Now that I am back on my main PC, I am working on rebuilding my Winamp playlist. About 3,800 songs to go through. Yay. This is gonna take some time.

Today marks the first time that I start the day back on my main PC since September 7. About a week short of 3 months. So, what happened?

Well, after it crashed, I was thinking “hey, no biggie, I’ve got my backups. LOL. Right. Turns out, I must have configured the backup software incorrectly to only keep the last 5 days worth of changed files. Doh. So, I was able to get a lot of basic, key files, but as far as my archives (all of my pictures, etc.) nothing. So, I tried to do whatever I could think of to get the data off of it (or to get it to boot). I talked to a few friends of mine (Brandon was a big help, as he always is), but I just could not get it to do a thing.

So, I called around (DriveSavers, American Data Recovery, Seagate, etc.) to get quotes on a data recovery job. These calls pointed me to the fact that I was probably going to be out $2,000, if anyone was going to be able to recover my data. But, in the end, I decided it was worth it and I selected American Data Recovery, based on a positive experience that a friend relayed to me. So, I send it off to them. They recover these drives that were at the bottom of the ocean or in disco inferno, so they should be able to recover my drive that was working great in my PC that very morning that it suddenly crashed, right? lol… nope. They tell me they can’t get anything from it. They took it into a clean room, the whole 9 yards, etc. No dice. So, I’m out the $100 evaluation fee. Do I want the drive back (it would cost $25 to send it back)? I did (more on that in a moment). So, I’m out $125 plus whatever I paid to ship it to them.

But, my luck changed when the drive was with them and they were evaluating it. I realized something. My backup drive may not have the files on it now, but I know they were on it at one time, so why not try to recover files from that drive? I downloaded some free recovery software to see (from my laptop) whether or not that would be possible. And it looked like it was. So, I bought some software ($80ish) and bought another 250 GB SATA for my main PC because I realized my laptop wouldn’t have been powerful enough to do the recovery job (it tooks days and days AND DAYS – a lot of time, I just left my main PC on for like 10 days or so, no joke). When it was finished, what do you know? I have most of my data back. That was a good day. I did have to spend some time deleting fragmented files and reorganizing various parts of it and, unfortunately, I did lose some things (a few of which I’d really, really, really like to have back), but overall I can’t complain.

So, why did I want the dead hard drive back? Well, before I even sent it out, I contacted HP, with whom the drive was still under warrenty with. I was curious as to if sending it to the data recovery company (someone who would open it up, etc.) would void the warrenty. The lady I spoke to told me no. So, I got the drive back from the data recovery company and decided that I may as well get a new one, since it was still under warrenty. So, I called to set it up and the guy (seemed like a nice guy) told me that I had voided the warrenty. So, I explained it all – unfortunately, I didn’t have a case number, etc. and I didn’t write down a name, just the date and time (depite the fact that I usually get all of that information), I believe. And he says that there is nothing he can do. So, I asked for a supervisor. So, he went away and a few minutes later, he came back and said that he talked to his supervisor and convinced him (I think that’s what he said, but I may be off) to allow me to exchange it because it wasn’t fair to me since I had been told that originally. So, I got my new 250 GB hard drive. It’s on the shelf as I don’t need it (yet *sigh*) because I bought that new hard drive to run the data recovery software.

As far as my backup system, the fan on the enclosure is LOUD. Not normal loud, but LOUD. It is louder than when I got it originally and it makes an inconsistent sound. Something is wrong with the fan. Besides that, it works fine. I’ve hardly even used it. But, the noise is basically unbearable. I’ve contacted the company I bought it from, but they are a small company (they use Yahoo! Shopping) and I have not heard back from them. I don’t really expect to, either, unfortunately. I have also contacted the manufacturer (CoolGear). So, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with that, besides looking for a better enclosure.

So, to finish it off, I’m back using my main PC and I was able to recover most of my data. I only ended up spending an additional $350ish instead of $2,000ish. Happy ending, I suppose. ;)

This morning I received a summons for jury duty and I am supposed to appear in January. That date probably won’t work, so I will probably postpone to a little later. My mom has never received a jury duty notice and neither has my dad, but I’m eligable for 3 years and I get one. Should be… interesting.

Edit: From the booklet: 95% of people selected serve 3 days or less. 80% of people select serve 1 day. 50/50 shot at actually being selected as a juror on a trial.

My good friend Tom Rutter is blogging. Subscribed. :) Well, I guess he’s already been blogging, but not about anything I’d be interested in subscribing to just yet.

I’ve known Tom for years, before he was working for SitePoint. He used to be on my Support Team at phpBBHacks.com and he wrote the backend for phpBBHacks.com, which has been a big part of our success. I’m actually going to be speaking to him (voice chat) for the first time tomorrow evening, so that’ll be fun.

This is total speculation on my part. It’s a total conspiracy theory type thing. It’s not even a rumor. It is borne out of a lot of funny circumstances, however. So, it’s not a fact by any means, but just something that’s been rolling around in my head.

As it stands right now, I believe that every track has leaked off of the Biggie Duets album, except for the 5 album interludes, The Funk featuring Redman and Nate Dogg and Wake Up featuring KoRn. Most of these (if not all) appear to have been released by Bad Boy. Why would they do this? To get some buzz going, sure. But, all track but 1? At this rate, that 1 will leak, too. Granted, most people don’t hear these leaked tracks, just internet people who download music and people who buy mixtapes – but still, you have to wonder.

In the press release, in news reports and official sites – there is only one audio disc reported. Yet, I spotted an inconsistency in graphics used for the album cover. Take a look at the two images below.

The one on the left is from Amazon.com. The one on the right is from the Bad Boy i-Squad, which is officially recognized by Bad Boy as well as in an article at IGN. See the difference? Besides the parental advisory logo, there is some text on the bottom right part of the one to the right. It says “double album.”

It has been said that the album will include a limited edition CD/DVD including various footage. Is that what “double album” means? Perhaps, but that isn’t the definition of the term, according to WikiPedia. It is: “A double album is an audio album of sufficient length that two units of the medium in which it is sold (especially records and compact discs) are necessary to contain the entirety of it.” Audio, not video.

Still, it could be. But, then again, they didn’t call it a double album in the press release and they actually used the term “double album” in the press release to describe B.I.G.’s earlier album “Life After Death” which was, in fact, a 2 audio disc release – a double album, in other words. So, they know what it means, then.

But, that’s not all. There are some other, bigger things, as well. There have been tracks that have been “leaked” with people saying that they are from Duets when they’re not in this tracklist. Were those people just full of it? Quite possibly. In fact, probably. But, perhaps not. Perhaps those tracks are for a second disc or perhaps they were just left on the cutting room floor. Or maybe those people are just full of it. Can’t know for sure. We also heard right from Black Rob’s mouth that he was doing an update of Gimme the Loot. Yet, Black Rob isn’t featured on the album as it stands. Was Rob’s track cut? Or did he slip up in mentioning it?

There was also a track Clinton Sparks leaked that he said he produced for the album. It might have been called Rap Phenomenon (whether or not that was the real title, I don’t know), but it used the verses from Whatchu Want and featured Diddy.

What about this article? (November 23, 2005): “[Paul] Wall also appears on the Notorious B.I.G.’s upcoming Duets: The Final Chapter , which he called a tremendous honor.” Um, he does? Where?

But, wait – there is more. From BET.com:

Is Foxy lying? Again, no Foxy or Faby on the tracklist.

JR.com says that 50 is on it. Yet, he’s not on the released tracklist.

Also, what is up with the tracklist at UK Virgin Megastores site? Compare it with the one I posted that came from the label/Warner Music Group. See anything new? The following names are new: Paul Wall, Ja Rule, Ralph Tresvant, Too Short, Webbie, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, 50 Cent, Foxy Brown, Fabolous, Q-Tip, Babs, Aasim and Ness. In all, there are 6 different songs on that list. Look, I see Paul Wall, I see Foxy, I see Faby, I see 50. Could it be?

I had seen that alternate tracklist before, but never on a site run by such an entity as Virgin. The thing is… big companies like Virgin, Amazon.com and JR.com don’t make things up. They get them from the label, etc. So, there is something there, I think.

Something is up here. Either some people (Wall, Black Rob, Foxy, etc.) are confused and/or lying and/or flat wrong – or there are more songs than what we know about.

Consider this quote from an article at mtv.com:

Maybe what he envisioned is really what is happening? Diddy does big things. For him to envision 2 and do 1 is somewhat uncharacteristic. Could this simply be a front? With all of this stuff lining up like this – don’t ignore the possibility. If not a double album, perhaps the single disc has more songs than is being revealed. Or, perhaps not. But, we’ll know in a month!

Well, as the 30 or so auto e-mails from various vBulletin communities I have joined (I think I got 6 at 12:01 exactly) came flooding in, I am now 21 years old. I can now read more menus and legally order off of them. That’s about it.

No, I didn’t have a beer, etc. I had a quick, small toast of wine and that was it. I’ve done that a bunch of times over the years, of course. I don’t really intend to drink. I don’t like what I’ve seen it do to some people and how it has made them act. I don’t have anything against drinking. Plus, I’d just rather do other things with my money, at this point, honestly. That’s me.

But, 21 years… getting old.

Smoker tried to open airliner door:

She doesn’t remember what happened, but is pleading guilty/admiting to it. Anyway, scary.

Via Jared.