Today we hauled my trusty Lexmark 4039 off to recycling. Unfortunately its paper handling was shot, and parts and documentation for that model are nearly impossible to find. I found the alleged service manual, but couldn't make sense enough of the documentation to fix it.

ChannelInsider bemoaned bad password policies and practices late last week.

It's a problem. Security (unfortunately) is my specialty, so I know it's a problem. But it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Yesterday I commented on a popular financial blog about using a debt snowball to pay off debt. Another commenter said she would never use such "psychological aids" or some other derisive name, if she ever found herself in debt.

I commented back, saying she could call it whatever she wanted, but I'd call it what it is: a plan. And if you're going to pay off debt, you either need a plan, or some phenomenal luck.

While researching nLite (I'm thinking about rebuilding a PC), I found a page about two Germans exploring the true minimum system requirements of Windows XP.

I won't spoil the ending, but one of them managed to accidentally discover the world's slowest Pentium.

I've had DSL for right around 10 years. I would have ordered it sooner, except it wasn't available in my area any earlier than that. Over the years I've owned several modems. I started out with an Alcatel, then after I moved a mile down the street I owned a couple of different Speedstream modems. Each would drop connections every so often, and each had a different (and undocumented, of course) ritual to get it back online. The highest praise I can give to the D-Link DSL-2640B is that I haven't discovered such a ritual yet. If the phone line and electricity are working, it finds a way to stay online.

I used Google Chrome this week while I waited for Firefox 3.5.1 to come out. I like both browsers but still prefer Firefox by a slight margin. But Chrome is nice to have for those times when Firefox has unpatched vulnerabilities.

Well, the 2wire modem experiment is officially over. I broke down and ordered a D-Link combo router/modem/WAP today. I rely heavily enough on my Internet connection to justify having something with a warranty and at the beginning of his lifecycle.

At 93 degrees, it was the first big test of the year for the thermal curtains today. With the thermostat set at 77, the house is comfortable. Some parts of the house are never comfortable at that setting.

Add that to the list of things I wish I'd bought five years ago.

So an ex-girlfriend finds you on Facebook and contacts you out of the blue 12 years after the fact. What do you do?

1. Jump up and down like a giddy schoolgirl because someone's interested enough to find you after all that time?

2. Passive-aggressively sit on the message?

3. Tell her exactly what you never had the chance to tell her?

Although option 2 crossed my mind, I thought it best to handle it a little bit differently.

I picked up a 2wire 1701HG modem/router/WAP this weekend cheap. The power supply was missing. Google indicates the factory power supply is really dodgy. A replacement costs anywhere from $13 to $25, unless you go to your local Gamestop or some other store that sells video games.