I made her cry. I felt horrible. She knows I hate to hear her cry. I didn’t know what else to do, though.

Today I stayed late at work and ended up blowing out an onboard IDE controller (an expensive mistake). This is after lying on my back for about an hour fucking with the internals of this one PC. I was so mad. I got a call on my cell phone, but ignored it since I thought it was probably Joseph calling about plans after work. When I listed to the message a few minutes later, I couldn’t help but smile. No matter how badly my day is going, I can’t help but smile when I hear Danielle’s voice.

We talked for a couple of hours, and after a while, it started happening. Ever since she told me she no longer has more-than-a-friend feelings for me, I’ve tried to suppress my feelings for her in hopes of salvaging the possibility of an excellent friendship. It’s worked for the most part, kind of. I mean, I’ve been able to do it thus far, but every now and then it starts to kill me that we’re not together. My mind becomes filled with what-ifs, and all of my weaknesses and inadequacies are mentally brought to my attention. I start to question myself, and then think less of myself for being me. Anyway, while it makes me smile to hear her voice, and while I’m sure she means well, I end up feeling sad and regretful about half of the times we talk.

So my options were either to continue to suffer or to say something. I chose the latter. I tried to explain that as much as I’ve tried to be just friends, and as much as I love hearing from her, I can’t help but have feelings for her and have feelings of regret when I think about us not being together.

She started asking if this meant we couldn’t talk anymore or if this meant she couldn’t come visit anymore and whether or not this meant we couldn’t vacation together, etc. And then she started crying. It really made me feel horrible. I didn’t mean that we should never speak to each other again. I just can’t continue to do this to myself every other week. I didn’t know what else to do.

There’s an article on Slashdot that really scares me. Basically, Microsoft is building the newest version of Windows (codenamed Longhorn) so that you can’t play high quality video without buying a special monitor that supports their copy-protection technology. What bullshit. The good news is that Longhorn really sucks so far. There are no exciting new features that I’ve found.

This was written by a major Microsoft Windows fan about the latest leaked version of Longhorn:
“It gets worse. Apple’s Mac OS X, recently upgrade to version 10.4 (Tiger) is more than “good enough.” In many ways, OS X is simply better than Windows, especially for experienced computer users, and Tiger rubs Microsoft’s nose in the embarrassment of shipping a key Longhorn feature–instant desktop search–a full year ahead of the software giant. That’s right folks. We already knew that Microsoft was facing smaller, nimbler competitors. But those competitors are now starting to outperform Microsoft in the feature department too. It’s time for Redmond to stop pretending Linux and OS X don’t exist.”

If you’d like to try the leaked version of Longhorn, check here or here. A BitTorrent client is required, if you dont’ already have one.

If you’d like to try an alternative to Windows that truly doesn’t suck, the install CD for Ubuntu (I promise it doesn’t suck) can be downloaded here.

So, I needed my Delta Skymiles PIN so I could find out whether or not Hurricane Dennis caused me any flight delays… One problem… I haven’t typed my PIN in almost a year because it’s been saved in my Firefox browser, and my laptop wasn’t around for me to use. So, out of frustration, I created a firefox extension that displays the stored passwords in the “View Saved Passwords” dialog in preferences, instead of (deceptively, IMHO) displaying only the user and host and providing a button to remove. Quite frankly from a security/privacy perspective I have no problems with this approach, it’s only the naming of the button that pisses me off, since I’m sitting there trying to get at a password only to be repeatedly confronted with a button that says “View Saved Passwords” which in fact, does everything BUT.

Click here to download Password Viewer.

Once installed, the View Saved Passwords button should now work as advertised. If you’d prefer to keep your privacy, just remove it again.

I finally took some time off work last weekend and flew down to Orlando. It was great seeing Batten again… Overall, I had a blast. However, I ended up leaving my cell phone somewhere. I have no idea where… I called several places and it’s nowhere to be found. Major bummer since I paid I-don’t-even-want-to-think-about-how-much for it. Oh well. I couldn’t get used to the swivel form-factor anyway. I think I’m going to go back to the candy bar style phone that I’m used to. The phone I’m looking at right now is the K750i. It’s a little smaller and the features are almost identical except that it’s lacking EDGE but has a 2.0 Megapixel camera (as opposed to 1.3MP) and includes an FM radio. Since EDGE isn’t available in my area(s) yet, I really don’t need it, and a higher quality camera will be very nice to have. Oh yeah, the K750i supports up to 4GB of flash memory as opposed to the 256MB that the S710a supported, which means I’ll be able to carry around several MP3 albums at once.

If anyone reading this has experience with the K750i, I’d leave to hear some comments.

“Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, “It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”

– Babe Ruth

“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day. ”

– Lyndon B. Johnson

“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.”

– Paul Hornung

“24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.”

– H. L. Mencken

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.! In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”

– Cliff Clavin on Cheers