I'm in the realm of gadgets. Not the kind where you go "ohh" and "ahh" after something nifty shows up on tv. No. I should have been born a techno guru, except I suck at physics, but I love inventing things.
Here's the thing. I opened up my laptop again this time and discovered the second fan. Technically, I knew there was a second one. It was just hiding from me. The keyboard knew I would mess with it, so it hid it. So, after a delightful google search, I dismantled much of my laptop, but I was still too much of a coward to remove the fans. I just cleaned them a bit, accidently dropped and rescued some screws, and my laptop still overheats!
Today I did some more problem-solving. Now my laptop is elevated off the desk courtesy of four lovely bottle tops. The temperature reading is still climbing. I'm going to have to cough up a cooling fan, and this upsets me because I've spent days unable to fix this myself. Grr argh.

I'm still in problem solving mode. I've done a system restore, and that didn't help. A virus scan came up with zilch. After a thorough scan of both c and d drives, I discovered that there were minor issues, but my poor laptop still likes to shutdown unexpectedly. So, what's the diagnosis? It's a heat issue. Been there, done that. Except, I've already opened up my laptop and cleaned where I dared. Maybe I need to go further?

I'm having uber laptop trouble, so this will be short. For all I know my laptop will shut down before I finish this post. Then I'll have a fit. Sucky.

As of right now I do not know who is responsible for the rapes at Hearst college. I came home and caught up on last week's episode and had many laughs. There was much LoVe angst. I swear if Logan is murdered tonight it will be the end of the world! (not) I have my theories. If it's the sheriff, I'd be sad. His scene on the phone with the "reporter" had me cracking up. I would love to know more about him. Piz is cute, but that's it. I'm not buying the Piz. Weevil, Wallace, and Mac are untouchable. They're also MIA.
Hmm, now that House is over, I really should hit rewind, zoom through Gilmore, and settle down with Veronica Mars. Am I going to cry?

It's my last night in El Paso. The Irish lost, and I had great Mexican food yesterday. Leftovers this morning. I think I've officially tasted the second best tamales in the world. My aunts make the best.
I fly back to SA tomorrow. It's still warm in SA. The air conditioners are still running. It's slightly mad. Then again, as long as the weather stays comfortably cool I really can't complain. Anything is better than the 30's.

Christmas songs have started edging their way on the radio. Not the good kind. The bad ones sung by so-called pop stars with pumped up tunes and doctored vocals. The song is supposed to sound brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Twenty years from now I'm not going to remember it. No one will. I will, however, remember this one:
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young
{Refrain}
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas (war is over)
For weak and for strong (if you want it)
For rich and the poor ones
The road is so long
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
{Refrain}
And so this is Christmas (war is over)
And what have we done (if you want it)
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
{Refrain}
War is over if you want it
War is over now
Hmm. I love this Lennon song. The arrangement is so pretty, but I had never really paid much attention to the words. I wonder how much rotation this song will get this year.

The game of games is about to begin. The Trojans are about to lose, and I can't be happier. Of course I just ran into a snag today. Mom showed me the form for the bowl tickets, and there's a chance that the Notre Dame team might come to play here. A bowl game in El Paso?! I fly out two days before the bowl game. I may have to change my tickets if that ever happens.
The Irish playing in the formerly titled Sun Bowl. I think I'm baffled.
Game time... Go Irish. BEAT TROJANS. and their stupid song too.

I'm not a fan of Will Ferrell movies. I'm actually not a fan of comedies, period. So when I found out that I was going to be dragged to the new Will Ferrell movie, I went with a sad face. At least I had heard it was good. He was after all acting in a more serious role. This wasn't Saturday Night Live. Emma Thompson can save it. Actually, Emma Thompson rocked in the movie.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I love it when comedians can act. Will Ferrell is no exception. As Harold Crick he's so muted and dull, it's perfect. By the end of the movie I was really caring about whether he would make it out alive. He is after all a figment of Emma Thompson's imagination. Or is he?
Thompson is used sparingly, but her scenes are hilarious. In every book her character has ever written she's killed the protagonist. This time she's having trouble coming up with a suitable death scene, so she keeps imagining all these different situations and places herself in them. The outcome is ingenious.
This was a nice movie. A keeper? Don't know yet. I definitely recommend it.

Note to self: We have not killed each other on Thanksgiving Day, yet.
My family has the Thanksgiving meal in the evening. We were hoping to have it at around 6pm, but nothing goes as planned here, so like clock work, it will probably happen around 7:30 or 8. Two family members are already moaning about missing Ugly Betty.
The menu for this evening is turkey. My mom made this new dish using cranberries and jello that I'm actually curious to try. There will be the usual stuffing (yuck), and yams with marshmellows. I tried making the latter a few weeks ago, and I ended up adding too much pineapple concentrate. Fortunately, no other palettes were harmed in the process.
For now I'm trying to convince my mom to add a simple salad to the menu to balance things out because apart from the food just mentioned, gravy isn't going to cut it. And then there is the pie. For any sweetaholic, tonight would be their type of heaven. I'm just trying to make up my mind.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The internet connection here in EP town is downright disastrous. Cable has died a few times, and when that happens one brother panics. When it's wireless it's up to me to fix it. That can be rather annoying. It makes me want to have a central line.
What does this all mean? Is this the end of nabloplomo? Um, no. Stubborness is a trait I treasure even if it can be a curse. In the meantime, my fingers are so crossed.