Will of the People

I had an awesome sleep last night. I have no idea why these thingshappen, and I'd love for it to happen more often. With those 7 hours,I was completely refreshed, and had very little of my usual "stay in bed"urge. Perhaps related, the insomnia, which seems to be on its way to aregular part of my life, didn't strike at all last night. Anyhow, I'mfeeling rather good right now. Oh, as an added bonus, my legs are almostback to normal again -- the right leg feels pretty normal, and the leftisn't far from it.

PerlMongers meets tonight. So, I'll be skipping Zets. I wish they didn'toverlap, but so it goes. I've never been to a PerlMongers meeting yet,and I'd at least like to check it out. I also met Casey West at OSSCon,and he suggested I at least show up once..

Dubin is coming to visit this weekend. Yay. I'll try to figure out the best tour to give of the localarea, as well as Pgh in general. I'll also need to make sure my place isclean, although it's actually not too bad right now.

The weekend afterwards, there'll be a gathering of the Carvers (my mom'sside of the family) in the Brecksville/Bath area, so I'll be heading tomy parents' place for that.. I've been told (by them) that they're very loud andvery opinionated. Sounds fun. It's been awhile since I've been back to visitmy parents/grandparents.

I finally have the funds appropriately arranged to buy the laptop. I'm going togo over to the University Computer store to actually do the ordering -- Iwant no bureaucratic problems -- Some of the deals I'm taking advantage ofend today, and if the order doesn't get in, I'll lose out quite a bit.Actually, I'm probably going to go take care of that now.

So, I ordered the system. Unfortunately, it cost me a bit more thanI wanted because the 40G HD was going to delay the shipment until theend of the month, so I upgraded to 60G. I tried calling them to seeif I could order it sans Windows, but no luck. Apparently though, it endedup being cheaper (weird discounts) to order it with a nicer warranty, soI did that and saved $10. Still, my VISA is again really really close tobeing maxed-out. I'm going to see if I can make it to the end of themonth without taking either my checking or savings account under $200, soI can avoid that stupid $5 fee. It's not going to be easy. Thinking aboutit, I probably should close my NationalCity Savings account -- thecredit union account gives much better interest. However, the NationalCityaccount is online, while the CMU Credit Union is not, so it is possible touse the NationalCity account as an additional, quick cash buffer. When I'mback in the black, and comfortably so, I'll probably close it..

Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to the arrival of my system.I guess I'll need to dig the computer bag back out though -- I doubtthat my laptop will fit comfortably in my backpack. Hmm... and whatto call it? It could inherit the name 'frank', but it really is ratherdifferent than what my iBook frank was. Maybe it needs a new name. Perhapsit'll be phoenix (a name I typically reserve for my work computer, but asauton systems have a naming convention, I couldn't use it), or perhapsit'll be one of the 'anti-cheery conceptual' names that I was introducingat my last job. Some ideas... 'doubt' 'angst' 'sadness' 'loss' ..Hmm.. I like 'doubt'. Yup, I have a strange sense of humor :)A possible thought, which I don't endorse, popped into my head while I wasshowering this morning -- perhaps curiosity is a low-grade type ofdissatisfaction. Hmm.. maybe I'm misremembering it -- it seemed to makesense when I thought of it. But then, so many things do. Heh. And, of course,when not even I know what I'm talking about, what chance do you have?

Enjoying some music from my CD collection that I haven't listened to forquite some time, that I ripped and ogged a while ago.. Natalie Imbruglia..Hmm.. I wish I could find my Jamiraquai CD -- I have the case, but not it,so perhaps it's lost. Pity -- it has a unique sound among my collection.I kick myself every time I forget to rip a CD I like from my collection.I should just rip everything I still have, and box it, and put it in myparents' basement in Bville... I might do that before the coming reunion..Hungry... Impatient for lunch.

Microsoft has halted development of Outlook Express, and has announced thatfuture versions of IE will be tied to the particular version of windows thesystem is running. The express project manager said that they were hoping thatbusiness managers and end users would upgrade to, and pay for, Outlook, themail client that comes with Office, or switch to Hotmail.

What does this mean? Microsoft's freebies are being pulled..I suspect it means that they're declaring that their war to put an end totheir competitors in the Email and Browser market is won, and now they'reready to squeeze a captive market to make some money. What's left?Netscape is truly dead, and Mozilla has joined the open source movement,with whatever future we can offer them.. We have no corporation leftthat can make bundling deals though, so apart from enthusiastic users whoknow about Mozilla, there's nothing left on windows to stand in their way.Email? Well, there's Eudora, and that's pretty much it. I do feel obliged,thanks to their threatening me with a lawsuit some time back, to say herethat the developers of Pegasus, should there still be any, suck, and thatI wish nothing but ill on them and their product. But anyhow, it doesn'treally matter anymore. Microsoft Office is at least initially installed onmost PCs, Microsoft recieving money from the manufacturer, and then fromlater upgrades. It's hard to migrate from Microsoft Office because theyuse incompatible formats for Email. Microsoft's stranglehold wins on PCsrunning windows. And the DOJ, in its antitrust trials, has completelydropped the ball, and has even allowed the settlements to be another wayfor Microsoft to extend its dominance. Open Source is a last refuge offreedom.. will it survive? Microsoft has already manipulated the legal/politicalsystem so adeptly... Monopoly...

I just got back from PerlMongers.. it went well, and I had some goodconversations... it's very different from Zets. I'll need to think before Idecide if I want to give up on Zets meetings once a month for it.

I was reading up on a controversy on Mel Gibson's new christian movie..Every time I read the word 'deicide', I have trouble avoiding laughingout loud... Of course, it's one of the sillier things in christian theology..god can die, at least in a form. And there's that weird 'is it a good thing'question there, and 'what does it do'.. It's so bizarre that going through withan execution is supposed to somehow make all the bad things that people dosuddenly be forgiven. That entire thing just makes you go 'Huh?'

Anyhow, I'm sleepy. But ... I hate giving up the little free time I have left againbefore I go back to work to sleep. Hmmmm