Keep Swinging

You know, sports analogies and anecdotes are a dime a dozen, but I think the reason for that is because they’re so applicable to the struggle that is the day-to-day for most people. As I’ve grown older, my interest in sports has dwindled a bit, replaced by a yearning for things that are more pertinent, more necessary to life. Still, those old analogies remain. Lately I’ve been feeling down and out, like a grizzled fighter just trying to survive the round against a stronger, faster, younger opponent. Sometimes it feels like you’re on your last legs, and you’re getting hit in the face no matter where you turn. At that point, it’s easy to lose heart, it’s easy to lose hope. The thing that most any fighter will tell you though, is that’s when it’s most important not to, because the minute you’ve done that is the minute you’ve lost, and when it comes to the game of life, that’s something you just can’t afford to do. It’s at that point, when you don’t know what to do, and when all things seem lost, that you have to pull something from deep within yourself and just give it everything you’ve got. From a defensive point of view, it makes you vulnerable, it’s a risk, but that’s what you have to do to fight. There’s nothing in life worth having that doesn’t involve risk. It could backfire, and you could get hit some more, but that’s going to happen anyways. You can either choose to fight back, with all your heart, with everything you’ve got, or give up and be down for the count. People do this in a lot of ways, staying in dead-end jobs, staying in unhappy relationships, giving up on hopes and dreams, becoming complacent and just coming to the conclusion that "this is life, it’s not going to get any better." All of the things I just mentioned are things I’ve done in the past, and things I struggle with every day. More often than not, I get pummelled and feel like giving up, but I know I can’t. If I give up, I’m as good as dead. I won’t be good to anyone, not myself, not my family, not my friends.

I intend to keep swinging, to keep fighting. I might get hit, I might get knocked down, and when you look at me, I might be bloody and bruised, but I’m not giving up. If it looks like I’m on my last legs, don’t worry about me, cheer for me, because chances are, life just gave me another devastating combination, but I’m up, on my feet, looking life (and death) in the face and asking "Was that the best you’ve got? Is that it?" Cheer me on people, because I’m going to need it. One of the things that will make a person give up the fastest is when they feel alone and forgotten. There’s nothing quite as comforting, and frankly, inspiring, than knowing that you have people behind you that care and who want to see you coming out on top. If you’re there for the people you care about, cheering them on, and supporting them, at worst you’ll help them get back on their feet, and at best, they’ll come out on top. Keep swinging people, because it’s never too late to turn the fight around, it’s never too late to get to where you need to be.

The fact is that I’m writing this as much for myself as I am for anyone else (some of you out there might need it too though...I know a lot of you well enough to know that). Life has been coming at me fast and furiously lately and I feel bloodied, bruised, even a little bit numb. I’ve been dealing with things the wrong way, and I need to make some changes, especially with how I react emotionally to things. Sometimes I feel worried, confused, and more than anything, just plain anxious. Sometimes it just feels like my heart is being pricked by a hundred needles. For those of you who’ve been there for me over the years, who’ve seen me at my worst, and who’ll be there to see me at my best, you’ve got my thanks, my gratitude and my friendship to the end. You’re the people who keep me moving forward, even when my heart feels it can’t go another round. Thanks for keeping me headed in the right direction when life has me seeing triple. If you need me, know I’ve got your back...

I’ll end this with a quote, fittingly enough from Rocky Balboa...

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!"

Being true to oneself...

In my case, loneliness is something of a double-edged sword, because while I truly need the contact and interaction of others, all too often, some of the times I’m the loneliest is when I’m around other people. When I listen to their conversations and seem to be unable to really interact on that level, for whatever reason, it forces me to put up a mask really, to appear to be "ok" by the standards of others. This should be unnecessary, and around your closest friends, those that do understand you and know what’s going on to some extent, those who will sit there and talk to you for hours, it usually is. All too often though, whether it’s at work or around family, you seem to be forced to hide your true feelings, usually for the perceived good of those around you. This is how a lot of people live their lives, myself included to a great extent.

The problem is, that in guarding those you care about and denying yourself, you ultimately do yourself no service, and in turn, you hurt yourself, as well as those who care about you. It’s not a malicious thing, it’s more passive. You just start guarding yourself in terms of some emotions, and in time, it starts to encompass all your emotions, even the ones beneficial to you. Without being honest to yourself and the people who truly care about you, it eats you up inside. Anyone who’s gone through this and has found someone to confide in, a true friend, knows the relief that comes when they’re finally able to get it off of their chest, and it usually does so in a rush of tears. This is why it’s so important to be honest with others, even when it comes to those things that may in fact hurt, but have to be said, either for your good (and survival), or theirs.

That’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time, feeling pressured about not saying what’s truly weighing on my heart. I prolonged a self-punishing, loveless relationship for six years that way, not wanting to hurt the other person, and constantly choosing to hurt myself instead. There are times to be selfless, and compassionate, more thoughtful of others than yourself, especially in relationships, but when you allow youself to start wasting away in something past the point of no return, that’s the time to be honest with yourself and others. It took me at least 4 years to learn that lesson (more than that probably; that’s the amount of time I knew I was just prolonging the inevitable, because it hurt too much to think about...in the end, the one hurting was me). You have to be true to yourself, which is something that seems to come with much difficulty for most of us.

Being true to yourself is probably one of the most difficult things in this life, but it’s also one of the most important, because that’s the first step in knowing who you really are. I’m not about to say that I’m there yet, but I’m learning, and seeing glimpses about myself. Some of them, I’m honestly not that crazy about, but there are some qualities that I do like about myself. One thing I do know is that I’m tired of feeling like I *HAVE* to put on a front just to get by in this world. All I know is that one of the best feelings in the world is to be truly accepted for who you are, faults and all. The friends who do this are truly few and far between (count them on one hand and you’ll probably have a couple of fingers left over), and they’re also the ones who are the first to ask you what’s wrong when you’re not quite yourself. Do what you can to be around them as much as possible, and everything you can to avoid being around those who you feel forced to front for. Life is ultimately about love, and ultimately, being around those you love and who love you back just as much is what makes a person better than they alone could have imagined.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind."
Dr. Suess

Patience...necessity.

I guess some recent developments have taught me a bit about patience. I consider myself to be a fairly patient person (sometimes overly so), but it's never really been an easy task. I think a lot of people have this idea that patience is just some state of mind you somehow attain as you mature, but it hasn't really been like that, not in my experience at least. You just don't magically arrive when it comes to patience.

You've heard of patience being a virtue, but most of the people who use that phrase are those who've never really had to use it. Patience is a force of will more than anything else, and honestly, you only ever really use it unless you've found something worth waiting for, something you feel like you can't live without. Today's culture is all about instant gratification, which is one of the reasons I'm in debt now (patiently working on that too...and improving). The sad thing about that is that most things worth having, most things that are really worth working for, worth living for, will never be had easily. A person who never waits for the things in life will ultimately live a shallow life, a life without challenge, without meaning. It's only through patient pursuit, and all the steps necessary, that you really learn to appreciate anything. You don't take things for granted in cases like that, you treasure them, you contribute to them, you more or less love them. Ultimately, patience is necessary for contentment, for joy.

I guess this is most obvious when it comes to the rough spots you sometimes go through in life, times when it looks like you're on your last legs. Being patient during those times, maintaining hope, it can seem like you're giving everything you've got just to get up in the morning, but if you press through, if you keep moving towards your goals, your dreams, patiently, that will give you the sustenance to keep going. Every day you get through is a day closer to where you want to be. Some days will seem easier, while others might seemingly be your undoing, but ultimately, when you reach that destination, when you're able to hold that which you've been dreaming of, it will all have been worth it. The struggles you took getting there will be distant memories of the past, fading away, but the rewards of finally being where you've always needed to be, that's something altogether worth any price you could have paid and any amount of time you could have spent. It's a place regret never enters, and from which the greatest contentment one can find in life springs forth. If there's somewhere you truly want to be in life, something you truly need to have, someone you truly need to be with, and your choice is to either give up or be patient, choose the latter.

Inconsiderate People

I'm not sure exactly what it is, but something struck a nerve with me today. I can't stand inconsiderate people, and when I refer to inconsiderate people, I'm really not talking about the complete assholes out there, because you can see that coming from a mile away (assholes are preferable to a point, you know what you're getting into). I'm really referring more to the people that look like "swell guys and gals" but who just continually seem to take everyone around them for granted.

They can be personable enough, even downright "nice" (usually in a rather nauseating manner...saccharin sweetness I'll call it...artificial as it can be), but as soon as it gets to crunch time, you can forget about counting on them. Sure, they want and seemingly EXPECT you to come through for them, but when you need the help and it's in any way inconvenient, well, you'd better have a second option. I guess selfishness is part of human nature, but these are people who are seemingly never selfless, it's just not in them to be. The best thing is that they're never at fault in their own mind, because after all, they're "nice." They're careless, but then they expect someone to clean up their mess, they'll leave you at the grindstone when you've taken the hit for them a dozen times, and most annoyingly, anything you've done in their service is conveniently forgotten the first time you happen to fall short (something you've more than likely overlooked in their case much more often).

I don't know where I was going with that, or even if I intended to go anywhere with it. It's more likely that I just needed to vent a bit. All I know is that it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to consider someone else every once in a while. Listen to someone when they're having a problem, maybe even say something back, pick up the tab every now and then, be there when your friends need you, don't take the people around you for granted, pick up something for someone every do often without them having to ask you for it, and without asking them to pay you back. If you don't want to do any of those things, then do me a favor and start acting like more of an asshole so I can see it coming. Life is dog-eat-dog way too often for my tastes. Do what you can to put it back in the favor of those around you.

Eating right...

You know, a lot of times you hear things like, "I wish I could eat right, but it's so expensive." This is true, to a point, but things have a tendency to balance themselves out. I've been trying to do a much better job at this, because, frankly, I'm probably in the worst shape of my life now that I'm pushing the big 3-0. Already I've noticed that I've lost a bit of weight (able to fit in some clothes I had grown "out" of), and I've noticed a bunch of other benefits as well. I'm able to sleep a bit better, I no longer get the awful bouts of morning indigestion from eating large portions late at night, and I generally feel better physically. Even waking up seems a little easier.

Another thing I've noticed is that I actually seem to be spending less money on food. Yes, a lot of the things I buy are more expensive (fresh vegetables and fish in particular), but I'm eating less of it. I'm also eating out less, and when I do, it hasn't been as expensive (no more beer, no more soda). I guess a lot of this has to do with the fact that you end up eating less, so again, it balances itself out.

It's been kind of a learning experience really, trying a lot of new healthy things, many of which I'm actually surprised I like (as well as a few that I won't be eating again). I've never been much of a vegetable eater, but that seems to be changing to some extent. All in all, this seems like a positive change, which is something I really, really need this year. Hopefully, it's just the first of many.

Burnt-out.

I feel burnt out on life. There's little to be positive about and the light at the end of the tunnel actually seems to be getting further away. When mentioned to others, the answers to life's problems seem so simple from their perspective, and that just makes me feel smaller and less able to do anything about it. Surely if it was so simple, I must be a fool...

Of course, it really isn't that simple, or at least, I hope it isn't. When someone is having a hard time, don't be fast to offer your solution, as obvious as it may be to you. If they want it, they'll eventually ask for it. Just sit and listen to them, because ultimately, people just want to know they're cared for, and that someone is willing to listen to them, no matter what kind of bitter bile they have to dredge up.

Creative Packaging

When you have PC's mailed to you for repair every day, you get used to seeing some rather creative packaging/padding techniques. From the traditional styrofoam peanuts and wadded newspaper, to more unique methods, such as patient gowns, oxygen masks and even air (nothing in other words...always a bad sign), you never really know what you're going to see when you open the box.

That being said, nothing I had encountered before really prepared me for this:


In case you can't make it out, that's a PC wrapped in adult diapers...Depends. I'm not sure what they were thinking, or how much they thought that would help, but it provided some amusement, even if I didn't exactly want to touch it.

Why I'm Supporting Ron Paul

I've never been an overly political person, largely because I view that stage a few notches below that of car sales and the pharmaceutical industry in terms of honesty and integrity. I vote, but I've always voted by principle and for the person I thought to be the best candidate, not necessarily the candidate with the best odds of winning. I've been reprimanded for that ("Why throw your vote away?"), but I intend to do just that again this year. This time out though, there's a candidate who speaks plainly, truthfully and poignantly. If you consider yourself to be at all "web-savvy" (a term that sounds like something my mother would come up with), then you probably know who I'm referring to (hint, the post title kind of gives it away too):

Ron Paul

I know some will say, "But he's a politician, you can't take what they say at face value!" This is a valid point, but Paul succeeds where others often fail miserably. Why? Because his voting record reflects his presidential platform. All too often you seen candidates flip-flopping on votes they've taken previously, because now that they're running for president, their previous conviction on an issue may no longer be popular. Somehow, seemingly overnight, they "change their mind" and are now wholly committed to what seems to be a contradiction. This just isn't so with Ron Paul. He's stuck to his guns throughout his political career, he's refused to take gifts from lobbyists who would buy his vote, he's never once voted to raise taxes, he's refused special interests and special benefits of the position. In fact, Paul's core principle could be said to be enabling and preserving the rights of the individual as established by the Constitution of these United States of America.

Where Dr. Paul stands on the issues:

Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy - Diplomacy over Warfare
Put the Homefront First (Promote the General Welfare of citizens)
Ending entangling treaties and alliances (WTO, NAFTA, etc.)
The Lowering of Taxes and the end of the Internal Revenue Service
The Protection of Property Rights and the Right of Eminent Domain
Healthcare Freedom - Giving power back to patients, not doctors and corporations
No more corporate welfare (rewarding big-business with tax dollars) and pollution
Protecting the Rights and Civil Liberties of Citizens (this is still a free country...right?)
Educational Choice - Give parents their rights to choose where their children go to school
Cut Foreign Aid (How can we give aid when the United States is in debt?)
Fiscal Responsibility at the Federal Level - If you were the government, you'd be bankrupt.

I've oversimplified a lot of these, and left some off entirely (it's getting late...need to sleep), so go here for more in-depth reading.

Even if you're not usually a voter, listen to what Dr. Paul has to say. His words seem to resonate strongly with those who have been disenchanted by the political system in the past, and this is a good thing. I think it scares those who are used to "politics as usual" because it brings in an unknown element, people like you and me, who don't care for party affiliations and who haven't had much voice in government. If there was a time to take America back from the status-quo, there's really no time like the present.

Vote Ron Paul '08.

This should fix me right up...

Oh yeah. I went to the store to pick up a couple of things to help with my ongoing bout with the flu, and I picked up some of this: Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt. To quote the legend himself:

"I have traveled the world creating this drink; there is none better that I know."

Yeah, I should be better in no time. It's like a kick in the mouth! Of course, plenty have also noted the healing power of music. I wasn't brave enough to try this out though...

Sick as a dog...

Well, it would figure that at the tail end of my not-so-vacation vacation that I'd get sick. Last week my nephew was sick with flu-like symptoms, coughing, aches, fever, you name it. Now it would seem that after lounging around this house for a week, it's finally worn at me enough and I've had the same symptoms since yesterday evening. Fun stuff...

At any rate, I'm doing the usual stuff to ward it off as best I can, herbal teas, aspirin, vitamin C, etc., etc. Not sure how well it's working, but I'm functional for the moment. Say a few words for me during you're prayer time, if you're so-inclined...

Iron Man Trailer

Big Trouble in Little Chairtown GameDev Blog

I found this GameDev Blog looking for more info on the indie game, Mop of Destiny (which combines Castlevania-like gameplay with Out of this World-style visuals). Looks like a pretty good little look into the dev process, and I'll say that the game itself is good (GREAT, and I mean GREAT music, composed by the developer).

Big Trouble in Little Chairtown GameDev BLOG

If you'd like to check out the game itself, click here.

And please, if you have any interest at all, check out the soundtrack...it may be the most impressive aspect of all.

Meaning of Life(?)

Live. Pay taxes. Die.

There has to be more to life than this, right? At this point in life, I'm really starting to wonder...

Red Ring of Death...Take Two

My XBOX 360 has died again...

Wearing down...

Tired.

So tired...

Not sure what's going on with me, but I haven't slept well at all lately, even by my standards. I had been doing a little better, but with all the crap stressing me out at work, not to mention all of the other things my mind tends to overflow with, getting to the point where I'm ready to relax has been just short of impossible lately.

One thing that sucks is that it doesn't look like I'll be able to take a proper vacation this year at all. Between the lack of money, a car that barely runs (see lack of money) and incompatible schedules (sure don't feel like going anywhere alone), I've all but scrapped plans to try to get down to the beach. It's not going to happen. The problem is that I currently have 130 hours of PLT time (vacation, personal leave, call it what you will) and I can only carry 40 of those over past the end of September. Any unused hours past that amount get thrown into the lawyer-inspired 'Emergency Family Leave,' which you can only ever use if you or an immediate family member are ill or dead, and then only after your PLT time is completely depleted. Somewhere in hell I'm sure there's a lawyer being eternally tormented for coming up with that way of stealing time from the overworked.

I'm taking next week off, just to lay around at home, but that doesn't sound like it will give me much needed release, mentally or physically. At best at least I'll catch up on some sleep. I wish I was going somewhere, spending time with certain people, etc. but that's just possible right now. What I really wish is that I'd get some time to disconnect and decompress from the day to day, home included, because right now, I'm tired of being either angry or numb. All I can really do is plan for next year at this point though. Hopefully a little bit of foresight will prevent a repeat.

Iron Man Shown at Comic Con

Well, a rough trailer was shown for Iron Man at the Comic Con just over a week ago. I'd love to be able to link to the footage that was leaked out, but every attempt to post it has been more or less beat-down by Paramount (the distributor of the film). I'm pretty excited about what's been shown so far, and this was the first time where I'm really allowing myself to be optimistic about it. This will not be another Daredevil, Elektra or the Hulk. Thank God...

Replacement 360 XBOX Live Arcade Woes

I hate DRM. I hate hardware that doesn't work. I really hate it when hardware that doesn't work combined with hardware-based DRM, makes for more hardship on what's an already pisspoor situation.

As I posted, my 360 developed the Red Ring of Death (the rather vague general hardware failure in my case) and I sent it off to Microsoft for repair. Well, to make a long story short, M$ sent me a replacement instead of repairing my console, which makes sense, but also a lot of needless bother. As most would know/guess, Live Arcade games are DRM-coded. This DRM basically associates the Live Arcade games with your gamer profile AND the hardware upon which you downloaded them. While this is good in the sense that you can take your games on a memory unit to play on someone else's 360, provided you're logged into Live, well, needless to say, it creates something much less savory when your hardware has been replaced.

Basically, whenever I go to play my Live games, I have to be logged in. No more can I play them without a profile loaded, no more can another profile be loaded. If either of those circumstances are in effect, games appear to be in trial mode, so basically I have to have my Live Profile logged-in. Problem is, I have to actually be logged-in to Live and ONLINE to do it. I basically connect wirelessly through a wireless bridge via an ad-hoc network (no router), so basically this means that my PC has to be on for me to play the full versions of the games I've paid $5-$10 each for. That's 31 downloaded games, only one of which was a freebie. Like I said, I hate DRM.

Needless to say, I'm a little bit miffed. Apparently, since my console was under warranty and sent back to Microsoft, there's a way for me to go about remedying this, but it's rather complicated (basically I have to create a silver Live account, at which point, if everything checks out, they'll credit that account with enough Live Points to download the content again on the new machine, thus registering them with the new hardware). For those people who thought they were being smart by purchasing an extended warranty handled by the retailer (such as Gamestop, Best Buy or EB), they're basically up the creek without a paddle, and will be told as much by Microsoft support. To show a little more about Microsoft's commitment to their customers, apparently so little forethought has been put into this little problem that those who upgrade to the XBOX 360 Elite also have the issue, and like the extended warranty purchasers, they have little recourse other than to just deal with it. I know it might seem like a trivial thing to some (you can of course still play them, you just have to be connected to Live), but what about those gamers who took their 360 over to a friend's house to download those games (how I first started doing it, until I found a way to do the ad-hoc thing with my dial-up connection...yup, you read that right) and can now no longer play them since they have no way of logging-in to Live every single time they play.

Considering the degree of hardware failures users have experienced, I'd say their customer base has been about as loyal and patient as any could be. This is another slap in the face, and Microsoft really needs to come clean and find solutions to these issues, especially those that are a product of their oversight. You hear stories about people being on their 3rd 360. I was skeptical about it at first, but now that I'm a member of the Red Ring Fraternity, I guess it's opened my eyes a bit. Microsoft can still come out on this, but it won't by ignoring their customers and denying hardware issues, especially when it's become the laughingstock that is XBOX 360 hardware reliability & satisfaction.

Sense of dread...

Seems like there's an impending sense of dread surrounding work lately. I've never been the most positive person when it comes to, well, most anything, but this is different. It's almost like being on the verge of losing consciousness while a vulture circles overhead. It just feels like something is about to happen, and that it's not going to be good for most of the people it effects. It's almost as if those running the show (the vultures) are doing their best to try to get the department at large to leave of their own accord so that they don't have to come up with bogus reasons to fire us. They make it pretty obvious that they don't trust us, even though we give them no reason not to. They do their best to create division between certain groups in the department, incorporating a tier-based "caste" system (despite their statements to the contrary) and incorporate "improvements" that manage to accomplish nothing other than complicating once-simple tasks. Probably the most frustrating thing to me is that they apparently never say what they mean, nor mean what they say. They just sit back plotting and scheming, not taking into account that we're doing a hell of a job considering the size and growth of the organization, or that what they're dealing with are the livelihoods of human beings. I'm not really sure what to do, I'm just tired of thinking about it.

First Look: Origin IRON MAN Armor (Movie)

Apparently this is the first look at the movie's version of the original Iron Man armor (the one Tony Stark builds when imprisoned and near-death). Looks good enough to me.

Just to compare, here's the armor as it originally looked in IM's first appearance, Tales of Suspense #39.

Windows Freeware Apps You Need

You know, the internet has a lot to offer, but all too often what it offers are problems for your computer. Virii, spyware and other malware run rampant, and you need something that will help. All of these are 100% free and will help protect your PC better than some commercial applications, and far better than nothing at all.

AntiVirus
Avast - Nice freeware app and one of the better free antivirus programs. The pre-boot Windows scanning agent is especially nice when it comes to ridding your PC of some of the more stubborn virii. You must register (for free) every 14 months.
Avira - The first free antivirus that I ever used is also quite competent. It's not quite as full-featured as Avast and pops up the occasional add for its full version, but it gets the job done for the most part, and isn't as resource-hungry.
AVG Anti-Virus - I've never really used this one, but it's generally the most widely-used of the free apps.

Anti-Malware
Spybot: Search & Destroy - One of the better anti-malware apps available, and it's totally free. This will basically scan your PC for a plethora of spyware (over 60,000 known variants), clean your PC, and in 17,000 cases, actually immunize your PC from infection. Install this, keep it updated, scan often.
Lavasoft Ad-Aware - Another great anti-malware app, Ad-Aware targets a slightly different type of malware than does Spybot, so it's good to use these in tandem. If you're getting lots of random pop-up ads, this one is particularly useful.
Windows Defender - Normally I wouldn't recommend a Microsoft product in a thread about security, but this does the job and it's free (if you have Genuine, aka, NON-PIRATED, Windows). I liked it a lot better when it was Giant Antispyware, but it still meets the criteria and gives some options the others don't.
AVG Anti-Spyware - I tried this one and didn't like it much (doesn't self-update), but I work with folks in IT who swear by it, so I'm including it due to their word alone.
AVG Anti-Rootkit Free - Rootkits are basically nasty little apps the conceal potentially harmful processes running on your PC. These have been pushed out by the usual ne'er-do-wells that usually make life miserable for the average PC user, as well as corporations like Sony in an iron-fisted attempt to enforce DRM. Use this if you need none of that nonsense.

Browsers
Mozilla Firefox - Firefox has basically become the alternative browser of choice for this generation of computer users, and for good reason. It's fast, stable, and not as susceptible to malware as Internet Explorer. In addition, it adds truly user-friendly features like tabbed-browsing (now incorporated by Microsoft in IE7) and extensions, useful, user-created tools that will help you do everything from check the weather to download embedded videos.
Opera - Another great browser (same as found on the Nintendo Wii...heh). This is one of the fastest full-featured browsers for Windows and can scream through pages. It has a nice look to it, and like Firefox (probably even moreso), it's not as susceptible as IE.
Mozilla Seamonkey - Another Mozilla-based browser, Seamonkey is what the Mozilla Suite has become. If you like one program to handle your browsing, e-mail, IRC & HTML-editing needs, this is it. Includes support for extensions as well, and has what I consider to be the single coolest name for a browser.

Other
Mozilla Thunderbird - The only e-mail client you'll ever need. Fast and efficient, with support for extensions, Thunderbird is probably the most configurable e-mail client available.
Open Office - You need access to Word or Excel, but don't want to pay $300+? Open Office is what you need. Free for download, it includes apps that do exactly what Office does, including save to Microsoft's file formats. This will be one of the best chunks of change you ever saved.
Foxit Reader - Adobe Acrobat Reader is slow, clunky, and, when using the browser plugins, crashes both IE & Firefox on occasion. Foxit is fast, small (less than 2MB) and generally much less of a hassle. Foxit also offers a PDF creator, but it will leave a watermark on your created PDF's unless you pony up $99.