Friday, October 5, 2007

Usual oatmeal breakfast. LGBT viz followup. Spent most of the day continuing to set up my new computer. Today the following error appeared for me when viewing a PDF file. "Warning: You have entered an invalid serial number. Please re-install Adobe EPIC_APP and enter in a valid serial number when asked. (OK)". The error appears about 7 seconds after opening a PDF file. In my Windows XP computer, I had installed Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard after having previously installed Adobe Acrobat 8.1 Professional. I suspected this was the cause of the problem since CS3 Design Standard includes Adobe Acrobat. When I installed CS3DS it told me that previous versions of Acrobat would be upgraded or something like that—it implied that everything would be fine ("At install, older versions get upgraded"), but it appears this was not thoroughly tested. I uninstalled Acrobat 8.1 Professional and restarted the computer. Opened a PDF file—problem still happened. I reinstalled only the Acrobat component via the Add/Remove Programs control panel item for Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard. Opened a PDF file—problem still happened. Opened Acrobat and before the error message appeared I selected the Repair option. Opened a PDF file—problem still happened. Uninstalled only Acrobat via the Add/Remove Programs control panel. Restarted the computer. Installed only Acrobat via the Add/Remove Programs control panel. Restarted the computer. Problem solved. Today while rotating the Samsung SyncMaster 940T monitor I have on my desk the Kensington lock simply fell out of the the lock slot. I thought I must have put the lock on imperfectly or inconsistently, so I found the key and reattached it, but the slot which holds the lock is clearly made entirely of plastic and the edges had a little bit of wear to them. While the lock was (supposedly) securely attached, I worked the lock back and forth and within a few seconds it popped out of the slot. It really did not require any force—just a rocking back and forth. Maybe I will make a video and post it to YouTube kind of like that bicycle lock that could be compromised with a Bic pen. Reseated RAM in the Mac Pro—now it sees 2 GB instead of 1 GB, but I have 5 GB installed—weird. Helped Eric troubleshoot problems with his network connection. I figured out the RAM issue. I got OS X to see all 5 GB of RAM by rearranging and reseating the simms. On the Windows side, Windows XP is limited to seeing 2 GB of RAM, but if you edit the boot.ini file you can make it see 3 GB of virtual memory and that's the best it gets. Installed lots of apps. Uninstalled Netscape 9.0b3 and installed Netscape 8.1.3 for Lucia to resolve continuing Software Update Failed problems. Reported problems with Eric's network connection to OAAIS and Robert W. Dinner with Nate and Jen at Town's End (2 Townsend Street). Chris was home feeling ill. We talked about noisy children in public and the parents who ignore them, snack eating in movie theaters, Santa Cruz, instant message identities and usage, grantwriting, siblings, roller coasters, mono, Ketchikan, Jen's amazing newsreading habits, China, Hong Kong, significant others. Before driving Nate home, Jen dropped me off at Montgomery Station where luckily I caught the last direct train back home. Watched Heroes 201 on the web. I like the new player, but the sound was choppier than before in some places, especially in the last 2 minutes where it was critical. I'm also not able to watch full screen as smoothly as before but this might be due to my aging, slowing computer. Claire's mom doesn't have the same energy as she did last season—is it the same woman playing her? I'm beginning to think that one of the writers was emotionally scarred by the lead cheerleader in his/her (probably her) high school. This continuing concept that lead cheerleaders are one-dimensional and stereotypical cold bitches is rather tiring as well as Claire's new friend being yet another dopey-cute white male. Why couldn't it have been a non-Caucasian male? Or why can't they have a young proto-lesbo-or-bi-gal develop an interest in her? That would be a supernice twist which would generate controversy and pump ratings and further the gay agenda all at once. Or they could have the protolesbo be the lead cheerleader—that would make people stop and think for a few seconds. Maybe the writers are too fearful of identifying the show with gay culture because people who can't think will realize (be told) how many concepts in the show mirror what it's like to be a sexual minority and then (hollywood fears that) ratings will drop and civilization will end. The only clearly queer character in the first season was Claire's male friend who might have been gay or bi, but I doubt we'll see him in the show again soon just based on the storyline. We didn't even see him in a romantic relationship—he was only the geeky, supportive queer friend. My Halloween costume arrived. It's from the Gymboree 07 GY Fall 1 collection. I tried it on, and I like it; it will be quite fun to wear, especially in situations with controlled lighting. (sigh) Yes, I'm wearing clothes from Gymboree, and yes, I did say controlled lighting. You'll see, just wait. It's nothing too fancy.