Manassas Movie, Truck Trouble

Drove out to Manassas, turned off my truck, got out, met Christina, got back in my truck, and it wouldn't start. Took her car instead, drove over to Hoyt's, took about 10 seconds to get our pre-paid tickets from the machine, and checked out the snack bars. One had the usual selection of greatly-overpriced sodas/popcorn/candy; the other had a surprisingly reasonably-priced selection of hot and frozen coffees, so I got a Mudslide-flavored frozen coffee and she got an Oreo-flavored one. Tasty!

And then we saw Hidalgo, which was pretty darn good--riding, acting, character development, music, message, and ending. Then back to my truck, which started without a hitch, and home we each went.

(Incidentally, I'm surprised that Mac OS's dictionary includes the name "Hidalgo". :)

Now I shall sleep, and tomorrow I'll birthday shop--for Shauna, at least, if not Brendan (2/3) and dad (2/6) and my parents' anniversary (2/24)--and at 1830, be in Clifton for Shauna's birthday dinner. :)

Happy no-longer-teenage birthday, Shauna! :D

Late-night computering

Since I'm finally going to lose access to Cornell services on 3/9 by virtue of being an alumnus--for well over a year now, mind you, and Esther's had student-level access for a good 2-3 years following her own graduation--I decided to do a final upgrade of the software I'd received. The only major update was Norton Antivirus 7.5.x to Symantec Antivirus 8.0, which required assorted uninstalls and deletions and forced redownloads before the installation would complete. (I'd already fetched the Gravity newsreader several months ago. :)

In the process, I also discovered that my laptop automatically connects to my neighbors' open wireless network when I remove the network cable to pass it to the desktop. Heh. :)

I then downloaded and installed several Windows updates, as well as following a link I was given in January to kill qttask.exe's auto-loading, so now my desktop's happily up-to-date. :)

I suppose I should go to sleep, though.

Birthday catchup!

Shauna's special, see, 'cause she's my sister, and gets her own birthday mention. But here's the rest, to catch up on LJ birthdays and an anniversary!

2/18: Happy 24th birthdays, absolutliz and kelwyn!
2/19: Happy 29th birthday, cheshirrrecat!
2/23: Happy 20th birthday, lorcanotorca!
3/3: Happy 33rd birthday, michaelduff!
3/4: Happy 22nd birthday, weyakin!
3/5: Happy birthday, benzado!
3/7: Happy 5th anniversary, evelynne & Poindexter!

Something tells me I should do this more often. ;)

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Shaunamas dinner moved up to 1800. Still need to shop. :)

Power shopping

3ish hours of Springfield Mall later, I have gifts (and a few Fresh|Ink cards) for:
Matt's birthday (11/4/03)
Brendan's birthday (2/3)
Dad's birthday (2/6)
Mom & Dad's anniversary (2/24)
Shauna's birthday (3/7)

"Timely" might not be the best adjective for me. (I have an excuse for a few of them, though--Australia! ;)

Now, I have a few minutes to wrap them before I have to drive to Clifton for dinner..