April 22, 2004 – thecubsfan.com

This morning, I start up Radio@Netscape, and they want me to upgrade to a new version, and this version is going to expire if I don’t. So I do.

The new version, looks bad (far less professional looking), the sound quality’s dropped (I don’t have normally have an ear for these things, so that’s how stunning the change was) and the buttons you click don’t actually respond the first time you click them. But it has more room for ad banner space, so mission accomplished.

It’s still music, and free music, and I still get the stations I want so I go along with it. I take off my headphones for a while to do other stuff, and when I come back, the music stops. Which isn’t unexpected, because the old version would prompt you ever 31 or 51 songs to check if you were still there and perhaps looking at their ad banner.

Except that’s not the prompt. According to the new prompt, I’ve reached my limit of free music for the day (at two hours?) and if I want more, I have to pay for AOL Broadband to listen for any more than that per day.

What a rip – from “really good, as long as you want (to click)” to “eh, for two hours” with no warning. Need new music again. Time to bebop around on http://www.radio-locator.com/ and listen to music from Alaska.

A list: Things that happened to me on Wednesday

the alarm went off, but the radio people were annoying so I turned it off.

so I overslept.

because I overslept, someone else had to move my car (as I was hurriedly getting ready) so a painter could get into my garage

while moving my care, that person snapped off my passenger side mirror on the way out of the garage, screwing up the garage door track as well

I had to drive 2h45m, all highway, lots of passing cars, and one less mirror

and it was raining off and on

After listening to crappy sports radio (to wake me up some more via anger), I decide to listen to my reburned CD. All goes well for about 40 minutes – and then the CD Player won’t play my CD for more than 5 seconds without a 30 second pause. (I endorse Milwaukee’s 102.1, by the way)

and then I realize my wallet is sitting on the couch at home, and I’m far far away from there now

And then I get to where I’m going, where I’m supposed to install a hard drive. This computer where I sit will keep beeping till it’s installed, and maybe it’ll lose all the data if we don’t get it in there soon. Dell sent it. to me. I open the box it came in. Packing list says “HD, 19GB”. It’s not a hard drive. It’s a tape drive. Dell thinks this is kinda funny.

I have nothing else to do at this location that I couldn’t have done from places lots closer to home. I fool around and kill time and take care of little issues no one would even bother to care about, before checking out at 4

It’s rained some more.

2h45m back the other way! CD Player still hates me.

and the tape covering the busted plastic starts to loosen, and bits of plastic are falling off my car. So I have to stop in the middle of nowhere to fix that

I get to downtown Milwaukee just in time for the downtown evening Downtown Milwaukee Traffic Jam For No Obvious Reason

I get near O’Haire just in time for a “we’ll all slow down to look at the car on the shoulder there” jam.

O’Haire’s toll is 40 cents. I throw in a quarter, a dime, and a nickel. Somehow, this does prompt the gate to go up. Free bonus quarter for IDOT!

The tape starts coming off again, but I’m ten minutes from home and don’t care any more

and my garage is so full of ladders and paint supplies, I can’t park and get to the stairs to the house without some creative climbing. (I think I couldn’t have actually made it that far if my mirror hadn’t been clipped off, so there’s an upside there.)

So. Good day. Cubs were awesome. Try again tomorrow.

There’s a rumor I may watch wrestling live in person on Saturday with Internet-type people. I can not confirm nor deny this at the moment.

Day: April 22, 2004

aol ruins everything

94 Express