crazy dog! crazy dog!

[solarbird]

Fire Circle
Here are our newtype DST issues:

1: Our ancient TiVo gets no software patch because DirecTV's response to not being able to dial in for the patch is "sign a two year service contract and get our (non-TiVo) D15 PVR for Free!" Problems with that are 1) it's only $99 retail, fuck you and your two-year contract, and 2) the reviews have been universally savage. It's good that I was put off by their rush to get me to accept a new PVR - they really wanted me off that TiVo.

2: Also, we have an old VCR we've kept around and it does not seem to be dealing well at all. It even turned off its tuner, presumably its equivalent of going LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU at the Channel 9 time signal it normally uses to set its time of day clock. We had to unplug it and leave it unplugged for five minutes to get it to turn the tuner back on, and it's still not picking up the time.

3: Anna's Windows Mobile (né WinCE) frob went blithely along thinking it's still Pacific Standard Time. She's working at getting that fixed.

Otherwise, things seem to be okay. Our servers all did the right things and our workstations so far have all checked out. The house thermostat is not smart enough to know about this alien thing you call a calendar, so has not gone splody.

Thursday's miles: 2.0
Friday's miles: 1.6
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1555.7
Miles out of Rivendell: 1098.7
Miles out of Lothlórien: 643.7
Miles past Rauros Falls: 225.8
Miles to Isengard: 240.9

Okay, so I was driving to the Norwescon concom meeting yesterday, and southbound I-5 before the ship canal bridge was its usual clusterfuck. Meanwhile, the people in front of me were alternating flooring it (up to, maybe, 30) and slamming their brakes to stop dead, being, you know, morons. Homey don't play that, so I was doing my usual traffic-smoothing average-it-out speed, which meant about 18-20mph. So I'd be right up with them, then five car lengths back, then right up with them again - but without the slamming of the brakes or the tailgate or, you know, danger. It's better for your brakes and better for your gas milage and better for your not dying, and you don't lose any time.

Anyway, I was doing this when this apparently crazy woman in a large minivan - a very Mary Kaye Cosmetics dealing type of driver, if you know that look - tried to pass me on my left side. That's all fine except 1) I was in the leftmost lane, 2) there was no left shoulder, and 3) Even if there had been, there wasn't anyplace to go. No shoulder on the left, stopped cars in the lane on the right, almost-stopped car in front of me. I noticed this when she had to slam on her brakes to keep from crashing into the barrier on the left side of the road after starting her bizarre and pointless passing attempt.

That's when she apparently decided that it was All My Fault, Everything In The World, and started waving her arms and screaming at me, tailgating me, and leaning on her horn continually. I realise at this point that I'm the target of her crazy, and flip her off, doing the "what the fuck am I supposed to do? There is a CAR in FRONT OF ME" handwave thing, which really makes her explode - I mean, seriously, if we'd been more stopped, I think she'd have leapt out of the minivan and charged me. But I was going a nice 18mph, so she couldn't. Instead, she just tailgated me as closely as she could, alternating between little explosions-in-place and exaggerated head-on-hands-I-cannot-believe-this pose and the horn. Most importantly, though, she was tailgating closely enough that I couldn't get her license plate number. Dammit!

Once traffic did clear up a little and the exit to 520 eastbound opened up, she whipped around me to get onto the exit ramp and screamed at me and gave me at least one, possibly two fingers, gesturing wildly, leaning across the passenger side of her minivan at me to press her finger up against her window, horn blaring somehow - presumably with her elbow or something? - and steering, one has to presume, with her knees.

It was pretty amazing. I wasn't angry; I was just kind of boggled, and kind of amused, too. I mean, aside from the fact that I wasn't slowing her down at all but was, instead, making traffic better, there's the whole thing that by the time she was trying to cut around me on a shoulder which wasn't even there, had I started driving the stupid way she wanted - tailgating, floor-it-and-hard-brake - she'd have rear-ended my car. I can guarantee that.

I just wish I'd been able to get her license plate number. That, or at least had one of those LED Mooninite signs for the back window. That'd have been funny. "I'm doing this as hard as I can! Do not make me double your pleasure!" Of course, spazzkat says she'd have just started ramming my car with her van at that point, and I'd have missed the meeting, so it's probably better I didn't.

But I still wanna. ^_^

Comments

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Re DST and Windows Mobile, there's an official Microsoft patch here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx) that should work with Windows Mobile 2003 and up (for those with an older machine, there are unofficial patches available; also, for older Windows boxen there is an unofficial patch here (http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2007/01/unofficial-windows-2000-daylight.html)).

And re "newtype DST problems"...oh dear god, my own DST grogginess and too much anime in conjunction with that don't mix well. (I am picturing various cast members of the original Mobile Suit Gundam going "You did remember to set the clocks back, right?" "No..." "DAMNIT!" :D Maybe a very groggy Char who is unhappy he had to get up an hour earlier and all... Yup, I'm a sick bastard :D)

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

I'm more worried about crazy drivers killing me than I am about terrorists.

[solarbird]

Mobile Suit Gundam
of course. ^_^

annathepiper has the patch and has finally gotten it to go, tho' it screwed up her non-repeating appointments in her calendar. Or maybe that was the separate Outlook patch. I forget.

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

If I remember right, most of the problems with appointments have to do with an earlier version of the Windows Mobile patch, though (since this is supposedly fixed) it could be the Outlook patch, too. (One of the reasons I tend to avoid Outlook, by the way. :D)

[annathepiper]

I had already found the patches as Dara was making her post, yeah. Outlook only messed with a couple of my appointments when I tried to run the update tool, and that was easily fixed.

I'd ditch Outlook if I had a way of still syncing up with email on my PDA--but as of the last time I checked, Thunderbird doesn't do that, and I'm unaware of any other email clients that'd let me look at email on my laptop and PDA both.

[mattsnaps.livejournal.com]

Statistically speaking, you're wise to worry about that. Slightly down the list for me would be worrying about not having any fun because of living in a surveillance society, but that's probably my politics affecting my reasoning. Terrorism isn't even a blip.

Based on my family history and a thorough understanding of conditional probability, I'm most worried about alcoholism and cancer. Good times.

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Ah, perfectly understood on that then. (In my own case, I've actually been using Gmail and checking mail remotely, but then again, I also have the luxury of a) having the vast majority of my mail living on POP3 servers and b) having installed Opera for Windows Mobile.) (And yes, Opera fucking ROCKS on Windows Mobile, btw. Using it in preference to my old preferred Windows Mobile web client, NetFront.)

There *is* a potential alternative re scheduling at http://www.scheduleworld.com/tg/cal/day.jsp; as for email, possibilities include using an alternative mail client (http://modernnomads.info/wiki/index.php?page=Alternative+Mail-clients) if you have an IMAP server at work (or can get your mail via POP3); if your workplace is using Microsoft Exchange as its mail server, though, you may well be stuck with Outlook.

(I note this because several places locally actually use Lotus Notes, which tends to be a bit friendlier to solutions like getting one's mail via IMAP and such; again, what solutions are available depends a lot on what your *server* is running. If your site only uses Exchange, using Outlook is probably most feasible; if your site uses IMAP servers, you can have your PC and Windows Mobile device both pull from the same folder (which is actually hosted on the mail server, much like how Exchange works) using Thunderbird on the PC end and QMail on the Windows Mobile end.)

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

One other possible alternative:

Funambol (http://www.funambol.com/) offers open-source push email to devices that is compatible with not only POP3 and IMAP but also Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino; they *do* expressly support Windows Mobile and email syncing, so you might have a Thunderbird-friendly solution there.

[solarbird]

Based on my family history and a thorough understanding of conditional probability, I'm most worried about alcoholism and cancer. Good times.
I get to worry about not knowing what I get to worry about. ^_^

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

My family has some diabetic history, at least in my grandmothers. Other than that, I'm the only one in my immediate family who does not smoke or drink.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Ah, you must be adopted too. Yeah, Every time they ask me "What is your family history?" Hoping to get some idea of what pills they can give me for illnesses I may never get, I tell them "Hell if I know, I'm adopted." And then proceed to state that means I won't get anything. By Law of Averages it is actually the more accurate thought.
Most of our clocks are so old they don't reset themselves ever and we haven't reset them yet. And the hubby is on Windows 2000 and the kid is using ME. So we still have a bunch of work to do around the house.
And My PDA wants Outlook or OE for e-mail source too. This is not How Do I Download My E-Mail, I use Thunderbird for that. It is How Do I Download E-Mail To My PDA? I use Outlook for that. It has only one of my e-mail accounts downloading to it, and it also makes a nice back up for that account in case Thunderbird has a brain fart. I actually keep all my Calendar/Address/Info Stuff on Lotus Organizer. Outlook still doesn't do some things I do on Organizer, but it does some other things better, so I use Outlook for that (since I have it anyway).
For those of you who hate Outlook and like something simpler - May I suggest Lotus Organizer? This works really well if your company already uses Lotus Notes. And has been noted elsewhere in this list, there are lots of other things out there...

[wytwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I do that same traffic smoothing thing. I have to drive from Tumwater to Fife everyday, and that blasted traffic in Tacoma is horrible. ONOES construction! I hate constantly hitting my brakes like other people so I just keep a smooth ride like you said, but that irritates people somehow. Maybe they like their stress filled stop and go BS. I'm so glad I have a co-worker to carpool with on occasion to get a break from idiots. Washington traffic is kinda stupid. XD

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

My mom has a friend who is one of those people who gets infuriated by the practice, so I've learned the reason why: someone MIGHT get into that SPACE in front of YOU which OMG would then make ME LOSE GROUND. Stupid, innit?

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

You could take the DirecTiVo somewhere with a phone line just to have it call and activate the update. (I run tivolovers)

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I do the traffic-smoothing thing, too, and am happy to hear that I'm not the only one other than my wife doing so. I haven't quiet had the Crazy Person Behind Me, though. I think I more or less understand the "rules" of their game -- they're completely binary: the only speeds are Maximum and Stop, and stop is some evil plot by all of these other drivers who are conspiring to slow down and get in the way. As far as they're concerned, they do own the road.

I do sort of wish I could interview some of these people in a controlled situation and find out what they think they are accomplishing, though.

[wytwolf.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah, that sounds about right. I had a driving instructor once... who was the substitute I believe because he never came back again and all the ones after him sucked... but anyway, he told me "The only space you can control on the road is the space in front of you." and I always held by that. Besides, my car is old and it's a manual. Stop and go in that thing kills my leg. XD

[solarbird]

Tried that. It always fails at "Negotiating..." in that it reaches that point pretty quickly and then sits there forever, where "forever" means "45 minutes longest try, at which point I yanked the phone line." I tried a lot of different ways of trying to make it work, no love. But if you've got a specific thought... this is a first-generation DirecTV Sony model. I think they only made the one.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I often wonder if people would have a bit less of the stupid about such things if we all had manual transmissions. I'm always surprised by how close people pull up behind me when I'm at a red light on a steep uphill, because they clearly don't think that there's a chance I might roll backwards a bit due to not having three feet (this is why if I'm going into town, I try to drive the Prius instead. I don't have a problem with the hills and the clutch unless there's a moron 2 inches from my bumper, and more and more often there is).

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Hmm, hack it and install a TurboNet card to make it use broadband?

[wrog]

And, in other news REGEDT32's Binary Editor is just b0rken. Wheeee.

[wytwolf.livejournal.com]

That is one of my huge pet peeves. I live on a hill, so I often get stuck at the light. Then a car, truck, SUV, bus, or boat pulls up behind me and I can't even see their headlights because they're so close (I have a Honda Civic hatchback, so they can get VERY close) I start to freak out because I don't want to roll backwards into them. I've almost been hit when the light turns green because they assume I'll take off like all other people and they hit the gas while I'm rolling backwards a bit. It's traumatic, but not really... more irritating than anything else. LOL

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I sometimes think a big sign reading I HAVE A MANUAL TRANSMISSION, PLEASE BACK OFF would be helpful. :-)

I actually stopped driving at age 17 because someone pulled up close behind me at a stop sign on a tiny rise and I couldn't get going again. With the fear of rolling I stalled out the car a couple of times and then even after I waved him around, he started laying on the horn -- at 7 am in a residential neighborhood! So I said "this is stupid" and got out of the car and made my mom drive the rest of the way, and didn't get my license until I was 26. Ha. I didn't live anywhere I could have used a car until then anyhow (and I was a much better driver for the wait).

[wytwolf.livejournal.com]

I bet that would be a very marketable bumper sticker. ;)

My dad took me out on the biggest hill he could find when I learned to drive a stick and made me learn to start driving on it from a dead stop. It was good training XD I still hate doing it though.