I’ve been waiting ages for Scrivener to come out with a viable Windows product. I’m happy to say that my wait is now over. I’m plugging away on their latest version, 1.0.3, and it’s working flawlessly. It doesn’t yet have all of the features of the other computer company at version 2, but it’s coming along nicely.

I’ve plugged three projects into it, and plan on using it from now on. I find the software extremely useful for story planners such as myself. If you’re a pantser, perhaps not so much.

A trial version is available for 30 days of actual use. Like the ad copy says, if you use the trial for two days a week, it lasts 15 weeks. Try it and buy it, right away. I did. Once you get past the learning curve, you’ll not go back to Word. The price can’t be beat either.

Select ‘Enable’, save the download, and run it. Problem solved.

UPDATE 1: There is a current/updated version of the Weather Center Gadget available at a Russian site. The link is here, just down the page a bit.

UPDATE 2: Effective 2011.10.05, the Windows Live Gadgets site for Win7 has been terminated in order that developers can work on something or other for new operating systems. Good luck with that one. Here’s a page of gadgets that are still available.

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I like having a weather gadget on my desktop. When the simpleton Windows 7 weather gadget stopped showing me the little sunshine icon in the top left for the city in which I live, I was annoyed. I experimented with every city in the world and discovered that mine was the only one without the little sun shining brightly down upon me, even when the sun was actually shining brightly down upon me.

Obviously I searched for the solution to the problem. If you’re having the same problem, don’t bother searching. The morons that write about these things in blogs (for example, this one) and forums don’t have the foggiest notion why the OEM Windows 7 weather gadget has stopped shining down upon us all. Furthermore, they all have absolutely no idea how to get it working again!

But don’t despair, dear reader. I have the solution. It’s called Weather Center gadget. You can obtain the latest version here.

Don’t look on the official Windows Gadget page. It’s not there.

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To change the number of days that show up:

• click on the gadget and then use the scroll wheel to choose the number of days that are displayed.

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Note that this gadget is NOT a solution to the “Cannot connect to service” that sometimes appears on the Win7 weather gadget.

I have replaced this antique

(Phone-wise, at least.)

I avoided it for as long as I could, but it was eating batteries, and at 50 buck$ a pop, I just got fed up. It was good to me though, and traveled around North America well. The perfect traveling companion–no space in the luggage racks was required; no change of underwear necessary; no makeup needed. There was never any complaining.

I have moved on to someone something newer. Call me fickle if you wish, but admit it–you’re jealous.

with an HTC Desire HD

Voila!

Hot water. In an instant.

To get a full cup, I taped a tea bar-code over the bar-code on the cleaning disc. You must orient the new bar-code in the right direction, or the Tassimo won’t recognize the cleaning disc (which is now your hot water disc). Don’t forget to first put the tea-bag into the cup and let it infuse for the best tea. Any other way of making tea just isn’t.

After the process is complete, when the green light appears, I hold down the button for another seven seconds to get a full oversize cup. Your time might vary somewhat.

Should you want to ensure the piping hotness of your cup of tea, hit the cup with some hot water from the hot-water tap before putting it into the Tassimo brewer.

Noodles? Of course. You can heat heat noodles that way, too.

Bravo, Tassimo! I can now drink tea made from a tea-bag, any variety I desire. Not to be fortgotten: Already-formulated

• latté;
• cappuccino;
• coffee;
• tea;
• hot chocolate, and the rest.

UPDATE: Looking for instructions on descaling your Tassimo and turning off that red light? Look here. I use a 50-50 solution of CLR and water to descale mine. It works like a charm. Don’t forget to rinse the tank well and run some fresh water through the machine using the cleaning disc.