2011 — 7 July: Thursday
Well, it's now 01:25 or so and the Forrest has been duly Gumped. I'd give it 8/10 but don't feel the need to add it to my collection. I was allowed to choose the second half of our double bill from a mere 36 titles, of which I opted for "The Black Balloon" — which I do now have on order for my own little media library.
When I arrived home I found yet another email1 regarding one of my computing heroes (George Cogar). Not many people seem to have heard of him. I find that amazing.
Ho hum. G'night.
Two hours or so...
... this morning, and I'm reasonably sure I've confirmed I'm now in a position to take Blackbeast off the air for his? her? its?2 heart and brain transplant surgery since the good ol' Gateway XP machine is — as it were — still up to the mark. Dear Mama's next care home fee has been transferred in readiness for this month's invoice, I've cracked the mystery of signing into my web mail from elsewhere, checked my online banks still play nice, and even (just) confirmed that unwicked Uncle ERNIE has another little dollop of tax-free goodness to sprinkle on me this month.
Better still, all but one of my mouth ulcers has finally stopped complaining and fruit is back on the breakfast menu. It was raining heavily earlier but now, at 10:00 it's merely grey clouds everywhere out there. We certainly picked a better day for our walkies yesterday. On with the show...
As usual...
... I'm impressed by how disorganised my application installation program filing (not to mention application keys filing) has been in the six months or so since I set Blackbeast up and running. But (at 13:25) I'm almost ready to start the surgery. Trouble is, I also need to do some supplies shopping and hunger trumps PC tinkering.
In the Night Kitchen
I was pleased, last night (technically about 13 hours ago now) to hear the water softener kick off its regeneration cycle. Mind you, it had used about 25% of the salt in its reservoir when I inspected it this morning.
Just back from the shopping and, with a coffee to hand, I shall sign off with an extraordinary item from NASA's investigation of the Challenger disaster.
Let's hope I do better with Blackbeast's reincarnation... I may, as Captain Oates said, be some time.
[Pause]
Right. It's 19:35. The evening meal is a thing of the re(cent)past. And the invigorated Humpty Dumpty (aka BlackBeast, Mk II) is coming together again quite nicely. Win 7 is reloaded and re-activated on the 10,000 rpm new boot drive, though I haven't pinned down exactly where they're hiding Service Pack 1 yet.3 The new drive is quieter. It's actually a 2.5" form factor drive housed in a deliciously chunky metal carrier that fits neatly into the 3.5" slot and does (I would think) very good work as a heat sink.