I'm going to be working on a pair of new websites that are entirely unrelated. One's for my mother, and the other's for a different client. I think the client's site will be done first. Time to write my very first CSS site ...

Speaking of which, I think I have to redesign the site for my parents' business. It's getting a little old.

In other news today, I hate it when people with Pentium II 233 machines with 64MB of RAM insist on running Windows XP. STUPID. Just because you have the minimum requirements doesn't mean the software will run optimally. Idiot.

I had the day off today ... spent the morning searching the Intarweb for the Next Big Thing, found 3 possibilities and requested some more information on them. Yay. Spent the afternoon with Julie We had planned on going for a hike in the forest preserves near her house, since they're a hell of a lot more hilly than those around here, but the temperature was in the mid-90s and it was quite humid. We went outside at 7:30PM and it felt like we were stepping in a freakin' sauna. 7:30PM. It got tolerable around 11:00PM, though.

I'm thinking of going back to a single-monitor setup. Yes, dual monitors are awesome, and I most definitely prefer that to a single monitor, but this CRT is driving me freakin' bananas. For some reason it likes to randomly switch back to a 60Hz refresh rate, which really bugs me ... then I have to go into display properties and set it back to 75Hz, even though the drop-down menu says it's already there. So I have to set it to 60Hz, then to 75Hz, and then it works. Yes, I notice the difference between 60 and 75, and I'm sure you would too if you sat them side-by-side (or if you already know what the difference looks like). See, the LCD that I use as my secondary monitor doesn't have this problem. It looks just fine at 60Hz, and it looks the damn same at 75Hz. It has no dead pixels either, which is a definite plus. But, I know that as soon as I move the CRT off of my desk, I'll miss it.

So as of 4:30PM yesterday I have known Julie for 6 years. We started dating the following March, but we met on 24 June 1999 at the University of Illinois at Chicago's freshman orientation. w00t w00t

Okay, now onto the subject at hand. Spyware sucks. It's not Microsoft's fault, no no no. Don't give me any of this "OMG BUT WHAT ABOUT ACTIVEX" bullshit either, t's the user's fault. I run Windows XP on my laptop, my main computer, and two computers at work. Have I infected any of them with spyware? NO. Again, don't give me any of this "OMG BUT YOU HAVE A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE" bullshit, I have seen CS Ph.D.s screw up Windows beyond repair on more than one occasion. What it boils down to is that people can't recognize a scam. I don't have good common sense, but I can smell a pyramid scheme a mile away. I don't care if two of your friends got free iPods, it's a classic pyramid scheme.

Another thing: why do people want to install more and more software to keep spyware out? Half of the "anti-spyware" stuff out there is malware itself! Can't they, I don't know, modify their damn browsing habits to keep the stuff out? I mean, it's not as if we're born with browsing habits hard-coded into our brains.

Then again, idiots who incessantly download spyware keep money in my pocket, seeing how I am called upon to fix it ...

Seriously now. All I hear is Hillary Duff this, Linday Lohan that ... I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS. Is it that hard to understand? So they're famous, BIG DEAL. It's not that I'm jealous about the fact that they're famous; I'd prefer not to be famous myself, just to avoid all the stress and stuff that it causes. It's not that they're rich, as I dislike excess anything (though I wouldn't mind a couple extra bucks here and there myself ). It's the constant presence of their faces and names. If they're not all over news pages that I'm visiting, they're on my coworkers' computer screens, and I'm hearing them read the headlines out loud. Remember the thing about the rat's ass, right? I DON'T GIVE ONE.

Okay, so that's my little rant for today.

I tested the VPN from home, and it worked. Unfortunately for me, the router that it was behind is now out of commission, so I grabbed a defective one and used it instead. I hope I got the port forwarding correct. I did a test connection from my work computer and it worked, so I'll just have to wait until I see the results at home. I also gave the IP address and a login to some buddies of mine, who have been reporting that they are able to connect and authenticate, but they can't ping the server. I guess that's because of the wonky IP scheme that I used ... so I changed the IP scheme when I put the new router in. Hopefully it's happy with that.

It's a very simple VPN, though, and is completely useless in the grand scheme of things. I used a D-Link cable/DSL router to separate the VPN server from the main network, and forwarded IPSEC and PPTP to the server. The server itself is running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 and all the necessary stuff to run a VPN. Needless to say, it works, and works well.

In other news, doing digital video editing on a 2.4GHz Celeron with 256MB of RAM is not a good idea at all.

Speaking of which, I still have to transfer some VHS tapes to DVD. That means I will be doing lots of intarweb stuff tonight instead of playing any games. Much love for the secondary monitor in this respect ... I can move the video capture utility onto it so I can glance over and see progress.