Dear Apple:

I shouldn’t have to jump through so many damned hoops to reset an iPod, or to properly reinstall your iTunes-and-related software, nor should I be forced to re-disable all of the stupid defaults in Quicktime every time iTunes is (re)installed. It also shouldn’t be so damned difficult to convince iTunes not to start up every time any profile signs into the computer just because an iPod is attached (for the sake of charging).

After hearing all the raves and hoopla about what a great piece of music software iTunes is, and after actually working directly with it, I can only assume that most people don’t expect much from their software besides a shiny-looking interface.

Bah.

(This entry brought to you by one too many times spent wrestling Lil’s iPod and iTunes into submission. Ugh. And I’m the one who recommended the damned thing to her, so I have only myself to blame…)

It’s been bothering me for a while, but today I finally up and did something about it. I added “width” attributes to the entry editing template for this here journal rig (and the other two just like it that live on this server). This means that resizing the browser window results in a changed form width, which allows us to spot all of those annoying line-breaks in copy-and-pasted text.

This is a good thing. Trust me. It means that we can write better-looking entries, and as we all know, it’s all about the presentation…

A while ago, I set up a Teamspeak server so that Dawn and I could do voice chat while we’re playing City of Heroes. The idea is that we can communicate far, far more effectively with verbal cues than when we have to stop down the action to type our messages.

For various reasons, before tonight, we’ve been unable to make the system work to our satisfaction. Tonight, however, could be considered a qualified success. The mild feedback problem hasn’t gone completely away, but it’s far more tolerable than it used to be. Tonight, we managed to run through several missions, communicate and coordinate, and even whisper sweet nothings in one another’s ears. Not bad for a small investment in headsets and the installation of a free bit of server code, eh?

If you are in the market for a new chassis, you could do worse than to pick up the Antec Sonata. It comes with a 380-watt power supply, and boasts some of the smartest interior design around. The whole case is meant to be generally quieter and easier to work with, and it does so splendidly.

So I took my gaming computer apart today, and put it into the new case. The old case can’t accept power supply upgrades (stupid proprietary thinking, anyway), so in order to power my two hard drives, a Pentium 4 and my GeForce 6600, I had to upgrade. I took advantage of the opportunity to trade out the slow, stubborn old DVD-ROM for a regular CD-ROM drive, and upgraded from the Soundblaster Live to a Soundblaster Live 5.1. (It’s a subtle improvement, sure, but since I had the case open anyway…)

The good news is, it all worked the first time I powered it up. That alone is almost newsworthy all by itself, as it’s unusual enough to nearly be unique in my experience.

I also may have gotten to the bottom of the trouble playing City of Heroes. Even with the new power supply, I still had the weird game crash problem… but once I turned off the antialiasing, I was able to play for two solid hours without a glitch. I’m hesitant to claim victory just yet, but it’s at least a promising start.

Now I just need to clean up this mess I created during the chassis transfer… oops…

For the first time since starting this site, I’ve managed to post every single day for an entire month. It’s appropriate, I think, that I pulled off this feat during my birth month.

I think I’ll just sit for a minute and bask in the glow of those 100% indicators just off to the left a bit, there. Yay, posting frequency!

(Now, if only I had actual substance to post about, eh? I shouldn’t complain, though. I’m a big fan of peace and quiet…)