Favor, Football, Romance and a Stroke of Luck!

As I mentioned in my last post, I no longer work for a boss, just my self.  I branched out as a freelance personal assistant and have contracted with a company to supply me with clients on a daily basis.  This wonderful company is a Texas based company out of Austin called Favor, now in over 100 cities in Texas.  I pick up food and deliver it, I go shopping for people, and I can deliver just about anything in under an hour.  In fact, that is the company's tag line "Anything - Delivered!".  This adventure in personal assisting has provided some unique experiences, both bad (very few) and good (a lot), then there are those exceptional moments that happen along quite often that makes your day or your week.

As it so happens, the NFL Playoffs are in full swing and my Dallas Cowboys are in the thick of the battle for the crown.  Last Saturday, Favor and Football collided with Romance and a stroke of luck to make it a very special day indeed.  It was the first day of the playoff with the Cowboys set to take on the Seahawks at Jerry World in the prime time game.  I had my Favor shirt on over a Cowboys t-shirt, had my Cowboys jacket and ball cap on and was in full game day mode.  I had scheduled myself from 9 to 4 (a perk of working for me!) so as not to miss a moment of the game.

So I am tooling around the trendy restaurants near down town when I get a Favor for one smoothie picking up in SW Ft Worth delivering to Mira Vista.  Mira Vista is a walled Country Club Community  for the Nouveau riche that is so exclusive a mere dog house behind one of the baronial homes there would run close to a million dollars.  Understandably, I was not thrilled with the prospect of a low dollar long distance run, however, I try not to turn down things so off I went.  

As I was traveling to pick up the smoothie, the client texts me and said he needed a Favor and sent a screen shot of what he wanted.  Now my car answers text messages for me but does not display any photo or screen shot.  Now I Run Favors so I said OK without really knowing what he wanted.  I got to a pull over point and was going to text him a query about the Favor when I saw the screen shot.   Here are his instructions:

"Ask for (wife) and tell her 'She is a finalist in the Cowboys Playoff Roundup.  All you have to do is answer one questions correctly... Who is the most awesomest husband ever?...(her husband of course!) YOU HAVE JUST WON A TICKET TO THE GAME TONIGHT WITH (BEST FRIEND).  THE CAR SERVICE WILL PICK YOU UP AT 5.  Your husband loves you!'"

Now as you all know I am a hopeless romantic and a die hard Cowboys fan, how could I say no to such a romantic thing to do for his wife.  So of course now I was on a mission to facilitate romance for a couple of Cowboy fans.  I took of my Favor Shirt so I was all decked out in Cowboy gear and did exactly as instructed.  The husband answered the door and called his wife to the door.  She was suitably surprised and I am sure he was well rewarded for his romanticism, especially given the Cowboys victory in a stellar performance by all involved.  He was behind his wife recording the whole thing on his cell phone and he tipped me $20 for pulling it off so well which of course made me very happy as well.   

Now here is where the stroke of luck comes in to play.  I have not had my hair cut in some time because my stylist left the salon where I had been going and I hadn't bothered to find another.  As I was walking up to the smoothie place, my stylist comes running out the door of the salon next door and wraps me in a big hug and we visited a bit.  I grabbed her number so I can get my hair cut and then went on to facilitate romance on a grand scale.  It did not matter what happened the rest of the day, I had had a ball making Cowboys Playoff Football Romantic for some true fans, and I was happy as a pig in a poke.  

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For your listening pleasure today, I have a real treat in store for you all from someone who is among the most revered virtuosos of all time.  Nicolò Paganini was a true musical legend of his era, inspiring musicians such as Robert Schumann to forge his own career as a pianist. Franz Schubert was also a regular audience member at Paganini’s concerts, despite the outlandish ticket prices.

Paganini often remarked that, despite his legendary status as a violinist, he found it rather difficult to compose for the instrument. This release presents Paganini's complete violin concertos, performed by violinist Alexandre Dubach accompanied by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.  This recording features two conductors, Lawrence Foster and Michel Sasson.  The complete play list is under the video.

00:00:00 Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor: I. Allegro maestoso
00:16:44 Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor: II. Adagio flebile con sentimento
00:23:25 Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor: III. Rondo galante. Andantino gaio
00:34:10 Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: I. Allegro maestoso
00:54:15 Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: II. Adagio espressivo
00:59:28 Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: III. Rondo: allegro spirituoso
01:09:08 Violin Concerto No. 3 in E Major: I. Introduzione. Andantino - Allegro marziale
01:26:57 Violin Concerto No. 3 in E Major: II. Adagio. Cantabile spianato
01:34:13 Violin Concerto No. 3 in E Major: III. Polacca. Andantino vivace
01:46:22 Violin Concerto No. 6 in E Minor: I. Risoluto
02:07:04 Violin Concerto No. 6 in E Minor: II. Adagio
02:13:59 Violin Concerto No. 6 in E Minor: III. Rondo ossia polonese
02:25:27 Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor: I. Allegro maestoso
02:44:27 Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor: II. Andante un poco sostenuto
02:53:03 Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor: III. Rondo
03:03:37 Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7: I. Allegro maestoso
03:19:05 Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7: II. Adagio
03:26:05 Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7: III. Ronde à la clochette

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Finally for today. I am still discovering various neat little things about the newest version of Windows 10.  One of the neatest is contained within the Photos App native to the OS.  It takes your photos and create little albums with titles like Days in Tekapo or Trip to Rodrigues, or simply a date.  You have the options to keep or remove the albums, and I usually keep them.  The app culled through my more than 150,000 images on my computer and so far created 9 albums for me.  A prime example is the album posted below which is titled Friday July 1, 2016.  I think you will find these men all stunningly attractive, each in their own special way.  Peruse them at you leisure.  I will share more of these albums as we go along on the journey that is Nichevo.  Thanks for stopping in, do call again and as always, Enjoy!

W10 & Witcher 3

As most of you know by now, I am not a gamer, that is Will's forte, not mine.  He is also my go to Geek when I run across something I don't understand or fuck something up.  He speaks techno-geek, nerdish and pcsnobbish with the best of them.  Will is currently playing Witcher 3 which has superior graphics and requires a large speedy video card like Will's GTX970.  Well Witcher 3 has been crashing on Will ever since the W10 install.  Through a painful trial and error process Will discovered the problem.  W10 'babysits' your device drivers and upgrades them automatically through Windows Update.  This is all well and good except if you have hardware whose software support is not yet W10 compatible.   W10 was overriding Will's settings and installing a beta version of the driver for the GTX970, thus undoing everything he had done to solve the problem thus far.  He discovered this when he caught Windows Update in the act.  He has thoughtfully provided us with his instructions for a solution that he posted on the either the Witcher 3 or W10 Sub-Reddit, I don't remember which one he said.  Here it is:

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This is important so PAY ATTENTION.

Microsoft is pushing a Beta driver 352.63 down Windows Update. Windows Update is auto over-riding your drivers.

It is incredibly difficult to stop this.

I found this out after getting multiple crashes, despite rolling back the driver to previous versions. I caught Windows Update, installing GTX 970 update when it was checking for updates.

It has been over-riding my driver in my sleep!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I do not need Windows 10 to be my parent.

So, how do we fix it. This is going to be a doozy so stick with me.

Part 1:

Hit Winkey and type advanced system settings.

Should look like this: 

 [1]

Select Hardware tab Select Device Installation Settings

Choose these settings: 

[2]

This prevents Device manager from auto downloading hardware updates when you restart or aren't looking.

Part 2:

Now we move on to the next part. (Note this is only if it has over-ridden your driver, if it hasn't move down to part 3.)

Hit winkey and type in Device Manager and launch that.

Find your display adapter and then right click it

Select Uninstall and also the little box to delete software

Wait

After it is removed from the list, select "Scan for Hardware Changes"

Reboot computer

You are now ready to install the driver you want to install, so do that.

Reboot again.

Part 3:

Go here and get this tool: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930?utm_source=twitter[3]

This enables showing/hiding of updates coming down Windows Update.

If you followed all my instructions correctly at this point and it's not checking for updates. You should be able to run this tool and find the driver update to hide.

This is how:

Launch the .cab file, it will look like this: 

[4]

Select Next It will begin searching for updates so wait patiently.

Select Hide Updates

[5]

You should see this (Note, I'm actually under Show Hidden Updates here but that is because I already hid the update earlier, this is how you unhide updates but you want to be under Hide Updates)

[6]

Select the driver update to hide

Say Next.

It should tell you it has completed successfully and will not install that update.

That's it,

Happy Witchering.

Edit: Current Beta Driver is 352.63 as of this post.

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That's it straight from the horse's mouth as it were, it is even in English not techno-geek, lol.  So if you have been experiencing this type of situation with your version of W10 conflicting with your hardware's drivers, this is a solution that will work for you.   Leave a comment if you have an alternate solution that works for you!

Your Monday with Mozart features two works in A Major for Clarinet.  Posted down below is Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K581 (Reconstructed for Basset Clarinet) beautifully performed live by the Hagen Quartet and your Soloist on Basset Clarinet, Sabine Meyer.  Over on my tumblr, you may join Ms Meyer along with Staatskapelle Dresden and Conductor Hans Vonk for their performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in  A Major, K622.

Now it is time for our mutual indulgence in our underwear fetish with this sexy edition of Monday's Undies posted down below.  Over on my tumblr, Edward Wilding is your Hottie of the Day!  Thanks for the visit, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Sunday Morning Concert

Good Morning!  I hope your weekend is as fabulous as ever!  My weekend has finally arrived for however short a period of time that is.  I have some good news about my schedule, they have hired a new girl to take up some of the slack and pretty soon I will at least get my Thursdays off back again after this next one.  I am ready to cut my hours, six days a week is killing me, lol.  It has been good for the budget however, and for that I am grateful as I have had to spend a grunch of money on the car. I also have some other items on my financial agenda.  So it is all good in that $$ department for now. 

Our exploration of Windows 10 continues to be a more positive experience for me than for Will although I do have to correct my post from Friday just a bit.  Xanatos does indeed have issues with the Dolby Surround Sound.  It seems Sony has not licensed it for Windows 8 or 10.  Will has contacted Sony and has even created a Support Topic at Microsoft as apparently he is not the only user to have experienced this particular problem.  So eventually this problem will go away.  It was Will's laptop that had the video driver issue not Xanatos which is where I misinformed you on Friday.  Will did find a work around for that one and is beginning to want to stay with 10 instead of reverting to 7 because he was so pissed at 10.

I have found I do not like the native screen saver programs as they are slightly different than on 7.  I have always used the bubble screen savor as it lets the underlying wallpaper show while still protecting the monitor.  In W10 though, it throws up a blank screen behind the bubbles and all the great wallpapers I rotate through do not show through.  So I tried their pictures option, and it has a tendency to hang up and leave just a black screen up.  So I activated the screensaver option in Picasa3 and it works just fine allowing me to select the source folders which I want it to rotate through.  I chose all my photos of places and things rather than my man art so that any innocents that happen to observe my screensaver will not suddenly be confronted with a ginormous dick in their face by surprise.  And I still can't get the alarm to make any noise.  However my computer usage differs vastly from Will's and my less advanced technological needs due to my usage, and the fact that most of my stuff is not overly complicated has eased my transition to the new OS.  As everyone is eventually going to have go to W10, I am glad that it works for me with out too much BS.  We will keep you posted on the experience. 

Now for your Sunday morning Concert I have selected some most tasty works by Johannes Brahms for your listening pleasure.  Posted down below is a wonderful interpretation by the young Georgian violinist now living in Germany, Lisa Batiashvili. Her playing is quite unique - I would be very interested to hear what viewers think of her exceptional technique and magnificent sound. The very unusual kettle drum cadenza accompaniment is very dramatic.  As far as I can make out the cadenza is by Busoni.  Unfortunately the orchestra, conductor and venue are not listed but that will not detract from your listening pleasure as this is a most excellent performance all around.  Over on my tumblr I have Ivo Pogorelich playing Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 35, recorded live in Rotterdam in October 2014. The Variations were the fourth and final piece in his wonderfully performed recital.

Then to open your eye this morning I have a bevy of beauties gathered for this week's edition of Naked or Nearly So! that is sure to have something for everyone.  They are waiting for your cruise and peruse down below.   Meanwhile over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is serenading you with "I want you to want me...".  Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with me, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Windows 10 is Here!

On Wednesday, Microsoft began releasing its new OS, Windows 10.  Because I had reserved a copy through the interactive prompt in my system tray, W10 was downloaded to my computer on Wednesday night.  On Thursday, I used what spare time I had to upgrade to the new OS.  Will began this process on Wednesday night.  We had different installation experiences, totally, and therein lies the tale to be told.  

When I arrived home from work on Thursday morning, I asked Will how the W10 install went.  He was grumpy and unhappy as he apparently had a lot of compatibility issues with essential components of the world of Xanatos.  Xanatos is Will's computer and I of course call mine Nichevo as it is home to the blog and every thing I do.  Xanatos is a high powered gaming rig that Will built himself.  Will seems to be in a constant upgrade my equipment status to make his gaming experience better.  Unfortunately the drivers for his big honker of a video card and his Dolby surround sound are not yet W10 compatible.  He found a work around to get the video driver to install but has had less success getting the surround sound to work which pisses him off.  That is understandable given the money spent on all the various components, one would want them all to function properly and in concert with each other.  This will be an ongoing tale, I can tell that already, lol.  

Nichevo on the other hand, barely burped on its way to the new world of Windows 10.  Of course, Nichevo is a much less powerful computer and I have no fancy dancy video card or sound system, I have no need of those things as I am not a gamer.  I have my two speakers, my wireless headset and my Bluetooth devices which gives me all the listening options I could ever use.  Nor do I need a frame rate of 60 to be able to surf the web or post here or on tumblr.  Therefore, I did not have any big compatibility issues.  I have a couple of things that I don't like because I can't get them to work, but they are only minor irritations.  Like the alarm feature will send up the pop up down in the corner, but I cannot hear any sound coming from the alarm.  This basically renders it useless as I cannot see a pop up in my sleep.  I am not the only user to experience this problem, so that will eventually get fixed in an update.  I do have an old web cam that got  a prompt saying the software was incompatible, however it works as well as it ever did.  

The personal assistant, Cortana, is a handy tool that can be controlled  by text or voice command.  It does gather a lot of data about you in order to function as designed which has some in the geeky forums raging away.  I will bide my time and use it unless Will uncovers a nasty conspiracy theory that scares the bejesus outta me enough to make me stop.  I have spent most of my free time exploring this new world and I am sure there will be further updates as I discover things I like and things I don't about the latest offering from the evil empire, stay tuned.

Moving to the Music and the Men, I thought a few soothing piano track woudl be good for all of you who are out there stressing about W10, work, or anything else.  So here is a 'Best of ' or 'Greatest Hits' album of the Piano works of Franz Liszt in tow volumes.  Part one is posted down below and includes the the following in the play list:

0:00 Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
10:30 Love Dream - Liebestraum
14:45 Etude from Paganini "La Campanella"
19:20 Mephisto Waltz No.1 "The Dance in the Village Inn"
31:03 Trascendental Etude No.9 "La Ricordanza"
41:52 Concert Etude "Gnomenreigen"
44:38 Concert Etude "Un Sospiro"
50:35 Reminiscences de "Robert le Diable"- Trascription from Meyerbeer
1:00:50 Consolation No.3
1:05:00 "Erlkonig" - Trascription from Schubert

 

Part two and its play list can be found over on my tumblr.  The performances in the videos are by various excellent artists for your listening pleasure.  

 

To get you in the weekend frame of mind I have a post chock full of sizzling studs for your perusal in this week's edition of Fantasy Fuel posted down below.  Your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr, invites you to enjoy his 'Fireside Serenade'.  Thanks for the visit, see you again soon.  Until next time as always. Enjoy!