Month: March 2004

Microsoft Reader

I’m very frustrated with Microsoft Reader. I wanted to start reading The Subtle Knife, book two of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, today. My little Pocket PC would not cooperate. First, MS Reader would just give me errors. Uninstalling, reinstalling, reactivating — nothing worked. Eventually, the device wound up getting stuck in such a way that I could not reset it, no way, no how. I’ve got it going again, after flipping the “last-ditch” switch that wipes the memory completely, restoring it to factory defaults. I’ve got it working again, but really I shouldn’t have to spend more than an hour just trying to get to the point where I can read a book. Back to paper, dang it.

Civic

I just got the 90,000 mile service done on my Civic, and it cost almost as much as my new laptop. I console myself with the fact that this is pretty much the ONLY service I’ve had done on this car since I bought it, at 49,000 miles. Also, the laptop was refurbished, hence not that expensive. Still, it’s going to be a bigger than usual credit card bill this month!

coffee

A have a little bag of coffee labelled “Cafe Noisette”. Now, I wasn’t sure what “noisette” meant, so I looked it up.: “A small round piece of meat, especially loin or fillet of lamb, veal, or pork.” Huh? Oh wait, meaning #2: “Made or flavored with hazelnuts.” That makes more sense.

new notebook computer

I’ve been thinking about buying a new notebook computer. I don’t absolutely need one, but the old one is getting a little dated. I’ve been thinking that maybe I’m jumping the gun, and the old one ought to hold me for another year, but I just checked, and I bought it in January 2001, so it’s more than three years old now. And I bought it refurbished. So, yep, it’s about time.