Computers

If you woke up to the sounds of screaming punctuated by smashing noises then you are probably one of my neighbors. That cursing wasn’t coming from some rap album but from me. The crashing noise was the sound of an external hard drive and a 27 inch television set flying through a window so that they could prove that gravity was still in effect.

Brief musical interlude:

If You Could Read My Mind– Gordon Lightfoot
It Was a Very Good Year– Frank Sintara (NSFW video- I miss the Sopranos)
Beer– Homer Simpson

Ok, let’s be clear about something I didn’t throw anything out of the window. For that matter I didn’t throw anything, but for a moment or two I sure thought about it.

A while back I hooked up a 500 Gig external hard drive to my computer to serve as a back up for my music, pictures, videos and a few other things. In addition I have a back up for the back up.

But because I have stolen fire from the Gods and am being punished for it, the external hard drive decided to go on strike and the back up for the back up walked off the job as well. So I have spent a not insignificant amount of time negotiating for the return of my files. Negotiations have been long, tedious and not without complications.

Now you may not know this about me, but I don’t always color inside the lines. I am known for being unconventional and someone who will use unorthodox methods. Maybe I have watched too many movies, but I found myself in need of additional information and so I sought it out. Unfortunately the guys who had it weren’t really interested in divulging it, so I had to get a bit rougher than I wanted.

Even the legendary Chuck Norris couldn’t stop me from reaching my destination.

Needless to say all of this fighting was exhausting which I suppose is part of the reason I found myself cursing that bleeding mother…board and all the siblings. Why, oh why must this happen. Ok, I know more or less why it happened, but it is the timing that set me off.

It is not like I don’t have 1,276,987 things going on already. Not to mention that of those on the list at least 2,876 are urgent. But this is what it is and how it is. That last line my friends comes from an old teacher of mine.

It is one of those lines that he would offer as words of wisdom but I always thought of it as being the sort of throwaway that belongs in a fortune cookie. Anyhoo, I think that after much aggravation I have gotten a handle on the crash, at least I hope so. I better go check.

But before I do I’ll leave you with some more music:

Mud on The Tires– Brad Paisley
I’m Gonna Miss her– Brad Paisley

Yesterday I wrote a post I called P.C.’s Versus Apple Computers that has generated a ton of feedback. While I didn’t write it for the purpose of generating controversy I can’t say that I am surprised by it either. The opening paragraph is a good description of a segment of supporters of Apple Computers:

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I was a devoted member of the Apple Computer cult. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Kool-aid drinking guarantor of the superiority of Apple computers versus a P.C. At that time I couldn’t stand to use a P.C. It was an affront against my sensibilities.

The post wasn’t ever intended to be a discussion of the technical merits of operating systems. Had I wanted to compare Linux versus Windows versus Mac OS I would have done so, but I didn’t and I don’t care. You want to find that, go seek out Slashdot, Linuxworld or MacNN.

Anyhoo, I thought that I’d share some comments from some of the keyboard banging monkeys whose toes I stepped on.

Here are two from the post:

At 11/12/2007 12:42:00 AM, Mstr. E. Anderson said…Ya know, I have absolutely no doubt that after 10 years of drinking MS Koolaid you feel that a PC with Windows as an OS is better–even though you just hint at why but don’t actually make any explanations.

More power to ya! Believe whatever you want.

Just one thing: P.C.= Personal Computer. Dell makes PCs. Apple makes PCs. Dell’s PCs run Windows (or you can get some form of Linux). Apple’s PCs run the Mac OS (and can also run Windows, many flavors of Linux, and other OSes).

So your article is NOT “P.C.’s Versus Apple Computers.” If you wanted to discuss that you would discuss hardware from Dell, Gateway, Lenovo, HP, Sony, and Apple. But you didn’t do that.

Your discussion was MS Windows vs. Apple Mac OS.

Respectfully, your total lack of understanding of the difference between hardware and OSes makes your entire “random thought” nothing more than Microsoft FUD.

Mstr E. Anderson,

Read the comment above. You’re right. Bill Gates is paying me hundreds of thousands of dollars to spread MS FUD and propaganda. Jobs and company just don’t pay as well which is why I didn’t praise them.

and

At 11/12/2007 01:30:00 AM, Anonymous said…

This blog defines randomness in all it’s vapid glory. You may just as well have posted with a headline “Concrete Versus Wood fence Posts” In fact you could have just left it at the title and forgotten about the rest – there’s just nothing there; no explanation, no insight, no nothing….
Web waster.

To my dear anonymous,

You’re anger is displaced. You spent 2.5 hours actively surfing through my archives. What’s that say about you.

Perhaps I’ll update this later on and share more feedback. We’ll have to see what happens.