i looked at the web and it all looked like the same. so i went into the phone store. i looked at what they had, and i came out with an order. got the fun one.

for the iphone. getting it in about 2 weeks. it still has a few limitations (most notably, no multimedia messages, no video, and no stereo bluetooth. which would suck for chip since he uses his stereo bluetooth all the time with his phone. bah.)

as my daughter said, i sold my soul to apple.

ugh. i spent about 8 hours today cleaning a virus off my new computer system. holy moly. it was a varient of virtuomundo, i believe it’s called. i’m trying to block it out of my brain now.

it copies itself under multiple, randomly named files, like xcyynex.dll, in several different places. you try to surf, it serves full page popup ads instead. and it won’t let you search.

which means all the work i’d planned on getting done today didn’t. i hope people don’t get cranky with me, but i don’t have it in me to do this tonight after fixing the damn computer.

in the end, it took FIVE different virus/malware scanners and three special removal tools, and about 2 kajillion reboots to get the whole thing cleaned off.

oh well. there’s always tomorrow. right?

and if anybody asks, yes, i run virus stuff and firewalls and all that. missed it. bah. i’m glad to have it cleaned off, though!

and on the plus side: the hummingbirds are back! i have really enjoyed watchign them…

Well, I sorta had another run-in with Bubba Reneck. Kind of. From the Crazy Cat Lady incident.

Now, bear in mind I don’t really know this guy. He comes visits my neighbor, the loud, obnoxious asshole a couple of doors down. I’m not really afraid of Asshole Neighbor, but he’s not exactly Head Choirboy, either. One of his regular visitors arrives in a Community Corrections Car, for example. (Doncha just love neighbors who have PO’s? Geez louise.) And some of his friends look like they came straight from meeting their own parole officers, yeah.

Well, I’ve figured out I’ve had exactly three interactions with this visiting fuckhead. more…

seems like just a minute ago she was 18 - http://dixiblog.com/2007/08/09/happy-fuckin-birthday-bailey/

this year, it was quiet. quieter, even. she didn’t want gifts. she wanted money, so that’s what she got, mostly. she ordered some of her own gifts and made her own plans coming up to spend her dough.

she didn’t want a homemade cake, either. wanted a storebought one. and maybe it’s stupid, but i felt kinda sad. probably won’t be baking and decorating many more cakes with my kid anymore, you know? that used to be a big birthday activity. bake and decorate the cake together. we had fun. but hey, she hasn’t told me she’s outgrown the gingerbread house thing yet, so there’s always that.

i got her a few little things, actual presents for her birthday, but mostly, it was cash. it just doesn’t feel like a birthday to me unless there is a surprise or two.

she said she enjoyed the day and felt spoiled, so that was good.

i’m getting in that frame of mind. clean/remove/discard/pass on. I feel it coming.

My old computer was limping along for a long time, so dear Chip fixed me up with a new system. and MAN, it’s terrific!

clean. shiney. (well, the programs area is shiney. LOL) everything works. almost, that is. gotta set up the sound. but the purge of getting rid of old files, email, programs, upgrading all new and shiney and nice and fast…well hell.

i’ve got the bug. it’s gonna take a while to go through the house. but i will!

Bamboo

In case you wondered where the Hell I am, I can answer you: still sitting in front of a computer, working.

Now, some of this stuff I’m working on is interesting–to ME, that is! But I know it would bore most of y’all straight into a coma, and I don’t want that on my conscience, for chrissakes! So I’ll restrain myself.

See the pretty bamboo arrangement? Amber got that for me. I really do like it a lot–especially the rocks in the bottom. And you can easily see how much water it has, plus it’s decorative, which is nice. It feels very…I dunno…natural, I guess.

Perhaps I could relax by meditating on that…  

She also got me a bottle of wine, but that’s LONG gone, thank you very much. more…

ok, i seldom do this, but out of curiosity ( i saw a tshirt that said “i google myself regularly”) - i googled myself.

some of the results are me, of course, some are not, but a few are just funny. i found this description of my blog on techorati - http://technorati.com/people/technorati/goddessdix

it made me laugh, because i honestly can’t remember if i wrote that or not…

I wake up kinda late, and head out into the hallway. I hear somebody downstairs, and look to see what appears to be my kid, putting away clean dishes from the dishwasher. Without specifically being asked.

“Hello, Pod person. I see you’re putting away dishes.”

She smiles and doesn’t say anything.

“What have you done with my daughter?” More smiles and a pause. “And, would you mind finishing up cleaning her room before she comes back?”

She doesn’t say anything. I guess the pod people aren’t all that talkative.

Mom called me this morning. She’s low carbing and got the email I sent her with recipes and such.

“They didn’t work. It said the page wasn’t there,” she told me.

“The links didn’t work?” I was confused. They were to LCE and I know the site is up and should have no issues.

“What do you mean, ‘links’? You keep saying links and I didn’t want to ask you what you meant because I didn’t want to sound stupid.”

“Mom, don’t worry about sounding stupid. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just ask. The webpages I emailed you have links in them. You should be able to just click on them and go.”

“Oh. You mean I don’t have to print it out and type all that in?”

“No! You don’t need to type all that it. The web addresses are long because they have keywords in them for search engines. You should be able to just click the link in your email, just like a webpage. What program do you use for email?”

“That little e thing with a circle around it.”

“That would be internet explorer. You get your email from a webpage?”

“I dunno. It’s webmail.”

“Ok, that’s from a webpage. Yes, links should work just fine.”

“Well, that’s a lot easier. Sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me, mom. I think you do pretty good. I know this technology is a bit of a trial for you. I still have to laugh everytime I call your cell phone. I can’t leave a message because you don’t have your voicemail set up.”

“Well, if I set it up, I’d have to figure out how to get it, too.”

“It’s not that hard, Mom. You just call your own number and put in your code and the voice tells you what to do…You remind me of my friend, J. She wants a Jitterbug phone for old people because it doesn’t have all that other stuff in it.”

“I know!” responds Mom, enthusiatiacally. “I may get one of those myself. I turned off everything. Your dad punches every button on the phone when he can’t get it to do what he wants, so he kept connecting to the internet. They charged us for it. Seventy five cents, eighty cents. People sent us text messages and they charge us for that, too. So I had it all turned off. I just want to make phone calls.”

Pictured: Mom and Bailey. Technophobe and technokid.

from my LCE blog