2000-08-23 - 5:56pm

On the internal soundtrack: Fleetwood Mac's "Never Goin' Back Again"

My parents are coming to visit this weekend. I'm going to make them play Pictionary with me. I'm thinking of making it a condition for using the guest suite. Pictionary is just too much fun.

So, this also means I have lots of preparations to make and will not be working on my to-do list anytime soon. Oh well.

So. About six months ago, my brother used my laptop and complained that the modem was too noisy. Turning down the sound using the icon on the task bar doesn't turn off the modem. So he did something to it that turned the sound off completely.

I don't miss the sound much, but occasionally I do want to hear something. Today was one of those days. I got him on IM and was searching EVERYWHERE: taskbar icon properties, control panel sounds, multimedia audio, everything. Nothing worked.

Finally, he says, "Do you have a volume control on the machine itself?"

Duh.

Yes, I do. To my credit, I've never had one before, never used one on any computer, and it wasn't me who turned the sound off with it. But still, it's always the simplest answer, isn't it? "Occam's Razor".

Speaking of "Occam's Razor", if you haven't read Carl Sagan's Contact, do it. Now. The movie doesn't do it justice. Plus the ending of the book is better. If you don't like science fiction, that's okay, because it isn't really SF. It's more about humankind and spirituality and our place in the universe and limitless possibilities. It's a very uplifting and inspiring book.

Agh, I wanted to write an entry but don't really have anything to write. Anything you want to know?

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