Happy valis is happy

For several months my computer has been running sluggishly, and the fan seemed noticeably louder. I run Avast! and A-squared and I do regular checks of my system, so this has been nagging at me, but I've never really investigated.
Until today, when I realized that a process called Maxblahblahblah is using 95 to 98% of the CPU.

WTF?!

I immediately found that this process is related to my Maxtor external hard drive. After many searches in forums I came across a tiny mention of a bug. If you do not schedule a day for an automatic backup, it goes into an infinite loop, checking over and over again. So I scheduled a day and then turned it off.

I'm thrilled to report that I'm down to 5-10% CPU usage. Thank goodness!

ETA: Nope. Never mind. Will have to completely remove the crap Maxtor software and get something else. As someone in the forums mentioned, it's only shunted the usage to the SystemIdle processes, and it's still acting like a hog. Grrr. Acronis has been suggested as a memory manager, so that's what I'll get.

Weighty matters

I've noticed two different remarks about weight today:

1) I was watching No Reservations, and Anthony Bourdain was wandering around France and said he was cold, and he needed some hot chocolate and two fat chicks.

I am more than a bit hormonal at the moment, and found myself shouting obscenities at the screen. Before you get the wrong idea, I really do enjoy Tony's shows and books, and I find him to be incredibly witty, smart, and totally fascinating, though I find him a bit too heavy on the male-bonding crap. Still, I was pissed at the remark.

2) Just now I've read a line in lindahoyland's Shadow and Thought, where Arwen mentions that she's pregnant:

Arwen laughed. “It surprised me that you did not notice before, not to mention that I am gaining weight!”

“I thought only that your beauty was increasing with each day!” Aragorn replied.

Which provoked an awwwwww reaction in me, of course.

Of course, the danger in this entry is that I've tremendously oversimplified both events, but still.

Oh, the birthdays don't stop...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ellid!!

Happy Birthday to an interesting LJer! I love reading your stories--you have a way of getting into the characters' heads that is quite fascinating. It was a blast hanging out with you at Lumos. I'm so happy to have met you and read your fics. *hugs* I hope your day is great!