Coffee and Code

Happy 2010 everyone! I couldn't resist getting a blog post in on the first of the year. I actually slept straight through the turn of the New Year last night. Why? Sick as a dog... but enough about that.

This year, I'm simply resolving to lead a healthier lifestyle. Now that I'm in my 30's, I can't really eat the same way that I used to, and for Christmas, I got a bleeding ulcer to reinforce that fact (Don't worry, I'm feeling fine now, really). I'm just going to have to practice a little more moderation and get a little more physical activity. I'm very lucky to have my girlfriend Lisa as a great role model for healthy living. She takes good care of herself, and it shows (insert catcall here).

What are your resolutions and hopes for 2010?

Wishing for peace in the world,
- Jeff

I recently re-installed Windows on to my Dell Inspiron 6000 machine, with a new hard drive. I reformatted the disk fully and used the NTFS option for filesystem.

After re-installing Windows, and then all of the drivers, the machine is noticably slower than it should be. I think I may have figured out what the problem is from a forum post out there (Allan - posted Oct 25) - after reading that, I googled "dell inspiron", "chipset driver first". I found good evidence that it's important to install the Dell chipset driver first, because it has some effect on subsequent driver installations.

Dang. I'm not sure if I installed that one first or not. So, I'm going to have to back up all my stuffs again, wipe the disk and reinstall. If the correct driver installation helps, I'll post the results!

p.s. The batteries in my mouse just died. A sign? -Jeff

Autumn has taken hold in Santa Fe. My front yard attests to that, being completely blanketed in fallen leaves which I have no immediate desire to go out and rake up! (Lazy.) Anyway, it was a busy summer, and my girlfriend and I almost missed our chance to indulge in a standard summer ritual: our informal margarita tour.

Our favorite margarita spot is the same place most Santa Fe locals would guess: Maria's. In terms of both variety and quality, we weren't disappointed. This year, I was drinking the "Silver Bullet", and two of them left me feeling quite nice.

We checked out a couple of other local joints with mixed reviews. I won't name those places since  you can get a margarita pretty much anywhere in Santa Fe and the drink has to be really good to stand out. I will mention, however two other places that have done right by me in the past with regard to margaritas: The Cowgirl is one: I usually get a frozen margarita there since they serve it in a nice, tall frosty mug. I've had their house margarita as well, which isn't bad. The atmosphere is really western there and if you go in the wintertime, you can sit next to a wood stove.

The second place I'll mention is Tomasita's. (I couldn't find a website for it.) I've had margaritas there before that I bought by the pitcher with some friends. They were delicious and Tomasita's offers some varity in tequilas. I've heard they they offer a frozen margarita with a swirl of sangria, which sounds awesome but I've never tried it.

One other place in Santa Fe that I've had a good margarita at is Del Charro. Its prices are reasonable and they give you the shaker with some extra margarita in it along with your drink. That ain't half bad!

It looks like my old laptop hard drive is dead for good - there is almost no chance of retrieving any data from it, unless I am willing to shell out major $$$. Which I'm not.

I kept a lot of phone numbers in my Thunderbird contacts, which I never, ever backed up. Therefore, it's, like, gone, dude.

Certain friends of mine are difficult to track down on the internet, and I need your phone numbers! David Arn in San Diego: that means you. Jack Chapman: that means you.

Really, anybody out there that's wondering why I haven't called you in a year, well, it's probably because I don't have your number. Call me! (You could send me an e-mail too.)

I received the new hard drive for my laptop last week, reinstalled windows and a ton of other stuff, and now I am back online and happy.

The summer here in Santa Fe has (so far) been amazingly cool and temperate... 81 degrees is about as hot as I have seen it get so far. Plus, we have had lots of rain so far. Sweet!

My weblog tool is apparently incompatible with Internet Explorer 8... My WSIWYG editor is ominously absent, so I am hard-coding some XHTML here. Excuse the brevity. See you in cyberspace.

- Jeff Woodman