Well, I thought “Video Card“, but I was wrong.  I went out and bought a new ATI 5870 by Asus.  Turned out replacing my 4870 with that beast didnt do a thing for me.  So, back the $400+ card went.

Well, it must be software then, the problem now being I can either re-install XP, or try Windows 7 since that is where I will have to update to within 6 months anyways.  Out I go to get Windows 7 Pro, and more than $2,000 later, it is finally installed and working.

Upon installing it, I had network driver issues from hell.  Who knew a Linksys wireless G PCI card wouldnt work with Win7?  What kind of moronic OS development team made it where one of the most prolific network card manufacturers products wouldn’t work?  Answer:  Microsoft!  But since I used the word “moronic” we all knew that was coming, right?  Ok, read a lot online about the various woes of people with that card, and I upgraded to a D-Link N card, that seemed better.  Only, it wasnt.  But I knew, from what I read online the network card was correct.  Could it possibly be my Linksys router?  I mean, really, a router is a router right?  Nope!  I replaced the router with a Netgear one and BAM, it works great on the network now.  Spiffy!  Time to start installing software finally.

That’s right, installing software, because for some dumb-ass reason you can’t upgrade from XP to Win7, they expect you to have had 2×4 to the head and actually used Vista.

Start installing software, and the first reboot, the computer doesn’t come back up.  Not only that, the primary hard drive isnt even seen by the BIOS anymore.  WTF!!!???  How did Win7 just kill a Seagate HD?  I have no idea, but it did.  Off I go to purchase new hard drives.  This time, I got two, so I can RAID 1 them, “ah ha!” I will show you Microsoft, I will fix your stupidity with hardware. RAID array created, Windows 7 installed (again), and now I can start installing software.

But wait, Adobe CS2 isnt supported by Windows 7, so, $1,699 later, I am the extremely annoyed owner of CS4 Web Premium, a supported version of the ridiclously priced yet required by everyone software suite.

I get everything re-installed, except for my document management software, Source Link.  It seems those retards over there won’t reissue a CD key without a $60 fee, “because that is how we control the licenses”.  “Why do I use your software again”, I wonder as I am re-downloading games from EA, Quickbooks,  NuSphere, and a ton of other software that doesnt require me to pay them to reinstall their software on the same computer. Clearly everyone else has figured it out, even Microsoft and Adobe!  And get this, I get to upgrade as well to SourceLink 2010 in order to have it supported as well.

So, what is the final tab you ask….

$200 for Windows 7
$350 for 2 Hard Drives
$70 for Network Card
$70 for Router
$1700 for Adobe CS4
$50 for new McAfee
$169 for SourceLink
Total: $2,609 plus tax for the privelege, nay honor, nay ass raping that is Windows 7.  I bow to Microsoft’s superior skills at making their products part of everyday life, because both I am in awe I spent that much, and bowing is about all I can do since I won’t be sitting for at least  week, or until the bleeding stops.

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My mother’s health and home life isnt all that stable, so out of the 6 or so weeks Illi could have attended, she has made all 6, but 4 of them we had to drive her, an hour each way, instead of the actual plan of meeting and geting some time to ourselves, even more important now that Anara is here.  A total bust there.

We then started looking around at the local churches.  Gateway Church in Southlake, for all its size, doesn’t have a preschool or MDO program.  (hint hint).  Then we checked out Harvest Baptist Church in Watagua which at first glance seemed like a good idea.  However, upon further investigation, they want to place Illianna in the 1-2 year old because she was born on 9/11 instead of 9/1 or before.  10 days!  It didnt matter to them that Illianna is the size of a 6 year old, they evidently want to hold back her development because of the beaucracy.  When questioned about it, the receptionist said they just did what the schools did.  Dont make me laugh!  First and foremost, the schools make a lot of exceptions.  Secondly, Harvest has their own school, which wouldnt be needed or have students if the schools were so damn perfect.  The receponsist did say the supervisor would evaluate the situation after a month or so.  Not good enough.  A month and all the costs paid later, what if she was stuck because there wasnt room or the supervisor didnt feel she should be moved? I refuse to go through the hassle.  I asked to speak to the supervisor, and was told she wasnt aviable, only to meet her about 4 minutes later when she came out and introduced herself as the Executive Director.  I told her the problem, and she said, “Yes, that is the rule.”

Oddly enough, just because you are a church doesnt mean I am not a customer.  Exceptions in the system as large as Keller ISD are made all the time, so surely there is some wiggle room over 10 days before you place a kid that is bigger than any of your 4 year olds into the same class with kids that are only 15 months.  But alas, no.  So we are going to look for another program, hopefully one that is a bit less set on their rules and regulations.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. ~ Henry David Thoreau.

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Another huge difference is the professionals actually stick to standards and try to keep up with trends and new technology, unlike the 15 year old designers working from mom’s house.  I found out recently about this “company” (LR Web Design).  First, they call HTML “coding” which is a complete misnomer.  And then talked down Dreamweaver, and yet their “code” is at least 10 years out of date.  No CSS, inline font tags, UPPERCASE tags, image maps for menus, and tables for very basic positioning.  Here is another one of their websites: http://knbcolo.webs.com/ .  They don’t even use a true host, but a free website company.  Let me fill you in, none of this is what you want your company to have on its website.  It is unprofessional and doesn’t really put your best foot forward.  But if you want a slow loading website on a free host with no custom anything, by all means go with one of these people.  Otherwise, go with someone with training, experience, and credentials, as well as a portfolio with real clients you have heard of.

Like wine & cars, you get what you pay for with websites.  I wouldn’t want my company looking cheap.

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http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=120921191

http://www.flightglobal.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/73953

This is just crazy.  How can this be safe?  How did he even get on the plane with only one seat and not three?  I know AA is retarded, hence the reason I do not fly them anymore, but dear God, someone do something!

Most if not all of my plugins will work in 2.8 without any modifications, but I am running double checks as fast as I can just to be safe.