Windows Vista

I installed Windows Vista beta 2 on my laptop last night. I decided to try an upgrade install, which took quite a long while, and left me with a pretty slow and weird system. In particular, the wireless networking didn’t work at all right. (I hadn’t really expected much from that, but I thought I’d try it.)

I punted and did a clean install today, and that went a lot faster and has left me with a much more stable system. I had some inital problems with the wireless card recognizing my Airport Express base station, but it seems to be working now. (It’s an Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 3B Mini PCI.)

I also signed up for CA’s eTrust Anti-Virus free one-year trial subscription for Vista beta users. My usual AV software, F-Prot, probably doesn’t work in Vista.

Since I did a clean install, I don’t have any other software loaded yet. I may try the Office 2007 beta, or I may just stick with Office 2003. I’m not sure on that yet.

My laptop barely meets the requirements for Vista, so I’ve got none of the funky Aero Glass stuff going on; just the basic interface. It looks nice enough for now.

Assuming the system remains at least borderline usable, I’ll leave Vista on the machine and play around with it a bit over the next few weeks.

Incredibles

I was watching The Incredibles just now, and I realized something that had gone right past me the first few times I saw the movie. When Helen says “india golf niner niner”, that’s a reference to Iron Giant, which was released in 1999. Obvious, now that I think about it. (I’m used to looking for THX-1138 references in George Lucas films, but not Iron Giant references in Pixar films.)

NJM Bank

It turns out that NJM Bank also has pretty good rates on CDs, and I’m pretty sure they’re trustworthy, based on my experiences with their car insurance. They have an on-line form you can fill out to open a CD account, but you have to print it out and mail it to them. Low-tech! Maybe I’ll give that a shot tomorrow.

CDs

I spent some time today looking at CDs. Bankrate.com is a pretty useful site for comparing rates.

I looked at ING Direct and E*Trade, among other places. E*Trade currently has better rates than ING, but according to stuff I read at Epinions and FatWallet, E*Trade has a pretty questionable customer service record.

Free Anti-Virus Protection

Just for yuks, I sent off for an activation code for Active Virus Shield, AOL’s new free anti-virus software. I’m not sure if I can talk myself into actually installing it on one of my own machines, though. I’m kind of scared to put anything related to AOL on my computers. Given their previous history, I’m afraid I might never get it off again.

52

After initially deciding that I would skip 52 entirely, or maybe pick up the collections after it’s finished, I broke down today and went over to the comic shop and picked up issues one through twelve. I just finished reading the first issue, and it looks like it might be an interesting series. I’m still balking at getting all 52 issues at $2.50 a pop though. That’s a bunch of cash.

another Comic-Con down

I’m done with the con, and back in my hotel room, trying to figure out how to fit all my stuff back in my luggage. I think I’ll get everything packed away OK, but I’m wondering how it will all look by the time I get back to Newark. Hopefully, everything will still be in one piece.

Looking back, I think I did most of the things I like to do at a con:

  • Ric Meyers’ kung-fu thing.
  • A few DC and Marvel panels.
  • A couple of the panels done by the CFQ guys. (This year, the movie preview and Robot Rumble panels.)
  • A couple of Mark Evanier’s panels. (This year, the cartoon voices panel, and a panel on cover art.)
  • A couple of TV or movie panels. (This year, BSG and Blade.)
  • I picked up a few cheap TPBs from TFAW’s “nick and dent” sale.
  • I picked up a few books from Mile High’s “last hour of the con” 50% off sale.
  • I picked up a stack of books out of somebody’s $1 box.
  • I picked up a couple of action figures. (Hellboy and the Ikki Tousen figure I mentioned in a previous post.)

As usual, I’m not 100% sure if I’ll be going back next year. I probably will, but the con is getting so big it’s almost a hassle to deal with it. I find that I can still have a good time, if I set my expectations correctly. I don’t assume I’m going to get into any particular panels, or get any specific signatures, or anything like that. That generally works.