That done, I hauled out her laptop, and with some poking around in the Users control panel I stumbled upon the secret code. The problem was it kept asking her to do some extra clicks on exit saying why she was shutting down or restarting the PC. We had disabled that in the registry, we thought. Turns out we also had to change the login to "welcome screen" for that change to take effect. So I did, and we're very happy to have the mystery solved without re-installing Windows.
Went from there to the PO, but it was lunchtime and the line was LONG, so I went for lunch, and mailed the package after. Then to Jiffy Lube, and then home, where a notice was waiting for me that my lease expires on Nov. 30, and I need to tell them by the 1st if I'm renewing or going month to month. They are raising the rent another $150 a month, which means I'm pretty much outa here. Tomorrow I'll do some apartment hunting. Did some online, and the places I will go to first are the one I moved out of in 2002, one which I almost moved into the last move but they didn't have the right sized unit available, and one in which there used to be an AAMP (Asian Apartment Massage Parlor) many years ago. All are cat-friendly, I think all offer in-apartment washer/dryer. And all appear to be several hundred dollars less than my current rent. Also, just for grins, will re-visit a trailer park which rents out standard units. It's a good location, but do I really want to be both earthquake and tornado bait?
Did some fiddling with Vista on the laptop, then packed it up intending to go to Starbucks and do some more when the phone rang. That set me back to the point where it was time to go to IHOP for the Democrats' meeting.
Somehow got there half an hour early, so I did some more on the laptop before going inside.
Democracy For America, locally known as the Silicon Valley Dean Democrats, are an example of what's wrong with the Democratic Party. It's a sad commentary when the Bay Area Science Fiction Association runs a tighter meeting than a political party. Okay, BASFA currently is an excellent example of the intelligent use of Robert's Rules (though they sometimes veer off into Dread Pirate Robert's Rules), but the Demos just don't get it. A couple of things I did not like besides the lack of order and direction:
They are actively supporting Cindy Chavez for SJ Mayor. Chavez apparently paid her $15 dues and joined Silly Valley DFA. She is Vice Mayor, and was present at most of the closed-door sessions which got Mayor Gonzales into trouble, but she didn't blow the whistle on him, or herself for that matter, and is running a campaign designed to make it look like she is new blood, and had nothing to do with the sordid past. BUT SHE DID!
They also seem to think that door-to-door campaigning is The Answer. I think it's annoying, but YMMV. Anyway, I bailed early, and won't be going again. There were no hot single chicks, anyway.
Did manage to catch the last play of the football game when I got home. And called the parental units, since I was out all night last night and didn't get a chance.
Next week will probably return to BASFA.
Plans for Tuesday are just apartment hunting, job hunting, and playing with the laptop at Starbucks.
