Oscars Poll Winners; computer woes; Arrested Development; Alias commentary

( Academy Awards Poll Winners :D )

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Confession: In the last three weeks, I have consumed three pies. By myself. I'm even considering getting another one. The blame rests solely on Marie Callender's, which has pies for $5.99 in the month of February. Luckily, the ordeal is almost over. (If I were a cat, and cat food were pie, this would be me.)

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Speaking of ordeals, my new computer may be working at last. *weeps* Let me tell you, if this had been my experience last time, I don't think I would have been so enthused about it this time. As for the next time, well, I can't even think about it right now. I mean, partially because of what I went through, and partially because I can't fathom that I'll ever need more than 160GB of space or need to go faster than 2.19GHz.

I'm not caught up on LJ, but I wanted to say thank you so, so much to everyone who left a reply about either the story or the icons in my last two posts. I honestly meant to reply to everyone, but my weekend (and life force) was sucked away by computer issues.

( Herein lies my long tale of woe. )

Now that everything is working, I am really excited to finally implement multiple-screen technology. :D Windows has had this capability since Windows 98 or something -- it automatically detects if you have two video cards, and going into Control Panel --> Display --> Settings allows you to set it up so that you can use both monitors. It is really cool and convenient, because now I can have two things open at the same time (say, a browser and Photoshop), on two different monitors. I also like to move download windows to the other monitor, so I can kept track of progress without needing to click on it from my taskbar all the time. It's also cool because it allows me to use that extra monitor lying around, as well as my video card from two computers ago. You can learn more about doing this here.

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If you haven't yet seen Arrested Development, YOU MUST. It is absolutely brilliant. I rented the S1 discs from Blockbuster, and the pilot was just amazing. Jade tells me that it's the episode they submitted for the Emmys (and shows never submit pilots), and THEY WON. Very deserved, too. It's completely wrong, and so damn funny.

I used to love Jason Bateman as a teen, but that faded along with my crushes on Kirk Cameron, Ricky Schroeder, Brice Beckham, and the like. The Jason love is back. He's just fantastic. I had no idea! (The last time I saw him was in The Sweetest Thing, and he was great, but his role was really small, so I thought it was a fluke.)

So, yeah. Highly recommend AD.

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As if this entry weren't long enough, here's my ( Alias: Echoes commentary )

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Oh, and I keep meaning to say this but always forget: If there is anyone left on this planet who does not have a Gmail account but wants one, let me know.

Geeky grammar quiz!

Gacked from fearthainn:

The Commonly Confused Words Test

Advanced

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 72% Expert!

You have an extremly good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels's questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

Compared to users who took the test and are and in your age group:
100% had lower Beginner scores.
100% had lower Intermediate scores.
100% had lower Advanced scores.
100% had lower Expert scores.

** I love geeky grammar quizzes like this -- however, what I don't like is that she doesn't actually tell you the right answers after it's over. IMHO some of them were rather poorly written, and it was unclear whether capitalization played a role in whether an answer was correct or not, etc. So, yeah. Bring a grain of salt with you.