Everyday Stupidities

Happy New Year, each and every! So far not a lot has happened here, and I haven't broken any resolutions because frankly I haven't started doing any of them yet. The big news is that it's rained so much that there's flooding in my area... hasn't touched me but a block away on the roads along Clover Creek, where the two photos were taken, it's pretty ugly. It's worse on the Puyallup River. There's more rain coming (it restarted half an hour ago) so we're not done with this mess. Life is okay, such as it is, and people have been bringing me computers to f1x0r. One was easy, the power supply got nuked in a surge and that's the only damage I've found -- luckily I had a spare on my bedroom floor. One is still thorny, Windows needs to be reinstalled (blame Microsoft for Windows Genuine Disadvantage) and the batch of disks I was sent from the other side of the state doesn't contain the Windows CD. The third... well, that's what I should be working on instead of blogging or wading through puddles taking pictures.

[Later: Wrap-up of that third one... It wouldn't boot into Windows because the antivirus program was corrupted, so I uninstalled that in Safe Mode and it came up. It could go online but the first thing it wanted to do was download the latest version of the "XP Antispyware 2009" spyware, which attaches itself to a key Windows component so it will run even after you've deleted the program itself. Removing that worm from services.exe leaves Windows unable to go online because it breaks the networking ability (Windows knows there's a modem or network card yet doesn't "see" them) and also disables other Windows components. So she's going to have to give me her Windows XP Home SP1 disk for an operating system reinstall, since the obvious fix of upgrading to SP2 won't work -- the piece in Windows that checks installer file integrity (Cryptographic Service) depends upon the broken component thus won't let the SP2 installer install anything after unpacking the files, and the piece in Windows that lets one move and copy files (Remote Procedure Call Service) is also broken so I can't just replace that damaged file either. That's the simple version, and as Shannoon From The Caboon back in college said, "computers are diabolical."]

Here's today's major stupidity; An agency called me today to ask if I'd like to do a weekend stint, removing computers from a bankrupted bank office in Seattle. Yes, just manual labor, I'd be taking these things apart to put them into boxes or pallets or something. Gruntwork, the machines won't even be powered up. And the woman asks me if I have an A+ certification because this would somehow be beneficial. (Yes, I've submitted that to TSC.) She also asked me to send her my résumé again since she claims the copy she has from the last time she pinged me is "messed up", and I did soon after she called. I know from previous contacts that she's not going to call me back [this sentence is being written a day or two later so it's not pessimistic speculation] but it's nice to feel wanted for half an hour.

The way things go with my family is that my mother will call me a couple weeks before Christmas to ask if we're going to be in the neighborhood to visit their house. Most of the time we stay on this side of the state, so I say no and my mother sends a box of gifts. Longtime readers know I loathe this to a degree because my mother is a horrible gifter... I get the same stuff I got when I was 12, and I'm 41. Well, this year there was no call. There was no package. I finally called my parents on Christmas Eve morning to say hello and indirectly inquire about why I haven't received any contact. I can't say I received an answer, but my mother did ask if we got the Christmas card, which arrived in the mailbox about an hour later. So in one batch of mail I got a picture card from my youngest brother, a Christmas letter from my younger brothers, and a card with Christmas letter and personal stuff written in a card. I speculate that having wives has provided my brothers with a means of communication -- letting someone else make it. (This does not explain why my sister doesn't write.) But my mother's personal note contained four separate instances of attempting to apply a guilt trip, only one of which took hold because it's true that I've had no connection to my siblings and their families. That's one thing I want to change in 2009, I've never had anything against my sibs or their spouses [truth: I once did with my sis but I've been over that state for more than a decade] and children. But the sillyness unto stupidness that I want to state here: My mother is giving me flak in the note about how I don't play along with her, yet the annual Christmas letter doesn't mention me at all. Not even a token "Paige and Brian are doing home improvements in Tacoma" sentence. Hmm. At least I didn't get a crate of stuff that I'd be passing along to charity, which is something odd but I could get used to.

So I leave you with a couple photos from the next block over. It's sunny at this moment -- uh, it was raining and grey when I started this! -- but we're scheduled for another massive dump of rain for the next few days. Send hip-waders! Actually, the newspaper and nightly news say it's gonna be horrible, but the online weather services and the sky itself say things will be okay. Which should I believe?