CHOOSE RANT

Title:   A Slight Return Day:    December 3rd, 1999 Author:  Ruiner				Okay, tremendous apologies for the delay. I would love to say it's been my apathy, that age-old excuse that I'm constantly using. You know, " I just didn't feel like writing and posting anything on the webpage." But it wasn't that. No this dilemma is something from a more technological realm. My computer is irritating the crap outta me. In a nutshell, I turn the system on, run it for a short while and then somewhere in the midst of things, it shuts down. And when it does that, it either won't 'crank' back up at all, or it gives me around five minutes of playtime before a repeat shutdown. It honestly makes updating a webpage a difficult prospect at best. I guess it wouldn't irk me so if I hadn't built the system myself. Yes, this is the Beast that I put together one year ago, with money from the sale of my previous system, a saved paycheck, and a small settlement from someone banging into my car. It's been a good system, easily capable of running any software I've come across, but this problem makes me wonder if I screwed up. I think it's something with the motherboard, a sort of thermostat that mistakenly thinks the system is running too hot and shuts it down without warning. And maybe things were running too hot - I discovered that one of my fans wasn't running as it should have been. But that's been replaced and the system still tends to lock me out. Joy. And of course, one of the reasons I built the system for has finally come to pass. A game, Planescape:Torment, has finally hit the shelves, nearly six months after the estimated release date. The system requirements for it were far beyond the system I last held, and so I made these grandiose plans to construct a new system. And I did so, but as soon as the game arrived, my system was out of commision. And of course, it would break near the Xmas season when I'm actually feeling generous and buying gifts for others. I could have been stingy ('Christmas is cancelled because I have to buy something for my computer - Bah Humbug!'), but even I have too much of a conscience to do that. Things haven't been that bad, though. I check my email on my roommate's computer (thanks Ray!). I surf my daily websites at work (shhh! No one can know…). But I'm not about to try to update my website without the Beast. The wacked out design I have for MindsEye requires me to change and upload nearly forty pages. It's a simple task with my copy of HomeSite, but it would be nervewracking to start it all up anew on another system. And yes, I'm hoping that the Beast will give me enough time to make these changes and shoot them out. Else I may just be writing this in vain. Apathy has been a small problem towards the general writing. I should have stockpiled some rants so that I would have something to give you for your patience. But honestly the last two attempts strike me as rather pathetic, so either I retool them or they stay in the scrapped pile. I do have at least one coming soon, so remain hopeful. Or regretful. Or whatever strikes you at the moment. B.Mooney