Day2Day

I have a computer that went screwy after the last XP update. It no longer boots, not even in safe mode (It constantly cycles after blue screening so fast I can't read the error, or in safe mode it gets stuck after loading "mup.sys" and does nothing). So I want to boot it from a CD and tell it to do a repair. Except I don't actually have an XP disk. I do have a legit XP serial for the machine and I was under the impression that I could download the software legally from Microsoft themselves. Well, if I can, they're making it bloody difficult to work out how. Best I can find is some version that's suitable for putting on floppy disks. Am I wrong? Do I have to search my entire house in the hope of finding an XP disk, or go down the dodgy torrents route? Or am I just failing to see something that's right under my nose?

They actually updated the LT website! Like, really updated with something professional looking, not just a bodged bit of extra info on the homepage. And Rune has useful information in it and stuff. Boggled...

http://www.lorientrust.co.uk/Homepage.aspx

I watched the new Star Trek movie over the last couple of days (such things are the incentive for the treadmill use). Skip the rest of this post to avoid spoilers.

Was it just me or was Kirk just a jumped up, self obsessed, little moron? And did they have to hammer home the entire Vulcans-can-have-emotions-too schtick? I confess I'm not particularly au fait with the original stuff, but if this was anything to go by I wonder why anybody ever watched it. Was it true to the spirit of the original, or simply a load of tosh to keep the Trek cash-cow going into the next generation by giving the youth a grunting pretty boy to obsess over if they can tear themselves away from the vampire movies?

Chatting, bop-it, candy floss, Pixie Stix, Sweets, alcotrifle, Baileys+Maltesers, Wkd, champagne, spirits, cocktails, wii, fireworks, fairground claw machine, pizza, deflating inflatable sofa, top bunk in use despite lacking a mattress, huggage, presents, too much breakfast and a game of hunt the smoke detector.

There was more, but I forget... I have a handful of photos.

How long is it okay to leave a cat alone for? I know a working day is fine, I know 48 hours is okay if enough food and water is down - but beyond that? Would four whole days be too much? Is it all down to the cat's own personality and a "how long is a length of string" type of question?

I am toying with the idea of getting a cat, but I am often away for 3 days at a time, occasionally more and I don't intend to mistreat one - it wouldn't really be practical to rely on having people available to look after it when I'm not about.

Random text messages last night:

unrecognised number: Whose this?
me: Who are YOU?
unrecognised number: Chris wots ur name?
me: Where did you get this number? I don't think I know you. Max
unrecognised number: I found it wen tidyin up sori to bother u
[ten minute pause]
unrecognised number: Do u know any single gals on o2?

Liberty Bounds tonight or Melton Mowbray tomorrow? Or both?

Or shall I just go home and tidy up?

My local freecylce group has just advertised "ladies tampons".

So... I've got a vague idea for making use of Google Wave and I'm kind of looking to recruit. Wave is all about collaboration, about creating something that can still be edited, and about getting multiple contributors. There are people out there trying to roleplay with it and I'm interested in doing something along those lines. I'm looking for up to three contributors who.

The plan is to create a story, but to run it to some degree like a tabletop rpg. Like I assume play-by-mail works although I've never tried it, but with more coherence and editing. Each volunteer would play a character, the conversation would happen between them based on the player's motivations, understandings and so on. I would probably take on a character as well, but my main role would be that of editor, author and gamesmaster. Players get to write both dialogue and general description, all of which is editable by me. The game/story would take place as one wave, and a second would exist to discuss things in much the same way as tabletop players drop out of character to ask about what they can see, what they might know about the things they're facing and so on. I have no idea if we'd need to create some sort of a rules system, I have no real idea of setting as yet - we can discuss that before starting. I haven't quite decided whether the group should have a general overview from the outset with an "end condition" we're aiming towards - probably not, I may give each character clashing motivations, or just let it wind and alter as it goes. But the idea is to end up with something at some point, for that something to take two forms: 1) a tale which is legible and of sufficient quality that a reader who wasn't involved might want to pick it up (and hey, with some of the fanfic I've seen, that's not a high bar to meet) 2) a wave that people can replay in order to watch the creation of the story.

So... tell me, what are the gaping flaws in the plan? What advice would you offer?

Would you be interested in taking part? And if so, do you actually have access to Google Wave yet?