I need a faster network (and a Windows quote)

Gleargh. So, figuring out that OpenSuSE 11.3 can bring Cecil online kinda-sorta-somewhat handles it for the time being...because if there's anything I've learned from using Linux for three years, it's that what works today will likely break at the next release.  Which means I should download a recent prerelease of 11.4...

In the "making shit up while not throttling my download" department:

Mom: what is with the connection? I had to drop my picture quality all the way down to minimal
Xyzzy: I noticed it was slow too but only on some sites...means the backbone at the border is probably bogged (or normally it would, had I not been downloading a distro at full speed...)
Mom: are you downloading anything?
Xyzzy: I've been mostly playing "hit the wrong key" on the netbook (not quite a lie; I just didn't mention my other system had been downloading)
Mom: I have ben tryng to access some pages, but it is still loading. for about 10 minutes now. not just one, but two separate ones
Xyzzy: could both be in places that go through that backbone (she replied, whistling innocently)

Yes, she believed me.  Knowledge is power (or download speed and power over which computers get network priority, at least)... Also, from an Arch forum I ran across in my quest to fix Cecil:

"Got myself an Acer Aspire One 721 yesterday, booted it up, laughed hard at the Win7 Home Premium that was preinstalled and dumped it..."

Fun screenshots and quotes...

While wandering the web today, I've managed to capture two screenshots that raised my eyebrows enough to make me chuckle... The first one came while I was doing a search over at Borders:

Gee, think we can get that in paperback?

Second one was actually just a few minutes ago... Realizing that I need to set up an AIM account for my netbook, I ran a Google search in hope of leaping straight to the account-creation page.  Normally its suggestions are based on typos or alternate spellings, but not this time:

No, I didn't, why do you ask?

I also ran across a number of comments that really amused me...

Regarding the controversial upcoming GNOME 3 environment:

oOarthurOo: The gnome mystics promised me it would transform the my relationship with the desktop, and it has; I’m using KDE now instead of Gnome.

Dan: ...the first few things which came to mind as I was wandering my way through a shockingly counter-intuitive interface were:
-- What the 'ell were these guys thinking?!
-- ... Or drinking?!
-- ... Or smoking?

Dan and his partner: After her machine was shut down [after trying G3], and I had the marker in my hand to label the disk, she saw what I was doing and offered the following by simply spelling it out verbally.  "A-B-O-M-B-I-N-A-T-I-O-N."

Dan again, later: In short, this is what you get when you subject Nautilus to a frontal lobotomy.

In an old review for Mercedes Lackey's book Exile's Valor, which takes place a bit before the original Valdemar book Arrows of the Queen:

(hockey plus lacrosse plus polo equals SHUT UP, I DON'T CARE)

I am eagerly anticipating the horrifying disaster or quiet fact of life that makes [Lackey's Mary Sue avatar] completely absent from her supposed role as Herald-Chronicler by [Arrows].

...the robes of the karsite priests, for example, are a mess, and so is this book.

QuickiWiki Look Up

makes [

Quest of the um, wait, *what*?

I recall somebody commenting, long before I found out that I'm autistic, that I was focused on so many things intently at once that I gave the appearance of having ADD.  (The appearance, that is, because I have all of those things going on because I never entirely drop an interest.)

So I just spent some time copying lines out of Shay Addams' Official Book of Ultima for my mother, because we somehow ended up talking about... Actually, I'm not even sure how we got to it, but I ended up trying to relay a vaguely-recalled section about how the Dead Sea Scrolls claimed Jesus Christ wandered to India and became a Hindu yogi avatar.  I was kind of annoyed that I couldn't just find it online, so I shall excerpt the relevant part (because the book is now 18-20 years out of print):

"But while Christians say Christ was the Son of God, the Hindus say, no, you misinterpret it: he never said he was the Sun of God, Christ said he was one with God."

"[A] television documentary about the Dead Sea Scrolls [was] talking about the life of Christ, and digressed briefly into a period of time when he apparently traveled to India and other Hindu areas and studied with them for a while... The Hindus believe Christ was a very powerful yogi who, when he studied with them, attained the most powerful level, the avatar...the culmination of yogis...someone who has purified themselves in all 16 [described] ways."

 Now I need to go find out why the heck Pidgin keeps crashing, and research various things I need to obtain/replace as they're either frustratingly limited (newish cellphone bought on Black Friday), dying (external backup hard drive), parts to repair something that failed (monitor capacitors),  or my parents' Christmas gifts to me ("I don't know anything about __ but I know you need one, so here's the money, go do research and buy one").

Sod it.  I think I'll go find downloadable copies of the old Apple II disks to Legacy Of The Ancients  CRPG Addict is playing the DOS version and I don't recall it being quite that ugly on my IIgs back in the day...

Absurdity saves my sanity (or sense of humor)

I just spent 2-3 frustrating hours trying to sort out what was trashing my internet connection, only to discover that (surprise, surprise) it's a trojan on my mother's XP system... Well, after blocking the port it was hammering, I was irritably looking up overload on another port when I saw this comment from someone else with the same issue:

"Maybe its the aliens contacting me@#$%^!@#$!~"

Amazing how a silly little comment like that can do wonders for my mood...

(Listening to: Ultima 7 soundtrack)