Both meetings I thought I had this Wednesday were actually next Wednesday. So all the rush to prepare on “Necroscope” could have been avoided, but at least I’m ready. I’m also meeting with Niles and Jane Wednesday morning. Was supposed to meet with Goldstein too but me pushed to Thursday…thank goodness.
Speaking of Goldstein, TNT passed on “Last Vamp” but USA loved it. It’s been sent up the ladder and now awaits top dog approval. I’m feeling confidence.
Brad’s been emailing me from Japan. Konami loved Psychopath’s concept and wanted a pitch. Brad said the pitch went great and now the big talks begin.
Brad also mentioned in passing, “Sucks about Boesky.” To which I replied, “What sucks about Boesky?” The Boesky, to whom we were referring is Keith Boesky. He was an executive with Eidos who according to reputation seems to be the guy who started the serious moves from video games to movies by making the move happen for Tomb Raider. He was running ICM’s video game and comic branch. I don’t know all the details but last Friday was Boesky’s last day with ICM. I popped him an email but still no word back. I really liked him. I mean, I know he ain’t dead or nothin’ but still.
The Death of Bugsy. First off, no panties in wads. This is not the Death of Bugsy the Cat. It’s the Death of Bugsy the Computer. It frustrates me that Mel names her computers after our cats. To me, a computer deserves his or her own name. But, Mel’s stubborn.
We bought Bugsy the Computer in March and the harddrive has crashed six times since. The first time required a reinstall of Windows. The second required a new harddrive. Then three more reinstalls of Windows, a visit from a Tech Guy who couldn’t fix it and now they’re sending out another Tech to replace the motherboard. It’s been something of a nightmare.
My computer company loyalty has always been tech support driven. All computers have glitches. As a matter of fact, I’ve never experienced a system without flaws. Even the Alienware had it’s issues when we first got it. But the trouble with Bugsy has gone beyond reason. The problem with Bugsy has been the motherboard from the beginning, but Gateway was sluggish to admit to this and had up jumping through hoops to get to this point.
And to make things worse, EverQuest II came out this week. So here was a new game coming out and Mel without a computer. For shame. So we took troubleshooting to the next level. While waiting for the Tech to come out (which won’t happen until next week) we went to Best Buy yesterday to purchase the best they had to offer. The best gaming system they had was a Sony Vaio.
I bought a Vaio laptop in April for me Texas trip and the truth is, of all my computers, I’ve had no trouble with it. Dean bought one back when City of Heroes was released. His Alienware was down so he bought a Vaio from Best Buy and it worked great. We also purchased one for Mel’s mom and it’s run without error. So it seems this is an Alienware, Gateway, Vaio household. This purchase yesterday was monster system and only required the upgrade of a video card.
Mel and I left it with the Geek Squad and ran errands for an hour. But there was a problem. The video card we bought was an AGP card and the Vaio used PCI Express. Best Buy didn’t have a top of the line PCI Express so Mel went back up there and started casting magic.
By the end of the day we ended up with another Gateway. A floor model which Mel and the Tech Guys built into a monster. It helps that Mel plays games and knows enough about Firefox, Linux to put Geeks in a lusty sweat.
I wish that was the end of the story, but we had issues when we got it home. It seemed that everything on it was glitchy. It took forever to get it up on the network then it wouldn’t load DirectX 9c (which is an EQ2 requirement) and all Windows Updates were failing.
Finally I figured out that it was running on a prehistoric copy of Service Pack I. So old that you couldn’t upgrade to SP2. What a nightmare. So I had to install Service Pack 1a before I could then install Service Pack 2. Once that was done DirectX 9c loaded happily. The stubborn network popped up and said, “Hi Todd!” and EQ2 would finally load.
Service Pack 2 fixed everything. In what dimension did I ever think I’d hear myself say that?
So, say hello to Precious. Sorry Mel, but we ain’t naming this one after a cat. She’s lightning fast and nearly silent. The fans are blowing but you barely hear them. She’s faster than the Alienware but I can live with that for now.
The Tech guys come out next week to attack Bugsy and if Bugsy is running happily by Christmas then Precious will make the trip to Tennessee where she will become a Christmas present for Mel’s brother.
So now to EverQuest II. Eh, I’ve had better. We’ll give it a couple of months. Dean and I met online last night. Mel would have joined us but her absence should now be justified.
Say Hi to Wendago. He’s Dwarven Priest starting out in the town of Qeynos. Dean’s High Elf Mage and Mel’s fighter, Purity will be adventuring on the EverFrost server if anyone would care to join us.
For now, I am going to drink some coffee and start reading the “Inhumns” graphic novel.
Categories