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ugh, I was up late last night cleaning out my dad’s laptop. He recently mentioned to me that he had some problems with intrusive pop-up ads and such so I took the laptop home with me yesterday to see what was up. And just as I suspected, my dad’s computer had accumulated a nasty array of viruses and spyware. I’m not completely sure how it happened, but the internet security suite I bought for him last year was no where to be found on his hard drive. Since my father isn’t that computer savvy, he’s not certain if he deleted the program or if some malware had a hand in uninstalling it.

In any case, I had to scan the harddrive multiple times to get all the junk off his computer. After the cleanup, the computer kept on giving out error messages for missing .dll files related to some of the viruses. thankfully going through MSCONFIG and deactivating the related files in the registry did the trick for those errors.

I can’t believe his laptop was infected like that. What are my parents doing on the computer to end up with such malware?? must have something to do with all the korean videos that they watch so incessantly. They’re retired so as you can imagine, their daily routine involves going on the web to read up on the latest korean headlines and watch korean soaps. So it was imperative that I fix their laptop overnight so that I could get it back to them in the morning. It wouldn’t be right of me to deny the ol’ folks from their daily routine, now would it?

Like most guys, I love little electronic gadgets. It probably all started for me back in the days of those primitive handheld electronic games like Coleco’s Electronic Quarterback and Mattel’s Electronic Baseball. As a matter of fact, I think I still have the Electronic Quarterback stored away in my attic somewhere. I make it a point to not dig it up and turn it on because my personal memories of it are a lot more fun than the harsh reality of what it’s like to actually play with it now. Those lil’ red LED lights and fixed block patterns aren’t going to “wow” anyone nowadays. But man, it was the hi-tech gadget to have as a kid way back when!

as you can see, I pre-date the Nintendo GameBoy-era but you already knew that about me, right?

Anyway, these days, I’ve been hankerin’ for one of those pocket HD camcorders. I don’t know why since I have video capable digital cameras and of course a regular camcorder. I guess, it’s the simplicity of those lil’ FlipHDs. I don’t know. but I want it!!

Gizmodo just posted a comparison of the popular pocket HDs a couple days ago. they declared the Flip Ultra HD as the winner of their shootout. but I’m personally leaning toward the Kodak ZX1 at the moment since it’s built a bit more rugged and claims to be “weather resistant”. So far, I haven’t seen a fully water-proof/shock-proof model yet. Since I’m known to drop things from time to time, I’d rather have something more rugged than stylish. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one for cheap during one of those after-thanksgiving sales.
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With the heavy rains in our area the last couple days, I was made well aware that I was overdue for tire replacement on my SUV this morning. I had a hell of a time driving into work on these slick roads. My old tires aren’t BALD or anything but they sure didn’t grip the roads that well. While on the interstate, I could feel the front-wheel drive slipping underneath me. I had to keep it well under the speed limit and also made a conscious effort to stay far from other cars. Especially when there are so many ignorant people SPEEDING down the interstate during these conditions!!

It seemed that I wasn’t the ONLY one having problems with the rain-soaked roads. I passed a number of accidents and actually witnessed a Honda Accord spinning out of control after hitting a rather large puddle on the highway.

Luckily I made it to work OK. but the forecast calls for the rains to continue on for the next two days. ugh.

Here’s an excerpt from the local news about the wet road conditions –

Slick roads caused several wrecks across the Triangle Wednesday morning, and the Interstate 440 Beltline was especially treacherous.
A car hydroplaned and flipped over on westbound I-440 between Glenwood Avenue and Lake Boone Trail shortly after 2 a.m., and crews had to cut a woman out of the car. A pickup overturned on eastbound I-440 between Six Forks and Wake Forest roads about 10 minutes earlier.

“We are going to get a lot of rain in our area. We’ll likely have some flooding issues around here by the time it’s all said and done on Friday,” Gardner said.
Car dealers on Wake Forest Road cleared vehicles off their lots in case nearby Crabtree Creek flooded.

I stepped out of the house this morning and quickly realized that I dressed like a UPS driver today!!

brown jacket, brown pants and brown shoes. ugh. I’m surprised I didn’t finish the ensemble off with a brown polo shirt.

what was I thinking? apparently my fashion sense was completely turned off this monday morning. I know, I know, is it EVER on? ..har, har.

Even after realizing what I looked like, I still didn’t have the energy to go back in to re-think my outfit and just went straight to work.

yeah, I’m feeling brown today. what’s it to ya?

I thought I’d pass this along for any gamers (or parents of gamers) out there. For a limited time, Tanga.com is offering a 1-year subscription to Nintendo Power Magazine for only $4.99. Just be sure to use the coupon code: b7bd when you checkout.

I purchased a subscription for my kids who just love their Nintendo Wii and DS games. I think it’s a great deal – plus tanga lets you use paypal to pay for it which works out perfect for me since I always tend to have a balance on my paypal account.

use this link to sign up for a subscription.

game on!

OK the owner of the local Seoul Garden officially pissed me off. I’ve tended to shy away from this place in the past even though its probably the best place in town to get some korean food. The old guy that owns the restaurant has always rubbed me the wrong way. he’s got a way in making me feel like some sort of idiot just because I can’t speak the language. it’s the same reason why I don’t want to attend korean churches. All the elders treat you like you’ve got leprosy or something when you don’t speak proper korean.

anyway, I had placed a take-out order over the phone and then when I got there, I realized that he messed up my order. First he tried to make it appear that *I* was mistaken. but when he double checked what he wrote down, he muttered something under his breath basically acknowledging that he messed up. but he didn’t apologize. then he made me wait another twenty minutes for them to correct my order.

I was fuming!

I never liked the guy. and I hate the fact that I give him my business especially when he so condescending. AND NOW he’s NOT apologizing to me for fucking up my order. what an asshole. what’s the big deal anyway? Say you’re sorry and be done with it. Obviously it’s your typical “korean pride” issues.

again, when it was finally time to pay for my order, he had another opportunity to apologize to me and he DIDN’T do it. Not only that but he charged me full price for the meals. come on, you’re the owner for pete’s sake! can’t ya give a frequent customer a small discount for making him wait for your mistake???? fucker.

OK, hear me now people! I ain’t going back to his restaurant. he obviously doesn’t appreciate my business. Seoul Garden is dead to me. you hear me, DEAD.