Thursday, April 28, 2005

Updates again...

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens tomorrow. There's a 10:30 am showing, something which our one theater here has not done in years. Must be expecting a big turnout.

Got my computers back yesterday and have been trying to get thenm back up and running. So far my collection includes the Pegasus PC with the 80gb hd, 128 mb ram, and windows 2000; as well as the Samsung notebook w/ windows 98, open office, and some other neat little programs. I'm relly taken with the tiny notebooks made back in the '90s, before people decided they needed 20' monitors for dvds, gaming etc. A friend told me today HP is going back to making small laptops. Me, I always thought HP was a steak sauce.

A funny moment at the computer shop the other day: I kinda freaked cuz the Samsung didn't have Solitaire installed. No fancy hardware, software or applications for me, eh? Just a deck of cards. Got it. Sweet!

Later.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

news of the criminally insane

This just in:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says: "I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time."

Sure about that? You wouldn't want us to get our hopes up now, would you? Or would you?

Sunday, April 24, 2005

More updates

Just found out from a friend/business associate that a trip in June to India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam (business, mostly) is a definite possibility and we should know for sure pretty soon. Also, another business trip, this one to the Philippines, is on around the same time period. Maybe I'll get to drop in on Nic in Hong Kong, on the way... Sweet!



I have to go back to the computer place tomorrow and get some work done. I believe my sound card is toast. Windows2K was not properly installed, so there's little files (clipboard, sound mapping - wait, those are important!!!) that keep giving up the ghost on me, usually in the middle of something important. I installed SoundForge and Audacity but cannot use either one as I keep getting told by Microsoft's digital gnomes in my cpu that the sound mapping file is in use by another aplication. According to task manager, there IS NO OTHER APPLICATION RUNNING!!!

I keep jumping back and forth btw Mozilla Firefox and IE 6.0. I like some features on one and some on the other. I only use Thunderbird for e-mail. I've been using MS Word, Excel and Access for various things but they were not properly installed and even Windows Installer was not properly installed. I found a free open source program called Open Office - all the same functions (word processing, spreadsheets, html coding, database access) and the ability to save as .doc or.xls files. One day I'll be completely free of the Redmond gnomes, just you wait and see (insert Dr. Evil laugh here.....)

Apart from that, I need to get more RAM installed (only have 128 mb). Have an 81 gb hd, and a brand spanking new LG 52X32X52 CD-rw drive (thanks to Mr. Lee at Tic Toc Internet). Just got a really nice pair of comp speakers, too - small, but nice (some Korean brand, made in China... ?!).

Look for some new CD projects, coming your way soon at www.aaughrecords.com (as soon as I get things sorted out - soon, hopefully!)

-Rick

Monday, April 18, 2005

About freakin time for an update...

I know it makes no difference but I selected Arial as the font for this because Times New Roman drives me absolutely up the wall. We're talking gecko time here.

Anyhoo, China did not happen. I was all set to go, plane ticket, hotel reservations and then she talked me into staying. For us. now that I'm actually staying, she's talking crazy, splitting up and all that garbage.

I'm like whatever. As Napoleon would say, "Gosh! IDIOTS!" and stalk out of the room.

Last night hung out at Hamilton's (again) and watched some bizarre (of course) documentary on ESPN about Bobby Fischer. Then r. dropped by and we discussed Fischer, Beatles, Allen, strip clubs and etc. just like usual.

Then an odd thing happened. The gov walked in, sat at the bar, and ordered mexican food, as if he's a regular. He acted really surprised to see an old business card on the bulletin board, from when he was dc rep. That's when i noticed the ag's old business card was missing.

Signed up for the postal exam. Have to see how that goes. A lot of hiring here on island is by racial preference or just plain idiocy or favoritism (or maybe just plain autism). Hopefully since it's a federal job and the p.o. mgr is from guam, it may be more even (he was, after all, the one who told me about the opening).

later.,

Sunday, April 3, 2005

Goodbye Saipan, hello Suzhou

I leave for China on April 11th, 2005, Continental Airlines, 6:30 p.m. I travel first to Hong Kong, pick up my visa there, then cross the border into China and continue by train to Shanghai.

Suzhou is only a short distance away from Shanghai, 45 minutes by train. I kind of had the impression that Suzhou was a sleepy, quaint little backwater. Turns out there's a major industrial park there, thanks to the people of Jordan and Singapore. They make computer hardware, Air Jordans and the like. Suzhou also has, not one or two, but THREE Starbucks locations. And McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. Not sure if that's good or bad. Shanghai has an IKEA....