Odd stop error

OK, so today after mom gets done with Pogo for over 9000 hours this morning, I get a chance to do some shtuff. What I wanted to do right off is make a copy of an audio CD a friend burned for me because one of my CD players can't see the disk and read it. So I proceed to do something that I usually don't expect to work. After the 'puter has been on for a while, the CD burner drive usually doesn't respond - it usually requires shutting down the desktop and turning it back on. I have been of the habit to do exactly that or at least if I'm burning a CD, I'm going to do it within an hour after the desktop boots up.

I push the eject button and it surprises me by responding. Oh. whoah. Didn't expect that. I usually test the system that way. Should have restarted it anyway, but no. I load the burner software, have it read what I want off the disk, and then burn the copy. Whole new, not an exact copy, but read the old one and burn a completely new one. Then it's done in about 2 minutes.

Then I go... and put the CD back in because for some reason, I wanted to play the disk. The desktop goes and recognizes it. And then as I fiddle with some things, suddenly the screen goes black, the tower makes a little click noise, and XP tosses up a blue stop error screen. IQR is not less or equal, yadda yadda.

I'm like OH SH---- ! What the hell? So I check upstairs, the TV up there is still on. Last time there was any unusual behavior of devices was a few months ago. My TV did something, shut off and came back on, but the computer monitor went out and needed turned off and back on and it was OK. Yesterday my TV shut off at some point, I don't know when, but it was off. I had left it on, with the blue screen from the VCR lighting it up. I know the Toshiba has some dust issues. I had to fight with it last night, banging on the side to get it to decide to stay on.

I don't know if the Toshiba had one of those occurences where it affected the 'puter downstairs, or if it had to do with the CD burner being used when I should have shut off and restarted the system. OR WHAT. I don't KNOW. I hate that. We depend on this thing. It's barely 4 years old. I have a backup of the drive and the install.

I don't handle this right, and I don't want this episode to make mom think she gets a chance to buy the laptop she doesn't need.

But at any rate, when that error occurred, I pushed the power button and it shut off, then I restarted it and it came up as you can see by this post. Some sort of Kernel Error registry key popped up, so if there's a problem, some pages suggested probably a RAM error, which for all intents and purposes, could be so. I mean, I've never opened this thing up to clean out the dust - I probably should. I have this tendency to leave things alone when they work, especially when I depend on them. It's an Asperger's trait of mine, likely.

Sometimes emulators are neat

First it started with using ePSXe to run some Cardcaptor Sakura games
that wouldn't work on the actual Playstation because of stupid things on
the game disk and such.

Then I grabbed MAME and tried a few games on it. That's a nice one. ^_^

So recently I checked out the Sega Genesis emulator along with the Devil
Hunter Yohko game released for it. The DHY game isn't that great, but
still to think it exists... I found a site with several hacks of the
original, including one that gives you 30 lives. I haven't been able to
get past the boss on Level 2 yet. Infinite health would be a nice hack
for this game, people!!!

So anywho, the other day I found an 8-bit NES Emulator and the Japanese
game for what was dubbed here as Samurai Pizza Cats. Cute enough to show
my nieces, though I'd LOVE more of a FAQ, walkthrough or some other
guide for this game. It's not completely translated.

A friend of mine has an NES Lupin III game. Would be nice to see how
that turned out.

Anime video games - things you wish they had brought over then they
could have. Magic Knight Rayearth? Tenchi Muyou? Oy... the mind boggles.

Of course that's not to leave out the Atari 2600 emulator or the first
one that started the idea - the Atari 8-bit computer emulator.

Harassing Hang-Up Calls

I hate them.

Mainly because you don't know who is calling. Caller ID is nice, but
that's not always helpful. If the number is from outside your local
area, the phone company isn't guaranteed to know it. And people can
block their ID from coming through, but that's helpful because you can
put a device on your line that can detect it and reject the call for
you.

We had 4 harassing hang-up calls tonight, starting just minutes before 9
pm and seemingly repeating every 15 minutes or so until just before 10
pm tonight.

Bill collectors are not allowed to harass people on the phone and
certainly not after 8 pm local time regardless of where the call
originates.

When they hang up, it creates nervous anxiety because you don't know who
is doing it, why they are doing it, and just how much longer are they
going to interrupt my peace and quiet before they give up and stop. Of
course one good way to get them to stop is to pick up the phone and
record the call while asking them who they are, their address (if they
don't lie about it), and then send them a registered letter telling them
to stop. And if you record the call, you have court evidence that they
lied about it, which is further trouble for them.

It was sneaky for these 4 calls to arrive after 8 pm when we usually
don't expect them, but considering all the other calls we have gotten
during the election, we screen ALL calls from now on. If they hang up,
well, they should stop bothering us about their ability to remember a
string of numbers.

I mean, really, this type of behavior has to stop. I wish they would
leave some sort of message and get on with things.

We also need another verb for using the phone in regard to "calling" a
number. You can't dial very much anymore because most phones are push
button.

Hmph. Been online 20 minutes and no interruption. How about that.

Celebratory notes on the 2008 Election

President Barack Obama has a nice ring to it. I voted for him, though I
feel angry at the rest of the county who stupidly voted for McCain.
Judging from the small sampling of people who showed up to vote, any of
the old people who went to vote (one man who clearly should have voted
absentee) appeared to be people who were voting against Obama simply
because they are racist. Just my opinion, of course, I'm just saying...
I have only my point of view to go from. I could be wrong, but probably
not in this case.

Ralph Nader has successfully killed his own career after calling Obama
an "Uncle Tom" on nationwide FOX TV in front of Shephard Smith.
Hopefully someone will upload the clip to Youtube and include the 1
second of stunned silence after that remark and Shep's comment
afterwards. Nader has become insane and bitter, sorta like Steve Allen
in his later years when he went off on idiotic rants about how there's
nothing "suitable" on television anymore.

Issue 5 PASSED. People in Ohio surprised me on that one. With almost no
publicity in favor of the Yes vote on Issue 5 (Payday lending
referendum), and LOTS of lies for a No vote (like having your personal
info entered into some database every time you take out one of their
loans - which I don't have to remind you but I will ISN'T in the law
they passed in the Ohio legislature and ALSO NOT PART OF THE LAW IN THE
REFERENDUM), I would like to feel that people read this one for once and
voted accordingly. In these rough times, we don't need another loan
shark abusive industry siphoning money out of already-poor people's
pockets. No jobs will be lost and I'm certainly not going to shed tears
should payday lenders in Ohio feel they need to close up shop because
they have to make money legally.

And I'm glad that one idiot will be leaving Washington DC for his
village in Texas, while we're sending another idiot back to her village
in Alaska when she can be symbolically stoned to death for her crimes.
So to speak. I tell you we managed to get this one right for once and
have averted many tragedies that "could have been" but now won't. Less
likely Roe V Wade will be overturned now, which pisses off the religious
minority and I chuckle to myself when I think about that. Heh.
heheheheee!

I CAN beat the KFC $10 Challenge!

OK. So you see those stupid YUM! Brand Kentucky Fried Chipmunks
commercial where this "family" goes to the supermarket to see if they
can do a KFC Family meal by buying it at the grocery store.

What it consists of is Biscuits, 1 side (like baked beans), and 7 pieces
of chicken. The meal, that is. Let's not forget coleslaw. Most people
want that. Or corn. Hey, let's consider it all.

Now, right off the bat, I'm going for the cheapest route for this meal.
So let's knock off the Biscuits, pre-made, in a tube. And for the sake
of prices, we're Buying It All at Aldi's. Biscuits right now are about
$1.20 for the tube, grand buttermilk style.

Corn in a can, whole kernel, is 45 cents. or just under.

Chicken in pieces for frying. Prolly about $4.00 or so. I'll have to
check this. Remember, these are ALDI'S prices. not some rip-off major
chain like Giant Eagle. Aldi's even beats Walmart a lot of the time.
anywho, consider it a 3 pound bag, frozen.

OK. So now you need to find a way to coat the chicken before you cook
it. Flour is likely in the coating. You can either use a packet of dry
Italian dressing mix or try this, which you can find on the net:

Garlic Salt (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Onion Powder (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Sugar (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Oregano (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Black Pepper (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Thyme (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Basil (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Parsley (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Celery Salt (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Salt (1 Tablespoon per serving)
Paprika (1 Tablespoon per serving)

I'm not sure what else you'd need to do to coat the chicken, but let's
say you already have those "herbs and spices" (I know we do!) and the
flour = Cost $0. Total $5.65 so far.

Now the actual secret behind cooking the chicken is to use a PRESSURE
COOKER. This keeps the juices in the meat. Even Red Barn restaurants
knew this! So let's just say you have one of these, too. And vegetable
oil. I guess you could try to pan fry the chicken, or put it in a
covered roaster in the oven.

Anywho, let's see.. if I go to Aldi's and buy the chicken and the
biscuits, perhaps a can or 2 of corn, I still have some leeway and still
be under $10 if I go to one store and get a 2 liter bottle of Coke Zero
for about $1.15 and STILL be under $10. Or if I have to change my price
on the frozen pieces of frying chicken up $2 - I'd STILL beat the KFC
Challenge. I can add coleslaw and dressing and STILL beat it. I know
where the best prices for all that are to be found.

Sorry, YUM. You lose again.

It's pathetic.

BTW: Have you ever noticed that 20 oz bottles of pop cost more than 2
liter bottles? Those have 67.63 ounces in them! Why do 20 oz bottles of
pop cost more? It doesn't make sense.

And for you idiots who hate the use of the word "pop" for "carbonated
soft drinks," you're still idiots. I don't use "Soda" because that
implies Baking Soda or other significant amount of SODIUM, and as you
can see on the side, there's very little "salt" in "pop". It's not a
redneck term, it's just what some people have learned to call the stuff.
Because when you opened a 16 oz glass bottle (and I'm old enough to have
done so) the top "pops" off the bottle, therefore the drink is "pop".
Ever heard the term "pop bottles"? You could find and return them to
grocery stores for the deposit. Some stores around here got pissy about
that and would ask if you bought it at their store. That's beside the
point. The deposit was so that the glass bottle WOULD GET RETURNED AND
REUSED. The bottling company would in turn reimburse the store for the
return of their bottles. I miss pop bottles. If you found enough of them
in the park, you could buy yourself some ice cream at Dairy Queen, which
for cheap ass people, was almost a hobby.

Finding crayfish in the stream was almost as fun.

Anywho, ask the older people around you and in various regions around
this country what they'd call it - pop or soda?

OHIO PEOPLE - VOTE YES ON ISSUE 5. KEEP THE PAYDAY LENDERS IN CHECK.
THERE ARE NO JOBS (meaning all the payday lender people) IN ANY DANGER.
All the payday lender offices have already applied for licenses to
provide other kinds of loans. Don't believe their crap. Note where all
the No on 5 signs are placed - outside of these evil loan stores and the
owners of them. YES ON 5 TO PROTECT OHIO FAMILIES FROM AN UNENDING CYCLE
OF DEBT.

DAD - PISS OFF!!

Dad, I know you read my blog, and for some reason you have twisted a recent post around to something that benefits your twisted mind. I have had it!

I hate to have to turn my blog Private and password protected, because so many other friends keep in touch with me through it. But your actions are unconscionable. (i hope the spellchecker has that right). This is your final warning to keep off my blog.

My Mother is Not Gambling. I've Never Said she was! Where did you get that idea?

picture relevant to post

How do you get rid of these guys?

For some time now, I don't know how my mom got on these creeps' mailing
list, but from time to time we get these stupid "BETUS period COM" booklets or
somesuch about sports betting.

We're not people who bet on sports.

We're not about to begin.

The people who make and mail out this crap don't exactly make it easy to
get them contacted by mail and get them to stop. I found a feedback form
on the site. I can only hope this note (edited) got through.

Oh yeah, I tried a Whois lookup. I got some addresses in California and
Panama, the country. What the fedge?

To wit:

TO WHOM THIS WILL CONCERN:

STOP SENDING YOUR LITERATURE TO THE FOLLOWING NAME AND ADDRESS. WE ARE
NOT AMUSED, WE ARE NOT INTERESTED. STOP WASTING YOUR TIME. IF YOU DO
NOT, WE WILL BE FORCED TO FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE, WHERE YOU ARE AND MAKE
SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO SAY.

REMOVE ME!
MAILED FROM MECHANICSBURG, PA PERMIT NUMBER 63

[address info deleted]

SINCE YOU DON'T SEEM TO PUT A MAILING ADDRESS IN YOUR LITERATURE AND
HAVE MADE IT HARD TO FIND ON YOUR SITE, WE CAN ONLY ASSUME YOU ARE
CONDUCTING ILLEGAL BETTING.

WE ARE NOT INTERESTED, HAVE NEVER BEEN INTERESTED, AND DON'T KNOW WHY OR
HOW YOU GOT THE IDEA ANYONE AT THIS ADDRESS WAS INTERESTED.

I'M ASKING NICELY NOW. I WON'T BE NICE IN THE FUTURE AND YOU SURE DON'T
WANT ME TO HIRE A LAWYER TO SUE FOR HARASSMENT WHEN I'VE ASKED NICELY TO
STOP BOTHERING US WITH MAIL WE JUST THROW AWAY.

A NICE POSTCARD ACKNOWLEDGING THE PERMANENT REMOVAL WOULD BE A NICE
GESTURE. GOOD DAY.

You think they'll listen? Do I have to go through the post office and
have them contact the post office in Pennsylvania to look up the permit
number to find out who the hell is mailing this crap out? Sounds like a
place to start.

Removing the skirt from my Ame-comi Catwoman figure

Finally found the paint I needed to finish off my modification to the
Ame-Comi Catwoman figure. Ever since I saw it advertised, I decided that
the skirt they put on her did not work at all and if I ever got my hands
on one I'd rip that thing off and modify it using filler putty and paint
to fix her up.

I had the opaque black I needed for her outfit, but for the skin tone..
Folk Art #738 Peach Cobbler proved to be an exact match for the skin
color originally used which I finally found a couple days ago! Now I can
also work on completing my 2 Shampoo resin kits.

It took a while to get that damn skirt off. They could have made it
easier. Filled in her sweetly shaped hips with filler putty and aside
from touch up painting and a little touch up with filler putty, it
practically looks like she never had a skirt at all. This is one of
those projects were you just sand carefully by hand and try to get it
exactly right, but since I did the wrist on my Dirty Pair Kei PVC kit, I
don't seem to have that amount of patience anymore. The paint revealed
what defects the sanding left.

Her head should have been left movable. Oh well. I like the
neck-to-crotch outfit design on her anyway which was a big selling point
for me. ^_^

Maybe I'll post a photo sometime.

Rescued off old tapes

Finally had a chance to get my hands on Dirty Pair TV fansubs on VHS. While I was organizing the material as I copied them to DVD, I also dug out the Ranma 1/2 episodes from off-air Japanese TV. As a result, I was able to restore about 98% of the footage from the commercials, as well as this End of Episode title card from Ranma 1/2. ^_^
I'll just put this here...

Strange things happening

About a half hour ago, I was online with the terminal writing an email
when suddenly the Toshiba TV just goes and clicks off without me
touching it, then it came back on. By some strange measure, the computer
monitor downstairs, on a different wiring circuit ALSO shuts off! Well,
it was on without a picture.

I don't know if it was some sort of static discharge (it hasn't happened
before) or what. Anywho, I did what I usually do, I shut off the monitor
to the Dell (a niece was on it playing something) and turned it back on.
The picture came back, though I noticed it wiggling around a bit before
it stopped doing that. My niece reported some sort of red line when it
went out.

It's been raining, not heavy but a sort of steady light rain off an on.
The 'puter did not shut off - it doesn't seem to be affected. And WebTV
didn't shut off nor the VCR I run it through. There might have been some
sort of hiccup in the power line - I don't know. Our other TV connected
to the satellite receiver was not affected at all! There might have been
a little dimming of the lights but to have 2 CRT screens go off like
that at the same time in different parts of the house is just spooky.
Water dripping on the power lines or something? Inside the house? Mouse
chewing on wires???

I really need to get the dust out of the Toshiba.

This reminds me of the blank DVD last week that the Maggie tried to load
but couldn't because it was blank. I got it out of the unit OK, but I
won't try using it again.