Royal Class = Ebil!

So. Eduard has really become a name in the model kit industry. They're making very good kits, especially World War I aircraft though they've had several WWII aircraft come out, with interesting markings, accurate and generally easy assembly.

They have their standard kit, with some of the photoetch that made their name. They have the weekend editions, with no PE (and a lower price.) They have the twin packs, with photoetch and two kits (obviously.) Then they have their Royal Class kits - with lots of goodies, resin, extras, and a ton of markings... and two kits.

Those royal class kits are evil.

I have both that they've released, the BF-110 (with a wide variety of markings and several versions,) and the F6F Hellcat.

The 110 was bad enough - I'm considering purchasing another standalone kit to use one set of markings. THe Hellcat? Covering both -3 and -5 versions, night fighters, drones, even some foreign markings. After much deliberation, I'm planning (once I have room/time/etc) to make the F6F-3n night fighter and... well, I don't know, probably the French version. (Simple overall blue scheme.) And then... buy some more kits, since I want the two drones as well as the cannon armed -5n.

I'm going to have a regular stack.

Then again, I do buy and build for interesting aircraft and interesting schemes - it's why I've built (and will continue to build) so many Hobbycraft P-36 Hawks. I could fill a few shelves and not have two look alike.

Still - you *know* they had that in mind when they put out the royal class kits. Continued income for them. And when one's on my favourite aircraft list, well....

Norton - still too invasive

So. Recently finished up the new system, the one that, if my old one (currently my TV) is any indication, should hold me for the next 4 years or so with upgrades. (First Intel system since the Pentium 90, first ATI card since the Radeon 7000.)

My ISP (Comcast) used to give Mcafee away free. And I generally like Mcafee as a suite - it stays out of the way, gets its job done and that's that. Recently, however, they switched to Norton. Well, free is free...

Now, I haven't liked Norton in a long time. If there was a networking problem, I used to ask if they put Norton on their system (and often the answer was yes.) Something odd, a program not running or the like? Norton. But, it's been a few years, and I'd heard the current version was pretty good - so what the heck.

Nope. Not doing that again. As an AV, it works. As a firewall, it works - too well. I wish it would stop there, though. Instead, it runs the gamut from the minor irritation (do I REALLY need a desktop widget that says "Protected" in a neon green square? That's what the notification area icons are for, guys,) to the "I'm still going to ignore what you say" (Site scans, advisors, etc. that you *just can't turn off* in Firefox - well, you CAN turn them off, but they turn themselves back on again - no, really, I know what I'm doing, I don't need Norton to second guess me) to the most recent - screwing with the OS.

I like Windows 7. Have since the beta. Pre-RC, I ran it, and would have bought it *then.* It's only gotten better. One of the nice things (admittedly a carryover from Vista, aka "The paid for Win7 beta,") is the nice, instant search from the start menu. Type in a document, program name, part of one - and stuff comes up.

Well, it does unless you install Norton, apparently. At which point typing in "Notepad" or "Openoffice" (for instance) gives a generic icon called "Program." Or maybe that and one called "Document." Clicking on this generic icon gives an error about... your security program not allowing access.

Ripped out norton, had to do a registry tweak to get functionality back. Stuff like this makes for a personal boycott (including badmouthing your product,) Symantec. It's why I completely ignored ATI, even when they were doing well with the All-in-Wonder cards (bad support experience with that Radeon 7000 - the only thing that made me give them another try was AMD buying them out) and... well, prior Norton experience.

Now to see if I can find another copy of Mcafee....

Banks, computers, and weekends

It is stupid for bank computers to care about what day it is.

I'm watching, right now, to see if a payment went through. Now, it was done by check, so I expect it to take some time (it's been about two weeks, though.) Still, since then (and with my latest paycheck,) I've made other purchases, bill payments and the like.

None of them, save two (grocery shopping and a stop for lunch afterward) show up at all. These, of course, were done friday.

Now, part of the whole "electronic payment" spiel is that it's faster, reliable, etc, etc, etc. Yet, because it's the *weekend,* and in fact Columbus Day tomorrow (well, today, I suppose,) I won't see any of this until Tuesday at the earliest.

Do computers need a day off? No. Do they have religion? No. Do they care about holy days, holidays, time with the family, heading out to have a beer with the mainframe and checking out that cute laptop that just came into the office? No. So why do I have to wait for all this *basic information* to show up? Why, when no human is needed for the process (save me, to make the purchase or payment,) do we have to *wait* and be completely without information?

Maybe it's my bank. There are all of four offices - I wouldn't even call it "regional," since you'd assume you'd be able to find it at least throughout central Florida. Maybe a larger bank - anything from Suntrust to BoA or Chase - actually does this. I'm very tempted to ask. I *live* on information. What would happen if I'd lost my card (and, working at home, I don't actually LOOK for it that often.) Would they have free rein with it until Tuesday - no, probably Wednesday, with the extra day of "processing?"

Hey, bank guys. 21st century. Computers. Instant access to information. I want to make sure I didn't miss a payment somewhere, that what I've verified elsewhere is actually *going through.* Just freaking do it!

/rant off.

Woot!

OK, so it's the little things that cheer me up.

The other day, I got my new work schedule - since I'm in a new group, we re-bid shifts, and I got one I'm not *thrilled* with thanks to my lack of seniority. (But, hey, I work from home - not like (a) I can't talk with friends, and (b) I have a drive, right? So it's not all bad. Besides... rebid eventually.)

Well, on a whim, I went on eBay. There, with a nice big "Buy it now," was a kit I've been looking for for at least a decade - just waiting for me to buy it.

Namely, this:



"Big deal, it's an airplane, why look?" Or, for the slightly more discerning, "Others make better kits." Yeah, yeah - but my search for this has gone on for a while. See, I built (and have in my stash for a post-divorce rebuild once I get my own place, or at least a modeling "workshop,") the early release of this, the "A-18." When I built it, I noticed stuff on the mold - filled in gaps and a note of a "white" release.

The prototype.

I've wanted a prototype Hornet for a *long* time. And this - in the blue and gold - is the prototype edition. (Not the prototype of the kit, obviously, but a released model of the aircraft prototype - just to be specific.)

I'm a very happy camper.

Appreciating cleverness

I appreciate cleverness.

The only reason I mention this is cleaning otu my computer's case, getting some of the dusting out done. Getting into the nooks and crannies of my Antec Sonata II, I pulled off the drive blanks - and remembered one of the nice little bits about it. There, on the back of the blanks... the drive rails are stored.

I made another new system recently for work. Its rails? In a rack taking up a drive bay. Not even particularly securely. Convenient, somewhat, but clumsy...

More places need to take little touches like that into consideration.