I looked it up and I found out that the 10.1 DVD Player doesn't support external monitors on the PowerBook, which is why it's not working with my computer. That's kind of annoying. Even though it works with Mac OS X, I have to reboot into single-monitor mode, which defeats the purpose. Really, I don't like to reboot or reconfigure just to run one or two programs. I like having one environment in which everything works, more or less.

I noticed that with Mac OS X 10.1, AppleShare file copies are much faster. Before it was about 80 MB an hour. Now it's more like 600 MB an hour, a huge difference. The Dock is still a problem, since I can't keep it on one monitor left or right. But with TinkerTool I can pin it at the top, which does stay on the primary monitor. The only problem is that it grows towards the center of the screen, which blocks the upper right corner of some windows. But most windows don't have any controls there anyways. The last thing I want to note is that SMB support works fine for me. I can mount Windows shares and work with them and I don't need DAVE, which is good since I was using the Beta and can't really justify buying a new copy (I gave away my old copy)...

So Dave Woo was laid off on Monday. A sad event since he's been working for his group for a few years and he was pretty loyal to it. Didn't leave for a higher-paying job and all. And that's how Sun pays him back, damn those hardware companies! Anyways, we went to Players Club to have some beer and eat and watch the Lakers game. It was Woo, his friend Damon, Sweet and I. We got a lot of food and ate most of it, though it helped that Woo didn't eat his meal, just the appetizers, and had it boxed up for him.

Later on we played pool (at $11 an hour, cough cough). Semi-random partners. I won eight out of ten games with my partners. Unfortunately, Damon lost all ten of his games. You do the math. He's not that bad a player, but he had the bad habit of scratching when trying to down the eight ball (did it four times). I think I actually played above the suck level, even sinking three balls in a row once. It was a fun time, though we did spend $160 between the four of us.

After Players closed we went back to Oracle and talked about Sweet's holy quest -- his post-apocalyptic film. At least he's impassioned about it, after a lot of teasing from Woo and I. It does look like he'll have to be the driving force behind it, which is what I wanted. The rest of us are not going to feel as impassioned about this project as he is. And frankly, the story sounds unoriginal and rather depressing -- definitely not a film that I'd watch. I'm sure it won't be that bad. But I did write that the only part of the project where we have the skills to do a good job is the story, plot and script...

For the second straight game in a row, Arizona's closer gives up a bottom of the ninth two out two run homer to let New York tie the game. Let's just hope that Arizona can still pull it out and beat the Yankees. The Yankees have been so outplayed throughout the series and yet with a win tonight they'll be up three games to two. Sports are a funny thing sometimes. The Diamond Backs will probably go with Randy Johnson in Game 6 and Curt Schilling again in Game 7. Schilling is going to be way tired by then...

In September I donated $120 to the Red Cross' Disaster Relief Fund. Yesterday I donated $120 to ConsimWorld. Not what most people would call a normal sort of charity. It's a web site devoted to wargame news, with a great discussion forum. Not every donation has to be to a "save the whales" cause. There are plenty of little groups that do useful things that need donations too. I've donated to TidBits a couple of times. PBS stations are classic examples. They don't save the world, but they're still useful and they need the money.

It's true that I'm probably blowing my budget again. Well, only a little. I should be able to keep my credit card bill to under $1000 again this month. It's just that I really need to have every other month be under $750 so that I can pay my car insurance, and last month was also just under $1000. Oh well, I guess that's what my bonus will be for. Meanwhile I've already spent $300 cash in one month, three times more than I budgeted. To be fair, $100 for Woo's consolation party is not an expense that you'll likely see again. But it does point out that I'm not keeping to my budget after only a month.