To whomever may read this, hello, and Merry Christmas. It is 5 a.m. in the morning, and I am fumbling for words, trying to write my first post. Basically, I just wanted to say hello, and say a few words about how I feel about this new community I found when I discovered Stardock. I've only had a PC for two years. For the first year and a half, I spent endless hours online, but never really seemed to be doing much with my time, if you know what I mean. Nothing really grabbed my attention or held my interest. I do my gaming on a PS2, not the PC, and I didn't have a focus for my computing time. All that changed when I discovered Cursor XP.
Back in April, I was trying to use Spybot for the first time, wasn't paying attention, and wiped out Hotbar and Comet Cursor. I was bummed at first, especially when I couldn't re-install Comet [ I messed it up pretty good ]. Then I ran across Cursor XP. I loved it, and that made me go to the Stardock site more often. Next thing I knew, I had installed the free version of WB. Before long, I had Object Desktop, then a subscription to Wincustomize, and, as they say, the rest is history. I have nearly every Stardock program installed, and use most of them on a daily basis.
My PC used to have a history of not wanting to boot up. Every time I would install a new program, I could count on it not wanting to start for awhile. I don't have that problem anymore since I started using smart startup, and even when one of the beta programs gives my PC the hiccups, it recovers nicely. I have gotten so used to the beauty of all these programs, that I couldn't even imagine using a personal PC without them. It would be unbearably boring.
My goal for that future I mentioned is to become a a skinner, and learn how to create objects for Desktop X. I just bought PSP8, I have SkinStudio Professional, and Icon Developer, and AniUtil, and Pixie, and a few other aids. All I have to do now is learn how to use them all to create my own beauty for others. I'm used to airbrushing on shirts and canvas, a computer screen is foreign territory, and the sheer volume of what I need to learn is daunting, but I am about to dive in.
It has been a lousy year personally for me. Two relatives and a nextdoor neighbor died earlier this year, a few months apart in each case. My best friend of 10 years, a woman that I loved deeply, moved to Arizona two months ago, and I don't know that I will ever see her again. The car I had broke down for the third and final time about 3 months ago. I got a loan and bought a sweet used car. It was the first decent car I had in twenty years, and it was stolen out of my driveway a month ago, with every tool I owned in the trunk. Best part is, the insurance is only paying off part of the loan, so next week I have to pay off $300 on a car I don't even have, and it is money I was going to use on the grandkids for Christmas. It's been very hard not to go deeply into the "poor me" syndrome. I have to remember that so many more people are suffering real tragedies in their lives, that mine are [mostly] inconveniences that I will get by eventually.
I am beginning to ramble, so I will cut this short. Now that I have broken the ice, I will post more often. I noticed the category for politics, and I may say a few words some time, but not now. Hopefully before too long, I will actually have a creation I can share with other people in the community. Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a safe New Year. Talk to you soon,
The Highlander