Bye bye blog.

No, not really. I'm just moving. Again. The saga continues at: http://www.whenbunniesattack.com/

OH CRAP. MORE RAM NEEDED.

OK, so at least it's a good thing we do have virtual memory because I just found out why I couldn't run the processing job properly. It's because it now requires at least 2.3GB of RAM to run. Wow.



Look at that memory spike. No wonder why the computer was thrashing when I only had 50MB virtual memory and then it just gave up

WinXP VIRTUAL MEMORY LOW. ARGH!

I don't know if it's the fault of Parallels or WinXP or what, but somehow my virtual memory got set to 50MB rather than its normal 2098MB. (Big big difference!) I noticed that my computer was significantly slower after installing the latest update of Parallels and that my virtual memory had dropped to almost nil. But, I thought this was a new feature of Parallels' memory management. Wrong. Dead wrong. So my poor laptop has been thrashing for the past couple of weeks!

I took a look at the problem today starting with Parallels' memory setup itself. Everything looked normal to start with. Parallels' memory manager showed it was automatically allocating:



... and the VM looked OK too:



One would think that almost 1.4GB of RAM should be enough for Parallels! Then I booted up WinXP and tried to check out its memory settings under System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Settings and there the virtual memory was showing 50MB. Weird. (The photo shows the correct memory setting, but it used to say 50MB.)



So I clicked Change and lo and behold it had Custom Size selected! Not only that, it was a paltry 50 MB!!!



No wonder why I kept getting "Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file." errors.

Now for the frustrating part.

I clicked System Managed Size and hit OK but nothing changed. No matter how many times I tried changing the setting nothing would take effect.

And then it dawned upon me. The Set button to the bottom right is not the Set for the No paging file option! NO! NO! NO! That Set button is actually the setting changer for that entire section! So I selected System Managed Size and then clicked Set:



Now my computer is happily reporting a large virtual memory size!!!



UGH! A simple UI placement of the set button could have solved my frustration.

WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE WON'T SCROLL DOWN. ARGGHH!!!

Crap. After enjoying my Apple Bluetooth Wireless Mighty Mouse for a couple of months now it stopped being able to scroll down. Aaa!!! I use that scroll ball all of the time! I thought it was a communications error, so between yesterday and today I've reset my machine a number of times. I've disconnected and reconnected it. I've unpaired and re-paired the mouse. Nothing worked. So I started searching around on the web.

Lo and behold there are a plethora of articles and blogs and comments about how the Mighty Mouse won't scroll down, or won't scroll up, or just won't scroll. It turns out that this little mouse is really susceptible to lint and dirt. Unfortunately, Apple's "sleek" and "clean" design means you can't open up the frakkin' mouse too. So, the solution? Clean it from the outside.

No, really.

Apple even has an article on it: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302417.

The instructions are basically to get a lint free cloth and rub the ball until it comes clean. (No lewd thoughts there, k?) So I grabbed a paper towel (because that's all we really have in the office), put some water on it, and rubbed the damp towel over the ball many times. And, guess what? It scrolls down now. For how much longer I can't say, but for now I'm at least able to get my work done...

APPLE: PLEASE GIVE US WAYS TO OPEN THINGS UP AND CLEAN THEM.

ERROR CODE -1309. AARRRGH.

Since starting to use Parallels I know have files that are much much larger than 4 GB--the virtual disks. Currently one of them is sitting at about 18GB, and unfortunately I'm running into this wonderful error:

Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error occurred
(Error code -1309).

I did some browsing around and it turns out there is a 4GB file limit on FAT32-formatted drives. Ugh. I put it in FAT32 so I could see it with the Mac, but of course that now creates the problem of the virtual drive. I don't know what to do really. I suppose I could find a file-splitting utility somewhere... Ugh.

GRR. OUTLOOK ERROR POPUPS TAKING OVER.

I love it when I lose wireless connectivity but Outlook won't quit. Oh it gets better, it starts popping up error messages. So let's say you go away from the computer for a few minutes, what do you see when you return?





GRR!

STUPID SF DRIVERS

You know, just about every morning I get onto the freeway at a particular on-ramp. And to get to it you really have to start lining up blocks beforehand in the righthand lane. I know this and always try to get in it early. Inevitably, someone new comes driving down not knowing the protocol and I usually let like 1 person into the line. I figure that while it's not cool to let people cut, it sometimes is hard to get into the lineup.

This morning I was trying to get into the righthand lane and there just were no breaks. For no matter how long I signalled to get in no one would let me in. People just sped up. I mean, really! I always help people out and no one would give me a break this morning?! What gives!!! So, I'm a little peeved that "what goes around comes around" apparently doesn't apply to me.

*fume*

Um. EW!!!!

I now have joined the mass of people using CalTrain to commute to work. Normally, this is a great way to travel. You have peace and quiet, it's fairly smooth, and you can bring cups of coffee on board. They even have cupholders. Ever since about three weeks ago I've been using it at least 4 times a week and I never remember it being really that dirty. Today as I boarded I looked at the seats, then in another car, than in another... each seat was coated with stains and weird crap. I'm not quite sure what it was! Anyways, I asked another train-commuting friend if he noticed the same thing and he thinks it's the freakin' NYE partygoers! AAAA!!! It's so "ew" it needs capitals, boldface, and underline: EW.

I was very seriously thinking of standing the entire 30 minutes ride. But I found one seat that wasn't all fuggled up. *sigh!*