LadyCrimson

That was going to be the thing I suggested next for Giftd...a dvdrom hardware/driver/compatibility issue. Sometimes it's a good idea to swap out the hardware to see if that's it, before going to too much other diagnostic trouble.

I ran out of peanuts so today I learned that squirrels are hilarious fun whilst they eat the oily, all-natural peanut butter spooned onto a little dish. I learned I'm allergic to london plane maple tree (skin itch and sneezing), which our street is completely lined with. And I discovered (an hour ago) that my car battery died so I guess that's what hubby and I are doing tonight. Over the weekend we took a quickie "we wish" look at a very run down but foundation/structurally sound/still crudely livable home in a more valuable housing area that was going for half of its potential value (if fixed up). It's basically being sold for land value only. Would be a crazy good investment or longer-term flip, the kind only contractors would normally risk, but we already bought this house and I don't think 2 mortgages would work. Why do these kind of deals never show up when you're looking/not yet committed? Heh. Maybe my parents would like to go in as partners. Har.

Our 50" is starting to feel too small. And now to pretend to stay on topic, two old pics of the 'certificate' for winning MM7 and MM8 back when I was trying to win the first with all lvl 1's (using only skill points from shrines in the game etc) and the latter for time-speed (game days). The speed one isn't a very great score but was ok for a first try. I don't think I'd even remember how to do it now.

The only problem I had w/games on the TV was sometimes things like inventory and text were harder to read. But graphically playing the game looked fine and fun to be so big (well, compared to a 19" monitor anyway...)

I turned on Casear3 the other day and played through Lugdunum, which is a mid-campaign map that drives a lot of people crazy. I find it challenging fun. Still playing DungeonSiege2 now and then, slowly going through the harder difficulties to see what kind of uber loot drops there, harhar.

A rig like Bokishi's might make me like action/shooters, if only so I could take awesome screenshots. Hey Bok, I can't remember - do you mostly play on a monitor or the bigscreen TV? I need to set up the TV with a pc again. That was fun.

So are you using XP? Going to MS's site and searching "AutoRun" the first thing they recommend is making sure it's turned on: Another possibility regarding XP user rights: There's also a possible issue w/a program called Easy CD Creator. There's also a download called autofix.exe that can check for errors in autorun and maybe fix it, but I won't vouch for it, even if it is made by MS. You'll need the MS verification to download it from MS' official site etc.

The disk will still spin and the HD light may briefly come on as it checks what type of disc it is or whatever it's doing, but as long as Windows doesn't actually try to take an action/prompt you/open a window etc, it's never bothered me as "interference". But I don't usually try to insert discs while I'm in the middle of a lot of other things.

That rarely happens to me, during general CD use, either, so I'm not sure. I think in that menu I was talking about there's a "take no action" option...maybe if you set everything to that, it then wouldn't even open Explorer or otherwise try to prompt you for an action. Course, then I'd guess you have to also make sure the programs you use aren't set to auto-play the extensions they're programmed to associate with, if any.

I don't think it's your imagination... This week I've been suffering from "dry/cold winter air" syndrome, where the sinuses become affected via those shooting pains whenever you breathe, bloody noses, crazily itchy skin, dry eyes and throat etc. Sometimes the sinus pains are so sudden and severe I'm bent over in eye-scrunching agony, especially if you add on quick temp. changes on top of it (outside to heated inside). I don't usually get this very much, so it's kind of weird. Maybe the latest chill-front is extra dry. Or it's the gas wall furnace heater in our new house w/it's intense radiant heating vs. central fan/vented heat we used to have. Whatever the reason, it's been bad. Anyway, I tried hanging wet towels from the ceiling over where the gas furnace heater is, but that didn't alleviate anything. Boiling a pot of water only steams up the kitchen windows like mad, which isn't good. After reading about the pros and cons of retail humidifiers and not liking the sound of any of them, I ended up taking an old electric rice cooker, filling it with water, leaving the lid off, and turning it on for an hour or so now and then. Produces a very wispy light steam, doesn't "sog" up the room/walls and I can put it in any room. Works great. ... my life is currently so exciting.

What OS are you using? I still use XP so I dunno if Vista is different, but if I open Explorer and r-click on the DVD drive letter and select Properties, there's an Autoplay menu where you can choose what action you want to happen depending on the type of content. It seems mostly program related - ie, you can tell it to auto-open movie DVD's with Nero or auto-open music files with WinAmp. By default, it has a "Prompt Me For Action" selected. I don't think this specifically affects games or install programs that try to self-auto-start, tho ... but I've never tried messing with it much, since I've never had a problem with those not starting.

Not a movie but I watched the season ender of Nip/Tuck again to refresh my memory. New season's 1st episode tonight...yay. The show has gone from over-the-top soap drama to way way way beyond that, but for some reason I still love to watch it.

I clicked on that link last night and got lost in the Anyone Can Die trope. All the links and such leading to examples and articles about their examples that lead to articles about the shows that lead to articles about...

I love squirrels. But I can appreciate when they decide to be ornery or troublesome etc., that they'd be a big pain in the arse, like any animal that dares to infringe upon human comfort and convenience. They pretend to be all cute and stuff to get our food, but then watch us from our roofs and make rude arm gestures at us.

Dark Knight - except for Ledger's riveting performance, I thought it was rather "meh." Not bad or anything, just "meh." Of the two, I liked Batman Begins a lot more.

A dozen cows = a flink. I wear size 5 1/2 womens shoes. Your toenails grow much slower than your fingernails.

They can look out the window. I do let 'em outside for a few supervised minutes now and then but not much. I don't like my kitties being run over by cars. :/ Don't like fleas either. heh One day I'll build an outdoor but fenced in cat-run. Hubby's having one of those days. It puts him to sleep. He needs "emergencies" to wake his brain up.

Heh, yeah, they scamper everywhere. And I think he buries most of them. I've never seen a squirrel so obsessed with burying nuts, he really goes to town. I think he'd come to the door every 10 minutes all day long, but I don't want our yard or the neighbors yards being nothing but peanuts so I only give him a handful. Mine are indoor-only, but there's about 6 cats who periodically frequent our yard. The squirrels don't seem very bothered by them. They'll even be aggressive and chase/battle the cats when they get too close, which is funny. But most of the cats here aren't very big - just the 5-7 lb sort.

This one now comes to the door for peanuts. Soon as he gets one, he dashes off, but in a few minutes comes right back for another one. Often I can tap the peanut on the wall and he'll show up almost immediately. I started doing it this way because of too many large birds that would "steal" peanuts out of a dish faster than the squirrels noticed they were there. The squirrel's buddies aren't as brave as this one, but they often dig up the peanuts he buries. So instead of the bread-winner, I guess he's the "peanut winner." The first hour of my morning now consists of sitting by the glass door drinking my caffeine, w/peanuts in my robe pocket. No, I don't try to pet him or anything stupid like that.

Yeah, we saw that not too long ago. It has a few almost-belly laughs, and is overall a cute movie, but it's not as funny as one might hope. But it's silly-entertaining. Got around to taking that Film Addict "test." Result was 55.6% Which surprised me since I don't tend to like sitting through most 30's-50's classics - the style of acting in those days grates on me. But I guess I saw a lot more of them than I thought I did when I was younger/forced to when I was kid, or something. I've seen a lot of the 60's/70's/80's films (and all Alfred Hitch**** movies, apparently). Like others, there's quite a few on that list I've seen bits and parts of, but not all in one sitting, so I had to say "no" on those.

Started my day by shuffling towards the kitchen for my dose of caffeine and slipping on un-noticed cat puke and falling on my arse. It could only get way better from there, and it did. Rain outside, warm fire inside, smells of cooking, and loved ones. Warm fuzzies.

Not a top 10, just some ones I liked: Rob Petrie - The Van Dyke Show Al Bundy - Married w/Children The Odd Couple (both of them) Benson - Soap Data - ST:TNG House - House MD Gil Grissom - CSI: Vegas Columbo KITT - Knight Rider (1980's) President David Palmer & George Mason - 2nd season of 24 Alex and his Dad - Family Ties Underdog! ...I'm sure there's more and better ones but that's all I feel like thinking of right now.

I don't have the system either, but I'd be tempted to buy one just to check this game out.

Oh noes.

On cable this afternoon I watched a 1996 Aussie film called "Dating the Enemy." I turned it on because it had a pre-LA Confidential Guy Pearce and I was curious. But it was one of those tired-plot body-switching movies - guy and gal switch bodies etc. So I didn't expect much but I thought maybe it'd be mildly amusing. Despite a few good jokes that worked (guy in the woman's body having menstrual cramps, stuff like that) it was abysmal...one of those films where the movie stars wished they'd never had to do, I bet.