Friday 20070504 - 2015 - FTP; Back to bed and pre-lunch; Street traffic; Lunch and "Variety" - gay movies; Lunch and "Variety" - Vanessa; Lunch and "Variety" - Met Opera High Def Broadcasts to cinemas; Lowe's and new chest/dresser hardware; Home - laundry; Outside - cleaning garbage containers, spraying carport, debris, raking, potting LeAnn Cleyera; Taking someone to pick up a car
(Web work - (Fri) 20070504-2015 / (Fri) 20070504 / (Fri) 20070504)

Well, at some point, I was looking at suggestions for improving the speed of XP. I've run into a problem that the longer I work on the laptop, the more sluggish it becomes. So I was following some suggestions about eliminating certain programs.

In the process, I eliminated my FTP (File TRansfer Protocol) program. Usually, a person will work on a web page on their computer then send it via FTP to a web server where it can be accessed by other Internet users. So last night, I couldn't upload my page.

This morning I was up at 6:15 and spent about two hours trying to resolved the issue. I'd been using ACE FTP 3, but in this case it is a subfolder of a folder name Visicom Media. So it's easy to eliminate something and not realize the significance. I tried to re-load ACT 3, but it would give an error message and terminate the program.

I finally gave up and looked at some of the options available at my ISP (Internet Service Provider) - Netdoor, which suggested some FTP programs. including one called FileZilla which it indicated was free, but as I got into it, I realized it was not.

Having just gone through the process again, I think I went off a totally wrong track.

This afternoon, I came back and played around with a couple of other FTP programs but came away confused.

Then I looked for an FTP facility in the HTML editor I use - HTML-Kit. And I found one fairly easily. I thought I'd looked before, and discovered there was not one. So at last I got to upload yesterday's page.

I went back to bed around 8 and woke up around 10:45. I did the usual chores. Showered and shaved. Since the garbage had come earlier, I went out to bring in the containers which are usually scattered here and yonder.

But to the left of the containers was a dead kitty. I'm sure it had been run over while trying to cross the street. And I'd be willing to bet it was done by someone who sped up to do it. Such events always seem to drive an icicle into my psyche.(May there be a special level in Dante's Inferno for such individuals.)

I brought in the containers. And checked the phone book for the local animal control unit. No person was available, but I did leave a message. The kitty was still there when I returned around 1330, but when I went out to check the mail shortly thereafter, it was gone.

I'm on a street that run north and south, with the south end at the top of a hill. Almost every other house has children. The speed limit is posted at 35. And I've frequently seen motorcycle officers stationed at the street that faces my house.

Alas, the street is also a direct route to the city's high school. And it's the only street that goes from Highway 80 to Airport Road, so it get a lot of traffic.

When I got ready to pull out of my drive, I noticed a truck at the top of the hill, which is about eight houses away. By the time I was headed north, the truck was within about ten feet of my bumper. There's no way he could have come the distance without some true speeding. Would the sensible thing not be to slow down when you see someone pulling out, instead of indulging in macho bullshit.

I think cars should be equipped with a giant revolving gun that transmutates the tires of such errant vehicles into concrete cubes.

I was back again with the March 5 - 11, 2007, issue.

One of the surprises were the number of reviews devoted to gay-themed movies:

"Saturno contro" ("Saturn in Opposition") (2007) - director: Ferzan Ozpetek - also director of "Fate ignoranti, Le" ("His Secret Life")

"La Leon" (2007) - director: Santiago Otheguy

"Save Me" (2007) - director: Robert Cary (With Chad Allen and Robert Gant)

"Red without Blue" (2007) - first director listed: Brooke Sebold

"Joan Didion, adapted her memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking" for the stage and Vanessa Redgrave will star in the solo show that tackles the subject of grief."

The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts are being made available in high definition on a pay-per-view basis to cinema audiences in select North American markets.

Oddly enough, five years ago, the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., compelled Cineplex Entertainment (Canada), National CineMedia (USA) and Odeon/UCI (UK and Europe) to put in the satellite equipment and digital broadcasting systems that they needed for their shows. Thus allowing the Met to piggyback on the already-in-place infrastructure.

Here's the most fascinating quote:

"Even in markets like Kenosha, Wis.; Pearl, Miss.; or Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; theaters participating in the program have been averaging close to 91% attendance."

(In - Friday - 20070504 - 1141: $7.51 - Cash)

After lunch, I steered myself to Lowe's to look at hardware for the dresser in the bedroom and one of the chest in the living room.

I selected dull brass pulls with a spiral-like curve in the middle for the bedroom. And in the living room, I chose flat bronze-looking pulls. I've put up a couple, and I like the way both look.

What I'd not thought of were the pieces for the key holes. I need to look again, or that maybe something I can get on line. I'm also going to have to do a recount of what I need. I thought the chest in the living room had two single knobs on each drawer, but it doesn't. However, I need to try that, it might work.

(Out - Friday - 20070504 - 1312: $81.53 - Bank debit card)

Gads! I had to do a tub of clothes. I also had a basket of towels and sheets, but they can wait.

I cleaned the mud and grime from the garbage containers. One had some kind of tar-looking substance on the inside. I used cleanser and a wire bush, but it didn't do much. So I turn the container on its side and cover the stains with bleach.

I washed off the car port to get rid of the dead bugs. Last night I took a can of insecticide and sprayed into all the nooks and crannies.

Since it rained last night, I had to do the customary hunt for fallen debris. At the end, the container was about half-full.

With rake and pitchfork, I attacked the build up of leaves and pine straw along the southside of the front yard. Harder than normal, because the debris is wet from the rain.

And at last, I potted the LeAnn Cleyera. I have three composition pots. (The composition seems like pressed Styrofoam, but I'm not sure. What happened to pots made out of clay?)

I filled one of the pots with about three-inches of medium-sized concrete pebbles and then added potting soil to fill the pot. It was not until today that I realized that the single plant growing solo in near the street is also a Cleyera. Odd that I didn't make that connection.

Around 5, a friend called asked if I could give him a ride to pick up his newly-purchased car at the shop. It took me about 30 minutes to get there. And before letting him out, I set let's have din din at the Chinese buffet near by.

For some reason I was thinking we were on the east side of the restaurant, but we were on the west. The restaurant is in one of the three open shopping malls. Dogwood Festival is on the southside of the highway. Across from it is Dogwood Common. And to the west of it is Lakeland Commons. I'd told him, the restaurant was in the second mall, but, of course, it was in the first. And for some idiotic reason, there is no sign on the restaurant facing the highway. The sign faces north on an interior road within the mall.

Now to add to this, I only saw his new car for the first time last week, and I could not remember what make or year or color it was. I thought gray. But there were only about 5,000 gray cars in the area.

After 45 minutes, I'd developed a migraine and needed to come home.

Later we talked and said we would try again tomorrow or Sunday. This time I'll go first and drop cookie crumbs out of the window. Or maybe giant-size Skittles.

Monthly newsletter from St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral (keep); solicitation from Sears (junk); newsletter from Rankin Medical Center (junk); bill for Centerpoint (keep)

(Out - Saturday - 20070505 - 0045)