My "nap" didn't start until about 21:00 last night, then I slept until 04:00... got up, made coffee and started checking out the web for CD-RW drives. All of the ones that sounded like what I wanted were... out of stock. Ahhh, the hell with it.
They are tearing up the street again today, but this time it's affecting us. They're replacing the water mains so that we won't have red water any more. Nice of them, everyone in the neighborhood has been complaining for years. Even when the Mayor was out neighbor, he complained vainly along with the rest of us.
But... the point is, they're making a helluva lot of noise. I fear that I will get no sleep this afternoon at all. They knock off at 17:00, so I might get some then.
I spent an hour or so working on the yard again, most of that fixing the weed-whacker. The damned thing is almost 20 years old, it's a Craftsman, the damned thing just won't break enough to persuade me to buy a new one. It'll probably go another ten years.
As they are digging out front, the whole house shakes. Then there's a guy with a blade going along behing them as they lay the pipe, and a guy going behind him with a dirt-tamper, which also shakes the house.
So... about 10:30 this morning I just couldn't stand it any longer.
I went to Best Buy and bought a CD-RW, a HP CD-Writer Plus 8110i. I also bought 10 CD-Rs for $0.99 (after the mail-in rebate) and some RWs. Those suckers are somewhat expensive. Anyhoo, the thing will write at 4X on CD-R and 2X on CD-W, so the price wasn't much more than I could find on the net... about $10 more, which would cover the mailing charge. So I don't feel bad about it at all.
I also broke down and got Windows98. I know, I know... but I thought, what the hell. And when I start thinking what the hell I get into trouble, don't I?
Six weeks or so ago I ordered two 1.2G drives on eBay, and I received one a week later. Karen threw away the packing stuff, and I thought that they'd backordered the other one. Well, last week I thought that I'd better check on it...
called the company, and the guy told me that I'd recieved two drives. I told him the story and he was pretty skeptical about it...You got half of what you ordered and you're just now getting around to checking on it? But he said that he would check the charges on the package... each drive weighed three pounds, and he'd let me know...
He never called back, and I figgered it was another case of Doug getting screwed... but the UPS guy shows up this morning with the other drive! So, cool, I avoided getting screwed.
So I got WIN98 installed, pretty easily, I might add. Worked as advertised, so far. Lot more gadgets that WIN95, I'm kinda exploring to see what's what here. I'm also trying to figger out if I want to try to install the CD-RW today or if I want to wait until tomorrow...
15:52...
Yeah, I knew that I couldn't resist. The CD-RW is installed and working properly...I think. Haven't done anything yet but format a CD-RW for my C:Drive backup.
The workers out front are gone, and the water is on again. They did have some problems... they severed the old water main accidentally, and they had to stop and fix that. Their ditch filled up with water, of course, so they had a pump going. It'll be nice to have clear ice cubes again... and clean water to shower in.
Yesterday was Mom's birthday, her 81st, and I forgot to call her. I'm truly ashamed of myself. I'll call her tonight. However, my Karen did mail her a card last week. I sure do appreciate her... she remembers shit like that, and I don't.
And now it's time for a shower and a nap and then work.