I have decided to do something with it finally. I must say that it’s harder than I thought. Coming up with the story ideas are easy, compared to fine tuning what I already have down on paper.

   I have rewritten the first paragraph several times, but think I have it much stronger now. I have also worked the storyline so it is much smoother, removing one part because it’s not needed anymore and have better coordinated character entrances and exits. Overall, I’d say I should have the final draft by the end of the fall.

   For those of you who haven’t heard, the story is about a widow with three high school aged children who go on a special vacation. A privately funded research facility gives this family a chance to spend time with their father who passed away 5 years earlier.  Special crystals in the story have the ability to channel memories into an interactive hologram of sorts.  However, during the visit with the “mirror” (as the image is called); instead of the automaton they expect – the husband/father actually comes back to visit with his family briefly.  It’s a glimpse of the other side. It blends technology and science with the supernatural. I have really tried to make it as real as possible.  Although science-fiction/fantasy, I think many people might be able to identify with the characters in the story because I believe it taps into some universal emotion. I just hope I do the story enough justice.

It rocks!

  Armed with Norton Antivirus, Spybot Search & Destroy & Ad-Aware;  it still took a few hours…..and it came back.

  It’s such a massive scam. It infects your computer, notifies you that the spyware is trying to access the internet, doesn’t allow you to stop it unless you “register” the software. Click on the “register” button and you get to pay a one-time fee to have the spyware removed. Such a deal. What a bargain.

Freaks.

  Last night, I’m minding my own business when – ALL OF A SUDDEN – my computer gets jumped by spyware. I click on a webpage and suddenly my computer reboots. No error messages. No warning. BAM!

  Once it reboots, I start getting warnings about how I am infected and how I can click on XP-like pop-up warnings appear. My computer gets all sluggish, taking a minute or so to refresh screens, and my Internet connection is even slower. I find out TASK MANAGER has been disabled by the Administrator. HEY WAIT?!?! I AM the administrator. Things look bad.

   I find out I can get into the registry, but can’t disable what just got installed. I can’t kill the processes. None of my spyware removers work. My anti-virus was also disabled.

   Luckily, I have another computer with untainted access to the Internet to find a fix. I find this website . I download a removal program on my infected computer, boot into SAFE MODE, and run it. About 10 minutes later, my computer has been cleaned off.

I have recently gotten into watching PAINKILLER JANEon the Sci-Fi channel. After seeing BLOODRAYNE, I thought I’d give another KRISTANNA LOKEN movie a try. The trailers for it looked interesting. Interesting, in guy movie talk, means it has explosions, car chases, gunshots and women in it. Anyway, it looked like it would be more complicated than anything ANGEL BORIS would attempt, so I TIVO’d it.

Overall, I’d say it’s a supernatural version of a Mickey Spillane-like narrative. Except, it’s way better than Stacey Keach (a.k.a. Mike Hammer) could pull off. Anyway, I like it so far…..and subsequently, decided to have another Kristanna Loken moment.

If you, too, would like to have a Kristanna Loken moment; click here! You could have a bunch of them. Evidently, Ms. Loken had started her career as a model, so there are plenty of picture to choose from.

  Thunderstorms decided to make our main home computer go the great big Blue Screen up in the sky. Luckily, our childrens’ computer (also known as our back-up computer) allowed us e-mail and Internet access.  However, I have enough components around here that should be enough to get everything up and running again.

    Since it appears to be a missing or corrupt file, I should also be able to pull all the old data off the hard drive. Hook up the old hard drive as slave to the health hard drive as master and I will be overclockin’ with Dokken.

x0×0x0

 p.s. I am gearing up for a special surprise on my blog in the near future. Stay tuned for more info.

   For those of you who don’t remember this primal form of word processing, it involves a large cumbersome device as big as a suitcase….oh, wait….with gas prices these days, who goes traveling anymore. Uh, anyway, it’s really big.

   It is supposed to put symbols on a paper. The problem occurs when your big clunking fingers hit the wrong keys; you have to start over again. There is no delete key.

   That is your history lesson today. Class dismissed.

1) The book, Steal This Computer Book 4.0

2) The book, 2007 Writers Market

3) A bottle of (really good) homemade Boilo.

4) Two 1 lb. bags of Original Blend Dunkin Donuts coffee.

5) 3 Steno pads (for my writing)

6) a coffee cup with two penguins on it that says “Dad, You’re so cool!”

7) An Olympus Digital Voice Recorder VN-2100 to record thoughts on the book I am working on.

8 ) a 4 port USB 2.0 expansion card

9) a USB to IDE/SATA cable

10) the book, The Elements Of Style

It all started when Satan decided to poke some major holes in my hot water heater. I had no idea that the Dark Lord had such a nefarious interest in appliances, but I spotted his handiwork early one morning. Here He is, posing with my hot water heater. I don’t know about you, but He seems a little Christopher Lowell to me.

Things were already stressful to begin with. I have been spending most of my work hours, setting up a new Terminal Server. The Dell PowerEdge we have is a serious monster. Quad processors with 6 massive fans to cool off the whole deal. It’s big. Big like a pickle. Here is something like it.

Did I also mention that I am also studying for my A Plus certification. While I have a great deal of experience, I really want to do well on the test. I tend to do better when DOING something, and some times don’t test well. Here is a copy of what the book looks like. Much like other books, with pages and everything…..only lots of acronyms and references to dot matrix printers, bus speeds, duplexing, and all that other good schtuff.

My day went EXACTLY as planned, except for the supermodels, finger foods, Fresca, Danish masseuse, the back rub,limo ride, Dutch Loaf sandwich, Depeche Mode performance, ordering supplies,or the trip to the Chinese restaurant. It was probably just a logistical problem.

If Adriana Lima did show up in a limo, I bet she’d wear something like this….

Probably not this way.

You might start with using a vacuum cleaner, maybe if you’re careful, compressed air.