Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Well, after searching through the registry on my laptop, running adaware and winpatrol about 2000 times, and minutely examing the program files folder, I think I’ve cleared out all the ad, spy, and browser hijack-wear. And started using Mozilla Firefox. Ironically enough, it was my roommate who suggested Firefox instead of exploder… er, explorer.
Ironic, because whereas I’ve always championed the open-source route, he’s always toed the Microsoft line. I dabble in php and java, he programs asp and VB. The only reason I’ve been using explorer is that nutscrape… er, netscape fell way behind in implementation of newer web features. Actually, that’s not completely correct; explorer just went it’s own way in interpreting html while netscape tried to stick to strict html specifications. Microsoft had more people using explorer- thanks to the tactics drug out in interminably long lawsuits- so more pages were written the “explorer” way than for netscape. You see the results. It was a pain in the ass to write pages that would work reliably on both.
Of course, that popularity meant that just about all browser exploits were written to take advantage of holes in explorer; and firefox is, so far, exploit free. And here I am. Works fine, so far; except that the javascript I use on the webcam page to refresh the images doesn’t load.
The last tropical storm (Jeanne? I’ve lost track) blew through without too much damage. I noticed a small wet spot on the bottom corner of the doorframe molding for the back door. If that’s just from wind-blown rain, no big deal; I mean, how many tropical storms can you expect when you’re 5 hours from the coast? Yeah, yeah, I know; three this year. If it stays wet when it rains I’ll have to have a long heart-to-heart with the warranty agent; the house is only 6 months old, ferchristssake. Shouldn’t be any leaks. At some point I’ll have to inspect the attic to make sure nothing leaked on the roof.
In other news, Ian’s (my roommate) girlfriend Patty (my other roommate) backed his car into the neighbor’s car and chipped some paint off of Ian’s bumper. This is why she’s never driving anything I own. Had a no-knock warrant last week (another dry hump; nothing found… glad I’m not the case agent) where I was point man on entry. Porch with a screen door, which was locked; breacher yanks it open (tearing out the frame; he’s a big guy), waits about half a second- just long enough for me to start in- and then goes in himself to hammer the front door. OK, OK, he’s just anxious and hyped up, as usual. I’m supposed to go in and provide cover while he breaches, but whatever.
However, when we get done, he bitches that he waited “forever” for me to move, and then finally went in. “Forever” my ass; he jumped the gun. Team commander doesn’t care, said he didn’t see any problems with the entry, so I shouldn’t care; but it just gripes my ass that he jumped in front of me and then complained that I was too slow. And, some tiny part of me is worried that I was too slow, even though I know it was only a half second from the time the screen door came open until I moved, and getting into a hurry on these things just leads to fuckups. Yes, he’s been on this particular team longer than I have; yes, he’s made more entries than I have, but I still think I was right.
Anyway. Not worth brooding over. I’m dropping the whole thing. Really, I am. Really.