7/16/09

Well, I was all prepared to tell y'all that the music transfer worked after all. Before I left yesterday I set the old laptop to work downloading the music files to the micro flash thingy again. I came in this morning and it was done. I transferred it to the new laptop and gave it a try. It worked! Then I had to leave to set up a town hell meeting. When I got back to the desk I tried to access the music files again. Here’s what it is doing. When you open a folder containing music files, if you put the cursor over a file, don't click or anything just rest it there, then the music starts playing. OK, I can live with that. However, as soon as you move the cursor, it mutes everything. Everything. Every mother fucking thing. EVERYTHING! It won't play music. It won't play sound on DVDs. It won't play the warning beeps and chirps when you screw something up. It won't make any sound at all until you reboot. That was why I ditched Tiny and Flaccid goddamn it! After playing with it for a while, and rebooting three times, I finally erased all the music files from the hard drive and said “fuck music” again. John suggested I download i-Tunes or something. Yeah, saying “fuck music” is easier. On the plus side, I did get the “Backspace” button to start working on Firefox. I had to Google “Firefox backspace” and read a few useless search results before finding the instructions. Apparently some people like the “Backspace” and some do not so Mozilla gives Juan the option to set it up however he wants. I don't remember the exact process but you enter some special secret GI Joe code in the address bar and it brings up the (I'm going to use this phrase even though it might not be the right one) source code for Firefox. Once in there you are warned that you really shouldn't be there messing around. It will allow said messing though if you click the “I know what I'm doing and promise to be careful” button. No seriously, that is what the button said. I shit you not. When you are in the (see above parenthetical statement) source code, you go to a line... um, I don't remember exactly but it was something like “backspace_action” and change the “0” to a “2” or vice versa. Now it works and I can use “F11” for full screen and toggle back to the previous page with reckless abandon. Yeah yeah, shut up. I know there is probably a similar “fix” for the music issue. Perhaps one day I'll find it. Until then, “fuck music.” You know, the more I think about it, the less sure I am about calling where I was “source code.” It was probably more likely just a settings menu sort of place. Meh, who cares? The “Backspace” key works now, that’s all that matters to me. Pat sent me a message, probably in response to reading yesterday’s rant, saying that “Alt” + “arrow” key combinations will take Juan back and forth in Firefox. [ Dang that's cool... You can also right click on a blank spot on the page and it pulls up a menu that says Back and Forward... - SM ] I may give that a bash tonight. Yeah, I'm not holding my breath that we’ll get to the shop this evening. Obviously, or I wouldn't be writing a rant today, duh. OK, here’s another thing that’s bugging me a bit, I may have to lose the “tap to click” feature on the touch pad thingy. It doesn't work every time when I want it to, yet does throw in a click from time to time when I don't. Again, it will be another thing I'll need to get used to but I think I can do it. OK, car time. John asked if he was talking me into selling Lil' Wiggly or if I actually wanted it to go. I said he was talking me into it right now but if I had another Datsun going it wouldn't be as big a deal. Talking me into it and then putting on the wheels and tires and lowering it would be the thing that really hurt. If I have it for a while, looking good and all, it won't be as bad seeing someone else driving it. Yes, I'll probably be jealous of it, but it won't be as bad. So, having said all of that, we might be going to look at an 810 Wagon at Possum Kingdom Lake this Saturday. If that pans out as a good driver for John, I'll keep Lil' Wiggly and all will be right with the world. If it doesn't, well, we’ll see. John wants to buy Lil' Wiggly and having it out of my fleet might light the fire under me to get George going. We still need to swap carburetors on Shichi, but George is next in line after that. Well, I say that. If John gets this 810 Wagon, and it turns out as cool as I imagine it might, that might light the fire under me to get that Z-20 into Barbecue Bob. We shall see. By the way, since Open Office doesn't recognize an apostrophe in the same way it does a space, it won't capitalize the first word of a sentence if there is said punctuation. Therefore, I'm afeared I'm going to have to start saying “We shall see” instead of “We’ll see” as my go-to... summation... sort of thing... word... to have. I know, it is gooder English talking to say it that way anyway. I ain’t never said I talk good English no how. Anyhoo, I guess I'm all ranted out for the day. Perhaps y'all will get this tonight if we don't go to the shop and I feel like bringing the laptop home. We shall see.