Ignore my announcement (see last entry) earlier this morning. I've been told that my job is safe, which is good news I'm sure you'll agree! I was seriously considering my options earlier this morning, and so many thoughts were whirling through my mind I couldn't even think about work. Thankfully, it was just a misunderstanding.
Looks like I won't have a job by July. Things are afoot here, and since I'm not a permanent member of staff yet (still a temp), I really don't have a leg to stand on. Of course, they say they'll try their best to find something for me and all the other temps, but I'm not hopeful. Oh well. My CV can be downloaded here.
Villa finished the season last weekend with a 2-1 defeat at Liverpool, but at least there are encouraging signs for next season - two new players (Hughes and Berger) have signed already. Meanwhile, across the pond, D.C. United lost 1-0 to New England last weekend, but beat Kansas City 3-2 at home yesterday.
I finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown a week or so ago, and thought it was superb (especially the twist at the end) but not quite as good as The Da Vinci Code. I started reading Digital Fortress yesterday (also by Dan Brown) and became so engrossed in it that I've read it already! Highly recommended.
I didn't go ahead with formatting and reinstalling Windows over the weekend. I did solve my random crash problem by reinstalling Norton Internet Security - the crash that occurred after that was caused by something entirely different. I still might go ahead and format and reinstall this weekend, though - just to make sure.
I ordered a new PSU yesterday. In addition to being noisier than I'd like, I'm none too happy about my current PSU's ability to cope with my machines power needs (it sounds very strained when running intensive applications or games and it shouldn't be). The new one should arrive in time for installation over the weekend.
My random crash problem returned this week. I've given up trying to find what's causing the problem. So, tomorrow I'm going to format my hard disk, and do a clean install of Windows. I'm almost certain these random crashes aren't being caused by a hardware fault, so a clean install should cure the problem once and for all.
And that's not the only problem I'm having with my machine, either. My Zalman CPU cooler has now started making funny noises when it starts up! And if that wasn't bad enough, I still can't play any intensive games or applications unless I take the side of my machine's case off due to the temperatures getting too high. Argh!
A 5-1 thrashing away at Tottenham last weekend, and a 2-1 defeat at home yesterday, ended any hope Villa had of qualifying for Europe next season. Their final game of the season is at Liverpool next weekend. I might buy a season ticket for next season - but that depends on what happens during the summer.
Over the other side of the pond my favourite MLS team, D.C. United, drew 0-0 away in Kansas against the Wizards last weekend, and beat the Columbus Crew at home 3-1 yesterday evening. United face the streaking Revolution (who are a surprising 5-0-1 so far this season) in New England next weekend.
I'm currently reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I'm about half way in and I'm really enjoying it. Actually, that reminds me - I totally forgot to mention that I'd finished another of Dan's novels, The Da Vinci Code, a couple of weeks ago, and forgot to say how brilliant I thought it was - suspend your beliefs and give it a read.
Yes! I've finally nailed the cause of my random crash problem. It's being caused by symfw.sys (Symantec's Firewall Filter Driver) throwing an exception for some reason or another. I can't find anything on the web or on Symantec's site to resolve this, so I'll reinstall Norton Internet Security tonight and see if that solves it.
I'm still trying to track down the cause of my random crash problem. Typically, it hasn't occurred again since last time, which kind of makes it difficult to trap and eliminate. I never thought I'd ever find myself willing my machine to crash - it's the geek inside me, you know - it needs to know what is causing this problem!
Well, I thought I'd solved my random crash problem, but three days later during a game of Counter-Strike it happened again. I've spent most of the weekend trying to track down the cause, and I'm leaning more towards the possibility that it's not a driver problem, but a memory access violation being caused by Steam.
However, I can't remember if I had Steam active during any of the other crashes! Either way, it's bound to happen again, so I've made a couple of adjustments to the error reporting options in XP to see if I can trap a little more information when it does. I am determined to nail the little gremlin causing this annoying problem!