Local time where you're at. ("Where you're at"?)

Realm™ Headquarters to Southern Command – come in, please.

Southern Command, do you copy?

Denizens, now that we’ve passed the new-year threshold…and since, for the first time in a while, I’m finally caught up on most stuff…I intend to do the (what should be) annual “spring cleaning” of the blog.

Meaning, in this case, that sidebar links, etc, will be tested – and those that are found wanting, abandoned, etc, will be summarily removed.  (Yeah, that’ll really show ‘em, won’t it?    )

Anyway, if you look over there, you’ll find two links added – “The Deth Guild” and “TL In Exile”.  Both are exceedingly good reads and well worth your time to go visit.

Once you’ve had your daily dose of My Eternal Wisdom™, of course. 

[SCENE:  Deep space.  Pegasus  is burning.

Cut to interior view, where crew members are hurrying into what passes for escape pods.  Cut to the ship's cramped excuse-for-a-cargo bay, where His Rudeness' personal courier, Excelsior...just blew up, narrowly missing Lord Venomous and General Korrioth.]

VENOMOUS:  So help me Cthulhu, Narrator, your union boss best get his ass to running…!

[What, you think this is my  fault?  I didn't write this crappy screenplay!]

VENOMOUS:  Like I’m supposed to take your word for it?  After what your predecessor pulled?

[You have my word, m'liege - I'm not responsible for this  one, promise.]

VENOMOUS:  Fine, then – into an escape pod with you.

KORRIOTH:  I don’t suppose you’ve got a separating bridge module up your sleeve, do you, m’lord?

VENOMOUS (grinning maniacally):  As luck would have it…mheh.  C’mon.

—

Denizens, this time both machines blew up at very nearly the same time.  Word to the wise:  if you have an older Core 2 or AMD64, don’t  upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit.  It no likee.

The PFW recap will be delayed another day or so while I clean things up around here.

As we fade out from black, we see our intrepid command team huddled around the General’s Command Console intently looking at the screen. Faces are cringed, brows are furled, and a more than a few of the staff gathered are chewing on already nubby fingernails. Obviously it’s been a longgggggggg night.

{whispered conversations can be heard in the periphery}

SG RAYEGUN: I hope to hell that your job isn’t on the line AGAIN, techboy! I hate when I have to find someone with a clue. There are so few of them left these days!!

SSGT BANNER: Sir, would I be wearing this green bodysuit and be doped up on steroids….oh wait, wrong room. Seeya!

ALL: WTH??

LT KIM: General, I assure you there will not be a need for such measures. We have complete confidence in our work and this new system. Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer have assured us, repeatedly I might add, that there will not be a repeat performance.

SG RAYEGUN: For your sake, I hope so. Very well lieutenant, flip the switch.

LT KIM: Yessir.

CAPT ROGERS: Defense teams, take your positions, lock and load, safety off, set to maximum power. This is not a drill, I repeat THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

SG RAYEGUN: {looks untoward at the officer} Just a wee bit of overkill there captain???

CAPT ROGERS: Sir, you do remember the last time?

{the assembled mass mumbles and tries to support the captain while backing up as the general gets up from his chair}

SG RAYEGUN: One more snarky comment like that CAPTAIN and you’ll be a no stripe AIRMAN in less than 3 seconds. Do I make myself clear?

CAPT ROGERS:{visibly cringing} Umm yes sir…..

SG RAYEGUN: Get on with it already lieutenant. I’ve got work to do.

{camera pans left to see LT KIM flipping a big yellow switch while his other hand hovers precariously close to the emergency shutdown button}

LT KIM: {visibly relieved as he slowly pulls his hand back from the emergency shutdown} All systems normal, efficiency at 105%. Command ability at your discretion sir.

SG RAYEGUN: {the general punches in his access code and proceeds to get back to work} Thank you lieutenant. Nice job folks. You all get to keep your positions and rank. For now. Dismissed™

ALL: YESSIR!

{as the camera returns to center stage, flies in over the generals head, and zooms in to the Command Console screen}

Yes folks, the Southern Command has officially commenced its conversion to Windows 8 Pro. My big box is fully functional, minus a few minor utility apps. Things are running better than the clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate but getting used to the new UI will be fun. Luckily I’ve had Win8 running in a virtual session and have had time to play around with the UI in the sandbox. One bonus I did discover, and Darth you’ll find this most interesting. It seems that Microsoft finally got the clue. In IE10 a long-standing oversight has been corrected. As Darth has previously been wantonly rambling on about how this fine blog had its appearance “quirks” under IE (namely it was left-shifted on the page, not centered like with Firefox, Chrome, etc), well I can tell you now that it has been fixed. See below for the proof:

Darth, you’re welcome.

If you can, go check out Win8. If you don’t like the Win8 UI, you can always switch to the desktop view and just run things from there. If you go that route, you’ll notice that there is not a START button anymore. If that just freaks you out to no end, I already have a remedy for that illness. Check out Stardock Software‘s Start8 as it will fix the problem.

ThatIsAll™

Denizens, the time has come to add a new voice to This Fine Blog™.

Welcome, please, Rachel Higgins from the accreditedonlinecolleges.org site, who will be writing a guest post or two here.

MERLIN:  Anything to get out of your writing duties, eh m’lige?

VENOMOUS:  Damn straight.

Now, one caveat, Denizens:  Her submissions here may not be what you’ve come to expect (i.e, it’s not necessarily gonna be Right-Wing Rant-age-ery™ (grin)).  Don’t worry – I haven’t lost my mind.

MERLIN:  Competely.

KORRIOTH:  Yet.

VENOMOUS:  Hush, you.

Anyway, welcome, Rachel.  Glad to have you on board.

Denizens, at the moment I’m up past my scalp in alligators, so that’s why posting’s been DamnedNearNonExistent™.  With any luck, things will lighten up a bit next week.

For now, TCU has Texas Tech at home, Rock Chalk gets fed to OU in Norman, Nebraska’s at Northwestern (you’d damn well better win this  one, Pelini), Wisconsin keeps Paul Bunyan’s Axe vs, UMinne-haha, Turner Gill’s Liberty Flames go for a three-game winning streak vs. Concord (no SpatulaLine – I like Liberty straight-up), and if Jason Garrett ever wants to be taken seriously as a head coach, the Cowgirlz will win in Carolina Sunday.

Oh, and Heights lost again – this time to OD Wyatt. (Enjoy your one year here, Todd Whitten.  You ain’t getting another.)

I’ll have something resembling a recap, hopefully Monday.  Maybe I’ll only be up to my ass in alligators by then…

Denizens, if you’ll take a gander down the right sidebar, you’ll note that all the pics, etc, are back.  (Meaning, I finally got up off my lazy ass and changed a few links in the HTML coding – something the General was on me to take care of earlier this year.)

So I’m a lazy-ass.  Bite Sue me. 

Denizens, Cthulhu willing & the creek don’t rise (   ), the overview for the Perfect Football Weekend™ will go up Friday or so.  Gotta hurry, ’cause the first Cowgirlz preseason game’s in a couple of weeks.

Watch this space.

Yeah, guys, I know – I haven’t written anything lately.

I’ve just had my workload doubled, and I’m not getting home most nights until late.  Then there’s more work to do, and if  I don’t fall asleep before it’s done, then I greet Mrs. Venomous as she comes home from work.

Grrrrrrrrr. 

I’ll have the PFW recap/benediction by Sunday, promise.  Then maybe I can start ranting about the anti-Perry pusstards again.

Denizens, I’m not sure if it’s zapped energy because of the holidays, or burnout, or what, but I’m not feelin’ it as regards to writing a Year In Review post this year.

Nevertheless, I will attempt to crank one out this evening.  Aided, of course, by copious quantities of carbonated adult beverage. 

Watch this space.

Guys, I’m a little under the weather, plus I’ve got a stack of work on my plate, so unless the urge to post is overwhelming, it’ll be PFWs for a while.

Vicar, General…?

As I haven’t decided to just completely hang it up, we will once again be doing the Perfect Football Weekend™ this year.  We’ll have the overview sometime next week or thereabouts.  (The only real question, other than how bad the Cowgirlz are gonna suck, is “whither Kansas?”)

“Gird your loins”, as Vice-Perpetrator BiteMe would say.

Denizens, I’m going to be taking the Big Box™ offline for a couple of days, so any major posting will likely come from the Scorpion-class laptop. 

General, you have the conn.

And no sooner  do I get the site running on WP 3.0.5 than WordPress comes out with version 3.1.

General?  This  is why I don’t like updating. 

[SCENE:  The Engineering section ot ISS Titanic.  Bodies of Bynars & Jawas, along with an Andorian or two, plus a Tellarite here & there, are strewn across the deck.

In one corner, four Ferengi are doing their best to hide themselves & a group of Ewoks from what appears to be a hooded raging madman prowling the section, purple lightsaber in hand.

Engineer emeritus Merlin and current chief engineer Ozymandias McCool are lying motionless against one bulkhead.  Captain Korrioth, having been knocked woozy by the angry hooded warrior, is now attempting to position himself between he with the lightsaber & the two objects of his extreme angst.

The lightsaber-wielding beast removes the hood, and we see (as expected) Lord Darth Venomous point his weapon at the captain.]

VENOMOUS:  THEY HAVE FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME, CAPTAIN!!!  They told me they were ready to go!  GIVE ME ONE  REASON WHY THEY SHOULD KEEP THEIR FUCKING HEADS!!!

[Captain Korrioth calmly pulls what appears to be an isolinear chip from his tunic, and holds it up before Lord Venomous.]

KORRIOTH:  “Service Pack 1″.

[Venomous looks at it, a peculiar, puzzled expression on his face.  He starts to say something, hesitates, then dons a twisted facial expression.]

VENOMOUS:  Oh.  Okay, then.  Carry on, Captain.

[Venomous turns and calmly walks from the room.  Korrioth breathes a sigh of relief, and goes to render assistance to his still-unconscious engineering staff.]

—

Looks like we’re good to go, guys.  Will be testing stuff out over the next few days, as Version 3 was supposed to render some of my plugins inert.  (Which is why I resisted upgrading for as long as I did.)

Keep your eyes peeled.