Oy what a day this has been. I thought I had the laptop all set up with Windows 7 and ready last night. Everything was going okay, except for one minor annoyance, getting my old copy of office to update. However by midnight every other time I rebooted or shut down and restarted, BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! It still worked of course, but it would give me the BSOD, reboot then work. But then another reboot sent me to BSOD, rinse and repeat.

Being totally OCD about my PC’s, this wouldn’t do. I thought something I installed was doing it, so I took programs off one by one, till I couldn’t figure it out. Wiped the computer and started over again . . . then realized what it probably was. I had a TV tuner card in the thing all day and I think when I removed it, Windows 7 expected it to be there and that was the reason for BSOD. If that really is what it was, a fail on Microsoft and Windows 7 already. I should be able to take it out, it’s an accessory not a necessity! This is the first mark against Windows 7 for me. Microsoft, I’ve already vowed not to buy anymore PC’s after Vista, Windows 7 is in fact your last chance to convince me otherwise!

The other issue I was having was with my old-ass copy of Microsoft Office . . . 2000. Yes, I know, 2000. However it has Access, which is what half my dissertation data was put into. I eventually stopped using Access and started putting it into word files because basically I collected so much data that I broke Access and it wasn’t letting me add more without splitting the tables. I think it might have been a limitation of the older version, I don’t know. But Access is only available as an expensive stand-alone or in the incredibly expensive Microsoft Office Professional. Over the years the price has gone up up up, and I just can’t justify 300+ dollars for that version of Office. As long as what I have works and gets me to the data (to get it out of Access, as ironically I have to put it in a different program for statistical analysis), so be it. Of course the problem now is Microsoft doesn’t support Office 2000 anymore, and the updates they made available they’ve crippled (basically they’ve removed service pack 1, which means you can’t install any of the later ones). This is their way of making you buy a new copy of course. I had to do some googling, which lead me to some tech forums, which helped me solve the problem finally. So I do have Office 2000 with all the security and service pack fixes now. If Open Office would just open Microsoft Access made database files then I would not even need Office anymore 😛 Alas it’s still the one thing Open Office DOESN’T do.

Anyways, now I really have to start cleaning my house for Keith’s arrival tomorrow. It’s a disaster, and I’m also OCD about having a clean (or somewhat clean) house for company. Even though everyone tells me not to bother, their house is worse than mine, blah blah blah – I want it clean. It doesn’t help that John is a slob (as is his brother) and has in fact turned me into my mother. “How hard is it to put your glass into the sink when your done?” “Can you not take 2 seconds to go through your mail every day? I’m sick of it piling up.” “Why can’t you put the food back on the shelf or throw the empty container away when your done?” “Don’t leave glasses of milk next to the computer, the cats knock them over, and I’m not buying you a new one if they destroy it.”