Fated to End Sometime

Uploaded as an image, didn't show up on the main page...

Here:  http://fatedtoend.com/node/818

I was sent the video via e-mail, took some screenshots...

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What has it been, 18 months?  Yet still there has not been much actual text laid down.  Recently I've been working on it every day, if only in my mind, still waiting for the story to settle down, to congeal, before I dive in.

I've been sharing some details and running changes with a friend, and the process of writing about what I'm writing (or at least figuring out how to write) seems to help -- so here, I'll deliver a primer to a general audience, as much for my own process as for your consideration.

SPOILER ALERT...?

A while back our landline developed static and then went dead.  The signal out at the box was fine, and I replaced the jack, so it became obvious that the problem was in the line under the house -- in an horrible crawlspace I'd never wish anyone to enter.  It was decided we would have that line disconnected, and that we would probably bundle phone service with our local cable provider.

I might add that this house once had 3 working phone jacks, and that the 2 others failed over the past few years.  Old lines...

Okay, so we scheduled a service call to have the cable company hook us up, but I had second thoughts.  Should it really cost an extra $30 per month?

For the record I have no idea what our phone cost before, because my generous-yet-frugal mother-in-law took care of it.  How much is it for local service, no long distance, no caller ID nor call waiting?  That's what we had...

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more gift ideas (Is it a gift if you buy it for yourself?):  http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/9fc6/

The way I do things may not be efficient at first, but I end up learning more.

Maybe I should've simply installed regular Ubuntu in the first place -- but now I've done enough homework to be able to unequivocally recommend it (v8.10).

See, yesterday I tried again to reinstall Windows, thinking maybe I had missed some steps or something. Again, it took forever and was frustrating. Again, at the end of it I had no connection to the intertubes and couldn't resolve the monitor's aspect ratio. Adding insult to injury, I had to reinstall Xubuntu just to get back online...

Cropped screenshot from Google Maps in street view mode:

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Yup, that's my Cressida.  At least there isn't a good view of our house (the view from 29 1/2 Street, the alley behind our house, doesn't quite reach) and I didn't happen to be outside (unlike our neighbor across the street)...