Okay, so I now have video capture software. Must ... not ... get ... sucked ... in ....

But that let me upload this little clip of a technology misfire from a broadcast last Saturday:

Okay, so I'm not actually all that sad. But I have a new computer, and a couple of things about it confuse me, so I'm hoping someone out there can answer.

- Dell, in its infinite wisdom, thinks I don't need to be able to page-down or page-up one-handed. I'm sure there's a way to remap the keys so that I can just use, say, [RightCtrl][DownArrow] instead of [Fn][DownArrow] to page down, but I haven't been able to find anywhere that explains it in very simple language. If I'm going to be editing the registry -- which I suspect I am -- I need really clear instructions.

- Why does Dell tell me I was given a 60GB hard drive but Windows tell me the drive's total size is 46GB? Is that a normal thing, or did I get cheated?

Dell also seems to think I wouldn't normally need the comma, period, slash, or question mark keys to be easy to use, but that's one of those mysteries for the ages rather than something I think anyone can help me fix. Pfeh.

I sent a $6 check for the repair/replacement of my headphones. They confirm that they really think they were paid $6, but my bank only charged my account $4.

I was very late to lunch because my meeting was not the time I thought it was, and they were putting all the food away but let me take back a spoon and grab stuff from the open pasta bar that was today's special. I asked whether the sauces had meat stuff in them, and they were very nice with their speculations about maybe chicken stock in this one and possible cross-contamination from the meatballs and such, so when I paid they knew I hadn't taken any of the meat products ... so they only charged me $3 instead of $4.50, even though no price difference had been advertised.

I would think I might have a get-rich-quick scheme to leverage here, but $3.50 over two hours isn't going to make me a millionaire. Still, unexpected money, so yay.

---

So, I don't really like reading stuff at ff.net, because the whole chapter thing drives me up a tree (among other reasons). I'd rather read (and bookmark) stories in a single page. Yet, thanks to LJ's limits, I had to post my own story in three parts. Oh, the injustice of it all!

Anyway. Someday I'll have my very own website, but this is not that day. However, now that I have a Dreamwidth account, I was able to put the story into a single page: Displacement. (Yeah, I renamed it from "The Longest Three-Week Day" because I hated that title ... but it's still referenced in all copies because it seemed rude to remove it completely weeks after "publication".) So, um, there you go, anyone who's interested.

In other Rodney/Donna news: I did have a sketchy idea for a sequel, but the whole thing was just AMTDI, and I didn't want to write that. I think I've figured out what I want to do with it, though. It's a slight little thing (says the woman who got her "48 Hours"-based story's anticipated wordcount wrong by two orders of magnitude), but it might be fun. Whenever I write it, that is -- which won't be soon, I don't think. Not with this full-time job thing I have. But having a storyline is at least progress, so yay!

In other vaguely related news: Surfing delicious.com for links to one's own identity is a trip.

---

If MSWord isn't lying to me, I wrote over 5400 words this weekend. In one fic.

::is gobsmacked::

... of course, it's all a passage that was meant to amount to "he stormed out of the facility in a huff and never looked back", in a fic I thought would be about 2k words total ... and for which the part that was meant to be the significant majority is currently some 3600 words and most of that section isn't even there yet, since McKay and Carter are refusing to cooperate with me in that scene, and Daniel is suddenly demanding a scene himself ....

Sigh.

The real kicker? This all started as an intended drabble. The traditional kind, the one that's precisely 100 words.

When will I ever learn that I! cannot! write! short! form!?

---

So let's say I've gone into my Dreamwidth profile and chosen one of the very few style options. And let's say for some reason that style setting only applies to my "profile" and "post" pages. And let's also say that I'd love to be able to make my DW journal look like my LJ journal but I don't want to (take the time to) learn the style-building tools. Anybody out there know how to set that up so that I just have to click a few things or follow really really explicit directions to define that?

I mean, my LJ style isn't perfect, but I tweaked for a bit and I'm happy enough with what I have, and I'm not wild about DW Orange ....

Since my flist is filled with brilliant people, I figured someone here might know this.

Events pass into news, and then into history, and then into legend. In the process, the story changes: characters split and combine, gaining or losing attributes, and the narrative rearranges according to the needs and mores of the tellers. George Washington chops down the cherry tree and cannot tell a lie; ordinary people become heroes and villains. The fairy tales turn from cautionary instruction to fantasy. The true roots of the stories become cloudy. Myths from differing cultures seem wildly different on the surface but can be traced to a common source.

What's that process or phenomenon called? (The changing of legends over time or the academic term/analysis of differing legends with common roots, either one.) It's not memetic mutation, I know that much ... but the idea isn't all that different. Is there a specific term that would be used by an anthropologist or archeologist to describe how (possibly) real actions and events turned into our legends of Merlin and Camelot, for example?

---

Whoa.

Dude.

I did not see that coming.

---

Wait, what? No, seriously, what? That's ... but ... what?!

IE8 doesn't suck. Like, actively doesn't suck. Some cool new plug-ins, the ability to turn off the 500 annoying extra things pretty easily, improved speed, intelligent new tabbing options ... who would have guessed? Too intrusive with the "helpful suggestions" at the address and search bars, but hey, overall, that's not so bad. Thanks to ninjamonkey73 for encouraging me to disregard my "never take anything new from Microsoft" policy this once!

I don't like Junior Announcer Days.

The mentor-program kid they picked to read the Sox lineup can't actually pronounce the player names and just called Rocco Baldelli "Rico Baldy".

Maybe I don't hate Junior Announcer Days.

The magic broadcast team of Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo is why I watch baseball. They get silly together, which I adore, without getting stupid. Remy is the perfect color commentator for me, explaining what's going on without obsessing over the perfectly obvious, without making me want to ice-pick my own ears to escape the inanity (Joe Morgan, Tim McCarver), and without explaining simple plays with football analogies (ESPN guy I'm glad to forget).

Most of the fill-ins have been acceptable or at least entertainingly bizarre, and Eckersley's pitcher-wonkishness is working for me, but it's just not the same.

Get well, RemDawg. We'll wait for you.

It's not summer, but the past few days have been summer weather here in New England. Going from "why is it still snowing??" to "hand over the frozen lemonade, stat!" is whiplasherrific, but I'm used to it.

Summer weather means ice cream trucks. The usual neighborhood truck has a simple bell that the driver rings only as he enters the apartment complex across the way. I really like that truck. Apparently a new truck has decided to try the neighborhood, and this one plays calliope-style music. I am not pleased.

At least it isn't "Turkey in the Straw", I guess.

For the majority of my flist that doesn't care about my recent fanfic obsession, feel free to move along.

sg_prompts periodically posts new prompts for the SGverse. I was lucky that they were prompting "crossover" just as I finished my crossover fic, so I've been tracking them.

I'm unsurprised to learn that I don't really seem able to write to prompts generally, or to a schedule, or in any kind of remotely short form. Still, seeing what other people come up with is definitely interesting.

However, the current prompt is right up my alley: Post a WIP. Details are at that link, but basically, the idea is to post part of a WIP you want to jump-start, partly to get back into it and partly to get the boost of feedback.

I think this is a cool idea, but the community has been low-traffic lately, so I wanted to make sure folk knew about it. While I'm here ... I don't think I should post all my WIPs, and I figured I might as well see if anyone who follows me cares which one I go with, so: poll!

Poll #1389264 WIP it
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which WIP should I post?

Dear plot-starting part of my brain: Shut up a bit, yeah?

Let's review the tally, shall we?
o Vast original-fic, dead in the water.
o One completed fanfic.
o FFWIP: The started-first darkish large McKay angst thing that isn't even a quarter done.
o FFWIP: Darker AU of that WIP (just shoot me now), also large, not even halfway done.
o FFWIP: The short-for-me Sheppard-whump that I've been nibbling away at this week.
o FFWIP: The larger-than-I-expected kidfic (... yeah), also not even quarter-done.
o FFWIP: The should-be-short (for me) "McKay and Keller are what!?" that's stuck.
o FFWIP: The way-dark multiverse fanfic that is also quarter-to-halfway.
o FFWIP: The crossover AMTDI "needs a plot!" sequel to the finished fanfic.

That doesn't mean I was looking for another plot. Really. Seriously. No, I don't care if it was just a passing thought for the Writercon100 drabble fest. Because -- remember how I can't do short? Yeah.

The weather's nice for a damn change; I'm gonna go biking. And I'm a beta this weekend/coming week. And Winry's sick. And the DVR is getting full. And that day job stops for no man fic. I don't want to add "FFWIP: Darkish Carter-teaches-McKay-a-lesson, unstarted" to the list!

So, in summary, shut up. Or at least pitch in on those stalled plots first.

No love,
Me

---

What. The. Hell.

Does this trace back to that nutjob who triggered the Great LJ Strikethrough Clusterf*ck or something? And regardless of whether it does, how did Amazon not learn anything from that?

Are there no retailers out there I can give my business to?

Looks like I'll be shopping elsewhere, at least for the time being.

It's been in the 60s the past couple of days. I have had crocuses and teeny-tiny irises. I have hyacinth and daffodils blooming. It is mid-April. It should most emphatically not be snowing.

New England is stupid.

That is all.

So, that was a cheery ep. Also? DO NOT WANT!!! Noooooo!!! Whyyyeeeee?!?!

And that's all I have to say, as I don't want to spoil anyone.

A few years ago, my brother left his gaming systems with me while he was moving. I got to like the Karaoke Revolution games (PS2) and Pikmin 2 (Gamecube). I hadn't bought my own system since then because I don't want to get into the whole multiple-systems thing and couldn't find one platform that would suit.

When I found out I could get both Pikmin (redesigned for Wii) and Rock Band 2 on Wii, I decided to spring for it.

I tried the Wii Sport things first. I've heard the horror stories of people in their 40s trying the games out and being told their estimated fitness age is in the 80s. I went through the eval and it estimates sedentary, lazy old me at ... 30. Hee.

Pikmin is fun, though it turns out I prefer Pikmin 2.

RB2 is also fun. It turns out that if I have the guide vocal way up, I can fake my way to a pretty good score in "medium" mode for most songs, even if I've never heard it before. I haven't tried Panic! at the Disco or anything like that yet, mind, but just generally speaking, I'm consistently scoring 94% or higher -- even when using Hard mode for songs I do know. I'm not saying it sounds good, but it scores well.

RB2 guitar is another story. I suck. I played trumpet in junior high, and that was one hand, and I was ... okay at it; but I had to do a piano lab for a music class in college, and it did not go well. I can't seem to coordinate both hands for an instrument. I was so bad at RB2 guitar in easy mode on a warmup song that the wireless node ran away. Seriously -- I played once, I put away the bits, I saw the wireless node later when I was looking for the "nunchuck" controller, and now I can't find it. I put all the bits in one place when they're not attached to the Wii, so I can't figure where on earth it would be. It must have left under its own power, for self protection.

I don't even want to know how bad I'd be at RB2 drums. Two hands and a foot?? Yeah, right.

I also went ahead and bought Donkey Kong from the Wii downloads channel. And ... dude. I used to play that game. I thought it was cool. It is so lame. I know gaming systems have massively evolved since then, but ... still.

I'm thinking about buying Wii Fit next. For the exercise, you know. And maybe DDR. ... Shut up.

"SciFiSyFy: Because there is no 'I' in 'team'. So we're taking it out of 'sci-fi', too."

Honestly, that's a better explanation than any they've offered. (I've ranted at length elsewhere.)