Poe on Read/Write Errors

My old law school laptop, which lacks a monitor and several keys, had long ago been relegated to television computer duty. There and in that capacity, it and its OEM parts have since served me faithfully and assiduously. One night, however, while riding the wild waves of the internet, I suddenly heard it. A low, dull, quick sound...much like the sound a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. It was the clicking of the old laptop's hard drive's heart, and with each reboot the click grew louder, louder, and louder still.

The old drive's hour had come. I unplugged the beast and, using no more than a screwdriver, hastily removed its drive and examined the corpse. Yes, it was stone. Stone dead. I placed my hand upon the drive and held it there many a minute. There was no click, for it was stone. Stone dead.

This hard drive would trouble me no more.


Read some Poe recently. Click of death. Busted Hitachi.

We seem to have bad luck with hard drives.

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Magnifying glass

Winter -> Spring

We've had our first episode of purely enjoyable weather (for me at least) and my appetite for hiking/backpacking/camping has officially been whetted. At this time last year I was busy dealing with events that were a bit more life-altering, so it will be nice to be on the opposite end of the spectrum now. So far I've already got a couple long weekends worked out in my head and I've had my eye on Pictured Rocks, the Smokies, or maybe something completely new...

Still, I'm surprisingly sad to see winter go. I like how the distinct seasons require me to change my lifestyle, hobbies, priorities, and all sorts of other things. I'm not sure if it's an innate enjoyment or just a way to make good out of bad, but whatever - the distinction is irrelevant as long as I'm deriving a benefit. Either way, I will miss watching Quentin burrow and breakdance in the snow - until next year I suppose.


Sad to see you go.

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Filing jointly

(Engagement photo, taken by friend James)

Kya

Nothing of note to report. So here's one of Kya.

Belgian Shepherd Dog/Chow mix, or something like that.

Multi-Gift

Multi-gift for Cathy.

For Valentine's/Birthday/Whatever other day I can milk out of this thing

Case Dismissed. Certifiably Married.

Way back in September, we went to the Cook County Clerk's office to get our marriage license so we could get married. They took Cathy's info off her driver's license that indicates her name is "Cathy." So after our wedding, our marriage certificate ended up stating that I was married to "Cathy." However, her full given legal name is Catherine. So what's the big deal?

Well apparently it's a huge deal when it comes to changing your name post-marriage. When Cathy went to change her surname (a decision I left entirely up to her), the discrepancy between our marriage certificate and her vital records barred her from doing so. After a bunch of red taped dead ends, we learned we had to file a complaint against the Cook County Clerk to correct the certificate, i.e., we had to sue the Cook County Clerk (which we did). Thankfully, we didn't have to wait until our court date in July to prove that Cathy and Catherine are one and the same - it was agreed that we would voluntarily dismiss the action if they just made the change. So one lawsuit and four weeks later:

At first blush, this seems ridiculous. The procedure for correcting just a letter or the whole name on a marriage certificate is the same: you have to go through court and prove it. Why? Well I don't know the real reason but I do know that whose name is on a marriage certificate is powerful information in, say, the execution of a large estate, determining insurance coverage, property transfers, divorces, and a shit ton of other things. You make it too easy to change things like marriage licenses and you'll just get a lot of fraud.

Well either way, it was a pain so watch out for these things since sometimes the devil really is in the details.