Reinstalling Windows XP

The other day I decided to rebuild my computer. Rebuilding means wiping the drive and reinstalling everything from scratch. It's been three years since I've done this and thought it time to purge the machine of unused programs that were just taking up space.

It's usually a straight forward task: You backup your data, delete the drive contents, reinstall, and apply the latest patches. Easy, right? Admittedly I didn't do the full backup that I should have. I have two drives in the system and my work was to be limited to the drive that contains the applications and not the drive with the data. During the installation I got mixed up with the drive letters and deleted my data partition. Oops! That had me worried for a few hours until I restored the contents with this little application called TestDisk.

The installation of Windows went smoothly until I went to install the latest patches. Microsoft has an online tool for downloading and installing these patches, but unfortunately it requires you to be online. On three occassions my machine got infected by a worm or virus that exploited one of the security holes that these patches were trying to fix. I finally had a break and got the OS and patches installed with only a single and curable infection. In the future I would only attempt to do this again with a router that has a firewall.

The machine is finally working and is noticeably faster without the little drivers and applications that I had on my previous installation. I hope it stays this way.

Updated Bike Map

The amazing people at Google have updated their Google Maps API to let people like me create cool and interactive maps. I updated the Switzerland to Sweden Google Bike Map with the new API. The map now has the route, the places where I overnighted, and higher detail. Check it out!

Great Videos

I don't like music videos nor understand how people can watch MTV or MuchMusic. It's dead to me. But sometimes an original video comes along that I enjoy. A good example is Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake. Now that's fun. Recently a friend forwarded to me this low budget video from 'OK Go' called Here It Goes Again. Check it out.

Going Home!

I'm overdue for a trip home and so last week I booked a flight to Canada. I'll be staying in Toronto for a few days before continuing to Sudbury. In Toronto I hope to see a Leafs game, hang out with friends at the Madison Avenue Pub, and do some shopping at MEC. In Sudbury will be a reunion with the immediate family. We were all together last in 2000 and this time a new member of the family -my niece from South Africa- will be joining us. The vacation will coincide with Thanksgiving and the lovely autumn colours. I'm becoming nostalgic just thinking about it.

Good Coffee

I love good coffee and so recently I bought the Turmix TX100 Nespresso coffee machine. I got it in yellow for that cool retro look. My first Nespresso coffee was during a customer visit a few years ago and I couldn't believe how good it was. The system uses disposable coffee capsules where one capsule makes a single espresso. There are a variety of capsules in different strengths and flavours, and they're colour-coded to make them easily distinguishable. It's fast, clean, tastes great, and is always fresh.

Switzerland has completely changed my taste in coffee. I can't drink those sugary dessert coffees anymore, which I used to enjoy at Second Cup and Starbucks. Even the legendary Canadian "Timmies" coffee or any filtered coffee doesn't cut it anymore. My first choice is always now a black espresso or cappuccino. It's that strong hit that I so enjoy.

My Legs Hurt

On Sunday a friend, his dog, and I hiked the 2805m Calanda mountain in Graubunden, Switzerland (photos | google earth). This is the highest I've ever hiked and the scenery around us reminded me of what you'd see from an airplane. It was spectacular! As expected, the hike down was painful and I'm still feeling it in my legs 32 hours later. In an odd way I'm enjoying it.