The slow death of a desktop PC

She’s been with me since the beginning of college in 2002. We’ve looked at websites, listened to music, and checked e-mail together but it looks like her time is now limited.

I am talking about my desktop PC of course…

This morning I flipped on the power and checked some e-mail and realized that the clock on the machine was 20 minutes behind and that the machine would hang every few seconds while doing something. I know she’s on her last leg, and there is probably a few upgrades I could do to make her hang on a little longer, but I use my laptop so much more now that I am not sure it’s worth it.

I am going to start migrating things off of her and backing them up, just in case she decides to go today.

Back from Roanoke

I was in Roanoke, Virginia the last couple of days and arrived back in Dallas yesterday evening (thank you very much US Airways).

It really is a beautiful town, with “mountains” entirely surrounding it. The city itself reminded me of the mining town out of October Sky though it seems to have made a transformation to an urban area.

I stayed at the wonderful Hotel Roanoke which sits in an historic building and is where they hold the Miss Virginia Pageant.

All-in-all it was a good trip, minus the fact that US Airways did not have a single flight that was on time my entire trip and they proceeded to blame ATC for the delays… Yeah, nice try US Airways…

I must have missed a day at school somewhere

Walking into the dry cleaners yesterday evening, I expected to leave within five minutes with the laundry that I left there that morning. Though it took more like 15 minutes to get my clothes, I had time to observe something that I had never noticed before.

In the cleaners with me were three other men, all mid-20’s to mid-40’s. All three were looking down at their cellphones, texting or reading a text message. I do not know if it was meant to make them look “cooler” as they stood there to pick up their laundry or if it was something to help them avoid awkwardly standing there in silence looking at each other.

Honestly, I think using a cell phone in a public place is rude, period, but that’s just me. I have answered my phone in a store and restaurant before but I usually excuse myself from the table or try to make my conversation as short as possible. Since when did it become socially acceptable to isolate yourself from the people standing next to you by operating your cell phone?

Back in Dallas

I was in Lubbock yesterday speaking to the Texas Tech University chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity for students.

It was a good trip with a lot of questions asked by graduating students about the “real world” and what to expect. Some of the questions I had answers to, others I am still learning myself.

I am pretty tired from getting in super early this morning and will probably crash early tonight… Gotta love traveling.