17 October 2003 Now... such a funny picture that is of me playing computer. I tried putting my old 20GB hard drive into my computer and installing Mandrake Linux 9.1 . It works.. but the hard drive tends to make a loud buzzing sound. So I moved the hard disk a bit in my case, removed the screws, replaced them.. and it still buzzed. Basically I keep WinXP on my 40GB drive, Mandrake on the 20GB drive. So I unplugged the 20GB, but then the Lilo bootloader won't even let Windows boot. So I tried to find a way to fix the boot sector... couldn't do it from Linux.. et voila, I learned a new DOS command: fixmbr which means 'fix the master boot record.' Ah, it worked! I also learned 'fixboot' which didn't work. But now my poor ailing 20GB drive is unplugged... and I wanted to try Linux too... but if I ever want to use it, I can plug in the 20GB drive and set my BIOS to boot from it... The picture is of me playing NWN , a very fun and addicting game. It works nicely too. Hint: a good video card is often far more helpful than a fast CPU (to a point; a good 3d accelerator is often worth more than a gigahert, or so it seems). I know because I've played it on systems with fast processors but not very good video cards (P4 2.4Ghz). Mine has a good processor and a rather good video card (XP1800+, Geforce4) (though far from the best). Run's choppy on minimum detail on the former, fine with full detail on mine (except with shadows turned down a bit; but full antialiasing, et cetera) Played clarinet today, the church wants for me to play a fun Dixieland part with lots of sixteenth notes and that goes quiet high... rehearsal tomorrow. Playing clarinet makes me feel happy and glad, even moreso when I play with an ensemble... well, depending on the ensemble. Also the bookstore called and told me that they recieved a book that they ordered, about postmodernism... so movies for tonight, and clarinet and a new book tomorrow, what a nice weekend. Thoughts and Events