Ruthven

Reply to Msgboard Chatroom Marathon in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

See, now if it was the "school and dating" stage and the "working and married" stage, I'd be set. Unfortunately, those are four independent stages, leaving me in the working and dating stage. And my work stress started at 7:50 this morning, though I don't technically start until 8:00. I wish I had something as simple as exams to deal with. Sigh. But the large McDonald's coffee has kicked in, so all is well. (Is it just me, or is coffee the only REALLY good thing they make?)

Reply to Msgboard Chatroom Marathon in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Oh, sure Doreen... do it the easy way!

Reply to what's for dinner tonight? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Sounds like Elfkura is more than one person. That, or the chemical experimentation of my youth has come back to haunt me.

Reply to Msgboard Chatroom Marathon in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

actually, that was closer than I was expecting! .. .... .. <img src="http://images.stardock.com/images/smiles/smile.gif" border

Reply to Msgboard Chatroom Marathon in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Let's see... were you going for something like this, Java? .. .. .. <img src="http://images.stardock.com/images/smiles/smile.gi

Reply to what's for dinner tonight? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Well, color me confused now as well. I think I'll just refer to everyone as "it" now ... it seems safer

Reply to trying to locate DA theme in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Yeah, that'd be helpful... just exile me but leave the thread here I'm really quite a threat, after all -- look at all the bandwidth and disk space I'm taking up with my useless banter!

Reply to what's for dinner tonight? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Whoops... not a typo, I just tend to assume everyone's a he unless I'm told otherwise. Didn't mean to insult you, Elf! And what exactly does "all tuesdays are fat tuesdays" mean, Java? That a weight comment, or do you just spend every tuesday drinking heavily?

Reply to what's for dinner tonight? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Well, this is disappointing. Yesterday was Chinese New Year, and the only one with Chinese food was Elf, and it sounds like he was stuck with it. It was also Fat Tuesday ... I at least went with Cajun food! Tonight, I'm lucky if I get dinner at all....

Reply to trying to locate DA theme in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Oh, hell... if it's that easy... WC's admins are all just a bunch of tree-hugging hippie crap. Okay, how's that?

Reply to trying to locate DA theme in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Never mind. Got it. I'd delete this, but there's no option to delete or edit your own messages, which I've never understood!

trying to locate DA theme in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

There was a news item on here a while ago about a Windows XP theme for Desktop Architect. I downloaded and ran it for a while, but I've just gotten a new PC at work, and I can't locate the thing to reload it. Anyone have a clue? (And yeah, I'd install WindowBlinds here, but the IT guys probably already want to throttle me just for putting DA on the machine!)

Reply to real names v. nicknames in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

See, this just makes me unsure of whether to bother changing from the real name (that, and with 40+ skins on here, I imagine "Glen Eric Reed" is fairly recognizable, at least in the Dashboard section). So elsewhere, I'm usually "greed," "greed6," or occasionally "Ruthven." Do I ask T-Man nicely (aka "beg") to switch to one of those, or just not bother? Or maybe I should stop worrying about this and concentrate on the skins <img src="http://images.stardock.com/images/smiles/smil

real names v. nicknames in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

When I first signed up here, I must've missed the option to use a nickname. Here it is, months later, and I'm getting really tired of seeing "Glen Eric Reed" on there (particularly on the message board). I use nicknames elsewhere, which just makes this all the more annoying to me. I've been told (for some probably technical reason I just don't understand) that it's not possible to just change my record in the magical wincustomize database, so I have a dilemma. Do I just continue with th

Reply to Peer Rating? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Um, how about "this skin really spoke to me emotionally, and I liked it." Those are words, right? Just a thought

Reply to Peer Rating? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Oh, and one other thing ... the recent Dashboard submission "My XP," which is just pieces blatantly ripped from three other skins with a new (and rather plain) wallpaper, was given a 4 when it was posted. The name isn't even original (there was already a "MyXP"). So how "accurately" are these really being rated?

Reply to Peer Rating? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Personally, I place little to no credence in the ratings. My main complaint is the "initial rating" that I feel is placed there rather arbitrarily by the wizops. How well are these things being judged if they're rated as they're posted? Case in point: My "Blue Sunset" skin for Dashboard was given a 2. Granted, not my best work, but it's not THAT bad. Just compared with the ratings on some of my other skins, that 2 (arguably) makes no sense. I do, however, like that rating progr

Reply to hear a pin drop? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Well, I'd at least like to think anyone who frequents the "Dashboard" section already at least knows I exist, if not worships the ground on which I walk. (Okay, maybe I'm pushing it a bit with the latter ) ...okay, there's about a 50/50 shot I'm double-posting this now, but I caught a typo RIGHT after I hit "Submit," so I had to at least TRY to catch it!

Reply to hear a pin drop? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Maybe people just don't have anything intelligent to say. Like me, for example. Like this post right now. Would anyone's world really be lessened any if I didn't click the "Submit" button now.....?

Reply to Change PEER RATING in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I try to comment when I can, but let's face it, there's just not always something to say. Actually, all my comments today seem to be complaining about someone taking files from my skins and putting them in their own. But hey, at least I wrote comments today!!

Reply to Skin Comments/Ratings in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I've pretty much given up on using downloads or comments to determine what anyone likes. And the skin ratings ... that's even more useless. I can't recall who suggested this to me, but I thought it was good advice -- just skin what YOU like. At this point (and all along, when I think about it), I'm just skinning for myself because I like doing it, and uploading just in case someone else gets some enjoyment out of my work. If not, then I'm not disappointed.

Reply to popularity of xp-styled skins in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I'm pretty much agreeing with what you're all saying, but I'm not just talking about shell replacements here ... xp-styled skins are popular for a lot of the individual programs on here too. I've done (I think) six xp-styled skins for Dashboard -- I count that as about five too many. So do I continue to "give the people what they want" or move to doing this stuff for myself and not bother caring if anyone downloads it or not?

popularity of xp-styled skins in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Okay, for two months I got pretty busy, and had to put aside skins I had in the works. Got some time last week, polished some off, and posted five to the Dashboard section. Four of these were xp-styled, one was not. Downloads on the xp-styled skins are each running about double the other. This leaves me wondering: Why are xp-styled skins STILL so popular? It's almost annoying when you realize I put more work into the one non-xp skin as I did for the four xp ones combined. Anyone have an

Reply to JPG to BMP compression ? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Last wallpaper I uploaded was zipped jpg, so unless a mistake was made, "bitmap" indeed does not necessarily mean bmp.

Reply to Australian Spelling in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Actually, the English language is quite difficult to write: so much so, that it's rarely done correctly. (Trust me, I make my living as an editor, and I have no fear of losing my job.) One of the problems is the mixture of English and American usage (not to mention Australia and other English-speaking countries). Spelling and pronunciation do change over time and vary by country (color vs. colour, gray vs. grey, ee-ther vs. eye-ther, etc.), but rarely does the spoken language match the