Two trick-or-treaters this year. At the same time. So, just one incident, I suppose, if you want to call it that.

In other news, I may be on a sugar high the next couple weeks.

Just another lame Saturday post. Oh, post haste.

Yes, I am your Saturday host. Don’t make waste.

Go fix yourself some toast. Have a taste.

I’ll be here while the bread you roast. Eat post haste.

Just another lame Saturday post. Oh, post haste.

It’s nothing about which to boast. Make no waste.

Oh, how I’ve let it all coast, (Laid to waste)

Of the blog’s former self it’s a ghost. Frightened face’d.

Just another lame Saturday post. Oh, post haste.

This will be one that’s not the most. Makes no waste!

This is the end of this lame post, (Let it baste!)

And, as of now, you can eat your toast. Clean your waste!

In this corner, we have a lame Friday post.

In fact, the same lame Friday post.

And, in this other corner, we have the other half of the lame Friday night post.

That is the other half of the same lame Friday night post.

Put the two together and let’s get ready to rumble!

So, what happens?

Nothing.

Because two halves of a lame post are still one big ol’ lame post.

Especially when it is much the same lame blog post.

Thursday.

Thursday.

Thursday.

Thursday.

Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday.

With words.

With worthy words.

What?

Where?

When?

Why?

Woo!

Do you think the makers of AcipHex realize what the product name sounds like? Makes their commercials a bit amusing. Unintentionally, I think. (HINT: It does not sound like ah-sip-hex.)

Hmm.

You would think I would have more thoughts, but I don’t.

Wait…

Hold on…

Trying to think…

Nope.

Nothing. Sorry. All out of thoughts.

Monday Monday Monday.

Today is Monday.

It’s a day unlike any other day.

Because it is Monday.

What’s that, you say?

Hey hey hey!

I would vote nay.

But give your horse some hay.

He’ll be hungry until May.

You don’t say?

For breakfast try some curds and whey.

It can’t be hard to stay.

But maybe you must go away.

What’s that, you say?

Yes. I am phoning it in today.

Just like any other day.

Monday Monday Monday.

Oh, Sunday post, where for art thou?

Would you be hiding beneath a cow?

No? Why say why and not wonder how?

Could you have reaped what you once did sow?

Or, would you have little piglets in tow?

Would you be pretty even without a bow?

I really do think so.

Would you roll up some money and call it dough?

And give it to your greatest foe?

Or your friend if his name was Moe?

I would think maybe no.

Would you take a boat out to row?

Maybe so.

So, I got my computer back yesterday. Apparently, the computer needed the logic board replaced. Even though I’m pretty sure it’s out of warranty, it didn’t cost me anything because Apple covered it. So, yay Apple!

Got on last night and found out I need to reactivate several software programs. Most were not a problem, but there are two companies that have issues. One was a set of games I bought a couple months ago. You’re allowed 5 activations. So, I used up 1 each on the initial install. I think I used up 2 on one game because it wouldn’t take or something. So, last night, reactivated them again. And, on two of the games, it took two tries, or two registrations, to get the games reactivated.

But, if the logic board goes again or the hard drive goes or I get a new computer, I’m going to have to go through all that again. And, once you use up your activations, you’re done. You can contact their customer support and plead your case, but who knows how that will go?

With the other company, here is the deal. For the software (which costs several hundred dollars), you are licensed to install it on two computers. The idea is one would be a desktop computer and the other would be a laptop. But, you can install on two computers, just as long as you’re not using it on both computers at the same time. Fine, no big deal.

You can move it from one computer to another by deactivating the license on one computer and then reactivating on the new, which is nice.

However, on the first computer I installed on, it had a hard drive failure. So, could not deactivate it. But, I still had the second license, right? So, I installed on a new hard drive and was back in business.

So, when I got a new computer and went to install on there, I couldn’t. One license was in use because of the one that could not be deactivated. So, I had to call the company. And that had me deactivate it off the old computer before reactivating it on the new. Which doesn’t make sense to me since I should have been able to use it on both (just not at the same time). But, I was back in business and wasn’t going to argue.

So, now with the logic board replacement, the software no longer recognizes the computer and won’t allow me to automatically re-activate it and I cannot deactivate it on the old logic board because the old logic board is dead and gone. So, I will need to call again and explain the whole thing to them and get them to reactivate it for me.

Which really irks me. Because this is software I paid for, and I have to jump through hoops to use it. These things are supposed to reduce piracy, but they greatly inconvenience paying customers, the ones that are doing the right thing. And that’s what really ticks me off about it. I pay several hundred dollars on software and I have to go through all this to get it working again.

Ditto for the games software, though those did not cost me several hundred dollars.

So, software developers need to figure out better ways of protecting their software without making it a burden on their paying customers.

The second thing that we really need a solution for is spam. After basically two and a half days of not checking eMail, I had over 1,100 messages in my mailbox. Most of those, maybe around 1,000, were spam. Many were the exact same spam message sent from multiple accounts. And, that’s just the stuff that gets through the spam filters. And I still need to sort through it all because occasionally a legitimate message will trigger a spam alert and get marked as spam erroneously.

And, as we are becoming more and more reliant on electronic communications, it becomes more important for eMail to be reliable. And it can’t be reliable if spam filters trigger false positives and legitimate messages are tossed in the junk bin by mistake. And it cannot be reliable if we have to sort through hundreds of spam messages every day just to spot the legitimate messages. And, even then, it is really easy to overlook a legitimate message if it happened to arrive amongst a bunch of spam messages.

We need more solutions to stuff like this. Solutions that put the burden on the bad players and not the good ones.

You know, it’s one thing to take a voluntary break from the computer for a while.

You can plan ahead and get things done. Then, you can be away from the computer without worry because everything is taken care of.

Of course, there is always the nagging feeling that you may miss something important, but, the more certain you are of having taken care of everything, the lesser that feeling is.

And, as long as you are not away on vacation without the computer or something, you can always check in.

It’s quite another situation, however, to be on a forced sabbatical from the computer.

For one thing, all those pending projects you had, including the ones that needed to be done ASAP, cannot be done. Nor can you contact anyone to inform them of the delay.

Plus, you have no idea what else may be coming in that you don’t know about.

Frustrating.

Plus, it’s not just the lack of Internet that is an issue, but the lack of access to all your files and all the stuff you do “offline.” All sorts of varied projects cannot be worked on.