I had a very nice, though somewhat painful row today. One problem with mixing
rowing and rock climbing is that it's hard on the hands. My butt didn't get too
sore today (I need to do something about that seat) but my fingers are shredded.
By the end of the row, I was doing my famed
href="http://dichroic.diaryland.com/mummyhands.html">mummy imitation again --
tape on at least 10 of the joints in my fingers. And I still ended up with a
blister, so it should have been 11. I taped all the spots that were missing skin
from yesterday before I started, but had to add more when the tape itself started
making skin near it fold over funny.
Despite that, and despite some
residual soreness in my shoulders and a skinned knee, I did just over 10600 meters
today, and at a couple points during power drills had my split times down to 2:13.
Which is piddly for Rudder, who can do that while rowing at half pressure, but
it's good for me.
Meanwhile, I still can't get the boat down
by myself because it's too high. There are a set of wooden steps that let me reach
the boat, but they don't help enough -- I'd have to be standing on a narrow step,
lifting a quarter of my body weight overhead and way off and to one side. Not
gonna happen. I need to see if I can get the city to let me transfer to a lower
rack. Otherwise, Rudder is considering a typically (for him) elaborate system
involving a small step and a sliding rack system. That would let me slide the boat
overhead and get me up just high enough to reach it.
I should do a
lot of cleaning today, but I don't even want to think about that. Meanwhile, my
computer setup is giving me some problems. The laptop seems to have processes I
don't want or need running on it that really slow things down. This is most
noticeable online (of course, most of what I do on the computer is online) and I
think it's due to things that have downloaded without my permission -- for
example, when you download RealAudio, a bunch of other stuff comes with it. I've
actually had a site (NOT RealAudio) change the homepage on my computer without my
volition! Another possibility is that things I do want to be there are
autostarting, which I don't necessarily want them to do. The Startup folder is
harder to find on Windows ME -- NT is much easier to manage. Also, when I try to
print, I get an 'out of paper' message, when the printer does have paper. This
does not happen from the Mac, which is hooked to the same printer. That's a major
problem, as it prevented me from printing the confirmation for some airline
tickets I got yesterday. I did save the page, as well as the email they sent, so
at least I'll be able to print when I get this problem fixed.
Later note: After an extremely frustrating call to Compaq, who told me
"Since the problem involves your printer, we consider it a third party problem. We
can still help you, but only after charging $39.99." This despite the fact
that the Mac, hooked to the same printer, worked perfectly. Considering that the
Compaq people sounded fairly clueless, and I didn't want to spend $39.99, I
didn't take them up on their offer. I did get them to tell me how to control what
processes start up when I boot this computer. (If anyone needs to know, you select
Start->Run and type 'msconfig'. Intuitive, huh?) I turned off everything I didn't
think I needed, which was everything not connected with Windows or VirusScan, and
restarted. Then I tried to print again, and got the same "Out of Paper" message.
Frustrated, I smacked my hand to my forehead, then accidentally, let it fall
heavily onto the laptop. The error message disappeared, the printer whirred
industriously, and my file printed perfectly.
So now, my latest theory is that Compaq offers to help for a significant charge,
so that questioners will go away, because they don't think it sounds professional
to tell their customers, "Whack your computer hard and the problem may go away."