too worn for that after a while and I finally figured out that I could switch it to a place where I didn't use the key much. The battery life on both of them have been appaling right from the start. It's a cheap brand, and they're definitely useable, but I have definitely never got more than I had paid for with them.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

This is a desktop, and my b-i-law said it should be okay -- apparently they're sturdier than the laptops. I really think it's the software conflicts. This had all sorts of rubbish loaded on it and I can't even tell what the "Catalyst Control" is suppposed to do, except if I try to uninstall it it says I can't watch videos. But writing and email is the main thing, and I can do taht.

[angrboda]

I don't know what that is either. I tried looking in the control panel, but I couldn't find anything that I thought was similar. Perhaps some sort of monitor setting or some such? Weird.
All I know is that I'm getting used to Vista to the point where I can ignore all the weirdness, but I do occasionally still miss xp.

[beckyblack]

Yeah, I've just got a new laptop a few weeks ago and Vista is okay. It's got its wrinkles, but so did XP. I can live with it. Hey, keeps the brain ticking over after all, learning new stuff.

And I love Word 2007 (and Excel) The ribbon is great. I love the fact I can scroll through the menu/toolbar thingies with my scroll wheel. And good god, but do I like having Word Count showing in the Status Bar! It's making me absolutely desperate for November and NaNoWriMo! It's also perfect for writing drabbles.

Trangressions was delivered today. :) I just need to finish the novel I'm reading right now and it's next on the list. Possibly as early as tomorrow.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

ee - i hope you enjoy it!

[beckyblack]

BTW, has something gone bandy with your third cut there? I don't see anything in this enty for Entourage.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's very odd - have fixed now - thanks!

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I hate Vista
It is built to break linux. Guess what our external storage device runs on?

Vista ATE my music. 90% of it.
It eats my document files.

It makes me confirm every freakin thing I do, from running Sims 2 (Autorun is about to run a program, do you trust it?) to plugging in my headphones! I am not SEVEN. Even my 9 year old gets annoyed with it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Because it was a new laptop, I joined Mozy and back up religiously,which is something I've never bothered to do, as I've (touchwood) never lost anything. And I don't intend to keep lots of documents on the laptop, Just write there when it's convenient, and then transfer to google docs and the desktop (where I back up to Mozy) I can't really get the hang of a laptop keyboard, i like the sit up and begginess of a "proper" keyboard.

[viggofest.livejournal.com]

I got Vista on the new latop two years ago and had heard all the warnings. I do get the occasional "do you really want to do this?" box, but no more so than I get with any other function on any other OS or some webpages too. (Unforunately LJ does not have nearly the redundancy it should!)
Anyway. Vista is fine, once you learn how to turn a few things off--or turn the screen 90 degrees as I had to learn a few weeks ago. The BIG problem will be if you're an IE user. Do NOT download IE8. Too many bugs, too many problems and counterintuitive changes. Stick with IE7 if you use IE at all with Vista.
Great news about the next outline!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well the first thing I DL'd was Firefox, can't be without my firefox!

Thank you, it's a relief that they want to see it, now all we have to do is drum up LOTS of more sales for False colors and Transgressions to convince them to keep the line going!!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I just got Vista myself on a new laptop and though I was troubled at having to switch, I find that the reality of it is no problem at all. I don't use Office, but I've had no trouble porting my more unusual applications over (Corel Graphics suite, MindManager). I don't use IE--haven't in several years--and Chrome works fine.

I guess as I get more and more into computing in the Cloud, I care less and less about my O/S. But I've been pleasantly surprised by Vista.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

i felt the same way!

:)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

It sounds like if you get the sort of system it was designed for, you're in good shape, otherwise it's one hangup after another. You must have good computer karma.

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

deliver us from evil isn't a patch on supping with panthers, which ithe one about the indian raj, and victorian london, in fact Deliver us from evil is probably the weakest in the series,
the one after that is in ancient egypt
it does pick up when he's in london with Lightborn and Helen and Milton but really you need to be a literary detective to pick up all the references in it

and you still use word?
word is a memory hungry piece of rubbish,
try openoffice it's free, runs at maybe 1.50th of the memory of word, same layout and no annoying paperclip
I use Liquid Story Binder which is a word processor designed by authors for authors and I'm never going back....

[copperbeech.livejournal.com]

I didn't get Vista until a lot of the bugs had been worked out. Initially, though, files created in applications developed using software pre-Vista would not talk to Vista. So it was mostly a document/version issue, rather than the OS function, itself. Granted, it was a huge issue. I got it late in the game and have only had problems with it not playing well with networks that are not or are pre-Vista.

[ammonite7.livejournal.com]

I am so spoiled because I have a Macbook.

Another TrueBlood fan! I wrote quite a few fanfic last season. Lots of Bill angst and a few slashy things with Bill and Eric. I so love being bad.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Vista has calmed down a lot since it was first released and I got used to it quite quickly, though I mourned the applications that worked with XP that no longer work on vista without jumping through hoops.

Voice recognition software? Is that standad or did you have to buy it? I've found the read back thingy in the accessablity section and if I feel down and miserable switch it on and get it to read back one of my smut scenes to cheer me up. I LOL.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It came with the laptop, and it's just fabulous. I've been working with it a lot and it can now switch applications pretty easily - and dictates well to word, even if it's a bit frustrating over the simplest words - due to my flat vowels!

[sandrafowke.livejournal.com]

TRUE BLOOD: Oh hell yeah I just picked up the complete season on DVD and am still fanning myself. I'm so looking forward to seeing the second season but living in Australia I'll probably have to wait and buy it on Amazon. *Swoon* Eric I demand more Eric.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I admit I watch TB on the sly online, it is coming to the UK but to a station no-one's heard of that you have to pay for. Am staggered about this!