Note to Calanda

[dianeduane]

Ah, gently aging XP machine that lives upstairs... Today I thought I would relieve you of a little of your burden by finally getting my old iTunes installation moved into the newer desktop machine downstairs via home sharing.

So I spent an hour and a half, or it might have been two hours, downloading iTunes 10 on our dodgy too-rural wireless broadband and had just barely got it running on you  when suddenly you began complaining that you needed chkdsk run on the F drive because something was corrupted.

Then you refused to boot and explained to me that I was going to have to run Windows Repair from the original CD to fix the corrupted config file. And no sooner had I begun doing so than then you explained sweetly to me that you couldn't see any hard drives to fix. (This being because they're plugged into their own controller, for which the CD perhaps understandably doesn't have a driver.)

Now you're crouching by the TV going BWAHAHAHA at me inside your little nearly-invisible computer thought balloon. Laugh while you can, you naughty creature. Tomorrow morning I yank your guts out by handfuls and remind you who built you in the first place. I will fix your drives, and in the process I will fix your wagon, and I shall have my iTunes in your despite. So BWA-de-ha-HA to you too.

(Note to self for the future: do *not* name any more computers after demon-haunted mountains even if the name is also that of a very good Swiss beer brewed nearby.)

Comments

[triad-serpent.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you have the same sort of luck with computers that I do... ^..^

[dragondances.livejournal.com]

I name my electronics/computers after mythology, but I've really been debating about "Medea" for my next one. She's an awesome character, but I also don't want my computer to go all homicidal and vengeful on me if it decides I wronged it. :P

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

yyyyyeah, that's one of those names to stay away from. Like Icarus or Pandora.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Or HAL.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

"Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex. I could pinch them." -- Marvin the Martian

[pauamma]

So from now on, it's demon-haunted deep sea trenches?

[deire.livejournal.com]

I...have no talking room. I named my laptop "Galactica" because the start screen made me feel as if I could here the theme music. And then I had it pointed out to me that Galactica was the oldest, least technologically advanced, least well networked, most likely to break ship in the fleet, on the edge of being decommissioned. Possibly I did not make that decision with great clarity of thought.

[deire.livejournal.com]

Er, hear.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Names of inanimate objects seems to shape them, and not always in a good way. My housemate's computer is named Richard after a character in her own writing. Unluckily, the computer ended up the way Richard ends up in the story--old and easily confused.

Name themes never seem to work well. Over the years, I've known people who have named their computers:

Lore (basically declared war on the entire universe, including the owner's own files)

Vader (alternated between being sluggish and sullen and attacking various programs)

Harry Potter (one particular program and the computer did NOT get along)

Nanny Ogg (became a magnet for porn spam)

TARDIS (constantly needing to be rebuilt practically from scratch)

HAL (had the most creepily appropriate playlist in the universe and had a knack for not shutting down)

John Adams (kept breaking down in ways that made it obnoxious and disliked)

[triad-serpent.livejournal.com]

Izzy (after the character in Digimon) ran great, but was obnoxious and easily distracted when multiple tabs were open.

I'm still waiting for Spot to whisk me away to Mars... ;)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I don't name inanimate objects, after I got too upset when my first car was written off (not that non-naming helps much: as an animist I do anthropomorphise them anyway). With computers they have to have a name for the internal network, but being called 'server' and 'server64' and 'backup' and 'amdwin32a' doesn't really inspire them to do anything much more than they are already.

I'm aware that this may be limiting their aspirations, much like calling children 'Boy' and 'Girl' wouldn't inspire them, but on the other hand if they really want inspiration they care connected to the net which is an advantage I didn't have when I was growing up.

(My sister threatens her computer with -- me. "If you don't behave I'll get my brother to fix you!" Never mind that I'm across the other side of the UK...)

[sethrak.livejournal.com]

Our current-yet-defunct desktop's named Nidhogg. (Husband and I are big fans of an anime series that borrows heavily from Norse mythology, although I suspect some of the things the author's done to the source material make about as much sense to people actually knowledgeable about the subject as anime series which depict married nuns make to me. ((Yes I know they're conflating Christian nuns with miko. Still. ::amused twitch::)) )

She lived hale and heartily for several years, but recently decided to stop booting up. At ALL. Long distance calls to our tech savvy best friend and several months stuck at Geek Squad have produced nothing. ::sigh:: So I'm using a geriatric laptop that barely works, and Husband has the functional laptop while he's on a short deployment.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

Sounds like we think alike. My home network's named Yggdrasil, and it goes downhill from there...

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

I read your header as "Note to Canada" at first. It was very confusing.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Oh dear... this made me laugh. :-D I hope you win, though!

My electronic gadgetry all gets named after Tolkien characters, and not just the computers. My digital camera is Glorfindel (it has a fairly impressive optical zoom; keen are the eyes of the Elves, and all that), and my phone is Fëanor. It pretty much does everything.

[flexor.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yes. You're thinking of replacing it, are you? They know. The sudden appearance of a new shiny box on the home net always worries them, especially if you then ask them to copy lots of data onto them. And when they get worried, they want you to worry as well.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

My computer's named Tiamat, [it's a three core, three Gig of Ram and 3 hard-drive machine].

Aside from the occasional temper tantrum and eating her own OS [but I have a back-up system, she's triple boot.] Tiamat hasn't behaved much like her namesake.

But I see where you're coming from, after all I built her myself... it's nice knowing you have complete control. Unlike off-the-shelf systems.