Wheeee.

Thanks to wonders of modern technology, have spent entire morning just getting things to almost the point where they were yesterday. *sigh*

(ANSYS 7.0 refuses to run on Service Pack 4. Install v. 7.1, same problem. Am less than enthused about idea of uninstalling SP4, so go poking around ANSYS website, which appears to have nothing but a 4-month-old promise that the problem "should be fixed soon". Eventually, but only *after* mailing tech support, manage to navigate the murk that is their customer site to find a patch. Patch installed. Then remember that since ANSYS installs all upgrades as entirely new software rather than updates to old, all preference settings etc have been completely buggered.

Further investigation shows that although ANSYS pretends to accept spaces in directory names, it does not in fact do so - attempting to set working directory to "C:\ANSYS Working Directory" results in failed attempt on "C:\ANSYSWORKINGDIRECTORY". Bloody odd, since have been using aforementioned directory happily for months under 7.0. Eventually give up and just rename the bloody directory. Now, must remember how to set this correctly in startup file. IIRC, last time I did this, the documentation turned out to be WRONG WRONG WRONG. I ended up having to do it via GUI and then check the logs to see what command I'd actually used, because the documentation listed an incorrect command - single-quotes instead of double, or some such.)

*grumble*

Is it so unreasonable to want people to GET THINGS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME?

(Well, actually, the rational part of me knows that yes, it is. But the part of me that's just wasted an entire morning on this is bigger and louder than the rational part. And the aircon still isn't fixed, and that fricking server is STILL GOING BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.)

Life

All in all, life is reasonably good. We've cleared out the old house, except for stuff in the shed, and Rey will rent a truck and collect the remainder on Thursday. Now comes the hard decision: do we rent the place, or sell it? If we're going to buy in Sydney in the next few months, having the extra money handy could be very, very useful.

The new place is a mess, but no more so than the old one was, and the extra space makes it more bearable. Being home during the daylight hours makes me feel much more human, and I've actually had the time to get a little painting done in the last few weeks. One treant, one vampire, one fire elemental - who I decided would work better as an electricity elemental - and a bunch of others in progress. Maybe I'll post pictures here some time, when I really get my act together. Also, a little bit of writing. It's difficult picking up a large piece after a month's absence, but I'm getting there slowly.

Speaking of minis, Reaper have just put out a line of Skeletal Pirate Crew figures. Coincidence? I think not.

Looking forwards to the housewarming party, which will probably involve shoehorning large numbers of Melbourne goths into every available corner. Mmm, shoehorn.

All in all, live is feeling considerably more livable since the move, for all that it was a nuisance. And Dog-Or the Wonder Spaniel finally has a dog-proof backyard to run around in. Better than that, it's next to a playground, which means a regular supply of tennis balls for him to chase and catch and chew and beslobber before we throw them back.