Windows fanboys and girls need-not read any further.

I’ve been sitting here all evening — 3 hours — trying to get software and hardware to work on an XP machine. 3 freaking hours.

HP and Windows aren’t good bedfellows. Neither is Palm and PC. Never mind the issue that Symantec virusscan had trying to do a liveupdate.

Everything is so damn hard on a PC. Why is that? Is there some sadistic-streak within every windows user? Or is it the old male paradigm of battling with everything until it bends to your will.

As a female I don’t get that sort of thing. I just don’t have the inclination (albeit I do tonight because friends have made me dinner in exchange for hopefully fixing their PC), but honestly, having to fiddle for hours on end in the vain hope that the fixes you make in the evening are still standing come the daylight, and not sitting there in a gelatenous heap stretches the belief-systems a bit thin. They are the single greatest time-sucker on this planet, the single simplest reason why the hordes of the great unwashed have not yet risen-up, thrown their shackles off and nailed their masters to the nearest tree.

I kid you not, Evil Overlords rule #1: If you want your takeover of the world to go smoothly, give the population PCs (and don’t be using them yourself).

But there is a bright-side to all this:

‘You’ve convinced me to get a mac,’ said G, the owner of the computer.

Chaos and destruction: the PC’s work is done.

I want to scream, but it would be considered rude.

The entire office where I work is decked-out in red and pink. There are red balloons and red hearts (not the dripping-blood variety; though that would actually be funny) suspended from the ceiling.

I arrived at work to find “Valentines Day” posters on the doors to my floor, and now have a bunch of boys and girls (bloody Gen Y’s again; don’t they ever stop?!) wandering around in red togas, faux laurel wreaths and handing out little heart-shaped (again, not the anatomically correct shape) red-foil covered chocolates.

“Happy Valentine’s day” they say as they wander past, beaming smiles and all young and energetic.

Bah Humbug…

What’s next, dead rabbits on the desk? I’m a vegetarian people!!

Now I can breathe.

I arranged for an advance on my pay so I could pay the rent at the old place, seeing as my now ex-friends have refused to pay it.

So I’ve got some breathing space again.

Live and learn, really. Live and learn.

I’m glad to have them out of my life to be honest; these were the two most negative impossibly difficult to deal with people I’ve ever come across in a very long time. They complained constantly and they were *always* right, regardless of the subject.

On this latter point, I give you two examples (paraphrased from memory). Example one is concerning my perfectly functional wireless network:

Them: We can’t get the computer onto the wireless network. It’s your network.

Me: I can connect fine to the network. Here, look at my computer. See? It connects fine.

Them: It must be the network. Our Vista PC says to restart the modem.

Me: There’s nothing wrong with the modem. I’ve just proved it. See? My computer connects fine. It’s Vista being difficult.

Him (bolshy tone): If it was Vista there’d be more complaints about it. And what’s this I hear about you selling all your things?

See, I’m expected to justify my functional network as compared to a crappy Vista PC, AND my decision to sell all my possessions. Let’s move on, however to partway through another conversation that turned rapidly sour:

Me: You know, the captain of SeaShepherd* has commented that a vegetarian driving a Hum-Vee creates less greenhouse gas than a meat eater on a bicycle.

Them: We disagree. He’s wrong about that.

Me: hang on, this is a dedicated, long-term fighter for the environment.

Them: We disagree. He’s wrong.

Me: How do you know.

Them: We’ve done our research

And that’s their position. Immovable, unchanging, insurmountable, non-negotiable. Just like the discussion about the rent. Even if I were guilty about everything and anything, I still didn’t leave them in the lurch on rent-day, and refuse to pay said rent.

As I say, better off without these sorts of people in my life. I really am. I look forward to the day when I get the keys to the old place back and can finally say a hearty sayanora sweetie to these idiots.

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*Captain Paul Watson, co-creator of Greenpeace, creator of SeaShepherd, environmental activist extraordinaire.