Well I finally found a good fix. Here’s a little guide for anyone else having the same problem:

1. Run regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance (It’s probably quickest to use Edit > Find to search for “DontRefresh”).
3. There should be three values in here, one of which is named DontRefresh. By default, its value is set to 1 (on). Double-click and change it to 0. Click OK.
4. Hit F5 (give it a second to refresh), then exit.

Now shared folders should refresh normally. No more out-of-date listings.

Keep in mind that Matt was DMing, so his times aren’t representative of his speed as a player.

• Became a notary public.
• Ryan moved out and quit his job.
• Started two new 4th ed. D&D games (I GM one on Sundays and play in Matt’s game at Ed’s house on Fridays).
• Got some awesome stuff for Xmas — a whole bedroom set, an iPod ghettoblaster, a signed copy of the Top Chef cookbook.
• Had a ton of snow.
• Made a new year’s resolution to always dress professionally for work (been keeping it so far).
• Made a new year’s resolution to record every board game I play (also kept this one so far).
• Got new living room furniture (two leather sofas, replacing the old big one).
• Set up RAID 1 for my NAS.
• Turned the extra bedroom into a game room (cleaned it really thoroughly, bought a table and chairs off craigslist, moved in some shelves and bureaus, put up a bunch of posters).

That’s all I can think of at the moment. Part of the reason I haven’t been blogging lately is that I’m twittering. It’s way easier, so I do it more frequently. Plus the 140-character limit discourages rambling. Here’s a widget that displays my four most recent “tweets”:
[removed due to changes in Twitter API]

Why are we in California? We had to pick up the clinic’s new (24 feet long!) custom-built vet truck. So we flew into San Diego yesterday morning, picked it up at the convention center, drove to Carlsbad, had lunch at a Friday’s, then drove and drove to San Fernando where we got a room. Now we’re staying at The Chateau Hotel in Napa. Tomorrow we’re going to have lunch at Bouchon Bistro, then drive north for as long as we can tolerate.

BTW, we crossed these hills this morning and the temperature change was radical — it was 67° on the Los Angeles side and 41° on the Avenal side. Crazy.

Some things I’ve learned: No one in CA uses turn signals, Hanwool was not exaggerating about L.A. traffic, Motel 6 gives you soap but not shampoo, Garmin GPS directions in SoCal suck, and there is such a thing as $4 toll bridges.

Buncha stuff’s happened since I blogged last, but I’m too tired to even try recapping. Will try to update when I get back to Pasco. Will also post Flickr pics.