Thursday, May 01, 2003
Cash Terminators
I would call last month "The Rise of Machines". Yes, the machines rose, and they proceeded to bite our posteriors with a vengeance.
It all started about three weeks ago while Kristin was working on some of my freelance projects. Suddenly a pop up appeared that stated malevolently "Did you ever dance with the Devil By the Pale Moonlight? Pray for your Hard Drive!"
Knowing that Jack Nocholson does not, in fact, live within our PC, Kristin suspected a virus, and looking on the web, I'll be durned if this wasn't the final step in a progressive virus called Devil's Dance which has been floating around since 1989. Amazed our machine did not detect the virus, and in a tizzy, we went and bout the lastest Anti-Virus software, whose list of known viruses listed this little nasty culprit.
And that was the beginning of our troubles. Not only did the Anti-Virus program fail to load completely, it apparently disabled all scriptng features on our computer, including Java, Search, and Add and Remove features. Furthermore, ever since, our hard drive has been prone to showing us a new Blue Screen of Death entitled "Physical Memory Dump", after which the hard drive will apparently fail for several hours before righting itself. Through independent means we have searched the system backwards and forwards and found no evidence of the original culprit, which would seem as if it was a flase alarm, but still leaves the question of where did the pop-up window come from?
We are currently searching to buy a new computer to have a backup in case this one goes kaput. I was leaning towards a MAc, but finding them too expensive, I looked at the more reasonable PC options. And just when we had selected a seller and a model, the other machines decided to stand up and make themselves recognized.
We had planned to take the LHS in because a intermittent throbbing of the engine. Just days before I had planned to do so, the brakes went as well. Also, the dealership then pointed out that the tires were in bad, bad shape. So, in the span of just a few days, and much bus taking and car swapping, I have had the cylinders in the Honda replaced, and the LHS was been the proud recipient of dozens of new organs: four tires; shoes, drums, and rotors; ignition wires and spark plugs; a fuel filter; and a rear transmission mount. Meanwhile, she still needs an alignment, and the Honda has a mysterious starter problem that so far has eluded the cheapest mechanics that money can buy (the first group believed it was the starter - they replaced it, and it started fine. The second group who had the EXACT same problem four days later traced it to a loose wire to the starter and repaired it. Let's see what the third group finds).
Don't you just love how the mechanical things in your life know when you have extra money in your pocket?
------------------------------------------------