Un-busy Monday

I probably should be getting a bunch of things done today, but it's not really happening. I got into work a little after 9AM. Checked my email. There were a couple of messages that almost looked like they might need to be responded to, but it turned out that they were just informational.

We're reviewing the hardware specifications for our laptops and desktops, so I decided to read up on the differences between the core duo processor and the core 2 duo processor. Turns out that they are significantly different, but the performance gains are pretty minimal. Browsing www.tomshardware.com and another website, I was able to figure out that we should probably be using the 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4MB of L2 cache. It really only took about 15 minutes to get this info, but our group has been trying to decide what to do for the last couple of weeks. I kind of wonder how the others were trying to make this decision I think they were just looking at the processor specs and the prices and just trying to choose something in the middle more or less randomly. The thing that I think is funny is that when we have the meeting next week, I'm going to make my suggestion, and they are going to accept it, pretty much because I'll be the only one with a strong opinion on the issue. I looked up some information about Vista, since I've been caught off-guard with questions about it in the past few weeks. I can cover it up by just acting dismissive when anyone asks. Usually a safe bet with any Microsoft product. Turns out that in tests, it's not much faster or slower than XP. It will appear to be faster because due to some new pre-fetch, pre-cache tricks commonly used apps will open much faster. They won't run faster once loaded, but most people are still much slower than the application, so for most people it will seem peppy-er.

I spent about 10 minutes at the photocopier trying to figure out the best way to photocopy a receipt that measured longer than 11". It was pretty early, so I was having some pretty serious spatial issues with it. I kept swapping the pieces of the receipt from right to left. Then the photocopier wanted to photocopy on legal size paper. Then the photocopier wanted to combine two originals on one photocopy for no perceivable reason. It was pretty frustrating. I think I made 10-15 copies before I got it the way I wanted.

I don't have meetings on Monday, so nobody would really notice if I was here or not. So I spent some time on the web. I've been trying to find a warm, breathable, water-proof (or at least resistant) jacket for riding. I like the Castelli jackets, they're really high-tech, but they're also super expensive. I looked on ebay, but the only affordable ones are being sold by some guy in the UK who is running an obvious scam. I don't buy from anybody that doesn't accept paypal. Right now I'm leaning towards the Pearl Izumi Barrier jacket. I need to get to a bike shop to size the thing before I buy online though. I'm also looking at a pcmcia sound card. I'm kind of sick of the static caused by having an integrated sound controller.

I was going to get Pho with a friend from work at 11:30, but he had a surprise meeting, so I had to wait until noon. It's always better to go to lunch early, if possible. People notice if you come back late from lunch, but they rarely pay attention to when you leave.

I've been listening to random music. I was browsing open network shares a few months ago, and I found one with somebody's music collection. I grabbed it all and promptly forgot about it. Today I've been listening to Hall and Oates, Culture Club, and other 80's stuff. It's kind of weird listening to those songs now, because at the time I could barely comprehend the lyrics, much less what they were trying to say. Fortunately, I'm kind of in a dead area as far as foot traffic is concerned. There's a conference room outside my cube, and the cubes next to mine are usually vacant. So I can do my little chair dance to "Kiss on my List" without having to worry much about somebody seeing me. And my keyboard is making a very productive-sounding clicky-clack, so if anybody does come by, I'll sound very busy.

Just got off the phone with our Symantec Technical Account Manager. He was telling me that a month ago his first great-grandchild was born. How old do you have to be to have grandchildren? 120 years old?

How's everyone else's day going?