2014 — 29 October: Wednesday
I've lived long enough to get used to my indolence1 and was bitten by it once again last night. My preferred tool for ripping CDs (Poikosoft) has bumped up through several bug-fixing variants with a few new features since I last looked. And I last looked back when I forked out for my current "Ultimate" edition on what would have been Dad's birthday in May. This ultimate edition 'enjoys' free lifetime upgrades, but could I find the product key demanded by it to turn my latest 30-day download trial back into a full-blown pukka product? No.
Ordering from Poikosoft is an all-electronic process, with payment handled by a part of Digital River. Sadly, I had forgotten that the bit of Digital River I needed to remember was actually called 'element 5' (the password for which, of course, is tucked safely away inside my web browser). Working on the assumption that my user name was my email got me as far as a login. Could I find my password? Of course not. See above re indolence.
A password reset by email got me as far as the ability to choose which of my accounts I wished to examine. Working on the assumption that the last thing I could remember ordering from this outfit was the CD ripper, and squinting hard to make out the five 'captcha' characters to convince them I wasn't a robot, got me to a page offering a link to my most recent order (wherein I hoped to find the product key). The link worked, though only after I'd copied it manually to a new browser session. And there was the key. I copied and pasted it into the patiently-waiting product start-up window, only to find the tool had stopped responding because I had taken too long to supply the key.
When it came time...
... to file the key into a text file called "Poikosoft key" and tuck it in the logical place, of course, to save myself having to go through this rigmarole next time, I expect you can guess what file I found already sitting in said logical place. Yet further evidence to explain the unshod state of the cobbler's children.
I failed...
... to impress Dr Fang with my timely arrival, as I'd managed to convince myself the appointment was for 10:00 rather than 09:50. The "stop tooth grinding at night" gadget (aka a soft splint) is apparently something needed by 30% of the population. Then it was over to my rendezvous for a walk, though (given the solid rain) we chickened out, and settled for a cuppa at Brambridge, followed by a mooch around sneering at the Xmas stock there and lunch over at the Wheatsheaf in Braishfield. Some afternoon PC consultancy, and I'm back at Technology Towers in good time for the six o'clock news.
Today's...
... doorstep delights:
I've watched the second season of "The Newsroom" once already, but it's Aaron Sorkin... it can easily stand repeat viewing. And the Blu-ray has oodles of added goodies.