Tackling Tickets

These are all of the things that I mean to do in the next short span of time. The plan is to run down the list and generate a file for each issue, then either prepare a note on my schedule to remind me of the time for action, or write another note expanding on the task at hand, or mark it as thoroughly completed. First priority is to fulfill my government-mandated obligations, I have two tickets on the books.

• Judge in Avon

Court date early in November, some time before the court date in the town of Henrietta. This was a simple speeding ticket, 75 in a 65. The officer told me that I was actually going 88 according to his laser, but the ticket was actually written for 75.

My own observation of the speedometer indicated my speed was between 80 or 82 MPH, though admittedly my first reaction upon seeing the reaction of the cloaked state trooper to my passing was not to check the speedometer, but to reduce my speed and prepare to pull over.

• Pay Bills (Check Bank Balance)

Do it now. Nothing to say about this.

• Set up Home Office at 204-1

No Go. Moving out of 204-1, as I'm still not sure how to pay the November rent. I'm about comfortable and moved into 149, but the arrangement with the computers and the furniture is not really finalized to this point.

• Clean out Trunk of Car

Still got a bunch of crap in it. The last thing I want when traveling over a border is to have to endure a lengthy, protracted search. If they are going to search me for guns or drugs, I'd rather make it easy for everybody involved!

• Take out the Trash

We generate more trash than anything in the world. I didn't generate half this much trash before I started cooking. Make an extra effort to minimize waste food and save on trash output. Also remember, if you're going to empty the trash, replace the bag so the next person who tries to use the trash doesn't have a conniption!

• Do the Dishes

Finally got everybody to participate in doing the dishes, thanks to delicious food. The trick is a repeat performance, and the better trick still is to make it sustainable. I do have high hopes for 149 Waterloo.

• Video Software

Provide a synopsis of tools I've learned that save you from buying expensive packages (both MRR and NRR), enabling content consumption and production for Audio Video geeks.

• HP Warranty Status
  

Fuck HP! I spent at least 3 hours on the phone troubleshooting and the result was they told me there was nothing wrong with the hard drive. I can't afford to drive out and see my dad again next weekend, if the machine is not fixed, I will be spending more of my own time on this issue that has no benefit to me!

End result: I bought a new hard drive and put it into my Dad's computer. A little white lie, I said it was covered under warranty, but really I couldn't stand to spend another 3 hours on the phone with HP to prove that the drive was faulty and get a replacement shipped.

We've got til February to orchestrate a catastrophic provable failure on this drive and get a new one under warranty. Maybe I can get Dad to load it up with porn and keep writing to it over and over again?` It probably will not crash on its own, hooked up in configuration as a secondary drive like it is now.

Would you ever know if videos, instead of system data and configuration files, were losing bytes due to corruption? There's no reason the system should crash because of incoherent data files. Is there any great symbolism to the idea of corrupting pornography? Kind of funny I guess, ha ha ha.

The unhappy conclusion to this story is that my new cheaper HP Slimline does not seem to have user-serviceable parts. I have no idea how to remove the hard drive, and if I had to replace it with another from Western Digital working on my own, I think I would become a slave to the HP warranty timetable. That sounds awful.

• NYS DMV License Plate Replacement for CVP1942 - Stolen?

Paid an $18 fee and spent 2 hours at the Brighton DMV to get the stolen plate replaced with a new set. I lost my cool plate number, and now I don't have the number memorized anymore. Bummer. Would have only been $3 if I had filled out a police report and brought it to the DMV.

English Vocabulary Lesson #2

Lawyers make claims. Well, that's not all there is to it; they also substantiate them, and sometimes defend against them. A plaintiff and a defendant is not exactly the same as an ally and an enemy. In law (and thus in times of war) there must always be two or more parties. In business, and Microsoft will let you know if you just ask nicely, it's really much better for everyone involved if we're all allies. Still, don't let this fact stop you from making claims!

• substance - the stuff of which an object is composed: in schools of thought, the message, central meaning; in rhetorical analysis of software systems I will always insist that the kernel and process scheduler represent the substance of an operating system.
  
• substantial - having a firm basis in reality, and being therefore important, meaningful, or considerable; not imaginary.
  
• substantive - meaty, real, essential. substantive is a grammatical term whose meaning is lost on me. I would have to see some examples, duh, of what do you suppose an non-substantive looks like exactly?
  
• substitution - In theater, the method of understanding elements in the life of one's character by comparing them to elements in one's own life. In a psychologist's office or a business meeting, a defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which an unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion, or object is replaced by one that is more attainable or acceptable.
  
• subsumption - A subsumption is a relation which specifies the relative generality of two concepts; incorporating something under a more general category. For instance: most graduate students are college graduates before becoming graduate students.
  

Recall from Lesson 1: Most cultures proscribe stealing. Some people equate piracy with theft. Some laws and practices place a value on things with no unique identity as an object. Calculus is required to quantify value in such a situation and logically explain this phenomenon.

The question of the day: what differentiates a graduate student from an undergraduate student? The answer, I hope, is all of these administrative theatrics and hazing rituals! I actually didn't wear the cap and gown, nor did I attend my own High School Prom.

More news tomorrow; still, for today the virtual server outage continues! Hard drives are on the way from New Egg, and I will contain my ecstasy at the latest interactions with Microsoft until I can properly explain my position. The instigation continues!