Upload Unabomber

Somebody please just tell me who I have to throttle to make things work around here!

Okay, so I started trying to reupload the forum stuff for CoC. I decided to do this slowly and manually, given that the Java uploader that my host operates may well just be shit - I wanted to completely exclude that as the problem. So this is slow work, but should be fine, right? WRONG. Because now I'm trying to upload stuff and every time I click "Browse", fucking thing crashes Firefox on me. I mean, we're talking the whole thing collapses and falls down. It's like clicking that one little button just bombs the crap out of the browser.

I don't know what the fuck is going on, but how they expect anyone to operate under these conditions is beyond me. I'm going to give it a breather, feed the cat, have my other apple doughnut while trying to calm down (I skipped most of dinner but want to at least try to get some caloric intake down me, plus I could use the sugar) and then try it again. If all else fails, I'm going to have to type in the files I'm looking to upload manually and see where that gets me. This could get slow, dull and pointless, and I'll be pissed off beyond all reason if I go through all that trouble and find that it still doesn't work, but ... well, I'm going to try everything at this point. I refuse to let this stupid fucking bit of machinery and software do this to me.

Of course, I could be stressing because I have to go to the dentist in about 14.5 hours and just not be needing this shit on top of the whole "they're going to rip out one of my teeth" thing. YMMV.

Crash Course

And so, when I tried to go to Properties on one of those damn YaBB files to see if there was an easier way to get the file locations for manual upload, explorer.exe borked completely. I mean, constantly throwing up errors, borking my desktop and generally Not Being My Friend. I tried to restart, and at first it wouldn't even do that. I was grateful when it started loading Windows again after I disconnected my iPod, but that didn't last because as soon as Windows loaded, it just kept throwing up those fucking errors again. I've shut the thing down completely and am giving it a breather - I've had error messages when using Explorer before, but they never made this much mess. With a little luck, it'll be one of those random things that computers do to fuck with people.

If it's not ... I suppose I'm looking at a complete reinstall. Which of course sucks rocks because that means losing all manner of shit as well as the time necessary to reinstall all of my Sims 2 expansion packs and FFXI, as well as OpenOffice, iTunes and everything else I was running. However, while this is time-consuming and annoying, it's not the end of the world. At least, I don't think it is. Thank gods I have two hard drives.

See, my C drive is a good 80GB-or-so drive that we were using as my primary, so that'd be where the problem is, I'd figure, and the first thing I'd have to wipe and reinstall things on. However, just about everything I have is either stored or backed up on the 160GB-or-so E drive - the music, the Sims custom content, all my RP notes. In short, the hard-to-replace stuff. Plus at least some of the really good music got copied to dodgyhoodoo's computer for his own listening pleasure, so even if the worst happened, I'd get some of it back no problem. Plus I suppose I meant to weed through my Sims 2 downloads anyway, get rid of some of the stuff I really didn't need, so if it really comes down to it, I can just go and ... be selective, I guess.

See thessalian look on the bright side! Whee. Really, I just don't have the energy for stress or despair right now. I just want to veg for a little longer, take my damn antibiotic and go to bed. I can deal with computer shit after I get one of my teeth pulled.

Not Quite Castle Frankenstein

It's alive! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

I booted up the Frankenbox this morning, and after resetting my desktop preferences, it's absolutely fine. Well, at the minute, anyway. I am currently treating the C drive to a virus scan and disc error check. I'll probably do the same to the E drive, just to be on the safe side. It shouldn't need a defrag - I only did that last month. Still, I am now just refusing to underestimate the power of a good bit of hardware maintenance and a shutdown at least once a month, just in case.

Well, that's one less thing, anyway. After the various scans and my bloody trip to the dentist (probably literally), I can go back to my potentially abortive attempts to set up YaBB on CoC. The good news is that dodgyhoodoo has some other fab shots of London that will do quite well for the rest of my Settings page. The only other thing I can think off off the top of my head that I'd still want is a few shots of Shad Thames and maybe some Brixton photos. Most of the other areas I've put down as Settings are ... really very expensive, and of the places I can think of where people making just an average salary (or less) live, Brixton's one of the few that really deserves photos. Brixton Academy and all that, y'know? Plus most Borough high streets look about the same and, while they all have a different flavour in the residential aspects, I think I can afford to be a bit vaguer about that sort of thing. Of course, Wimbledon'd be nice too, but frankly there are limits.

And now what I'm going to do is dump some more music on iStress (Bush and Pearl Jam have just made it into my collection, as well as some Bob Dylan that I think I'm going to listen to at home first; not really my genre but I had one of those whims, y'know?) and do the webcomic perusal until it's time to leave for the dentist. Whoopee.

...Or Not...

Oh. FUCK.

Now it doesn't recognise the E drive. AT ALL. It says I have three CD drives, which I don't, and no fucking E drive. What the hell?

*sigh* I don't have time to fix this. I'm going to have to shut it down and pray I can make it work when I come back. I don't know what's going on but I don't like it AT ALL.