Whelp, I finally got my computer to ‘FUBAR‘ status the other day. I’m not sure exactly what I had done, but some where along the lines I corrupted what had obviously been some important system files, because I was getting errors that I just couldn’t ignore any longer. Maybe it was when I was messing around in my registry, or maybe it was just natural windows decay, but either way I had to move all my shit to my backup drive so I could format and reinstall Windows XP Pro on my main drive. I’ve pretty much got all of the essentials re-installed (Trillian, Guild Wars, iTunes, Firefox, etc) and most of my settings are back the way I want them, so it looks like everything is going well. I do, however, understand why some of my customers throw a fit when they learn that they too will have to do all the reinstallation after we format and restore their computer to the original factory software settings. It can certainly be a pain if you don’t know what you’re doing and weren’t expecting to have to do it. On the plus side, my desktop has never been less cluttered with a record-breaking 4 icons.

Ok, so anyone who knows the geek half of me knows that I prefer cable over DSL, but I won’t go in to the details here. What I do want to tell you, is how pleased I’ve been with the new Comcast cable internet we have at our new apartment. I was a little bit weary at first because I’ve been using Time Warner RoadRunner since about ‘99 or so, but I moved out of their jurisdiction and had to get a new provider. It was either Qwest DSL or Comcast cable. Seeing as I hate Qwest, I was already planning on getting digital cable from Comcast, and they discount their Internet access if you’re a cable tv customer, the decision wasn’t too tough. Setup was easy (except my router decided to be a pain, but I can’t blame that on them), and the service is fast. They only advertise 3mbps at CompUSA, where I purchased the equipment and signed up for the service, but once I set it up and ran a bandwidth test, it turned out I was getting closer to 4. That’s great and all, but I had been getting 5mbps from RoadRunner, so I was a bit disappointed. A week or two after the initial setup, our Internet went down for about 20 minutes. If you weren’t aware, I’m a hard core Internet junkie, so a lack of internet affects me about the same way a lack of nicotine affects a pack-a-day smoker. Thankfully, my TV was still working, so I tried to pretend that the internet was still working and just went and watched TV to distract me. When I checked again, it was back up and had been upgraded to a 6mbps line!

Now, I realize after typing this that few of my readers are a big enough of a geek to care about my new 6mbps connection to the Internet, but I care, damnit, and that’s what’s important!