Vista Experience: 16 days later

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Sixteen days ago, I upgraded my desktop machine to Windows Vista, and so far, so good. Let me put it this way: I haven’t been driven to uninstall the machine yet. I’m not necessarily happy with Vista, rather just content with the OS upgrade.

My original motive to install Vista was based on my purchase of an Xbox 360. I would like to use the Media Center capabilities to stream video over to the Xbox, and my version of XP Home wasn’t cutting it. While I do have XP Media Center available to me, I decided to bite the bullet and do the install. My desktop is a decently powerful machine, purchased about 18 months ago. It’s a duel-core AMD box with 3GB of RAM. After the initial install performance has been pretty decent. It wasn’t as fast as a brand new install of XP, but it’s speed hasn’t diminished after loading all of my software (note to self: post list of computer-setup software), as it has on my laptop. I also have a mid-range nVidia graphics card, so the Aero Glass features weren’t a problem as well.

For the most part I’m satisfied with my machine, but there are definitely a few quirks. Originally when I installed the beta, I was frustrated with the changing of the keyboard commands, especially with the start menu. I think this still may be an issue, but it’s been mitigated with my use of Launchy. I used to use VNC for remote administration, but it runs horrible on Vista, basically being unable to filter out the Aero effects (despite my “low-resolution” settings, etc). I still have VNC running, but am primarily using MS Remote Desktop to remotely administer the machine. That runs really well, but has no web client the way VNC does.

Speaking of Remote Desktop, the other gripe I would have is that after logging in remotely and logging out, the next time I log in locally it resolves a blank screen. My only workaround has been to press WindowsKey + L to lock the machine, Ctl+Alt+Delete to start the unlock, enter my password and be done. I’m not sure if this is a glitch with my graphics card (although I have a mouse cursor on the blank screen), but it could be a Vista bug. It’s definitely an annoyance and if I wasn’t so keyboard savvy I’d probably be screwed.

The local desktop experience is beautiful, and I do notice that I’m enjoying working on things in that environment. I haven’t had any software issues the same way I had when the beta was out. As for hardware, I had a little trouble with my printers, and I haven’t plugged in the scanner – I need to do that soon.

So far over two weeks in, I’m sticking with Vista. We’ll see how it is at the end of the month, but it’s definitely not as bad of an experience as I was fearing.

08 Jan

Posted by
Romey

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Sports

Did Roger do ‘roids? Justice thinks so

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The jury’s still out on whether Roger Clemens is a juicer. I saw the 60 Minutes Interview where he vehemently denied using steroids, but my skeptical self still isn’t convinced he’s innocents – too many things don’t add up.

Richard Justice’s column in the Houston Chronical pretty much sums up why I’m not convinced that Clemens isn’t a juicer, and why I’m still left with a lot of doubt.

08 Jan

Posted by
Romey

Category

Hitting the workout grind

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As pretty much everybody does, I made the New Year’s effort – I won’t dare to say “resolution” – to hit the gym. Before Thanksgiving I was in a pretty good groove, but then illness and a busy December prevented me from ending the year on a good note. Now I’m empowered by my gym switch from the Pulse over to the new 24 Hour Fitness in Fort Collins. I decided to stop giving the Pulse my membership money due to the fact that it doesn’t seem that they’re putting any of it towards maintaining and improving the equipment and facilities there. Walking into 24 Hour Fitness and seeing dozens of brand new cardio machines and weights spoils you, plus through Bethany’s corporate deal they were able to make us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

Right now I’m just continuing my goal of getting back into some sort of routine and thus getting back in shape. I’ve found that I’m specifically goal-oriented as much as I just want to see continual improvement and consistency in my gym time.

I also use my gym time as an excellent opportunity to catch up on my Podcasts. One of my favorite things is to listen to ESPN’s PTI and Around the Horn during my gym time, but a lot of times they don’t post until right after I get off work. Because of this, I’ve resorted to killing time at work after 5 just waiting for them to post the podcast, or even trying to download the podcast on my laptop in the gym parking lots. Thanks to my purchase of a Sandisk 1GB Mp3 player, but pretty much only for it’s ability to read Micro-SD cards. When I head over to the gym I check ESPN on my Treo to see if the podcast is available (go figure, it typically is right when I walk out the door from work). Putting my mobile broadband plan to good use, I download the podcasts onto my phone and transfer them to the Micro-SD card using my Treo’s SD port. Next then you know, I’m happily listening to my podcasts and making the most of my time.

I realize that all of the new gyms and Mp3 players in the world won’t keep me motivated, that ultimately it comes down to my own ambitions, but I’m hoping that these new opportunities will continue to foster my positive gym-going habits.

03 Jan

Posted by
Romey

Category