MILES to GO || before I sleep

I've uninstalled Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium. Not just Photoshop, which was really the only application giving me issues, but all of it. I have the trial of CS4 and should be getting the CS4 backpack that is my graduation present soon-ish (it's on backorder from JourneyEd.com), but the problems...they aren't going away.

I uninstalled CS3 using the uninstaller in the Applications/Utilities folder. Everything was a success. Then I ran the CS3 Clean Script from Adobe's Support Center--twice. Everything seemed to go smoothly there, except it also apparently removed Shockwave Flash (Safari is now protesting I don't have the right plugin for some websites) and InDesign CS4. I re-installed CS4 and then Photoshop said it was missing components. So I reinstalled Photoshop. And everything seemed to be fine (again) for a few minutes. I opened some documents and prepared to get to work.

And then it crashed.

AGAIN.

Same error as before EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP).

I have tried everything at this point short of fully uninstalling Intego (but you'd think if that was really behind it, the error messages would say something relating to Intego, right?) and wiping the OS and reinstalling. I have NEVER had to do this with a Mac OS, so I'm obviously a) very worried and b) very reluctant.

This has happened with Photoshop, while I got another Initializing Extension Data... hang with Dreamweaver CS3. It only happened sporadically, though, and hasn't happened with Dreamweaver CS4. Only Photoshop seems to hate me, and I don't know why. (Why, Photoshop, why!? Was it something I said?)

Oh, and then there's Firefox. So after I couldn't get into my Photoshop for class, I thought I could use DeVry's iLab environment, which is run by Citrix. Blah blah, got the latest extension, went into Firefox because supposedly it's more compatible with Firefox than Safari (lamesauce, Citrix, LAMESAUCE!). Firefox didn't even seem to recognize it. So I uninstalled and re-installed (after a bit of a scuffle with a crappy beta). I let it be shiny-new, as is, for a while. Citrix seemed to be there (though not in the Add-Ons list, the way 1Password is despite being an external install), but the second it tried to launch Photoshop via Citrix, CRASH! The Citrix online plug-in, that is--not Firefox. Actually, it happened with ANY of the Adobe suite programs I tried to launch via Citrix (didn't bother trying Microsoft gunk--should I?), so it doesn't seem to be just Photoshop-related.

However, since that fresh install of Firefox, the app itself has crashed--repeatedly. It looks like the same error message as the Photoshop one, which is to say: not helpful at all. This tells me that whatever Adobe tells me to do to "fix" Photoshop won't actually help, because this is starting to look more and more like a system issue. I disabled XMarks, since that would cause freezes that would force me to quit Firefox, but the problem isn't really solved: Firefox takes around three "clicks" to get it to start. I can launch it from the Dock or via Quicksilver, but either way, it'll be in the Dock for a split second, even have the "running app" indicator below it, but it'll still just vanish without a word. No error, no crash reporter, nothing. And I'll try again. And again. And again.

And then it works, acting like nothing's wrong. It doesn't APPEAR to be as slow as it used to (which is why I switched to Safari in the first place), but it may depend on the website. And I still do have a lot of extensions, because to be frank: if there's going to be a limit on Firefox's number of extensions, then TELL ME SO from the outset. Give me a suggested number, or tell me how much memory each extension will hog up, or whatever. Because most of them I got because they're actually USEFUL and I need them in some fashion.

I think I'm going to have to make another appointment at the Apple Store. Hopefully I'll get someone who actually knows that Snow Leopard doesn't have Archive & Install as an option anymore, and that dust can't creep into your computer and make your hard drive explode (Yes, it's been said).

Another thing to add to The List of Mer's Computer Woes? My Time Machine is definitely on its last legs. My lovely new-ish Western Digital MyBook Studio has begun ticking, a bit like a soft clock. It doesn't always mount, and even when I do the whole unplug-to-power-cycle thing and re-plug, it doesn't always work. And I'll hear a soft tick-tick-tick...like a clock, only not as regular. Maybe every few seconds. This one might still be under warranty, but what's the use if I'd just end up replacing it with another WD drive? WD doesn't seem to be nearly as reliable as I thought. :( What are the HDs the "Geniuses" use at the Bar, I wonder? They look pretty compact and sturdy...

Finally got my MacBook Pro back from the Apple Store. I think I mentioned how the graphics card or something somehow caused the logicboard to fry, and the whole thing had to be replaced? Yeah, but at least it was part of a "program" where they knew about these defective boards, so I didn't have to pay a dime. Looks like it may have been partially related to my battery issues, too, as my battery life seems to have improved a bit. I only bought the new battery back in December, so there's no reason why it should be horribly unhealthy by now (even with the fact that I use it every day and leave it on A LOT... but in Sleep mode, mostly, and almost always plugged in, too).

I also finally got the annoying issue with getting a self-assigned IP resolved. None of the usual fixes (renewing the DHCP license, turning the AirPort wireless card on and off, restarting the computer, switching to Ethernet, etc.) were working, but I dug around in the Apple Discussion forums (on the old iMac and at school) and found a fix: switching the Firewall to "Allow all incoming connections." Ta-da! Of course, I'm hoping to switch back to my more selective mode, but in the meanwhile, this'll do. Now just to see if it works at home, too.

ETA: It does, but at school, it doesn't. V. annoying.

I was also having issues with the computer just generally being slow, and I don't know if it's time for me to see if I can upgrade the memory in this to 4GB. This is an older model MBP, so I don't even know if it CAN hold that much. Plus, it'll cost (lots of) money, and with the way my previous attempts at installing additional memory have gone, I'd rather do it at the Apple Store-- pay for for the Apple Certified stuff and get the product warranty and in-store customer service that comes with it.

Firefox is still apparently a memory hog, but it doesn't help that I'm one of those people that has hundreds of tabs open (some of them duplicates). I tried to close a bunch down today, write them down if I need to, and bookmark a bunch of others. Hopefully it'll help some. I'm also testing out Firefox 3.5 beta 4 because I wanted to play with Weave, a project from Mozilla Labs that allows for TAB SYNCING. I never thought I'd need it, but geez it'll be nice to open up my tabs on my now-slow MacBook Pro on the speedy Windows (eeeeew) machines at work. Mayhap I can get more done that way.... Now, I wonder if there's something that can sync extensions?

This entry's actually been sitting here for a few days; I just didn't post it. I have a lot more to say, but it seems like it ought to go in a separate entry some other time...maybe after finals or at least after tomorrow, when I have my Table Appointments (read: table setting) quiz in my Contemporary Issues in Nutrition class and my Yoga final (physical and written). I'm kind of nervous about the physical Yoga final, because even with a class of 30+ people, last week the professor said she WOULD be working with us one-on-one, which has me thinking she'll be sitting there and go "okay, get into X pose!" and I'll just blank and forget how to do it!

...My Time Machine external HD is mounted, but it won't back up, even if I manually tell it to. When I go into Time Machine preferences, it says the back-up drive cannot be located. WTF!?

My dad thinks I'm too much of a critic. I think that having the standards I do ("being so critical") will serve me well in my chosen career as an editor. It's not like I've set a goal to be a hard-ass with impossible standards, but I do think that if I follow Dad's advice of "Reach for the stars, land on the moon; reach for the sidewalk, land in the gutter" is quite applicable. What I take it to mean is that if we set the bar too low, the results we get back will be lower than expectations, instead of meeting or surpassing expectations. But if we set a high standard, we might not get "excellence bar none," but we'll still get some pretty good stuff that, with a little bit of work, might just be "excellent!"

I don't think there's any excuse for not editing your work when you have the chance. For example, if you make an icon and someone tells you a word is spelled wrong, short of you having NOT saved the *.psd or whatever, what's stopping you from remaking it? Obviously, if you get the email when you're not at the computer with your graphics editor, etc. it's fine if you don't remake it immediately, but why not do it when you have the chance?

Same goes for fics. When someone says "comments and constructive criticism are appreciated!" or whatever and someone DOES offer those, shouldn't the author take them to heart and apply their newfound knowledge? It's not a matter of "Ouch, someone had to correct me on my bad spelling/grammar/canon facts," it's a matter of "I can make this better!" Even if you only apply it to future chapters for the time being, at some point, it's fairly easy to do with already-posted chapters. It takes about the same amount of time to fix fic errors as it does for icons-- maybe ten minutes, assuming the problems aren't too numerous or too major.

With fics, especially, "financial feasibility" is not an excuse. That's about the only one I'd accept from a manga publisher (like Viz); it's not always feasible to revise a manga just because of a few spelling errors. But posting fics is free, and I can't stand anyone that bothers to post their fics when they're too lazy to go back and FIX the things for future readers (or re-readers).

Anyway, manga's the whole reason I brought this up; I got myself the new "VIZBIG" edition of Fushigi Yuugi today, which compiles Vols. 1-3. I'm guessing it's the English equivalent to the bunkoban Fushigi Yuugi that were released in Japan a few years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like much has been revised, either in the way of writing, translating, or art. Sure, two of those three fall on Watase's shoulders, but I'm looking more at Viz here; it's entirely possible they didn't use the bunkoban re-releases for the VIZBIG editions and instead opted to re-use their original translations, re-flip the images to their proper direction (Viz first published FY when manga WAS NOT in the original "right-to-left" format), etc.

What's especially got my goat is easy-to-spot problems that you don't see in their current titles:

* 'Whoa' being spelled was 'Woah' repeatedly (common mistake and probably a small one for me to get worked up over, but STILL!)

* References to American pop culture, rather than the original Japanese ones. This is my biggest pet peeve, even if there was only one distinguishable one ("Look! Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow in bikinis!") throughout the whole VIZBIG volume. They had this problem in the original translation release of "Ceres: Celestial Legend" too, but they fixed them for the second edition releases, and explained what the references were, e.g. who SMAP was and such. I realize lots of American shows get dubbed in Japan, but honestly? Miaka doesn't strike me as the type who watches "FRIENDS" or knows who Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow are, anyway. *shrug* It could just be me, but... why not leave it? I bought the title to read a TRANSLATION, not a REVISION of the original author's words.

* Their romanization system. MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND AND PICK ONE, VIZ. There are lots of romanization systems out there. The one I was taught to use (I believe it's the most common academically, and is also widely used in manga translation) is the Hepburn system, where Miaka's surname would be spelled out "Yuuki" or written "Yûki," but they don't bother to do that. They use the circumflex for the title, but, as per Watase-sensei's request, they use "Yuu" as her name, instead of "Yû." Why can't they just pick one system and stick with it? I, for one, prefer to see "Miaka Yuuki" and "Fushigi Yuugi" instead of "Miaka Yuki" (no circumflex, even!) or "Miaka Yûki" etc.

* The SFX glossary in the back. Yes, it's nice and helpful, but honestly? Who's going to flip to the back of the book every time they're curious about what the kana on their given panel mean? Especially in a VIZBIG volume which is several HUNDRED pages long!? Why not just put the translation of the kana (romanization and meaning) in a smaller type just above the kana in question, or off to the side if it's a page-wide sound effect or on a screen toned background?

* General mistakes: a panel where Hotohori calls Miaka "princess" instead of "priestess," a place where "Imperial" was misspelled as "Emperial" (NOT A WORD, PEOPLE. Even in Star Wars, ships belonging to the Empire were Imperial Star Destroyers and whatnot. This was a big issue in Sailor Moon too, when they kept on calling the Ginzuishou different things, like the Emperium Silver Crystal and I was like "But the Moon Kingdom wasn't an Empire! They didn't have an Emperor/Empress! WTF!?")

FY was originally released in the Japanese in 1992. Viz first picked it up a while after that, and they finished their second edition run of it YEARS ago. So why when they release their first compilation (and supposed "revision," but maybe that's just my interpretation of a "collector's edition" or whatever... the BEST stuff made BETTER) is it chock full of such BASIC errors?

Yes, it's cool that they're using the Chinese names for the people and places (I don't know if they did that for the first edition releases; my only first edition volume is back in S.F., and for all I know I'm getting it mixed up with the anime from when I first saw it), but for a manga that's over a decade old and is still considered one of the definitive shoujo manga, it's not good enough. They need to do more than include more color images and an SFX glossary. They need to do more than use the Chinese names and have a table showing their Japanese and English equivalents.

*sigh* What sucks is, once upon a time, I would have said to myself, "I can do better!" and I would dream of being an editor at Viz. Now, that no longer really interests me, even though I DO think I could probably do it. But for all I know, I'd suck at it because I'd want to spend more time and money on titles than the company wants to. But for me as a consumer, if I'm going to be paying more than $9.95 for a graphic novel title (which is already expensive enough as it is, considering the tankoubon in Japan are usually ¥300-700), I want it to be top-notch quality. I pay that much for what Del Ray puts out because it's DAMN GOOD QUALITY. The cover, the translation, the editing, EVERYTHING. I was actually pleased that Miwa Ueda's latest title "Papillion," got picked up by Del Rey instead of Tokyopop, who did an AWFUL job on "Peach Girl."

So, barring the dream job of making manga better myself, there's not giving companies that I think suck my money. But the fact is, it's impossible to find titles like these in complete sets anymore. I didn't have the money to buy FY when it was originally coming out, so I don't own any of it, except for that one crappy first edition translation and one Japanese edition (Vol. 14 of the original release, not even the bunkoban!). I should be glad that they're even re-releasing it! And to be honest, 3 volumes in 1 is a pretty good deal for $17.99, plus a selection of full-color images in the back.

Viz did a somewhat sucky job with "Yu-Gi-Oh!" too, but I still bought all 36 volumes because I wanted to read the story in English, not struggle with my Japanese. I only buy Japanese titles when the English equivalent (if there IS one at all) sucks SO HORRIBLY it makes me cringe. Think anything from Tokyopop (er, Mixx)'s old days. I hated their Peach Girl. I hated their Sailor Moon. I want Del Rey to pick them up (their Japanese versions were originally published by Kodansha, Del Ray's parent company, anyway) and revise them!

The only thing I can think of to do where I still get my manga and I feel like my voice will be heard is... write. So I'm writing. Maybe if enough people write and complain, their editorial staff will start to get some higher standards. I really don't think changing "Woah" to "Whoa" takes all that long, no matter what typesetting program you use. Okay, so a revision of the first VIZBIG FY might not ever come out, but if the second volume is better? I'll be happy and MUCH more willing to part with my $17.99 plus tax.

SIDE NOTE: Anyone here use Google Reader? I was using Sage, then Sage Too, then Simple RSS, then Wizz RSS-- all extensions for Firefox. I don't know whether it's something about Firefox 3.0.5 or those extensions or what, but THEY ALL SUCK. Some don't accept cookies (which means I can't read friends-locked entries), and some kept on changing my RSS feed URL and I'd have to go back to the howto entry to copy-paste it in again. I've been using it lately and it looks okay, but I'm not sure if it accepts cookies, and that's kind of a MUST for me. So far, Wizz RSS was the only one that did, but I'm frankly sick of it changing my RSS URL all the time. It's probably related to the weird bookmarks issue Firefox is having, which I have determined has nothing to do with the Del.icio.us extension. So... grr. Any tips for BEST FREE RSS READERS, web-based or otherwise, would be greatly appreciated.

 Kaze no Uta by Chika Sakamoto from Fushigi Yuugi - Character's Vocal Memories (Rating: 0)

As some of you may or may not know, I'm a huge Firefox advocate. Even before I switched to the Mac, Firefox was my browser of choice, dating all the way back to version 1. I'm so happy with it, I've never looked back. It has a ton of features that make it a breeze to use, and it's not difficult to transition from your previous browser.

For starters, it's:
* More secure
* More customizable/personalizable
* More stable (rarely crashes, and when it does, you can find out WHY by asking to be emailed about updates regarding the crash)
* Gets updated more regularly (like, every month or so! You can read the changelogs to figure out just what the team is doing to help you have a better browser experience!)
* Easy to use
* Intuitive-- learns from your browsing habits (without sending that info anywhere)
* Allows you to open up multiple "home pages" in multiple tabs (!!!)

I could go on. So Get Firefox already! And then after that, grab some cool add-ons to make your browsing experience that much more fun/safe/interesting/colorful/whatever.

Here's a list of all the add-ons I use. Keep in mind that some of these are only compatible with the latest version of Firefox, or some are compatible with older versions and haven't been updated yet. Also, some might make more sense (or only be compatible) with a Mac instead of a PC. When you go to the site, check and see what it says before downloading it.

( The list )

I hope that was helpful! Let me know if you've found any of these add-ons helpful, if you have tips/tricks for any of them, or if you have others to recommend!

 Listen To Your Heart (Hardstyle Mix) by DHT from Listen To Your Heart Vinyl (Rating: 0)

Okay, so I'm leaving SD in a little bit, but I've managed to somewhat catch up on my LJ FL (I'm about 400 entries back at the moment), and I've gotten a bunch of LJ-related Greasemonkey scripts which are doing some pretty cool and interesting things! I even got a few new extensions, like Auto Copy (handy for all the memes I do), and a script for GM that allows me to see additional user info besides the LJ default hover box.

I had a bit of a stomachache earlier, but the graduation party was pretty fun. I talked to this one couple for a long time about San Francisco and journalism (since Erin's moving up there tomorrow, and I'm going up to visit tomorrow... hey everyone, should I plan a bonfire?)

The food was delicious, even if my stomach is still doing some flips. There was a great chicken pasta salad with beets, celery, cashews, and cinnamon, and some to-die-for macaroons dipped in chocolate and shortbread sandies. Tasty!

Your Scent is Pumpkin Pie

Warm, comforting, and a bit old fashioned You've got what men want - believe it or not!

Speaking of memes, I mentioned to heartless_vaz that I might try to do my own version of the "What Gemstone are you?" including more stones than the usual quizzes-- and there are a lot of those on the web. Alas, they seem a bit superficial, like someone only checked one small site for the meanings or general associations of gemstones. I've always been kind of curious why I've gotten so attached to Azurite, and why I feel it suits me so much, so I wonder if I'll be "Azurite" according to my own quiz? I'll probably make it on Quizilla, so when I get around to it (assuming I don't forget or get too overwhelmed with other things in SF), you'll see that from me soon. :)

I wish more people had taken my quiz about women/sex, though! I wanted more guys to expand the results a bit... if it sounds like something you want to take, let me know and I'll link you, or you can look back in my post history about 2 weeks and find it.

You Are 80% Ready for Marriage

You are almost ready for marriage, and you could be ready to be engaged. You're still figuring out the details of your ideal relationship!

I was in the middle of downloading a huge (600+ MB) file with Down Them All! (the extension for Firefox which lets you resume downloads), and by clicking on the Windows/DTA submenu, it looked almost done to me, and then it reset to 0% again! It restarted and is now back up to 12%, but I don't know why it did that in the first place, and it's pissing me off! Why is it every time I want to download a big file, Firefox either crashes or DTA! is acting weird!?

Okay, eFiction 3.0 stable is now out. I've been testing it on "Epiphany" (fresh install), and everything's fine, so I decided the stable release was good news to upgrade Dragonfayth. But alas, there's some sort of error in the upgrade script. I got as far as Step 18 before it died on me, and I just posted to the support forums a few minutes ago. However, everything has been backed up, so no one's stories, etc. have been lost. And I still have all the old 2.0.7 files, so if I need to go back in re-install that, I can (although I would need to recreate all the tables using an SQL dump, which is no fun).

So for those of you that read my LJ, please be aware of this down-time for Dragonfayth until I get the issue resolved... I will also post to azurite_updates so people are aware.
*sigh*

Oh, and I've been plotbunnied by a Nana fic idea, even though I've only seen the first movie, seen up to episode 29 of the anime (but more isn't out yet, afaik), and read the first two or three volumes of the manga plus some random chapters (58 and 59) on the side. Plus it's not even over yet, so who knows how it will end!? But I want to write the bunny anyway. :( Damn you Nana, for running off with my muse!