the exodus is here
got back from being out working on shanel's parents' computer. they were unfortunately running on a Windows ME (did you just shiver too?) installation that went bad. thanks to the wonders of knoppix i was able to recover their files by booting to the CD, copying the files off their hard disk to my USB drive and storing them on the laptop. everyone should carry a linux livecd with them whereever they go. heck you can fit DSL, a 50MB livecd distribution, on a business-card CD, and it has X, firefox, a mail client, etc...
after backing up stuff i wiped the system and installed XP. i was stuck on the old dilemma - the same one i faced with renee's parents when they got their new system. do i take the time to install firefox and thunderbird and explain the importance of more secure applications, etc - or just accept that the end-user won't care about that, and auto-protect them the best i can?
answer: enable auto-updating / installation of patches and virus defs. install AOL. turn on the firewall. warn them about spyware, pop-up ads that can look like windows alerts, and opening email attachments.
it was nice to see shanel again, the last time we had a real conversation was years ago. she's got a boyfriend serving in kuwait. it's definitely different, your view on foreign conflict when you have people you care about actually there.
and then i drove home. i love driving back from miami at night. all the huge, beautiful, empty, dark fields, a handful of cars out with you. and roger daltrey jamming out with me the whole way.
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