Buffy/Joss Whedon news

I was looking through a copy of the Buffy magazine at Hasting's yesterday and came across a few interesting bits of tid. First, Joss is going to start writing a Buffy comic for Darkhorse that will take place after the end of the series. Buffy is in Italy shacked up with The Immortal, and since Joss will be writing it, it will be cannon.

Also, Joss is floating a Spike movie around Hollywood. No takers at the moment, but apparently he's still optimistic.

And finally, he's also looking at two or three Firefly direct-to-DVDs.

I FINALLY got my computer fully backed up!

Staples has a sale on right now on DVD writable media, 50 DVD+Rs for $18. It took a lot of hours, but I finally got all my music, photos, user data, game designs burned on to DVD and locked into a fire-proof lock box. So, theoretically, in the event of my utter loss of my computer, I can pick up a new box with XP Pro already installed and just start copying data down.

One thing that lets me recover quickly is that one DVD contains ZIP files that have all of Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc. So once the data is copied to the HD, I expand some archives, run some setup programs, and I'm back in business. Oh, I also have a text file that has the software registration key, so that is also covered.

And the DVDs are just copies of files, not in some backup format, so I don't have to worry about re-installing the backup software first.

So I'm happy. And since everything is now backed up and I've reset all the archive bits, I can do backups to single DVD+R/Ws and have a nice rolling set of backups. I'll probably do a full set of backups every six months and partials every month or two. I used to be pretty fanatical about backups but I've been really slack the last few years, I've also been insanely lucky that I haven't had a drive crash. Definitely must do a better job of keeping on top of this.


I would love to get a dual-layer DVD writer. The single-layer writer will record approx. 4.7gig on a single disc, the dual-layer will record 8.5gig. The drives aren't expensive, around $60+/-, but the media is still very costly, I saw a pack of three write-once discs for $15. Theoretically they'll be coming down in price, but I think the market is going to be a little weird in this segment with Blueray and HD-DVD looming in the future.

Backup Addendum

I forgot to mention a tool that I used in the backup of my computer. Microsoft has a free tool called SyncToy, it requires Windows XP and performs directory synchronization in a number of ways. This worked really well for me to synchronize files between my laptop and desktop computers, I've been doing a huge amount of work on my laptop in Quicken and game development and adding digital photos, this ensures that they're properly copied to my desktop.

You need to be very careful with SyncToy, I learned the hard way when I tried to sync my data drive between the two systems and I'd selected the method of making them identical. I didn't have enough space on my laptop drive and the program ultimately bombed. So be careful of the method of synchronization, which side which computer is on (you specify one computer as 'left' and the other as 'right', for some syncs I have my desktop as left and sometimes as right), and which directories are included.

Medical Update of Friends

Well, I guess cardigirl headed off to Thailand since no word has been heard since her post last night. I hope she gets in and gets taken care of properly.


And the news from my Ex-Buffalo friends is not good. First-off, the initial information that I posted was premature at that point. There was no cancer diagnosis, all that was known was a lump on her breast and a possible lump on an armpit lymph node. No diagnositic procedures had been done at that point. Her husband has been posting updates and clarifications anonymously under that post, but I doubt they've been seen by anyone but me.

Unfortunately, they have now had diagnostic procedures performed and the diagnosis is cancer. And in a very sucky way to start a weekend, they have absolutely no specific information as to the type. Obviously more diagnostics will have to be performed to find out spread, etc.

My wife tells me that breast cancer at that age is very aggressive but also responds well to treatment, so here's hoping for the best. She did a tremendous amount of research on cancer when her mother had it and then a year ago when her father was diagnosed with it.

Well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers are welcome. Send 'em to Austin, Texas.