Looking for more help

The free legal aid guy I spoke to today was helpful, but not as much as
I'd hoped. I've contacted several other "groups" which is the only word
I think I can use, and see if anyone responds. At any rate, I have phone
calls for info to place tomorrow if I can get myself to do it. I wonder
if contacting a TV Station to get help would work. They're always
looking for news items that get attention and sometimes they help just
ordinary people.

Other stuff

I finally decided to get an ID on a CDrom of images of some game that I
bought a few years ago while in Toronto for Anime North. I could read
the Kunoichi part, but the other 3 kanji were badly written in a style I
couldn't make out. One image board got a few of these pics in JPG form
and people quickly Identified it as a Playstation game, Kunoichi
Torimonocho. I think the readings on that are wrong, as I turned up
'kari'monochou. I have to find my paper kanji dictionary for the meaning
of that first one as my electronic one does not say anything for it,
just a reading.

As they also indicated, I was able to locate an ISO archive and after
making 3 coasters, finally made a working CD with InfraRecorder and
checked out the game. Youtube even has a few clips of it. I'm going to
need a translated guide, because while I can read some Japanese, this
has way more than I know but will probably learn. I was able to do some
things and understand a little which is nice.

Then I got to thinking... Hey, what else can I find? Nonworking links to
the Wedding Peach game. Bushido Blade 1 turned out OK. Loved the demos
on the PSX magazine CD, but I can't find it anymore.

However, and I hope people realize this, ISOs of the Saber Mariontte J
Battle Sabers disc are incomplete! It's missing the audio CD session of
the disk. I had a burned copy bootleg bought in Toronto some years ago,
and I think I got it to work only 3 times and I can't rememer what I
did. ISOs on the net are clearly missing something because the disk will
start and stop many times and waiting long enough, nothing comes up. At
least it has the non-credit opening to the SMJ anime which I'm able to
play with the cartridge we got. ^_^ If I'm doing something wrong or "not
waiting long enough" - how long is enough to wait for this game???

Of course, the disclaimer - I tested these games for review purposes
only, and I won't be keeping these copies. They may well be destroyed by
the time you read this. In the case of the SMJ game, I hope to be
looking for an import from Japan of an actual produced and pressed game
CD because I have seen this one played and it looks great ( as well as
the voices, too). A shame it wasn't released here.

Might have some help

Well, I found the free legal aid people and their website so I filled in
the online form (after calling on Good Friday and not getting through)
and I got a call, as I was expecting, yesterday. The lady looked at the
'intake' information and asked me about a few other bits of info, and
after reading what I sent to them, scheduled an attorney to call me this
Monday about it. So it seems they can help. I would imagine that if they
couldn't help she wouldn't arrange anything. She asked me if I have any
pending court date, and I'm like No, I have no idea how to go about
doing this and I need all the help and advice I can get. I arranged an
appointment with a counselor on Thursday, so hopefully things will
progress ASAP.

On another note, I've discovered some good reading on the net.
Heartwarming tales that if you're a cold-hearted jerk, it wouldn't do
you any good to read them, so don't bother. Do a search for "nurse-kun"
and you'll see. There's another sorta related tale which is still going
on thankfully which should also turn up, though I hope we hear more from
"Nurse-kun."

Unemployment fight continues...

Got the letter today, Not Good Friday.

It seems they've decided to REVERSE that decision!!! I will have to
appeal it at the county Court of Common Pleas and contact a lawyer to
help me fight the store.

I need to talk to my counselor so he can help me manage this fight.

$68 poorer but I have a new tire

I was able to get in early at the tire place this morning, just a couple
minutes down the road from where we are now. And the story is the same:
The tire has a hole in the sidewall and has ruptured. Which means it
can't be fixed. I ask if he has this size tire in stock and he does,
which runs with tax $68 even. He even put it on which I didn't require,
but he did this whole thing in about 20 minutes or less. Keister Custom
Tire sells Mastercraft tires, made in Findlay, Ohio, so it's not one of
those cheap brands Wal Mart sells, plus I could have saved some money
getting my tires from them. I will probably go back there next time I
need them. I should have gone there sooner.

Compounding crap

Just as I went to go to vote in the primary today, I kinda steered a
little off the side of the road too early, hit a rather jarring bump and
got a flat tire. I was able to change it to the spare. Again. This was
the same tire I replaced a year ago due to cold weather and Fix a Flat
not working at very cold temperatures. So I gotta see about trying to
get that fixed (hope) because I gotta go somewhere tomorrow.

"Read this very carefully, I shall type this only once nyo!"
"There would be little point in typing it twice nyo!!" - 'Allo 'Allo nyo

"They make crayONs; do they make crayOFFs?"

Road Runner Light? Yeah, right.

I realize Road Runner Light is cheap, relatively slow (768Kpbs), but is it supposed to suck? Downloads stop in the middle, and if you're lucky, they MIGHT resume. I waited 40 minutes for the last 600K of Google Earth to download, which it NEVER did. Trying to watch videos on Youtube - the downloads STOP in the middle and DO NOT Resume. I realize it's a shared connection, but jeez, this sucks. It's no better than dialup which does the same damn thing. I know the cable connections in the area aren't the greatest. They really need better signal amplifiers on these lines. The downloads unless they're really short, never finish. They should be somewhat slow, but not stop and then go dormant. It's been a fight all afternoon. We called technical support, but they were of no help. Apparently they don't understand that we're telling them. It starts, it stops, and it's a fight to keep the connection active. It should plod along slowly, I expect that, but not stop. At All. This is unacceptable!!! If you're even lucky, you might get to see an entire video. I wonder why the first thing I grabbed - Firefox 2.0 install - and the small install update for Weatherbug - actually made it through. Heck, Weatherbug downloaded darn fast. The speed test I found showed varying speeds - 20, 200, 40, 200 kbps on different tests.

We're NOT even considering the next highest and more expensive Road Runner if the slowest speed can't even keep up.

Comment to send to Dish Network

What I want to know is: Why when I was at a previous address in Minerva,
ZIP code 44657, I was able to get Cleveland Local Channels, but when I
moved just over 1 mile away to the east, I was suddenly forced to accept
Youngstown local channels? When I do a search for local channels based
on my zip code alone, I get results that say Cleveland is my local
market. If I plug in my address, while still in the same ZIP code, I get
told something different. Your local market calculator is in serious
error - all addresses in one ZIP code should be treated as the same
market. We get our local news from Cleveland stations - Youngstown
stations do not care about our area AT ALL. Weather reports are too
late. Local cable service, I'm told, provides BOTH markets as local
channels. What I want to know is why Dish Network is forced to screw
their customers while DirecTV is not affected by that stupid court
decision a few years ago. Maybe I should switch to DirecTV because I
would still be able to get Cleveland local stations through it and not
force to accept a smaller local station lineup that I should not have to
put up with.

Fighting with mom's computer

I don't know what the hell happened, but Saturday afternoon, early
evening, Mom's on her computer, and AVG asked for an update. But instead
of paying attention to things, and I don't know what the hell happened,
but for some reason the update didn't take, like there was an error in
the install for some reason. So instead of not doing anything, Mom went
ahead and just used her computer, getting email and checking out
webpages with AVG in error state.

Then I get back from helping a friend and as she gets done tells me
there's a problem with AVG, in that she tried to update it but something
went wrong. I was annoyed that she went ahead and used it with AVG not
working. Something crept onto her system that changed her administrative
settings - I couldn't get into the options for Norton Internet Security
which really ticked me off. I got told I didn't have the right
permission level to get into that. HmpH!! I'll show you.

Fortunately, I was able to do a system restore back to a date about a
week earlier when a couple Microsoft updates came through. Still AVG
gave me problems. I tried to repair the install, and it did some stuff,
but in the end, I couldn't run the Test Center, and I noticed some
corruption. Whatever bombed the system, it was really messing with
things. Even after several hours last night fretting over the problem,
including downloading the latest install from AVG Free, having to use it
to repair the installation, but the updates still require restarting the
system. Something really messed with things. I had problems getting my
Yahoo! mail - the little window at the top of the messages instead of
displaying some flash animation ad would come up some box of text, and I
couldn't download my attachments. I'd get told Document Contains No
Data. WHAT???

Eventually, I got AVG repaired, grabbed an update. But instead of the
smaller files I notice it grabbing, it grabs the entire file at once,
then tries to update, then requires a restart. What the hell happened? I
didn't change ANYTHING. Anywho, I eventually get it to scan the system.
Nothing comes up. Ad Aware has relatively recent definitions (75 days
old) and I scan with it, only tracking cookies come up. Run Spybot S&D,
it's relatively updated, and 2 more tracking cookies come up.

The one bootup before I managed to do a system restore, I noticed the
system taking forever to come up. The system restore I had it do took a
lot longer than I've seen, so she really got something bad on there
while she got her email when AVG was in error state.

I told her never to do that again, and I think I can figure out the
update settings or like other people have done - uninstall and
reinstall.

I should put Comodo personal firewall on there. It can prevent system
tampering like I saw, and we're only on dialup!

I managed to get my email off Yahoo!, but noticed Genvid wasn't coming
up. I hope it just ran out of bandwidth for the month.

More on that Dr.

When I tried to explain to her the problems of people at the store and
how I'd rather avoid dealing with certain people, she couldn't see it my
way and told me I was refusing to do my job. That's the only way I could
see it. I was not refusing to do it, I would avoid having to deal with
certain people in my way. If I was cashiering, there was no problem.
Interaction with customers was limited. I didn't have to 'help out' lazy
idiots I didn't want to help out because I didn't like them. I shouldn't
have to be in a position to deal with people that I don't like because
it will show on my face that I don't like them. Usually, I've been told,
it looks like I'm angry.

It's not that I would refuse - I just wouldn't bag for certain customers
I didn't like or would find some reason not to be around. It got pretty
bad. One lady even freaking _waited_ for me to come back in from getting
carts. There were other baggers!! ARGH!

At least while I've been unemployed, I've had the chance to examine
things that have happened in the past and say, yes, that's definitely
Asperger's. Explains a lot, now how do I get help? Why are disability
benefits needed now that I have a work history? Because I'll have
problems getting or keeping a job unless I get specific help that
addresses the social problems I have. It's a disability, and with the
right help I should be able to find personal success somehow. It keeps
me from the opportunities I could be taking advantage of.