iPOD nano

Well, I suppose it is time for me to review that iPOD that I bought in... March...
It was, in almost all ways, a vast improvement over my sansa. The nano is smaller, has more storage capacity, and is much easier to organise. iTunes is slow but easy to navigate, a major plus for this lazy, computer-illiterate person. It did take me a bit to get used to it (it's quite a switch from Windows Media Player), but now that I am used to it... It would be hard to go back.
So that's the "basic iPOD stuff." Now on to the "fourth-generation iPOD nano stuff."
As a woman, I have to say it... It's so pretty! All nice, shiny, and black... The glass screen is very pretty, and the size is a definite bonus. With a decent case (cheap online clearance!), I have no fear of breaking it when I bump into a counter at work, and it fits neatly in even my smallest, most impractical pockets. The case and the "hold" button (slider, really) conspire to make it impossible for me to mess things up while it's in my jacket pocket (provided, of corpse, that I actually put it on hold... Nothing is truly "foolproof," as us fools are so darn ingenious).
I was a bit leary of the shake-to-shuffle feature, but it turns out that I had nothing to fear... I only use this feature when I'm alone, since I look, I'm sure, like an idiot. It takes quite a bit of shaking to make it shuffle, thus the iPOD user must flail around violently with complete abandon to make the thing work.
Coverflow is a wonderful thing, provided one has album art. For the most part, I do. But, unfortunately, I still have some kinks to work out in iTunes from the file transfer that took place without my knowledge when I installed iTunes on my computer (it's a Dell... What can I say?). I had a bunch of duplicate files, files that appeared magically in iTunes from a "saved" folder that I did not know existed, and albums on which the album art refuses to show, despite repeated successful "get album art" endeavours.
The games were fascinating to me. The sansa did not have games, and I'm really not much of a gamer- a game of solitaire is good enough for me. Unfortunately, I despise the "draw three" feature of the iPOD solitaire (called "Klondike"), so that one is out. On the other hand, the marble maze game was a blast. I'm still in tutorials (I do have a job, you know...), but it's fun. Vortex, however, was a bit out of my realm. I can play that sort of game online... where the game holds still and has nothing to do with the exact position of my fingers.
Movies... Still working on that. I wanted to put Dune on it for a trip I took a few weeks ago, but oh, no, no free software for microsoft winduhs... Well, there is free software, but it kind of sucked... So movies might just have to wait for my macbook.
That, however, is not the fault of my iPOD. Stupid Dell...
In essence, I like my iPOD :)

Where Is Serena Butler When We Need Her?

Those of us who believe that the machines will develop artificial intelligence and become "thinking machines" now have proof. They are taking over the world... one defenceless old lady at a time. It's not just our computers that are planning to take over the world, torture all humans, and enslave those who survive, it's the so-called "helpful" machines as well.
And it's not just Frank Herbert that foresaw this menace, Battlestar Galactica shares his suspicions. This article proves that their fears are not unfounded! We need Serena Butler, the heroine of the Butlerian Jihad. She inspired humanity to rebel against the thinking machines, to fight them despite the overwhelming odds against them.
I think that I'll smash my computer tonight. It's not worth the risk.
Or I would, if I wasn't addicted to solitaire. There's nothing quite like getting beat by a computer at a game that is designed to match your wits against a deck of (usually poorly shuffled) cards. The euphoria brought on by "beating" the sadistic thinking machine is worth the risk of having such a dangerous thing in my home.
And besides being addicted to solitaire, I'm a fan of wasting time online. How could I do that without a computer?
Serena would be disappointed, but she's a work of fiction. My solitaire games and I should be safe from the jihad.

Close Enough To Spit My Gum On

There are quite a few things/events that are close enough to spit my gum on... Or that feel like they should be but aren't. One of the former is getting an iPod nano, a 6GB upgrade from my SanDisk sansa. Never having had an iPod and having heard mixed reviews about certain models, I was leery of getting one. Hence the sansa. But the rave reviews that my like-minded friends have given me about iPods coupled with the swiftly deteriorating condition of my sansa (it has two cracks in the screen and is out of space) made me reconsider. Then, as something of a final straw, I discovered that the corporation that I work for has a deal with apple. Employees get discounts! That settled it. All I have to do now is wait until a little more money comes in from a non-working source so I can continue saving for my laptop while still getting that iPod.

The laptop is what ought to be getting closer. The problem is that, well, macs are expensive. Worth every penny, to be sure, but expensive nonetheless. This is why I work overtime. Boring, yes. Money-generating, yes. Worth it- duh.

Speaking of laptops, my cousin introduced me to a handy little site - http://www.notebookreview.com

It was a little confusing to navigate at first, and it's nigh
impossible to find your original post, but it can be done,
and was well worth the effort.

And now my computer seems to be trying to bug out on me,
so I shall post now.

Depression

Good-bye, dear readers (even if you don't exist). I'm going to be trapped in a horrid little crevasse between two mountains for two days. There will be no internet for two days.  And, to make matters worse, there is no cell phone reception in this crevasse. At all. 

It was nice enough, once upon a time... Before the ability to text was given to me. 

I'm going to die.

Pray for me, readers. If I don't die, I shall at the very least be suffering from severe withdrawal. Itchy thumbs. Twitchy fingers. 

It really is a nice little crevasse. It's green, wet, and isolated. All excellent traits in a crevasse. But I doubt that I shall be able to get past the no-internet-no-reception issue... 

At least I'll still be able to charge my phone and mp3 player... 

Maybe I should try airplane mode. That would help with the thumb problem...

So Au Revoir. Until the happy day of return to civilisation...

this is the initial burst of blogging

It is highly doubtful that I will continue blogging at this frenzied pace, but I figured that it's like orientation at work. You spend 9 hours staring at a computer screen on the first day. You are expected to remember everything that you read on said computer screen(s). Then you do it again the next day.
Employee orientation sucks. Plain and simple.

Really the only thing that I wanted to say was that... But I think that I will complain about my computer first.
It hates me.
It insists upon signing me out of chat on gmail whenever it gets nervous.
It hides interesting nuggets of knowledge, like how to change themes, from me.
It crashes Firefox at the drop of the proverbial hat.
And, to add insult to injury, it kills me at solitaire.

I'm pretty sure that it's a thinking machine- a stupid, clumsy, worthless thinking machine, but still. If you are stumped by my reference, then read the Dune series by Frank Herbert (and the spin-offs, too). That should help.
It's going to take over the world.
Sleep well...

pre-blog (a bad attempted pun on prologue)

This is my third blog. Ever. And will probably not be my last. The first two, um, stalled (ie, I stopped bothering with the posting nonsense that blogs require). The same will undoubtedly happen for this one.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

The blog's title has to do with my workplace.
And, if you need to know, I'll tell you.
It's simple.

Since you might need to know (here I am speaking to my non-existent readers), I will tell you that I am fond of bad puns that can be followed by sarcastic laughter. I am probably going to write about random stuff that alludes to random stuff, with the odd applicable thing thrown in.

My computer will be a likely topic, as I despise it. My search for an affordable macbook pro will be another.
And work. I will talk about work a lot, hopefully without actually mentioning the company or any details of what I do, because then I would have to kill you.
And killing is messy and expensive. I'd rather buy that macbook pro.