The gods hate me. As if it wasn't enough to have to reinstall Windows tonight, I just spilled coffee all over my keyboard. This time, it's truly hosed. My computer was going nuts; the USB device connected / disconnected WAVs (ding-dong / dong-ding) were firing in succession every ten seconds. Luckily, it was the only peripheral that sustained damage. Oh, let me back up and tell you why I'm having to reinstall Windows on this new system – AGAIN. Remember that weird conflict I was telling you about yesterday? How I believed it was due to the front USB connections? I don't think that was it. The mysterious video card contention popped up during a USB CompactFlash file transfer this time around. I blue screened, and when I got back into Windows XP, it couldn't start my video card. Through MSINFO32, I discovered a few hardware conflicts. The motherboard's AGP controller and video card were unhappy. Now, even without the Intel Chipset drivers installed, this is still a “problem.” I'm trepidatious about connecting any more USB peripherals to Storm Shadow. Let's hope that this digital crapstorm is behind me.

Long story short? My Inbox is overflowing with overdue tasks, and I need a mini-vacation. I don't want to go through this again anytime soon. I don't mind setting up a system from scratch, but running through the entire routine four days in a row is starting to take its toll on me. I have a new found appreciation for those of you in the “technical” arts. Sure, I deal with technology, but not like some of you do. I'm having a difficult enough time supporting myself, let alone dozens or hundreds of people. Of course, I'm quickly becoming the master of Windows reinstallations. In fact, I even discovered the difference between “full” and “quick” reformatting. The “full” process takes longer only because it's running an error check on the disk. If you know your boot drive is in shape, you can skip this option and shave time. I'm facing an all-nighter tonight anyway, but if this helps any of you at some point in the future, then maybe my personal “hell week” didn't happen in vain.