More updates from the land of Toshiba 5205-S505 (aka T24-S505). One of these days I'll have to a proper review of my new laptop, but for now we'll stick to the running commentary. Out of the box there were problems (and I wasn't referring to my rant on the keyboard layout). For some reason, the touchpad Welcome popup kept popping up on startup, despite multiple checks of the Do Not Show THis Again checkbox. A quick driver update, and problem solved ... and started. For it turns out, Microsoft IntelliPoint 4.1 does not like to play with other input drivers. It insists on erasing others when installing itself. And I actually like my IntelliMouse Explorer Optical, and I hate the touchpad (but disable the touchpad on a laptop? Are you crazy?). The solution is simple enough, install Synaptics touchpad driver after IntelliPoint. The second issue is that the resolution sucks except for the highest setting. My eyes are not getting better, and I need to squint too much on the highest setting (although I was loving the screen real estate it offerred). After disabling ClearType, 1048 X 780 (I think) became very tolerable. And then came the installation of software. Adaware Mozilla Open Office Spybot Search and Destroy Trillian Zone Alarm ActivePerl Music Match AIM Power Archiver JRE 1.4.1 KazaaLite Flash Quicktime I'm happy to say that most installations went well, even the plugins for Mozilla and IE (last time, I had to do each one seperately). But it didn't help that ZoneAlarm kept chirping with warnings every time I installed something new. I just have to update my onboard virus software, certify my machine is clean, and then switch over to VirusScan. So far, system hasn't noticeably slowed, although startup is a bit slower now. No conflicts to report of, as of yet. Acrobat reader 6 wasn't installed as everytime I tried to download it at work, the virus program gave alarm bells. What's up with that? And now the hard part. Cleaning up all the icons. And no, I do not want AOL thank you very much. . . . . . . . . . . So my ceiling is leaking. In the kitchen, no less. Supposedly the leak is from the 3rd floor, and it's been since stopped. I just have to wait for the water to fully drain. Onto my dishrack. And my dishes. And my food. Grrrrr.......... It was time to act. To try and limit the damage. To clear out all the ruined boxes on the top shelf (the leak is inside my cabinets above my sink, and I have 14 or 16 or 20 ft. ceilings, and the cabinets go all the way to the top.). To need a stepladder. And to get a few buckets (or a big tofu container) underneath the drip drip. 4 hours later, it's 2AM, and I've finally managed to clean up, mop up, and throw out all the crap. I still have to get a giant bottle of alcohol and decontaminate (I have to act fast, Dad will use bleach if I give him the chance). . . . . . . . . . Still no luck in trying to get any more info on that Lipton Tea commercial I mentioned a while back. The ad in question was apparently rushed into production to fill a void left when the Dixi Chicks spots were pulled, due to their little comments. J. Walter Thompson Co, the same agency that has been doing the Lipton account for some time now, is the creator of the spots. The ad seems to have stopped, as I haven't seen it anywhere. But the hot lady must be around. I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere. I hope. Maybe she'll be the next Bell Tire girl!