It has been way too long since I have posted anything. My computer overheated a while back while doing some computations for the BBC Weather Experiment. I have been letting my computer participate in the several
BOINC experiments. It started many years ago when I participated in the SETI at Home experiment where some researchers created a screen saver that would download blocks of data from the SETI server, process the data when the screen saver was running, and return the result to SETI at Home. It is distributed computing at its best. The website has more information.
Anyhow when my computer overheated a couple of key Windows files were corrupted and now my PC acts unpredictably at times. I have tried many things to fix it, but I can't find my original XP CDs to just restore the entire Windows image. I stumble along for now and I am contemplating purchasing a new computer. I really want one with Windows Media edition so that I can use it as a DVR. Some friends of mine are trying to convince me to go
Apple. In the 80's my college roommate had an Apple IIc and I was quite fond of it, but once I got my hands on an IBM clone I was hooked. I even resisted Windows at first, but eventually I succumbed.
Anyhow, I ended up buying a new
Sony PS/2 and the
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. I really enjoyed the game. It took me about a month to go through it all. For a children's game I was thoroughly hooked. I went up to Nebraska for sister's 50th birthday and I played the game a while with my 6 year old nephew on his
Gamecube. We had a lot of fun, but I realized what one of my friends had been complaining about with his son. They just wanted to run around and kill things. In the game you need to collect studs and canisters and sometimes they require a little patience to get. There is a sequel coming out called
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. I have only seen it on shop.starwars.com, but I have seen announcements in other locations. It is definitely something I am planning to get. It's release is scheduled to coincide with the release of the unaltered original trilogy on DVD--you know, the one where Han shot first.
Also, my current DND character is doing fine. We have successfully reached 2nd level and I am on my way to 3rd. The campaign is being documented somewhat at
http://homecampaign.forumsplace.com/index.html. My character is Anthirath Rumthar and I made the mistake in following the GM's instructions to create family information which he has used against me. The party has killed by brother who was selling my people as slaves and has helped me raise the money to buy my sister back from a local noble. She was of course sold by my misguided and now dead brother.
I would complain about work, but no one wants to hear that so I will end it here.
The stems were rather thick and there was an odd smell . Looking at them, they resembled watermelon seedlings, but they weren't quite right. I was wondering if my neighbors' kids had spit out some kind of melon seed in my yard, when I remembered the pumpkin. I have since thinned it out to about 10 plants, which is still quite a few. I expect I will pull up a few more as they get bigger.
This past weekend I also planted some marigold seeds around the pumpkins to help keep the bugs down. I got the seeds from a friend who had collected them from some plants she had a couple of years ago, so I am not 100% sure they will actually germinate and grow. Luckily it has been raining on and off the last several days. That should really help the seeds get started. I guess I need to take some pictures and post them.
