Sleepypete's Pillow

(quick warning – techie post ! scan down a little if you find yourself getting lost 🙂

As well as trolling forums and peeking at everybody’s blogs, I’m usually logged into MSN Messenger with me being available if people want to ask something.

(it’s a different address to the one on my blogger profile – and I may be tempted to give it out to the right people 😉 just drop me a line)

Seeing weird things on MSN at the moment though, it’ll all of a sudden go up to almost 100% cpu usage. It’ll then stay at 100% cpu for 46 minutes … and then release the cpu back to idle again. Strange ! I first noticed it a few months ago, which had me hunting forums and Google to find out why. The ideas seemed to be around people who use special characters in their online name or in their message. The special characters would cause the Messenger program to have difficulty decoding what they were, which would lead to excessive cpu usage.

The cpu usage is no big deal, except that the laptop answers by ratcheting up the speed on its fans, which kinda gets in the way of listening to music via iTunes. It’s not done it for a while but started again yesterday, with MS’s WinXP updates coming at the same time probably being a coincidence. So that’s 46 minutes of cpu burning, with another hour or so a bit later. Similar tonight, 46 minutes (exactly!) of burn, with another 44 minutes a bit later. Weird.

I’ve tried a few things, my contacts list has been pruned for one. I think I hit about 35 contacts at one point, mostly due to World of Warcraft people. It’s down to 25 now and could probably come down further. I’ve run the A-Patch too, which I’d recommend for anyone who runs MSN Messenger. It allows you to safely modify the registry settings that control Messenger’s behaviour, to do things like cut the adverts out.

Haven’t got any answers on this one – Messenger is definitely doing something … and it’s a task that takes the Athlon XP-M2500+ in my laptop about 45 minutes to carry out.

That’s the end of the techie stuff 🙂

Healthwise, after Monday’s fun I’ve been having the reversal … Stiff back, dodgy ankles, shoulder cramps, knees that drown out the telly with their creaking and hips that are more statue than snake. I’ve learned to enjoy the good days as much as possible and to ride out the bad as best I can. It helps to have great people around, a shared smile and a kind word really brightens the day, which goes a long way towards me being able to ignore the aches and pain. And we have some great people on the project I work on. The move across site has been good too and the canteen girls seem to be catchng the grin too 🙂

But I do miss the “Hello Pete how was your weekend?” that I got occasionally from the wonderful Miss A. I tried to tempt Miss A to come visit to steal a cake when I brought them in to work for my birthday (project tradition) but I don’t think Angel Slices were tempting enough to brave the rain for 🙂

I don’t think I’m magic but I reckon I fit the other two bits there at the moment … Although the dragon bit is only through my “Another Monday” Pocket Dragon avatar that follows me around the net. Definitely been puffing due to burning off excess energy.

Better than average day today for me. I’m usually carrying at least two niggles that slow me down. From leg injuries that never healed, a stiff back or a shoulder that feels like someone’s got a vicelike grip with their fingers digging in. Today it was my leg’s turn, a legacy of a knee injury making it kinda like dragging one leg. Noticeable but ignorable …

Walking around, I felt like I had an extra gear to kick into. Bit like having a metabolism that’s figured out that it is ok for it to do some hyperactive bouncing off the walls. It’s fun when it happens and I try and enjoy it while it does. I walk faster than most people anyway but having the freedom in my legs to open that stride up and Go Even Fasta gives quite a buzz. It’s a bit like the first day of a new cricket season when you go onto the field and really pin those ears back with the open space giving room to let you break into a sprint. It’s great feeling the wind rush past your ears.

I’m nowhere near being an endurance runner but managed to build up a fair bit of sprinting muscle so I can literally run like the wind when I get the excuse. But only for about 50 yards, which is when the rapid stop, keeling over and coughing part takes over 🙂 (I’m not quite that bad but rather too much of my 14 stone is deadweight).

Felt so good today that I had one of those mad moments while dashing to the chippie and back 🙂 Not full speed sprinting (too dangerous on wet pavements and trainer soles I don’t trust) but easy paced quick jogging and maintaining it apart from being wary of psychotic Bristolian drivers. Doing a fairly regular dash around the block is something I should do a lot more often. Even if I don’t play cricket that much more, it would help to get rid of some of that deadweight which would keep me feeling better all round. And cos jogging isn’t really impact like some of the sports I like, it should keep the shoulder happy too.

Just gotta get into a habit of being healthier, which means not being lazy and running to the chippie to avoid doing the washing up.

I’ve never been diagnosed but I think I’m a bit on the manic-depressive side. It doesn’t affect my personality much (that I notice) but it does affect the about of energy I can kick out. Some days I’ll have great trouble doing anything, others I’ll be bouncing off the walls. I enjoy the bouncing off the walls days when I get them and attempt to ignore the depressive effects as much as possible.

The thought “you won’t catch up to those pretty people up ahead on the path if you keep whinging” has been very effective in the past at starting to kick me out of the low cycle 🙂 One of my other contrasts is I can be a bit of a show-off alongside shyness and showing off doesn’t work too well if you’re depressed.

Last note – spooky iTunes moment – it’s caught the tone of this post and offered up Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds. (Youtube link) I just hope DM Aginoth isn’t intending to do a “Show Me Heaven” (Maria McKee) to my D&D character tonight … He hasn’t killed one of us off yet and it’s getting due …

Yeah – fear is something we have to be really careful of, or it starts to take control …

I’m glad when I had my nose broke that I managed to play another game that year – that let me get rid of any psychological hangups that might have developed 🙂

Quite right. The minute we start to live in fear the terrorists have won. I took my hat off to those who were back in that cafe the next day toasting the dead but carrying on.

Heh heh heh – if McCain had managed to get advantage of a Florida ballot, the world would be a much scarier place …

it’s hard to know when it’s the right time to let out a deep breath and move forward

and that time is different for everyone

here in NY after 9/11 there were a lot of folks that were afraid to take the subway for a long time

I had a mini meltdown in the tunnel a few days after it was finally opened, just suddenly hit me how fragile we all are

but we do all need to keep moving, more than death and destruction what terrorists want is long term fear and inaction

I also pray that calm minds will prevail and I am so glad that Obama is our new leader

I shudder to think what McCain would do with this situation

Peace my friend

Last Thursday saw one of the more spectacular terrorist atrocities of recent years, when armed groups attacked several locations in Mumbai, India.

Let’s take a moment to remember the at least 188 dead as a result of the attacks.

The dust seems to be settling now, with the aftershocks and repercussions starting to be felt. This has the potential to be an extremely scary event as it’s putting a red hot poker into the sensitive relations between India and Pakistan, 2 countries armed with nukes … There’s a thread left by the terrorists that could allow an excuse for increasing the tension between India and Pakistan and I really do hope sanity prevails here.

There’s a potential for the guns of 20 to turn into 2 million, if the two governments allow the terrorists to decide their foreign policy for them. Hopefully sanity will prevail. I’m more interested in the cultural aspect, in particular what happens with the sport 🙂

India should be hosting a cricket Champions League at the moment, which was rightfully called off. If the terrorists had struck just a day or two later, they’d have caught some of the teams taking part. A week or so earlier and the England international team would have been staying in one of the hotels that was attacked. With so many dead, it was the right thing to do to call off the Champions League, this should be a time for mourning.

I was thinking that it would be wrong for the England team to go back to India to play a couple of Test Matches here. Same logic again, time for mourning. The big concern is over the safety of the players, which should really be expanded to looking out for the safety of the media covering the games and the supporters going out to watch them. I’m starting to come around to a different point of view though, dominated by the thought :

Why should we allow terrorists to tell us what to do ?

A period of mourning was needed but those times should ALWAYS come to an end. The dead should be remembered but it’s key to remember to live life. What better time to turn the corner and say to the world : “We Are Not Afraid !” and get the game on. I really do hope that England do go out there and show what they’ve got. I’m sure they’ll be well looked after, although the atmosphere could be somewhat of a prison camp with the level of security they’ll have. Which could be a good thing, as it’ll hopefully focus the players on playing the game.

We’ll see what happens over the next week or so. It’s still up in the air as to whether England’s cricket team goes back to India and a few players will probably avoid the tour. That’s their choice. (Should note that one who I’m a big fan of probably won’t go – but that’s cos his wife has a kiddie due very soon)

Thank goodness you cleared that up as I was going to ask! 😀

I love reading Heinlein. He is one of the best sci-fi writers IMHO. Thanks for the menshun 🙂

that last PS had me roaring with laughter!!

love Gloria – the cats hide when I sing along

I am adding so many books to my list!! Oy!

This one comes courtesy of Bobkat’s House and Dianne at Forks Of The Moment :-).

The rules :
Pass it on to 5 other bloggers and tell them to open the nearest book to page 46. Write out the fifth sentence on that page and also the next 2 to 5 sentences. The closest book, not the coolest, or the one you think will sound the best. THE CLOSEST !!!

Here we go – book is The Door Into Summer by Robert A Heinlein, the Gollancz edition which were slightly bigger than average, so it sticks out a little from the pile of books I have queued up for the A to Z challenge. Therefore da closest 🙂

Leave it in the car ? Suppose I was hauled in for assault and battery; it wouldn’t be smart to have it in the car when the car was towed in and impounded.
I could mail it to myself, but I had been getting my mail lately from general delivery at the G.P.O., while shifting from hotel to hotel as often as they found out I was keeping a cat.
I had better mail it to someone I could trust.
But that was a mighty short list.
Then I remembered someone I could trust.

Not read this one before but that little snippet has me interested enough to probably gobble this one up as The Next Book after my next one. I’m currently reading Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold but I like to space out my authors a bit. So my next book will be someone other than Heinlein, quite possibly Polar City Blues by Katherine Kerr.

I don’t tag people but if you read this and have a blog, have a go and let people know that you’ve joined in 🙂 And don’t forget the button !

PS Current album on iTunes is Gloria Estefan’s Cuts Both Ways, so the neighbours are getting treated to Cat Karaoke as I attempt to sing along.
PS2 Just peeked at the page 46 in Farnham’s Freehold, which was on the other side of the room. Not particularly inspiring, think Door Into Summer was a far better page 46 🙂
PS3 Despite what the piccy suggests, I have never worn stockings and suspenders. Honest guv. Never worn heels either !