Notice how the dread pop-up ad windows now park themselves just off the right side of your screen with the close button beyound mouse’s reach? How annoying is this! Have the web programers convinced their marketing exec customers that their pesky intrusive message will be marooned there to be read over and over until the user shuts down his pc? (Would any one actually buy something from such a devious advertiser) Well, I think that they will succeed in helping all of us in learning OS shortcuts.

• dbbl click the very top left corner of the title bar of the errant window
• click it once and select from the short list in the dialog box e.g. XClose
• with the window active (click once on the title bar) hit Alt F4
• right click the open app on the task bar and select close

Did I leave out any? Soon even our mommas will be forced to become power users!

On the van ride out ORD airport this afternoon the driver spontaneously begins a monolog gesturing at the golden arches through his window and an item of historical interest: ‘this McDonalds eatery (Des Plaines) was the first in the chain, opening circa 1960’. We rode a little further pondering the legitimacy of his claim. I began to wonder whether I could at all trust of believe any of his spiel. ‘The O’Hare airport was named after WW2s first flying fighter ace…’ was another trivia bit. Maybe he’s working on a routine to increase tips. Was any of his info legit? Were we had?

There is a belief perpetuated by Hollywood that the US government knew or was warned in advance of Pearl Harbor. I’m sure that intelligence, some real – mostly false, filters through the system constantly. If this generic info were to be passed on to the public as some would insist, people would either (a)refuse to leave the relative safety of their homes OR (b)get tired of hearing WOLF and tune it all out. I do know that the airlines receive vague security bulletins all the time. So just assuming that such a warning was passed on last September or at any other time — would that have made one-iota of difference in the way events played out? Would an air travel industry employee, be allowed to heed such a warning as grounds to stay at home for the duration? For that matter, as a ticked passenger, can you change your itinerary? Not show up at your scheduled conference? Would folks who work in tall buildings decide on their own to stay out of the city? Do you think your supervisor would buy off on that — being thoughtful and understanding? So therefore we don’t want hear this ‘nice to know’ bureaucratic CYA drill. It’s bad for business Sound the alarm only when there is action to be taken.

At the middle school it was supposed to be racial profile er..uh.. international day. Young Guy is costumed as samurai sushi chef but his buds teased kamikaze. dude! sayonara

This was a good day! I crafted a user authentication and secured the website. S’mans sub domain is now configured and running. Also, Airborne Express delivered (left at the front door and then high stepped hurriedly back to van because he saw/heard HawkDawg going spazz thru the storm door) the new NetGear Router. It’s up and running without hitches or glitches. All systems are GO! Bossouringurl hates it when I say that 🙂 Finally, the most important good news of the day is — Mom H is putting up the good fight and is hopeful to leave the ‘horse pistol’ manana. Good show Mom! Keep it going. We love you.

The ‘diesel’ (DSL) has been replaced with Cable. Henrik was reporting 1500 bps down and 300 up while my ‘old baudband’ was variable 700 to 1000 and 200 up. At 50 per mo. you can’t be outdone by the neighbor. The installer showed with the hardware (only 4 days late) had a look at the power booster cable amplifier on the TV setup and said that he was unsure that the cable modem could co-exist. His solution? ‘either re-wire your house’ or ‘move your pc to another room’. Nearly ready to thank him for coming – bye, he says he’d see if it worked anyway. okay. Maybe that was just cableguy humor.

The last time I read about a Ferrari transplant was in an old R & T issue where Bill Harrah (Reno) decided he’t like to drop a V-12 into his Wagoneer… Now, decades later check out the quintessential hot rod reviewed in [AUTOWEEK] mag. The Zausner Torpedo with it’s 8C Alfa nose and 550 Maranello Ferrari 12C is an art form.

I muzt haf zis cah!

Like father like son — S’man built his own webblog page. I’m proud of you boy! [click here] to check it out.

Bossofuringirl being out of town, I was challenged with the dread task of *programing the vcr*. I can aviate and network computers and overhaul porsches but the vcr was a formidable, never attempted head scratcher. Of course I can eject/insert a tape and manage the >> > << selections on the console — but the remote(s)? There are 47(!) buttons (some of them cryptic) one of which leads you to an on screen menu of which leads thru even more choices and bewilderment. Putting all trepidation aside, I’m here to say tada!! Your SNL is waiting for you on tape and BTW Happy Mothers Day sweetems!