I finally got sick of the Linux on my Eee (Shitty video, flaky wifi, PERPETUALLY CRASHING WORD PROCESSOR which was the big one - Star Office is made of fail), and so the last couple of days was devoted to exorcising mine and artemisiabrisol's Eee PCs and installing XP.

Verdict: SUCCESS! Only took *mumbletwentysixhours*, most of which involved nLiting XP, loading it to a CD, failing to boot the CD, loading it to a USB, failing to install, changing the installation file, repeat ad nauseum. The point is, I figured it out, and I've now done it twice, huzzah! Just now re-installing AVG and VLC and a few necessities on Madison and then I will have my poor little Eee all set up once more. *pets it*

Except for still having no skin. *pouts*

artemisiabrisol, who was also here (we came to my Mum's to make use of one of the family copies of Windows), was great help as cheering section, and nodding blankly when I swore at the BIOS, or the setup program, or the drivers. She compared me to St. George, which would have been a much more rousing simile if Linux's mascot weren't a penguin. St. George and the Penguin doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Ah, well. Point is: done. Now we have thirty days to call Microsoft and get our old SP1 key re-activated. Technically we used an SP3 disc to install to both, but we have at least two other valid, legally-purchased keys that Windows is claiming are invalid. Evidently if you use a post-SP1 disc to install and then use a pre-SP1 key to activate, it doesn't recognise it - so we're going to have to do what Dad used to do when this came up, namely: call India and shout at them until they relent.

Well, probably not shout. They give in to us pretty easy these days - probably comes of most people being too lazy after three re-installs to bother complaining, and going out and buying new copies, instead. (Which is, of course, what they hope you'll do.)

To do for tomorrow:
-Move Mum's network hub out of Dad's old office, upstairs into the kitchen.
-Catalog more books (good news: we're well over half since yesterday, bad news: we've probably got another 800 or so to go, gah).
-Get a haircut.
-Possibly Christmas shopping.
-Call and make appointments with dentist and doctor.
-Call student loans and demand to know WHERE THE HELL IS MY CHEQUE, IT IS ALMOST 2009. Called them, was told that NOW, the provincial government needed to issue me a NEW "certificate of eligibility," which by the way the last time I called, the National Loans people TOLD ME THEY HAD RECEIVED. So, called the provincial government, who told me I still had a federal restriction (from back when the idiots charged me loans payments even though I was a full-time student) on my file, and that was why they hadn't sent in the certificate. So back I went to the federal loans idiots, who told me I had to call back tomorrow, because their Case Review department is closed. Now I have to call back tomorrow and hope to god that they can sort it out, because until they send the BC government something called a Clearance Letter, BC won't send me the form I need to have filled out (AGAIN) and sent back by December 31st, OR I DON'T GET MY MONEY, BUT IT STILL GETS ADDED TO MY PRINCIPAL. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK. *tears out hair*
-Sort out a lost Kelestia.com order that seems to have gone astray in France, someplace. We're pretty much going to have to send him a new copy of what he ordered, and we can't claim the insurance right now, because Canada Post is in the midst of their annual strike, but ah, well.
-Edit at least three chapters of Riverwend. I'm going to have to go back to Staples and buy some craft paper or something, because re-plotting the first section of this book is going to require index cards and possibly yarn.
-Write Xmas-present fic! I think there are at least three. o.O
-Wait for Mum's floor guy. Maybe. This does not appear to have been totally worked out. No floor guy today. Maybe floor guy tomorrow, but I won't be here.

And when I get home, Amanda Palmer and playing with my brand-new copy of Adobe CS4 Masters Collection. I love you too, educational pricing. :)