but I just couldn’t!
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I usually try to keep things like these saved for Geek News days, but I can’t help myself this time.
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Adorable:
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The very spring-appropriate laptop/messenger back from Toss Designs. How gorgeous is that? Very. This shade of green is my favorite color so you can see why I’m all “oh my god I have to have it!” I’ve never been to Toss Designs website before, but I’m glad I went today! There’s all sort of cute things for around the house. Good gift ideas
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Awesome: The boyfriend actually found these, not me for a change! GelaSkins are removable and reusable skins for your laptop (PC or Mac) and iPods. Awesome! There’s all sorts of different designs. Knowing me, the boyfriend picked up this beauty for my Vaio:
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The background has different surgical tools floating around. My little pink mouse even matches the blood splatter! How weird is it that that actually excites me!?

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Previous post on Vista

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Last week while complaining about one of the many things I complain about, I mentioned my hatred for Microsoft Vista. A couple of my fiercest readers wanted to hear more about that, so here we go!
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Last February I was in the market for a new laptop. I didn’t really need one, but my dad was offering and who am I to turn down such a good offer? Looking back, I should have waited. Not yet feeling the Mac vibe I was drawn to the Vaio’s lining the shelves at Best Buy. “Hello my darlings,” I whispered. I closed my eyes and for a second, I heard one say hello back. I walked over to it and ran my fingers over the keys. A built in cam and mic? Intel Core 2 Duo Processors? Bluetooth? A 180GB hard drive? Built in wireless card? Um…yes. “I’ll take this one kind sir.”
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While discussing the issue of money, the Best Buy man told me a bit about Windows Vista since it was pretty new then and I knew nothing about it. He said it’s new and a few older programs might not be compatible with it just yet, but not to worry. What he should have said is, “this computer will be the devil. It’s not convenient or user friendly at all. Every time you want to perform an action, the computer will make you doubt yourself by asking if you reeeally want to proceed. Oh, and about a year from now, Microsoft will unleash a doomsday update ‘accidentally’ that will ultimately crash your computer.”
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Not knowing any of that I skipped all the way home with my new laptop. Okay, actually I drove home and went back to pick up the laptop later. I had the Geek Squad install some crap for me. I was skipping in my mind though.
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To be quite honest, I liked Vista at first. The computer was ascetically pleasing. I was a bit overwhelmed by the changes because I was an XP fan. If it’s not broken, why fix it? I was excited. New software generally enables a person to do more with their computer right? Wrong. That ridiculous cancel or allow feature drove me nuts. If I wanted to install anything, update anything or even just play solitaire it would ask if I’m sure.
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Yes I’m sure I want to play solitaire.
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Are you really sure?
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Yes.
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C’mon, think about it for a minute. Couldn’t you be doing something else more important right now like…
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beating you with a hammer, returning you and saying my dog did it?
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Are you sure you want to do that?
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Yes I’m sure.
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Really?
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Uh huh.
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Positive?
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::smash::
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I didn’t have too many problems really until February of this year, a year after buying the computer. Microsoft apparently unleashed a shitastic “update” that eff’ed up people’s computers. According to the Soft, this update should only hurt a small amount of Vista users. I find it very amusing that out of the entire world of Vista users I was one of them. I don’t know all the details of this doomsday upgrade. I read about it a few days prior, but didn’t think much of it. Of course I didn’t realize that I hadn’t turned on my laptop in over a week.
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The minute it booted up, it began installing updates. Totally not paying attention to what’s going on, I resumed working on my desktop. The laptop then restarted itself and told me it was “configuring update 3 out of 3: 0% progress. Don’t turn off your computer.” I didn’t. I listen. It then restarted again and showed me the same screen. I sat in awe as I watched my computer die before my eyes.
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Okay it wasn’t that traumatic. It kept restarting and going back to this screen! What the hell is going on? Then I remembered what I read. Son of a bitch Vista. I tried starting it up in Safe Mode; no such luck. I went to Microsoft sites to see what they suggested which was a waste of time. I eventually, through a mixture of hitting the keyboard and crying, got my laptop to the system restore screen. Luckily it brought my system back to the last time it was working, pre-upgrade. At this point I was afraid to turn off my computer. I knew that upgrade was sitting there eyeing me, just waiting for me to restart so it could play it’s game with me again.
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Was it karma? Was this Vista’s way of saying “Fuck you for wanting to smash me! I’m just as good as any other computer!” It’s quite possible. Annoyed, I went to Best Buy to talk with the Geek Squad folks. I wanted to know how I could get rid of Vista and put XP back on my computer.
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Yeah hi, um, I hate Vista.
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So do the rest of the PC users.
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Okay, well fix it. Give me XP back!
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What kind of computer do you have?
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A Vaio.
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::insert the face of a man who is about to break a cute girl’s heart or that of an evil Vista man::
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Yeah um, you can’t.
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Wtf geek man?
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Sony’s drivers are all Vista drivers.
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Ooookaaay? And? Couldn’t I just download new drivers?
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So if you remove Vista and install XP, it’ll crash.
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Proof?
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We tried it.
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I think you’re lying.
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Well you can purchase XP for $200 and find out for yourself.
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Touche geek man, touche.
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So instead of wasting $200 to find out geek man was right, I’d rather set that money aside and save up for a Mac.
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Moral of the story, don’t trust Microsoft. Don’t upgrade to Vista. Don’t threaten to smash your computer.
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The folks over at Switched have ever so kindly put together a 10 Best-Bang-For-Your-Buck Gadgets list.
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Now you see why I couldn’t resist right?
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My favorites:
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• The Blackberry Curve ::drools:: One day it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine. I swear, once I have this phone in my hot little hands I’ll stop drooling and obsessing about it on my blog. This sexy little piece of technology has everything one would need to manage their life: e-mail, IM, a built-in organizer, camera, a media player and even maps for directionally-challenged people like myself. Of course, some will argue “what does the Blackberry Curve do that your current phone does not?” Well, for starters I can actually stick the Curve in my pocket. If THAT reason alone doesn’t satisfy your thirst for knowledge, then it makes me feel high-tech and important. There, you happy?

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• Flip Video Ultra Camcorder. How cute is this?! Sure it only has a 1.5-inch screen, but I think you’ll be surprised when you see the resolution. Obviously you’re not going to shoot your first movie on it, but you can get 60 minutes of drunken fun! What I love the most is the built-in USB plug that allows me to plug in cord-free. I hate having a cord for every piece of technology I know.

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• As far as basic laptops go, I’m a big fan of Dell’s Inspiron 1525. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it comes with Vista (that’s a WHOLE other post my friends). It includes a wireless card, which makes it easy to explore the Interwebz wherever you may be….assuming there’s WiFi of course.

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- Ever Google yourself? I love that “google’ is a verb now-a-days. I googled myself today after the boss googled an applicant. I got nervous and wondered what about me is out there floating around on the web. I found a poem I wrote when I was 13, my facebook account, my Evite response to the Chicago blogger meet-up and some NaBloPoMo forum crap. Nothing too bad! I also found another woman with my same name. Down to the middle name even. She seems to run a lot. Go her!
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- Try to sign onto Windows Live this morning? So did I. It took about an hour to get logged on and that was after uninstalling and reinstalling the program. Seems that Windows Live has been down for about 11 hours now but the service status on their website thinks everything is peachy. Anyone know me on WL? If so, am I still logged on?
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- Matt Damon, be still my heart. Damon will play Jason Bourne one more time in the fourth installment of the Bourne series. After Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatium…what more can be done?
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- Cat fan? Please direct your attention to the anatomy of a cat’s brain. Thanks.
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- What’s better? Tetris ice-cube trays or Super Mario mushroom slippers?
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- Geeks everywhere rejoice! Recieve the March issue of Wired for free!! Act now because they’re only giving away 10,000.
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- Apple Woes?
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- If anybody would like to send me to the BlogHer ‘08 conference in San Francisco. I’d be very grateful. The ever lovely Jamie and I are trying to get volunteer gigs at the conference so we can go. Assuming the BlogHer Gods are against us, she’s already found some great deals on a flight & hotel. The only downside to the Gods being against us: Early Bird prices END February 28th. That’s two days away for those of you who didn’t know. TWO days to find out if we go for free, $283 or $383. No pressure!!! Luckily for her, she’s still a student and will most likely get a substantial discount. Another drawback to NOT being in school. Stay in school kids!!!
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- It’s about 79 degrees in my office today. Summer is here! It’s weird sweating inside and seeing five inches of snow outside my window.
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- New MacBook Pros. Celebrate.
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- Found at WonderCon 2008: I’m not entirely sure what these are, but I’d like one.
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- Would you bring your desktop computer into Starbucks? Please read.
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- I absolutely love the act2 - green smart laptop sleeves.

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Designed by Benedetto Bufalino
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Raelyn Campbell believes her missing laptop is worth millions. Campbell is suing Best Buy for $54 million after they lost her laptop and then denied it. Best Buy, like many sane people, believe her demands are a tad unreasonable. However Campbell disagrees and blames months of stalling and brush-offs by the company for her drastic measures.
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Campbell brought her new laptop to Best Buy in 2006 for repairs. The store told her they would take anywhere from two to six weeks. However, six months turned into forever it seems.
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Click here for the rest of the story.
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Darren Nixon was held at gunpoint, arrested and put in a police cell for listening to music. A woman informed the police about Nixon after suspecting he was carrying a gun. The gun turned out to be his 4GB Phillips MP3 player. No weapon was found on him, but he was taken into custody anyway on suspicion.
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It’s great cops act quick when it comes to MP3 players, Tech-Art shirts and Pears, but where are they when you actually need them? I’m pretty sure there’s hundreds of unsolved crimes out there and probably a hefty amount of crimes being committed as I type.
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It seems that the MacAir is wetting many palettes but few are biting. AppleInsider reports that customers “are more curious, but less willing to buy the MacBook Air than they were the original MacBook.”
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Well that’s what you get for selling a $1,800 laptop that has no optical drive and only two USB ports.
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Would you buy a bean bag made for your cell phone or iPod? Spoon Sisters seems to think so.

A Zune owner is suing Microsoft over ear damage.
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Don’t feel like your music collection sufficiently demonstrates your neurotic tendencies? Well worry no more because Moody is here to help. Similar to Musicovery, where you search web radio according to your mood, by color, Moody allows you to tag the tunes you already have on your computer with colors.
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I’m sure by now most of you have heard or read about Microsoft’s 44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo. I saw this on the news last week. One of the anchors went to speak with the public in some type of Internet cafe setting. He wanted to know how many people actually use Yahoo. They would ask someone a random question that they would have to look up the answer online. Everyone there used Google. One man even switched away from Yahoo to go to Google. I don’t think I’ve ever used Yahoo….how about you?
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Empty wallet, meet the 32GB iPod Touch. For $500 you can be the proud owner of the ginormous iPod. For $500….why isn’t this an iPhone? If I’m going to dish out that much cash, it better have something more to offer.
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Because I want to help: Five things to consider when buying a new laptop.
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I won’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day, I celebrate Va-jay-jay Day because I have one and therefore am immune to any feelings of disappointment, jealousy and loneliness that Hallmark forces down people’s throat each year. (Plus the boyfriend doesn’t care about it so by default I’m obligated to not care either). Anyway, I’m sure some of you will be partaking in the V-Day fun, so here are two websites to help you out if you’re having a hard time finding a gift: Help A Chick Pick, and for the guys, Help A Guy Buy. Also check out the virtual flower pot gadget. They grow on your desktop!
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A moldable mouse! How exciting! Feel free to give me one for my birthday!

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I was listening to the Drex Morning Show on 103.5 this morning on my way to work. Every morning a caller will ring in with a topic they need advice on. This morning’s caller caught her husband of six-months in his office pleasuring himself on a webcam for another woman. She was obviously distraught about this and wanted advice on how to handle the situation.
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The DJs were basically telling her to get over it and deal with it. Let him do what he’s going to do because if she makes a big deal out of it, he’s going to go out and find someone to do it with. They were completely ignoring the fact that he was doing this with another woman via webcam. Her problem wasn’t that he was doing it in general, it’s a natural thing, but the fact that he was communicating with somebody else was the problem.
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If he were just pulling up pictures of random people off the net, it would be a different story in my opinion. But because he was initiating in conversation with this woman and allowing himself to be seen, actually entertaining her with this, bothers her and me. I wouldn’t be okay with that. Where do you draw the line? He may has well be out there with another woman. Technology is only making it easier for people to cheat but yet blurring the lines.
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I had a boyfriend who did this. At night, I’d go to bed and wake up finding him at the computer. He’d close the windows when I came into the room at first, but eventually he didn’t even try to hide it. Some how it was my fault that he had to resort to websites. Without getting into all the details, I’m pretty sure he had something wrong with him. Needless to say that relationship ended, badly.
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I hate that women are made to feel that it’s their fault their SO is resorting to websites, webcams and porn to feel satisfied. Maybe there’s a deeper reason. Or maybe they have an addiction and it’s no fault of the woman’s. I won’t stay on my soap box for too long, but I think it’s horrible that a woman was told to just deal with it. If a woman was the one on the webcam, her SO would think it is hot and expect more of it, or he’d be pissed off and accuse her of cheating. Once again a double standard comes into play.
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Bottom line: if you’re in a relationship, there’s no reason why you should be online, chatting up cyber women or men and getting naked with them. Just because you’re behind a computer screen doesn’t make it okay. I’m not asking someone not to pleasure themselves at all, just don’t involve other people if the two people in the relationship aren’t comfortable with it. Don’t be so selfish.
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I think this woman should tell her husband that she doesn’t mind him doing that, but leave the webcam out of it. Maybe she could get involved some way and bring it back to the two of them having fun rather than her walking in on him night after night.

Microsoft teamed up with MediaCart recently to prep self-checkout carts with video and grocery lists. MediaCart builds a cart-mounted computer that helps shoppers navigate their way around the store and then checks them out when they’re done. Microsoft, being Microsoft, wants to throw video ads into the mix (of course!)
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ShopRite markets will begin testing these carts in the second half of 2008.
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Why is this convenient for the shopper? They can bring their lists into the store with a swipe of their loyalty card and RFID tracks their movements in the store to pinpoint advertisements and other useful information.
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Who knew that even shopping carts could be upgraded! Silly Steve Jobs didn’t! (God I love him.)
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Happy Autumn-Weather folks! What’s a better way to deal with the chilliness than to get a great heap of random Chicago news?

The 2008 CTA Budget….Does it exist?

Some people may feel relief with the recent drop in temps…but are you really prepared to go so low? Get out your blankies cause it’s going to be a chilly night.

Evanston police are looking for four juveniles, one believed to be as young as 9 years old, who robbed a 41-year-old woman at gunpoint in the northern suburb Monday night.

Nine pedestrians dead in the last four months thanks to trains.

Google’s controversial Street View feature is officially live for the Windy City!

Beaten by New York and Washington D.C., Chicago is the 23rd greenest city in the world.

Researchers recently found out if there was any truth to the “5 second rule.” If you don’t know what that is, you can google it yourself because that’s just sad.

They discovered that food dropped on purposely contaminated carpet immediately took up 10,000 bacteria per square centimeter. And when left for a full minute, food collected 10 times more germs!

“123456″ and “qwerty” (the first six letters on most keyboards) are the most-used computer passwords reports PC Magazine. So now if you’re trying to hack into your boyfriend or girlfriends email or myspace account, just type in those passwords. If you’re stupid enough to snoop, you’re stupid enough to date somebody who’s stupid enough to use one of those passwords