So. Most of the images I post in my journal are hosted on one of my business Web sites, and I woke up today to discover that the domain had expired and Network Solutions, in their infinite carelessness wisdom, neglected to inform me.
The domain has been re-registered, but it’s going to be Monday or Tuesday’til it propogates out to all the name servers again. Until then, the site is unavailable.
Suck.
So. I went to a client’s site this afternoon to set up several brand-new Power Mac G5 systems. Apple Cinema Displays, Adobe Creative Suite Professional, Quark 6, the works. Beautiful systems; I wish I had one.
And then the client asked me to look at his Windows XP laptop, because it’s been “acting funny.”
He has broadband at his house. He’s never run Windows Update.
It’s after 9:00 at night and I’m still here. Why am I still here? 1,524 copies of the W32/Bagle.z virus and counting. Plus about 6,000,000 Windows security updates that need to be installed. And did you know that Bagle blocks Windows Update from doing its job? Isn’t that lovely?
If you are reading this on a Windows computer, and you have never run Windows Update on your computer, you are infected with a virus. Or more likely, thousands of viruses. Yes, I mean YOU. Right now, the average life expectancy of an unpatched Windows box connected to the Internet is less than twenty minutes.
I could be at game night right now. I could be hanging out with cool people and playing Are You a Werewolf? But no.
My word, nothing good ever comes of crossing His Steveness, Mr. Steve “I’m brilliant and charming and charismatic but also kind of psycho” Jobs, does it?
IDG, which hosts MacWorld, moved MacWorld from New York to Boston this year. His Steveness doesn’t like Boston, and threatened to pull Apple out of MacWorld. IDG called his bluff…
…’cept it wasn’t a bluff. Apple pulled out of MacWorld Boston.
And so did almost every other major vendor, once everyone heard that Apple wasn’t going to be there. It was slightly surreal; there were, like, 5 people there. (By way of comparison, MacWorld San Francisco normally fills Moscone Convention Center, and the last MacWorld in Boston, in 1992, completely filled both of Boston’s convention centers.)
Here’s a pic of the exhibit floor:
That’s it. That’s the whole thing. You could cover it in ten minutes.
Fortunately, a friend of mine hooked Shelly and I up with free conference passes, else I would have been right pissed about paying money for such a dismal thing.
IDG cried “uncle” and is moving back to New York.
Pity, too–I was hoping Apple would make a formal announcement about the G5 iMac.
Sometimes, in the middle of hurt and anger, in the middle of being overwhelmed by work stress and IRS audits and relationship changes, it’s easy to lose track of the things that really matter.
I’ve just discovered that someone I know personally is dying. She’s been given only weeks to live. kattaryna, you are in my thoughts.
Okay, so. In the span of the last few days, I’ve:
1. Discovered I’m being audited by the IRS. They believe I owe then many thousands f dollars, because of a rather blindingly obvious error on their side–they seem to be counting the small business income I made in 2002 twice. Yes, they’re clearly in the wrong; no, I entertain no hope that that means this will be an easy mess to fix.
2. Came into work and discovered my cable modem connection down. Someone climbed up the pole outside the building, cut the cable going into my office, and then sabotaged the cable junction box. WTF?
3. Heard from the company that I’m looking to work for in Boston; they may not be hiring for the position ’til August. August???
This is in addition to all the things going on in my romantic life, not the least of which is the collapse of my eighteen-year relationship with Kelly. Observant viewers will notice that I have not posted anyting about that in my journal.
There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is I don’t feel any particular benefit will be gained by airing our mutual laundry in a public forum. That has not, however, stopped the email from coming in–most of it from people I don’t know and have no idea who they are or what interest they may have in my romantic life, and much of it quite nasty.
It seems, for reasons I’m not quite clear on, there are a significant number of people in the world–people who don’t know Kelly and I and have never met either of us–who feel as though they have some kind of personal stake in our relationship. And judging from the tone of some of the mail that’s landed in my inbox, they feel personally threatened, attacked, or insulted that Kelly and I are separating.
I find this quite weird, to be frank. I’m not quite sure what’s motivating this emotional investment on the part of people who are, when it comes right down to it, strangers–but it seems as if the end of our relationship represents something that people find personally threatening. Some of it could simply be a case of schadenfreude; there always have been and always will be those who take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, and the only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an icy pavement. For others, of course, it’s comforting–it reinforces the notion that anyone who’s polyamorous is a bad person. For still others, perhaps it’s the same thing that motivates people to write hate mail to the villains on their soap operas.
What these people don’t seem to realize, though, apart form the fact that we all have our own lives to lead, is that this is not a question of choosing one person over another. I’ve done that in the past–and the person I’ve chosen has always been Kelly. No, this is a question of choosing a way of life which does not compromise who I am as a person. Were I to lose my relationships with Shelly and Xtina tomorrow, I would not believe that I have made a mistake; I am not choosing those relationships over my relationship with Kelly.
I doubt, however, that most of the people sending me email would understand that. It’s not even about me at all; these people don’t know me, and see in me only a reflection of their own attitudes and fears.
As it turns out, my cell phone does not work in Boston. At all. I can’t even fetch my voicemail.
Neither do I have reliable Internet access–I’m standing at a Kinko’s typing this right now, so email is out, also.
Thankfully, Shelly’s cell phone does work–as long as we’re not at ladytabitha‘s house. (While we’re in her house, Shelly gets no signal, but as soon as we leave, it’s all good, which means Shelly can at least check her voicemail.)
So anyone who needs to get in touch with us should use Shelly’s number.
I have learned that I can caulk my hands, the wall, the mirror, and any pets that don’t move quickly enough…
…but I cannot caulk a seam.
What the hell? It looks so simple!