Shredding

I've spent the last half-hour out in the garage with Shredder the Incredible Mega Dog. For those of you who aren't me, Shredder the Incredible Mega Dog is a 14-year-old Doberman Pinscher roughly twice the size of any other Doberman you've ever laid eyes on. Shredder is an Incredible Mega Dog because not only is he still alive and kickin' at 14, he's also the best goddamn watchdog I've ever met, even at an age when most other Pinschers are sprouting clovers. We were out in the garage blaring local rock radio stations on the 600-watt stereo and watching the Olympics on the muted TV. I'm telling you this because this is the signal that I'm drunk enough to come back inside, after checking Shredder's water bucket, to update this blog.

So. I spent an hour trying to figure out why I can't connect to my email service's SMTP server. Tried two different clients, tried every possible server settings configuration and I got nothin'. And I've been trying for almost two weeks. And I used to do this for a living. The only conclusion I've been able to reach is that I hate the Internet more than ever.

Doomed

One of the great things about using an older computer is finding all the old games it will actually run. I've been using my mother's oldish Compaq, an AMD K63 box with 56MB and a 10Gig hard drive. Remember the K63? Neither does anyone else. It won't run much other than Doom and Duke 3D and various 16-bit console emulators, and there's something refreshing about that. The built-in video doesn't even support OpenGL. Ahh, memories.

By the way, I've been watching the Olympics a lot, mostly because I have pretty much nothing else to do, and I've come to the conclusion that the U.S. Basketball team does not deserve so much as a bronze. I'd hate for these kids to go home thinking they can play like a junior varsity cheerleading squad and still medal. Like everyone else in Memphis, I'm rooting for Spain. Pau Gasol is as good as any power forward on earth and it's about time he got some goddamned recognition.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get my fifth Crown n' Coke.

Pottering

So it's becoming almost impossible to use this ridiculous Compaq keyboard. The shift keys are doing things I've never heard of, and I've heard it all. Nothing I've tried, software-wise, has corrected the problem, so I guess it's just time for a hardware fix. I wonder if that old MS keyboard that, ah, someone spilled beer into a half-dozen times still works. It's been a couple years, surely it's dried out by now...

Started reading the first of those Harry Potter books again, though I'm not sure why. I just finished the 5th a week ago. Maybe because I just blasted through the complete Hitchhiker's Guide again and I'm struggling to find more geekish reading material.

Mental note: finally get around to hooking up my dad's new DVD player. There's just no way he's going to get it working by himself. Doesn't have the patience.

Post 01

So, this is where it begins. Undoubtedly I will be experimenting almost constantly with the appearance of this blog, but of course the real point is the content. I've given myself over to the more primal of my nerd impulses lately, so I'm all in a goddamn flutter to talk about what I thought about those Harry Potter books on read-thru #1, as well as how disappointed I am with the newest versions of Trillian and AIM, and my other overpowering passion, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Did I mention that I've taken a two-year break from the Internet as a whole? Well, I have, and it was inexpressively enlightening. We'll be discussing that as well, I imagine...