Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

What’s my (network) name

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I haven’t looked at the list of wireless network SSIDs in my neighborhood in a while, since my laptops are set up to automatically connect to either my home or work network, whichever one is available. Since I got a new laptop last week, I had another look at the wireless network names in the area while setting up.

At the risk of revealing lameness, our home network name uses the kennel name we use for our Rottweilers. Obviously, our network is properly secured, and I don’t really care if people guess whose network it is. And even if it weren’t secured, how dumb do you have to be to choose people with Rottweilers to steal from?
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Laptops everywhere!

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So on Saturday, I mentioned how nice it would be if a large-screen MacBook Pro fell out of the sky to replace my aging iBook G4.

Well, that didn’t happen, nor did $2,500 fall out of the sky so I could go and buy one myself. But I did get an email earlier this week advertising an instant rebate on the 13-inch MacBook, putting the price well into a range where the money could fall out of my own wallet without too much stress. I took that as a sign that it was indeed time to replace the aforementioned aging iBook G4.

So before picking up my newly repaired pretty red VAIO laptop from the SonyStyle store, I made a stop at Micro Center to buy the MacBook. Yes, I know, the buzz says that an updated version of the MacBook Pro is imminent. I suppose I could have waited for that, but that would just circle back around to needing more money than I wanted to spend. The MacBook brings me up to speed and into the Intel zone, and I don’t feel I’m sacrificing too much for the lower price.

If you don’t visit here often, you may also be asking why one person needs two laptops. Technically, you should be asking why one person needs four laptops, since I haven’t actually gotten rid of the iBook or a totally aged Compaq laptop running Windows 98 yet. But I digress. A long time ago, I told myself that when I was able to comfortably afford to have both a PC and a Mac, I would. That happy day arrived, and I don’t ever intend to be without one of each again, unless things really go to hell in a handbasket.

Now that I have a Mac (and a PC, for that matter) that will be able to handle it, that brings me back to my whole inner debate about Adobe Creative Suite 5. If the business can justify upgrading CS2 to CS5 for my use, I’m guessing it will be a $600 upgrade. That will happen only if our major clients also do the upgrade.

If there is no business reason to upgrade, it will be on my dime. Then I’ll have to decide whether I want to upgrade at all (cost $0), upgrade my Windows version of CS4 (I upgraded from CS2 to CS4 a year ago, so guessing at a cost of about $600), or purchase a full new Mac version of CS5 (guessing at a cost of about $1,800). Yikes.

I’ll be watching the CS5 announcement on Monday, April 12, with great interest. But the actual product release date hasn’t been given yet, so there is some time to continue this inner debate. I’m personally guessing summer 2010 for release. Let’s see what happens!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 8 of 30)

Good updates!

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I got two good updates today!

First one is dog-related, of course. As you read last week, one of Freya’s scores for her UKC URO2 title was recorded incorrectly as a non-qualifying score. I heard from Beth at UKC this morning, and everything has been straightened out! She heard back from the judge, whose records agreed with mine and showed a qualifying score for Freya, and corrected the official results. Freya’s URO2 title is now official and the paper certificate will be sent out tomorrow.

Second one is that my pretty red laptop is ready for pickup a few days sooner than I expected. I was told it would take about a week, but I got the call that it was ready just a little while ago. So I will have it back at home tomorrow evening, minus the irritating noise from the defective cooling fan.

All good news!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 7 of 30)

Un-doggy Saturday

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Saturday is usually all about Freya, with either a class or a competition to attend. Today, I considered taking her to a fun match or a rally obedience drop-in class, both held at locations we will be trialing at in May. But today was my best chance to catch up on a number of different non-doggy errands that have been put off for too long.

I closed the last of my accounts at a bank I have been with since my first job downtown. I’m not a very sentimental person in general, and I’m thinking it would be really hard for even a gushy emotional type to be sentimental about a bank these days. I’m mostly just angry and annoyed that changes they’ve made over the years, particularly in the last two years, have finally gotten to the point where I felt forced to seek a bank that is more friendly to the very small investor.

I dropped off my pretty red VAIO laptop at the Sony Style store for a warranty fan replacement. It will take about a week from the time the laptop actually gets to the service department on Monday or Tuesday. Since I also have an iBook G4, I don’t have to go laptopless. But computer years are like dog years, so this five-year-old laptop is showing its age. You see where it is a G4 and thus still a PowerPC, so I can’t run the latest and greatest versions of a growing number of applications. It’s old enough that a built-in webcam still wasn’t standard (although the SuperDrive was, thankfully).

I shouldn’t complain, I know. It’s like whining about a rather unexciting meal when there are people starving in other parts of the world or for that matter, in other parts of this city. My most-needed documents are cross-platform and saved to my giant-ass 1.5TB network drive. I have Mac versions of my most-needed applications (some provided by and for work, and others purchased by me… yes, being cross-platform comes at a price). So I’m not exactly suffering.

I know today is iPad release day, and since the Sony Style store is in the same mall as an Apple Store, I suppose I should have gone to check it out. I did walk by, and it was very crowded. Apple fanbois and fangirlz make me want to kill on a good day, and this probably would not have been a good day. So I kept walking.

Really, I just can’t get that excited over the iPad. Yeah, it’s cool, but it just doesn’t seem like something I need. But if a nice new 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro fell out of the sky to replace my trusty iBook… now that would be exciting!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 3 of 30)

More pretty pictures!

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I’ve updated our gallery with photos from Freya’s March 13-14 UKC trials.

Thanks to Karen Hollis of Sirius Pet Images for these Freya photos, yes, even this one with Freya’s face planted firmly in the food bowl where it is not supposed to be!

I had a bad technology moment with the gallery. I remembered that I had not installed Gallery 2 using Fantastico… but after I had already started updating it through Fantastico. This often does not go well, especially if you have customized your Gallery 2 installation in any way. Unlike some of the other galleries I maintain, this one is pretty generic, so major disaster did not occur. Panic almost did, when the installation would not verify.

It is much easier to calm down and think straight when you know you have a very recent backup. I highly recommend regular backups, or at least backups before you try to “fix” stuff. After almost panicking, I remembered to check the configuration file, and realized I needed to edit the full paths. All was well after that.

Because I apparently like the stress, though, I’m going to inflict another possible bad technology moment upon myself by moving the gallery to another domain soon. I have too many domains that I don’t really need or want any longer. I’m trying to consolidate, so the gallery will soon be moving to vomviersenrotts.com where it really belongs anyway.

EDITED TO ADD: The gallery has moved and the link has been updated.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 29 of 31)