Evening people! Had a great week for a change, still room for improvement though... 
After spending nearly a week trying to get my Windows 7 download into something I can actually use, Microsoft finally released a downloadable ISO file so that it could burned straight onto a disk for a clean install. I really didn't want to actually do it as I feared I'd end up in some limbo between Vista and Win7 without a computer to use! Luckily it was really easy to install from scratch and after taking screenshots of my programs, I knew I could get most of them back at a later date. There's a couple that came with the machine that I've lost but I'm hoping that it came with disks to reinstall them now.
On first impressions I wasn't overly keen on it as it seemed to remove most of the usable functions that I liked such as the docking bar at the top. After speaking to DJ I only then realised that it was a Dell only thing so I was able to reinstall that. I also didn't like the look of the new Explorer but after some hunting around the internet I was able to return it the view that Vista had. The only other major dislike that I have is the new taskbar. No matter what I do to it I still hate it. The icons take up so much space in the quick launch and the fact that some programs stay there rather than minimizing to the bottom right is a pain. Plus it's harder to tell how many windows of the same program are open and using the quick launch to open say a new window of IE is one more button press than it used to be/needs to be.
On the plus side, the new Aero features are neat although I will probably only use them for novelty value. I've also been able to install the 64 bit Professional version of Win7 so it runs a lot smoother and uses less power (I think) so that's a bonus. In my honest opinion, if you've got Vista already and you can't get it for the student discount price then I probably wouldn't bother (unless you have to have the new OS that is 
). If you've got XP then I'd still upgrade (skipping Vista) as it's definitely a step forward from that. For anyone else it's entirely up to you! I think that Vista introduced some nifty features that Win7 improves on, but it also unnecessarily changes some things that didn't need an upgrade. If you do get it though I'd recommend having a look at this website which has invaluable tips at making it better and also reintroducing some of the missing features they should've included.
In gaming, I did what little I could be bothered with on FIFA 08 and have put that game down to a silly mistake as I never really had any intention to play it properly. Last night I had a bit of spare time so I made a start on Lego: Indiana Jones which looks set to be a deceptively challenging game but with such great visuals and the Lego atmostphere I think I shall enjoy it. I'm not a big film watcher so I don't actually know the story having never seen the films. Having silent cutscenes might make me get a bit lost I think! I haven't actually started any of the levels yet so I've only had chance to wander around the game's hub but the characters seem quite responsive and although the range of buttons is quite limited, maybe it doesn't need to use them all to work well.
On tv.com, it's been a week that I'm much more used to. Things breaking, nobody knowing why it was broken and generally submitting was brought to a halt. Back in the day that would've really got on my nerves but as I hardly do anything now it just meant a day or two where I didn't have to moderate subs! I've still got some to clear out so submitters will just have to hang tight until the weekend. The new tv.com UK podcast is out today which talks about Curb Your Enthusiasm and Denying Gravity, along with other news brought up this past week.
As for TV, I've watched:
Camp Rock - I just happened to catch this as it was on TV the other night (one of the rare occasions where I watched something live on British television). Although it wasn't as good as High School Musical, it still had a great cast and excellent songs. It seemed to be more about the actual singing that HSM was which is both good and bad.
Dexter 'Dirty Harry' and I definitely didn't see that coming. I'm surprised they decided not to continue with his character as he was probably my favourite, even more so than Dexter himself. So far I'm quite enjoying this season's serial killer, especially as it hasn't dragged on all season with nobody knowing who it is.
Castle 'Vampire Weekend'. I was glad to see that Castle didn't try to jump on the vampire bandwagon...oh wait, yes it did. Considering the popularity of vampire shows at the minute, this was actually one of my least favourite episodes in the entire show. The Halloween party where he dressed up as his Firefly character was pretty good but that's only one small scene is a pretty poor episode.
Criminal Minds 'Cradle To Grave' and it seems that it's finally getting the shake up the series desperately needs. It's been in the same format and same cast for a couple of seasons now and I think it's the perfect time to mix things up. It's done what House has done as that is similar in the fact that it has a set format each week and was getting a bit stale.
Brothers & Sisters 'Last Tango in Pasadena'. This season is pretty week on the whole so far, the stories are very uninteresting and it seems devoid of any real personality. That said I still enjoy a grown up 'teen' drama as it differs nicely to all of the shows with younger casts.
Curb Your Enthusiasm 'Season One'. I really, really don't know what I'm leaning towards with this show. The episodes I don't find to be laugh out loud funny and what he actually says isn't great, it's more the situations he's in that I like. I'm not really sure it's to my tastes but I shall persevere like I do with everything else!
Good - Criminal Minds 'Cradle To Grave', Dexter 'Dirty Harry', Camp Rock.
Indifferent - Greek 'The Wish-Pretzel', Gossip Girl 'How To Succeed in Bassness'.
Bad - Castle 'Vampire Weekend', Brothers & Sisters 'Last Tango in Pasadena'.
My album for the day is Circle by Bon Jovi.
My shuffle song for the day is 'The Way Things Used To Be' by Brooke White.
My thing to ponder for today is: Why is it called tourist season if you can't shoot them?