Month: June 2005

Firefox Bug

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Over the past week, my machine’s performance was getting worse and worse, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. It seemed to be linked to Firefox, because it was using 99% of the CPU and way too much memory.

Today while I was using IE to see if I could replicate the problem, I decided to import my Firefox bookmarks. Imagine my surprise when I went into the default profile and saw over 5000 bookmarks.html files (they were numbered bookmarks-01.html, bookmarks-02.html, etc). Based on the create date and time on each file, it looked like Firefox was spawning a new file every 30 seconds since I reinstalled Windows XP.

I removed Firefox and reinstalled it and everything seems to be fine now. That was so freaky! I couldn’t find anything online (not that I searched all that extensively) about this, so I’m not sure what could have caused it. I suspect it had something to do with an extension I installed, so I’m not installing any for the time being.

Errands & eye twitching

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Yesterday we ran so many errands after work I couldn’t believe we were home before 7 pm. We stopped at 7-8 places! Some of the stops were a total waste of time, like Best Buy (no, I don’t know any better when it comes to that place because I keep going back). They had a great deal on RAM: 1 GB DDR for only $50, but they were all out by the time we got there. Plus an employee had no idea what we were talking about (typical) even though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an online-only special.

Our trip to Jewel was unfruitful as well. Ever since last week when someone brought in a veggie tray, I’ve been wanting to get the veggie dip that was included. Unfortunately, it’s only packaged with the veggies which are overpriced. So I picked up a dip at Target that is ok, but not nearly as tasty. :(

Went to the library as well so Joe could get some books on cd, and got a recipe book: Good Housekeeping Rush Hour Dinners : Great Meals in 30 Minutes or Less. I’m always checking out new recipe books but they usually suck. This one, just from quickly flipping through it last night, has a bunch of recipes I plan on trying. Tonight I’m going to go through it in more detail and if the majority are good, I might just order it to own.

My eye seems to be doing a bit better today. I’m not sure if it’s because I changed my contacts and opened a new bottle of saline, or if I’ve been careful about not moving my eye as much. I changed the contacts to the ones I think I got from the doctor’s office. I also have some that I ordered from 1-800-contacts but I’ve heard some bad things about them, like how the contacts aren’t necessarily sterile, so I won’t be ordering from them again.

I’m trying to turn my head instead of looking out of the corner of my eye since that seems to strain the muscle and make it start twitching. I have had a headache since I got up this morning and it hurts behind my eye similar to when I get a migraine. I keep putting off going to the doctor because as soon as I do it will stop twitching. Trust me, this kind of stuff happens to me all the time. So I’m going to try cutting out all caffeine, even the caffeine-free diet pop in case aspartame is to blame, and hopefully get a bit more sleep. Going to bed early typically backfires for me, so we’ll see how that goes. The twitching is just driving me insane and short of ripping my eye out or injecting the muscle with Botox, I don’t know what else to do. It most likely isn’t an indication of anything serious, but if it’s not gone by next week, I’ll make an appointment to see the doctor just to be safe.

Cell phone freaks

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Man Drops Cell Phone, Hit By CTA Train

You’d think if you were waiting for a train, you’d be a bit more aware of your surroundings and notice it coming so you don’t stick your head in the way. Somehow I think the condition of your skull is a bit more important than a stupid phone. People are so dumb, I don’t know why stuff like this even amazes me anymore. Let’s hope the impact kick-started some brain cells for that guy at least.

Don’t you think it’s a bit ridiculous how attached people are to their cell phones? I can’t go to the store without having to navigate around people talking a mile a minute as if they aren’t going to see the person in the next ten minutes anyway. They talk while paying for their groceries, in theaters during a movie, in their cars instead of paying attention to the road, at sporting events so you can’t enjoy the game in peace, in elevators where you can’t escape, and just about anywhere else except the library (and even then they are in the lobby yapping away). They even chat while pumping their gas! Not too long ago, I drove by three teenage girls walking down the street, each on their cell phone. Shouldn’t they have been talking to each other?

Is all this chatting really necessary? We did just fine without cell phones not too long ago. Do we really need to be THAT connected? I hope they ban public cell phone use along with smoking. Don’t get me wrong, I own and use my cell phone, but not nearly to the degree most people seem to, and I actually pay attention to the road if I happen to be driving at the time. I can’t say that much for the people who cut me off and blow red lights because they are too busy talking to even care what’s going on around them.

Shop-a-holic

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Yuck, I’m all sweaty right now and I hate that feeling. I just finished giving the house a fairly decent cleaning. I’ll do an even more thorough job next Sunday (or maybe Monday, since we’ll be out during the day) after the kids leave.

Yesterday to kill some time we had lunch at this awesome bbq restaurant in our old neighborhood (when I say old, I mean before we lived together), The Pit Rib House. I’m not really a bbq fan, but I can’t resist their bbq chicken. The only thing that irks me is I always order the quarter chicken and they bring out (and charge me for) the half chicken. It doesn’t always occur to me right away either, but next time I’m going to yell at them about it. Anyway, they make their own bbq sauce on site, so we bought a bottle since good bbq sauce is hard to find.

After lunch we went to the Market Day Store to get some broccoli cheese stuffed chicken. We usually make them in the toaster oven and put them on a bed of rice. It’s not the healthiest meal in the world, but it’s definitely one of my favorites.
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Traffic

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Chicago Area Struggles With Increasing Traffic Problems

No shit, Sherlock.

I don’t have to deal with too much of it, but Joe does, and it sucks. Especially because I get to deal with his sour puss when he finally makes it home. ;)

I can’t blame him, though. When you know you can get from point A to point B in a half hour if it wasn’t for all the other cars in your way, most of them getting into stupid accidents that further slow everyone else, but your actual commute often tops an hour and a half, it can be extremely frustrating. All that wasted, unproductive time!

I don’t know why they can’t come up with a cool tunnel system to handle express traffic. This is my vision: they build tunnels extending from the city in all four directions, with only one entrance and exit. Now, when you get into the tunnel, you’re locked into a conveyer-type contraption like they use at the car wash. Except for this thing tops 100 MPH and zips you off to your exit. Since all the cars are evenly spaced and not controlled by the driver, there’s no concern for accidents.

Could you imagine how much nicer commuting to the city would be? I suspect one day something to that nature will be constructed. Until then, I have three words for Joe to help battle the boredom and frustration: books on cd.