1:14 pm - SAT 6/15/02
Everything Old Is New Again

When I got home from running an errand late yesterday afternoon--more on that later in this broadcast--there was a notice from the post office in my mailbox; My LA FreeNet cd was waiting at the post-office on 6th street, with 35 cents postage-due (The stamp had been taped over, which is a postal no-no).

So I rode over to the post-office, picked up the cd, and then, with great fear and trembling, started to make the move over to my new computer (John O'Neil's old one, which he gave me after he upgraded); I was concerned, after my difficulties going from Earthlink to the FreeNet, that it was going to be a hassle, but it really wasn't.

The two main "glitches" were Outlook Express not working, and my printer not printing.

I'm kind of happy with my solution to the Outlook problem; Instead of waiting for Cary to be able to come over, diagnose the problem, and fix it, I went back to the startup cd, picked out another e-mail program (Eudora), and downloaded that (I have no particular affection for Outlook, after all; It's just what I'd been used to). I sent out a couple of "test" e-mails, and Jane sent a reply back to hers this morning, so it looks like I'm good-to-go on that front.

At this writing, the printer still isn't printing, which isn't a good thing, but also isn't the end-of-the-world (I just wish, in my excitement, that I hadn't forgotten to print at least one copy of my updated resume, that Cary recently sent me as a "pdf" file. I have copies of my resume that are fine, mind you, they just don't have the Crossing The Line credit on them). Since I've got to set the old computer up again anyway--If I'm going to give it away, I've got to delete the porn and such, as well as get some of the stuff on my word processor on floppies--I can hook the printer up to that, if I should need to write a letter or something between now and the time Cary and come over and help me out(But I'd rather just figure out what the problem is myself, so wish me luck on that front).

(It just occured to me that I could have been doing all this deleting and floppy disc-ing all this time, but oh well...)

In other happy news, I picked up my headshots yesterday!

I'd thought I was going in to okay the headshot, then would be picking up the lithos in a couple days--that was how they explained the process to me--but they decided to save me the wait and just print them up (It would have been nice if I'd known they were going to do that--cause then I would have drove my car and not ridden my bike--but I can't be too mad at them for trying to save me some time and effort).

I think the picture looks good. It's flattering, with the friendly, "approachable" look I've wanted (With my previous two headshots--Two different pictures from the same session--one was flattering but too intense, while the other one, where I'm smiling, was not, in my own judgement, all that flattering, and I didn't like the way it was set up on the page. And over and above all that, they were pictures of "Bearded Jim" a look we're dispensing with for the forseeable future). I think I can be happy with this picture out there representing me.

The two events I've just described kind of determined the course of my day from mid-afternoon on; I'd thought I was going to go to a movie or something in the afternoon, but when they handed me a box of 300 pictures at the photo place, there wasn't much for me to do but slowly make my way home with them (Riding one-handed, with the box tucked under my left arm). Then when I got home and found out that my FreeNet cd had arrived, and I'd missed any matinee I might have gotten to anyway, my course was set (I kind of assumed I'd be battling with it all evening anyhow, though that didn't really turn out to be the case).

But back to the computer...

So far, it's been nice. The monitor is nicer than what I had, the sound is better, and I think it's at least somewhat faster as well.

Once I got online, part of what I spent last night doing was downloading various programs and getting my "favorites" list back together (One thing I'll miss is this rotating wallpaper program that Kevin gave me years back called "Panorama". I asked Kevin if he could send me another copy of it, but he said he'd deleted it off his computer and it doesn't seem to be available online anymore).

Now if I could just get the damned printer to work...

(There's not really too much else to report today, but I feel the need to "talk" anyway, so I hope you'll bear with me.)

Still thinking about Jennifer...

Carrie soothed my wounded male pride recently by pointing out that one reason Jim, Jennifer's husband, might not seem jealous of me--when he's jealous of every other man in Jennifer's life--is because I'm practically a country away.

(Thanks Carrie! Now I can feel like a sexy stud again...)

Even though it seemed like she was holding up okay, I still find myself worried about her, or more accurately, just sad that she has to be going through all this.

(I said to Jane recently, only half-kidding, that "If I'd known Jennifer's marriage would be on the rocks at this point, I would have stayed in Lansing!")

______________________________________

(Just got out of the shower. I have to leave in about ten minutes, so of course, that means about a dozen things have come up in my mind for me to write about...)

I think Jane has the impression that Diaryland is, at least in part, my retreat from the challenge of having to relate to actual people.

And I'm sure it is at least in part. As "relationships" go, Diaryland has a lot going for it--It's "All Jim, All The Time", it's there whenever I want it, and I don't have to dress up and take it to dinner--but that said, I don't feel like I'm ducking "real world" relationships in order to write in Diaryland; I've asked two women out here (And am working my courage up to ask a third), I went out to eat with a coworker after work one night last week, and I asked Jonathan (Who is no longer part of "Jonathan and Kiersten", sad to say), if he wanted to see a play or a movie sometime).

But is has occurred to me that Diaryland might, ironically enough, be getting in the way of my writing; I think if I really want to give writing a shot, I'm going to have to portion out a good chunk of time to do it, time I won't be writing in Diaryland. But anyway...

It's time for this bird to fly...

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