My computer died. It died a slow nasty death. I had been planning on extending its usefulness by buying a new hard drive and simply ignoring the obvious bottlenecks and workarounds for another year or so when my computer would be crap by every single measurable standard; but it died. My beloved Hitachi Prius has left this mortal coil by way of a failing power supply. Rather, I suspect the connection that is soldered on the circuit board has come loose and the power just isn't getting where it's supposed to be very well anymore. I still have the task of trying to get the information off this beast and backed up onto disc. This whole effort makes me kind of nervous 
because the supply could say it's true final farewells at any given moment and the battery life is literally no more than fifteen minutes. Not a great prospect for someone who wants to hold onto over three years of teaching materials, drawings and miscellaneous accumulated curiosities. But that is for another time. As nice as my new wide screen Acer Aspire is, typing this entry is trying my patience a little bit. The main complaint is the lousy North American keyboard configuration. 
The Prius was a Japanese machine and as such has gone with what Europe and the rest of the world sees as the superior keyboard configuration. For one, the Enter key is massive on the European design and now when ever I try to hit the Enter key it turns out as a (\) half the time. Don't get me started on the (@,',") keys. Anyone who has had to deal with the shitty N.A. layout after using a European keyboard will know exactly what I'm talking about. 
While as was AFK (away from keyboard), I was surprised at just how much reading I was capable of doing. I read three books over the course of the week. All thanks to my bookworm of a friend, really more of a booksnake (draw your own conclusions) Mark Guppy. Mark has distinction of being the only person featured in my links area. Mark's a great guy and an infinitely better writer than me so please check him out. First, I read Modern Manners - An Etiquette Book 
For Rude People by P.J. O'Rourke. I read this book entirely while on the can. Methinks there's nothing more polite than reading a book on good manners while pinching loafs. Next, I read a book on punctuation called Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. While funny and informative the book is British and concentrates on the Queen's punctuation. I am Canadian, and while we take our cues from the motherland we also follow many of the standards from that country below us. At least I know can start up a 
sparkling (and very polite) conversation about the use of Oxford commas with all my friends. Finally, I trucked through Koji Suzuki's Ring in two days. It wasn't much like the movie at all and that turned out to be a pleasant surprise.All worthy books in their own right but that chapter has come to an end because, once more, I have an endless supply of media to keep me occupied. Kinda sad really, I'll miss you Hitachi Prius...
2 comments:
Sorry to hear about the Prius. I wasn`t aware that the Japanese were using a European style keyboard. I thought it was a uniquely Asian design. That big "return" key is pretty handy.
I perhaps shouldn't go so far as to say it's European design but it seems to be based on the UK board. Yeah, this time I have gone too far. heh heh.
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