Sunday, February 02, 2003

The other reason that Lucky's weekend was stressful: last week, I tried to upgrade my Palm Pilot's operating system (to 3.3 from 3.1, if you must know).  Why?  I wanted to be able to synchronize my handheld with my laptop at school, so that I could get fresh content (via AvantGo); I can't do this at home because I have no internet connection there. After a few mails to Palm support, I am all set: I have the upgrade code, and all the instructions.  I start.  Ten minutes later, I have an error message that includes the memory address "0xffffffff" in the description; for the layman, this is roughly equivalent to seeing "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" en route to your long-awaited vacation destination.  It's bad.  Really bad.  But I pretended everything would be fine; "I'll just mail Palm support!" Ten emails later, ten hours later, I have given up.  Luckily I was able to restore what I had before, but I'll never have those ten hours again!  What horrific support from Palm! I had to deal with canned responses, which I am sure are very effective for many problems, but not mine, and not this time!! 11:05:49 PM    comment []

As you likely know, Lucky is a terrible writer.  Awful, in fact.  That is why, when faced with a book report, he particularly appreciates a helpful how-to guide. 10:57:38 PM    comment []

It's Sunday night and my heart is beating from sheer, atavistic terror (and caffeine).  Actually, just the mere thought of the word "atavistic" makes my heart beat faster, but that's another story.  I have a shocking amount of work to do.  This weekend was supposed to be about efficiency and focus.  Instead, it turned out to be about designated driving, snowstorms, Paris, and friends. It's a fine balance to be here: the iron triangle of pressures academic, social, and career combine to make each day an exercise in inadequacy.  I suppose we'll eventually get used to it, but it is mightly uncomfortable.  It doesn't help that everyone thinks that everyone else is doing just fine; the reality is that we are all drowning; it's only how we look on the outside that changes. I have a paper due in a couple days, a book report on Mad Money, which turned out to be an interesting book after I got past the general "sky is falling" premise.  Perhaps I'll post the end result, if you care to read my 500 words on what I thought about it. 10:13:58 PM    comment []