Sniff, Sniff

It figures that a few days after my last entry, the announcement came that ABC is canceling Pushing Daisies. The show will air through episode 13; that means there are only 4 episodes left! Of course, episode 13 will be a cliffhanger, so there will be no closure. I hate unresolved, or at least unintended, cliffhangers! The only glimmer of hope is that Executive Producer Brian Fuller is exploring avenues for bringing some kind of conclusion to PD fans: "We are talking to DC Comics about doing comic books that will wrap up our story lines, and I already have a pitch for a [big-screen] movie ready to go." I guess all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that Fuller's efforts come to fruition. That, and savor the few remaining episodes. How sad that such an imaginative and visually stunning show is getting the ax. Granted, this season hasn't quite captured my attention in the same way the premier season did, but Pushing Daisies is still the most refreshing show on television. The fantasy it wraps us in is such a lovely antidote to the slew of self-multiplying reality shows dominating the airwaves. Sigh.

Computer Frustrations

So, a little over 3 weeks ago, the web browsers on my desktop computer suddenly lost the ability to connect to the internet. Other programs, such as Windows Updates and Norton Anti-Virus, apparently still worked just fine, but the browsers could now only display “Unable to load page” error messages. Thinking it an internet issue, I called AT&T DSL tech support. After spending an hour on the phone with two tech reps, I was told that there was nothing wrong with the modem or the connection. If I start the computer in safe mode, the web browsers work. If I start in normal mode, something prevents the browsers from accessing the net. The level 2 tech rep (who sounded a bit condescending and put-upon) suggested that I find a friend who knows computers or take my disabled system to the Geek Squad.

The apparent culprit behind this connectivity issue is one of those automatic updates that run in the background, often without our knowledge. Something in a recent (buggy) Windows or Firefox update clearly does not get along with Norton Anti-Virus or Windows firewall. I researched the problem, and it is apparently not an uncommon one. However, none of the recommended solutions I read about have worked thus far. The only way I’ve been able to get online is with my laptop, which I bought in February to be my work computer.

It’s been over 3 weeks since I’ve been able to get online with my desktop, and I’m facing a rather drastic solution: back up all the data on the system and reimage the hard drive. This means wiping the computer clean and reinstalling all the software. Though a colleague has told me that some (techie) people routinely do this to make their computers run efficiently, I’m feeling a bit of trepidation about this step. But, I don’t really see a way around this. Everything is so web-based these days that my desktop will surely become defunct should its inability to connect to the internet become permanent. And the system is only a little over 3 years old!

This problem has doubtless been a frustrating and annoying one, but it also started me thinking about how dependent on technology (especially the information superhighway) modern life is. And that makes me a tad uneasy. I can’t imagine life without a functioning computer, broadband, and email. What does that say about me and our civilization as a whole? And so much is automated these days… things we don’t even see (for example, the automatic updates that caused the subject of this rant). How easily might things slip from our control? I suppose it is just a fact of modern life that we must accept, discomfiting as it is.

Soaring Gas Prices with No End in Sight

Last week, for the first time in my life, I was obliged to pay over $4.00 a gallon for gasoline. Not a happy milestone, to be sure, but since so much has been made about that $4.00 mark, I thought I'd been fairly fortunate to hold off paying that much for so long. (It helped that I drive a reasonably sized car that doesn't require the highest grade gasoline.) I grudgingly forked over $50 to fill up my tank and naively thought, "Well, it can't get much worse than this." I mean, all we've been hearing about with regards to gas is this dreaded $4.00 per gallon average. Perhaps I've been out of it (I admittedly don't follow the news very closely), but I haven't heard anything about hitting the $5.00 mark.

To my consternation, the price of gas has ballooned over 30 cents a gallon in the past week. Hitting the $5.00 mark looms quite near for people whose cars require premium gasoline (not to mention those who live in the Bay Area). Why oh why aren't alternate-fuel vehicles already an everyday reality? I wonder when electric and hydrogen-cell cars will become viable in terms of economics and practicality... A more extended and efficient public transportation system would be nice too... I mean, LA must be one of the few major metropolises without an extensive metro/subway system. Sigh.