I use Windows Live Messenger, the latest beta, and it has some fiddly habits.  Like it sometimes doesn’t connect right unless I jiggle my antivirus’s settings (AVG 8.0 Network Edition doesn’t frack around).  Last night, that didn’t work, and it threw a firewall-related error code (8100030d).

So…I dug into the Windows Security Center to check firewall settings, and disabled the Windows firewall (kids, don’t try this at home) to see if that would help.  It still didn’t work but gave me a new clue: apparently without Windows Firewall running, Windows was able to tell me that McAfee Personal Firewall was running.  I don’t use McrApfee products. So…time for a scraping-off operation.

Problem: No McAfee stuff was apparently installed on my computer.  I went through the start menu, I checked under Add/Remove Programs, I used RegEdit to poke around in the registry (kids, don’t try this at home).  NOTHING.  At this point I was getting annoyed.

Then I found this page.  Apparently enough people want McrApfeee off their hard drive, and it’s enough of a pain in the neck to make that happen, that 1) it’s worth it to people to make whole web pages about it, and 2) McAfee makes a product just to remove it.  That should be a clue to the company that their product sucks.  I ran the free program, it apparently scraped some other associated crapware off (I still don’t know from where…), and shazam!  Icky program is gone and my WLM works again.

All I can figure is that it somehow piggybacked in on an update of something in the last few days, since there have been a ton of updates lately.  Still not sure what activated it it though.  But, it’s gone.  Ding dong the witch is dead.

Most of you probably didn’t even notice this, since it didn’t take 24 hours like the one in the idiot webhost.

I noticed the site was down, at about the same time as a friend must’ve noticed it since he mentioned it while I was checking things. I knew it couldn’t've been down for more than a few minutes because I’d just done some other stuff.

I started pushing buttons–my usual stuff like ping (worked), tracert (didn’t work), and cPanel access (didn’t work).

I wrote up a trouble ticket. When I pushed the button to submit it, the next screen mentioned that there was a current known issue described as “An Administrator Is Investigating Performance On The Server.” It occurred to me that there was a chance that my problem was related, so I held off on the ticket (saving them the time of replying to it, incidentally, while still letting me know that they were already hitting it with a rock).

I monitored the situation as browser error messages changed–most of the time it was “the connection has timed out,” though once it was “the connection was reset” as stuff changed on the other end of things.

And then, it worked again. They actually fixed something. Quickly.

*gives seal of approval to Bluehost’s competent webminions*

The good news is, I’m in Phoenix.  Having a roof over my head and places to be during the day is a good thing.  Air conditioning is a very good thing…”it’s a dry heat” doesn’t apply in monsoon season, which is apparently now, and which involves Arizona being hot and humid.  And the really long tire-devouring (story to follow) road trip is over.

However, most of my stuff is still on the way, packed in the van, and I’m still getting my license stuff squared away which involves my dad hitting WOU with a rock.  Maybe they’ve mailed a transcript, I don’t know.  Argh.  And there’s still also plenty of shopping to do, plus I need furniture.  Which is why moving is only “sort of” done.

Big news: After mucking about in WordPress PluginLand and playing with code a bit, I think I’ve got it right–OpenID users (including LiveJournal bloggers) can now use that identity here.

Fair warning, some of the implementing technology is still in its infancy, so hiccups may occur. Let me know and I’ll hit it with a rock if possible.

Somehow, I actually accomplished stuff today!

• Registered for (warning: links to PDF) ESOL and Middle School Math PRAXIS tests. On separate days, because they’re both 2-hour session 2 tests, so I got to pay two registration fees. Oww, my wallet.
• Read some textbookish stuff–about a chapter and a half.
• Collected standards related to Fractions and Decimals for the Math Methods project.
• Went to the gym. It’ll never be my favorite hobby but it beats landing on Lexapro again, and between the stress and February 17th coming around again (why’s it have to be right after winter when the seasonal-affective component has also screwed with me for a while?) I need everything I can get working in my favor, and endorphins are a good thing.
• Almost finished writing a Personal Narrative draft thing for Language Arts Methods. Ending doesn’t wanna. Must hit it with a rock.
• Blog entry! If that counts…

Just one thing: I really must get hold of my advisor and tell her that I want a practicum placement for next term that’ll let me get the middle school math endorsement.