Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't overdo it too much at the dinner table. ;o)

Fun Quotes

"Sometimes it's hard to tell what's love and what's only indigestion."
          Valerie, Stephanie Plum's pregnant sister in To The Nines by Janet Evanovich

"The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don't really know what it's about until you bite into it. And then, just when you decide it's good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt."
          Stephanie Plum, main character in Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

Quote for the Day

"Calories don't count if they're connected to a celebration. Everyone knows this."
        Stephanie Plum, main character in Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

Computers

I've got an older computer that I use for backing up files. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done on my network. And, well, the price was right ($7 for the box.) It's an older Compaq Deskpro SFF ENS/P600, it has 512MB RAM and right now, I have it running Windows 98SE. It's been having a time issue with Windows, every couple days it loses time. But, when you reboot, the time goes to the correct setting because the BIOS is keeping time just fine. Also, when the time gets funky, other strange things happen, like the mouse cursor gets a bit choppy and acts like there's a lag time between the computer and the mouse, so it doesn't quite move like it should. But, again, when you reboot, everything goes back to just fine. I know what you're going to tell me now. Change the CMOS battery. So, I finally got around to doing that today. Took out the old battery and looked at it. Oh, oh, a Renata brand battery. I've had some bad experiences with Renata batteries, they're cheap and well, let's just say in my experience they don't always work as they should. So, the computer has a brand new CR2032 Energizer on the motherboard now. We'll see how it does, however, when I tested the old Renata with my multimeter, it checked out at 3.13v. That means, voltage-wise the battery is good. CR2032s are 3.0v lithium batteries, so a check of 3.13v is not out of the range for good. So now we get to see if the new battery makes any difference or not. I'll know in a couple days.

I did come across a forum, can't remember where it was though, when I first began noticing this issue and read that others have also experienced it with these particular computers. One fix mentioned was to disable the Energy Saving Feature in the BIOS and allow Windows to handle it. I've tried that with no success either. Maybe I'll email Compaq Tech Support and see what they have to say. Besides, I haven't chatted with anyone in India for awhile now. ;o)

Sometimes, like Manda, I hate computers. ;o)

Dentists

I had to go to the dentist today to get a crown done. The molar had been bothering me for quite a long time, but with insurance and schedules we finally were able to start the process today. I have to make one comment right now.... "I HATE DENTISTS!" To me, visiting the dentist is like going in for medieval torture. I mean, the dentist could be the nicest, greatest guy/gal in the world but they still instill such dread in my heart. After 5 shots of novacaine in my jaw ("your jaw's gonna be a bit sore for awhile when the numbness wears off") we finally got things so that I didn't feel a lot in my tooth while the dentist was working on it. Ok, so I still felt a little bit, but after 5 shots I was just to the point of, "I'll grip the arm rests, just get this sucker done!" Well, there was a point when he was giving me the shots that he nudged my shoulder and said, "breathe, don't forget to breathe." Ok, so I WAS holding my breath. Now the temporary crown is on (it's a little high so my bite is off a bit) and I hope it lasts until the permanent crown is made by the lab. I have a history of losing the temporary crowns, and no, using toothpaste to stick them back on does NOT work, so my dentist sent me home with some glue and instructions to "mix the two, put a bit in the temporary crown and stick it back on." Since he's going to be gone for the weekend, I figured this was the best solution since I wouldn't be able to call him to put it back on should I lose it. I think I can handle this just fine. I'll be very glad when this one's fixed and I hope it's the last for awhile.

Halloween

For those of you who have the erroneous idea that Halloween is an evil holiday started out by devil worshipping cults, here's a good read of the history of Halloween from the History Channel:

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins

But, then again, anyone who considers that anyone who is not Christian is going to Hell and the devil might not care too much about the history of the Celts and others. Too bad. Personally, I think that having a closed mind is the worst "sin" a person can commit.

Oh well, I was going to try to keep my personal feelings out of this and just offer a link to some historical FACTS about Halloween.