Seth Kinast’s Blog

IdioPoll 1.1 Beta 1, coming soon.

BillingClock 1.3 Final, coming soon.

Whenever I go on computer jobs, I take a CD with a bunch of free tools on it to help me through most common problems:
Counterexploitation
Ad-Aware
LSPFix
HijackThis

Utilities
ETrust Antivirus
Windows Security Update CD (October)
WinZip
ZoneAlarm

Evangelism :p
Mozilla Firefox 0.9.2
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7.2
AutoPatcher

And then some miscellaneous stuff, like SmartFTP and WinAmp, just in case. Any of you that fix your friends’ computers… what do you take along for the ride?

I got back from the Junior High II session of Maranatha Bible Camp Friday, but I’ve been too busy (and blitzed) to write anything until now. Junior Highers are lots of fun… until they wake up at 6:00 in the morning and run around the dorm. Why can’t they sleep like high schoolers? One of them woke me up at 5:30 the first day… asking for GUM! Needless to say, that didn’t happen again :p

We (sponsors) stayed up until past 1:00 almost every night. Sometimes we watched movies, but one night we filmed a “fashion show” with some of the guys. I didn’t have any nightmares from The Ring (which was actually really poor as scary movies go), but that show could have given me some pretty bad nightmares… especially the swimsuit lineup!

I took all my own computer stuff to camp, so I had quite a few boxes and bags; it was all worth it, though, to slowly build a towering pile of electronics on the back table. All the campers were awed at my gizmos and gadgets. One little guy, though, creeped me out. He had this EXTREMELY annoying nasally monotone voice that just made you want to scream. First conversation:

Little guy: (in nasal voice) Is this one of the new Dells? I know about the new Dell Dimension XPS. It has 5…
Me: No, it’s not, it’s custom-built. Bye.
Little guy: Oh, well what processors does it have in it? I’m sure that mine is better because I…
Me: I have work to do, bye.

and I went and hung out with the kitchen girls :p But boy was he annoying. Little did I know he’d be back.

Little guy: (in nasal voice) Can I get on the Internet?
Me: There’s no service out here, or believe me, I’d be on the Internet.
Little guy: (in triumphant voice) Then WHY do you have Mozilla Firefox on your desktop? I know what Mozilla Firefox is.
Me: Well… no, you don’t. It’s just a browser. I can’t use it to get an Internet connection out here.
Little guy: No, I know all about Mozilla Firefox. It’s a server for the Internet.
Me: Obviously you don’t unde… uh, I have work to do, bye.

Why was I getting in an argument with a twelve-year-old? Blah. So then the kid never left me alone. I would turn around and there he would be. It got to where he would no longer obey my orders to get out of the tech booth.

Little guy: (in nasal voice, to himself, but loud enough so I could hear) Maybe I’ll just hack into your computer. After all, I know your e-mail address… seth at seth kin-ast (pronounced wrong :@) dot com. I’ll just get on the Internet and use it to get into your computer. Since once I have your e-mail address, you’re an open book…

And on and on. What a dork. Although I would be afraid he would sign me up to every mailing list in the galaxy… I’m still waiting on that one :S So I couldn’t smack him one, but I couldn’t just ignore him either, because he wouldn’t leave. But then Rebecca, bless her heart, came to my rescue (she was one of the kitchen girls; kitchen girls are a sponsor’s best friend… but more on that later.). She appointed him assistant to somebody-or-another to do something-or-another and sent him off happily on his way. I owe you big, Beccers.

This is truly amazing. http://www.windowsmobiletraining.com/ offers a free copy of Windows XP Pro, and other goodies as well. You just have to complete their “training” course. It’s 100% legit, and my copy is on its way

(If you’d rather have a keyboard / mouse combo or Office XP, you can! Just choose the appropriate option!)

Neowin has more info.

I got my Bluetooth headset and USB adapters from Fowen today. Bluetooth is so cool! Its range is much better than the RF that my Logitech Cordless keyboard and mouse have. And I can get my e-mail anywhere I have service! Albeit at 9.6 kbps, but I don’t want to pay $20 / month for unlimited T-Mobile high-speed, as good of a deal as that is. So cool.