I dropped off a business card with our instructor for Windows XP SP2 today, since he owns the particular laptop for which that I provide Level 2 support. Had a nice chat, during which he informed me that, unlike the Advanced Networking Package update, SP2 will not block file and printer sharing with its firewall. I should have paid attention in class. That’s contrary to the “Fear II” post I posted last evening, so just ignore that.
I fucked up, but everybody fucks up sometimes.
We put together our itinerary for the China trip today. Another wave of reality-induced apprehension struck, but not nearly as bad as the one submitting the visa application. Baby steps to China: 3 hours to DFW, 13 to Tokyo Narita, then maybe 5 more to Hong Kong. That’s more flying right there than I did the first 21 years of my life. Even though the last leg is coach (we get business class for flights over 9 hours and can “bump up” on the connecting flight), it is on Cathay Pacific, which has the highest reputation for service in the Far East. When we land in Hong Kong, it will be nearly 9pm local time, the day after we departed. Fortunately, the hotel will be at the airport.
The trip to Shenzhen, by ferry, will take the better part of a day. I hope it’s not one of those ferries you occasionally hear about capsizing. We’ve scheduled a recovery day in Hong Kong before departing. Then 3 days in Shenzhen, another ferry trip back, and another night in Hong Kong before departing for Narita again the next morning.
We’ll have 3 days of classes in Tokyo before continuing the rest of the trip home. I haven’t checked whether you “get miles” for ferry rides, but this trip will put me over the 100,000-mile benchmark for the past 6 years.
Something interesting noted at work today: I popped in the CD of Fillmore East, June 1971 that I spent a good part of the weekend “remastering.” Despite all the dicking around I had done with the sound, Media Player’s CD database still recognized it and politely posted the titles in the playlist and a scan of the cover in “what’s playing.”
I’m not sure what algorithm they use to determine the title (track titles are not part of the file ID on CDs burned from .WAV files – i.e., standard CD format), but I hope to find out - probably something to do with track lengths, which I didn’t dick with.
That CD, I dunno, those shrieking artifacts I added by dicking around too much with the high range are all I can hear right now, little fucking banshees. On the small speakers of a laptop, they are barely noticeable but on my Boston Acoustics or noise-reducing headphones they are an obvious defect. Can't accept that, so I’ll fix it, even if it means starting over. On the plus side, the bass and vocals are great, a big improvement, and even with the noise it’s a better listen.
5:46:18 PM 
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