Another study marathon already and it is only eight in the morning. Every source of coffee in the house has been tracked down, including the Maxwell House freeze-dried I bought in North Port (Charlotte) on Xmas Eve last year. The more I research hard drives, the more I come back to the same conclusion I had twenty years ago: two hard drives are better, one for your programs (applications) and another for your data. The data being the larger of the two by any margin you desire. This is in addition to any backup scheme you have in place. I am learning, for now I know that this “D: drive” should be partitioned into as many logical drives as needed to ensure there are no more than 312K of potential wasted space per cluster.
The A+ test disks will run on the HP [where I had trouble running them on the Compaq]. I need a code name for the HP. I guess it is just the “video computer”. I am hitting 100% on the component and installation modules, but still 50% on troubleshooting and various Windows facts. A large part of A+ is convincing students that Windows is the best system ever devised. Prediction time. I predict that Microsoft is in for a tumble. I would like that, because they [MS] program from a standpoint that is “cute” by my standards. They’ve gone crazy with the number of Windows and VBA code. They keep changing for the sake of change – there is usually a different way to doing the same thing in every version of Windows, sometimes significantly different. Tally up ten different versions in ten years. Gates admits that Microsoft borrows good ideas and develops them, as opposed to having good ideas to start with. That represents the ultimate abuse of inherited wealth by preventing others from entering the market using money you never originally worked for yourself.I have not changed my tune on this since 1985. It was obvious that any company endorsed by IBM would skyrocket but Apple was still a viable competitor. I invested in Apple because IBM represented to me the total degeneracy of corporate America. People who worked for IBM had to be clones and practice group-think as a religion. (Alas, I had to sell my tiny Apple investment at a slight loss because I lived in a system that I now realize prevents most working men from ever showing a profit. This happened to me several times before I caught on.) My crystal ball shows MS taking a steep dive caused by some upstart company that refuses to sell out. This company will have a new and simple product which is better than Windows. The competition, Microsoft will find, is no longer publicizing their ideas for Bill to steal, er, I mean borrow (like Xerox) or copy (like GUI), and will charge far higher prices to be absorbed. Both of these diminish Bill’s margins and I see no evidence that MS has the ability to survive that market condition. Gates will sink billions into trying to get back his dominance through advertising and other equally unproductive stunts. A computer in every home, my eye. He means every home that has $300 to spend on his product.
The MS features that tick me most these days: That sound recorder with the ridiculous one minute limit. The install process places thousands of files you never use onto your hard drive. It seems impossible to import a picture with the original aspect ratios into a word document. You cannot directly label the photos. The spreadsheet has to be programmed to add a new file to the bottom of a list. Hot keys and shortcut keys that cannot be disabled.
New learning. Why is static electricity called static electricity? I know. It is the only type of electrical charge that is not the result of moving electrons. It stays in one place, hence, is static. I got the exchanged scanner from Take A Byte y’day. One thing you notice when you go through Hollywood these days is that they have solved the downtown parking problem. At least, it would appear to have been a problem, because they invested money in those Meter Masters that demand you have perfect timing to avoid either double paying or risk being towed. At least half the parking places are free at any given time even on the busiest days. You can now park right at the front door of dozens of recently vacated or bankrupt businesses.
The Hippie called and we went for a major walk on Dania Beach. This is the area severely eroded by the hurricane surges last year. There are a few waterfront houses that did not used to be. The Hippie may have an ulterior motive. He met a girl on My Space, a bulletin, and told her he was 33, tanned and outdoorsy. That is well within the accepted parameters of web age shrinkage, as long as he is prepared that she has done the same. She told him she is a college hippie girl, 23 and new in town and feels she may be too young for him but can’t help being attracted to older men. Gag me with a spoon. Ann Landers says always tell him you are new in town. Translation: she is 30, weighs over 200 pounds, went back to college because there are single men around and her web picture was taken in 1989. I took various shots of the late spring flowers.
I think this must be a school skip out day because the beach for once was crowded with young babes in pairs. It was great but no pictures. High school babes, with their own cars. High school remains the highest ratio of single women to men that most of us ever experience, although I personally did far better in first and second year college. By third year, even I noticed the declining quality of what women were still available Originally I had wanted to take out guitars and learn a few tunes on the beach, actually, in the parks beside the beach because it is already getting savagely hot in the direct sun. Also, sand and expensive guitars don’t mix. There are lots of picnic tables a few yards inland from the dunes that nobody ever uses, and Dania Beach has a far higher class of bum. It is more the classic surf crowd who may actually be out for the sun. Without the guitars we are a couple of beach bums, but it is not all for show either – we have a good reason to learn the tunes besides hoping to meet babes. The Hippie chickened out at the last possible moment and we walked three miles instead. It is the scenic route, south from Dania Beach Park. The Hippie posed for a baby Huey shot, if you can find it near this paragraph. Business has been bad this week and we had hours of free time to catch more sun than we have in months.
The Hippie mentions his high school and early college days with some regrets. He tended to date flirtatious women and blame himself when they left. I was the opposite, if anybody can take a woman away from me, you are welcome to her. Go, just never come back. Although I complain that the well has run dry, of course I still hope I will score with a good one yet. I have the same three criteria as when I was sixteen. I see her, she sees me. If there is not a spontaneous, exclusive and positive reaction, I know it will never work out.
[Author's note 2017: don't underestimate this factor of women who flirt with other men when on a date with you. I have zero tolerance for it, and have walked out on women who do it. It was jealousy when I was a teenager, but has become policy ever since. Don't put up with it, is my advice.]
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