I'm back, but not recovered.
Good day everyone. Are you all bundled up in this chilly if not freezing weather? We're having a balmy 48* day today, but the sun may or may not show its face. This damp PNW weather gets into my bones and it seems I can't get warm! I'd much rather be too hot than too cold, if you didn't already know that. Anyway ...
With regard to my absence. I briefly mentioned that my computer was out of commission; so here's the thing. On Christmas day, while I was up in Anacortes visiting with my family, DH, who didn't want to go with me stayed home. He's been threatening to switch my laptop over to Linux for months now, and I have resisted because I don't much like change, especially to something totally unfamiliar.
So, to my surprise, when I came home the afternoon of the 26th, my laptop wasn't in its usual spot in front of my chair; it was in the dining room on top of the printer instead. Dialogue ensued, and the gist was that I, or rather, MY laptop was in the process of getting a new OS, against my wishes, and things were not going as simply as he thought they were going to. Oh no, not as simply at all.
During the nearly three weeks before he returned it for my use, he not only had to install Linux, but put in a virtual Windows partition so I could access the public library and their digital books. But for some reason he couldn't use the registered Windows XP that came packaged on my Dell, so he had to install a, I guess, pirated and therefore unregistered, copy from the Internet. The issue with that is that the library won't let me download anything except books that are in MP3 format, which surprisingly limits selection. I cannot finish Fall of Giants as it doesn't come in MP3 format, I was listening to it in WMA format that I can no longer use. I am not happy about this.
Also, my pictures are all over the place, and I think I have lost a bunch of them. I have no idea how to organize them as they are no longer in their folders. So now I have photos of my three Asian baby niece and nephews, and it is kind of hard to tell them apart! To say nothing of all the other pictures and graphics I have collected over the years. This is why little white boxes are showing up on some of my entries. I am not happy about this.
I lost my complete address book. I am not happy about this.
I now have a folder that says My Documents which, when opened, has approximately 812 tiny icons that are all dated this January 13th and when opened give me an error message. Apparently I have to go through each one manually and either save it or delete it. I am not happy about this.
On the positive side, because no matter how flat the pancake is, it always has two aides, (a Dr. Phil-ism), I now have four desktops, so I can easily be doing several things at one time. I'm getting used to this. For instance I can be streaming NPR while playing Mahjongg, and still have Blogger open, and my Thunderbird can be open as well. Not that I can read or write while listening to talk radio, but to music? OK. So there is that.
The worst thing is not feeling comfortable with my baby, here.
So, Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,
With regard to my absence. I briefly mentioned that my computer was out of commission; so here's the thing. On Christmas day, while I was up in Anacortes visiting with my family, DH, who didn't want to go with me stayed home. He's been threatening to switch my laptop over to Linux for months now, and I have resisted because I don't much like change, especially to something totally unfamiliar.
So, to my surprise, when I came home the afternoon of the 26th, my laptop wasn't in its usual spot in front of my chair; it was in the dining room on top of the printer instead. Dialogue ensued, and the gist was that I, or rather, MY laptop was in the process of getting a new OS, against my wishes, and things were not going as simply as he thought they were going to. Oh no, not as simply at all.
During the nearly three weeks before he returned it for my use, he not only had to install Linux, but put in a virtual Windows partition so I could access the public library and their digital books. But for some reason he couldn't use the registered Windows XP that came packaged on my Dell, so he had to install a, I guess, pirated and therefore unregistered, copy from the Internet. The issue with that is that the library won't let me download anything except books that are in MP3 format, which surprisingly limits selection. I cannot finish Fall of Giants as it doesn't come in MP3 format, I was listening to it in WMA format that I can no longer use. I am not happy about this.
Also, my pictures are all over the place, and I think I have lost a bunch of them. I have no idea how to organize them as they are no longer in their folders. So now I have photos of my three Asian baby niece and nephews, and it is kind of hard to tell them apart! To say nothing of all the other pictures and graphics I have collected over the years. This is why little white boxes are showing up on some of my entries. I am not happy about this.
I lost my complete address book. I am not happy about this.
I now have a folder that says My Documents which, when opened, has approximately 812 tiny icons that are all dated this January 13th and when opened give me an error message. Apparently I have to go through each one manually and either save it or delete it. I am not happy about this.
On the positive side, because no matter how flat the pancake is, it always has two aides, (a Dr. Phil-ism), I now have four desktops, so I can easily be doing several things at one time. I'm getting used to this. For instance I can be streaming NPR while playing Mahjongg, and still have Blogger open, and my Thunderbird can be open as well. Not that I can read or write while listening to talk radio, but to music? OK. So there is that.
The worst thing is not feeling comfortable with my baby, here.
So, Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,
Oh, Webster, I'm so sorry you had to go through this. You still have your sense of humor, though, I noticed! If it happened to me (which it wouldn't because my "DH" knows nothing, nil, nada about technology. I could have an online affair -- again, I wouldn't -- and he'd know nothing!)[what a run on sentence/clause/phrase!] Again -- if it happened to me, I'd be screaming bloody murder!!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
Thanks, Muff. DH knows I'm not particularly pleased about this turn my only Go-To person when I have 'puter questions -- which is more often than I'd like to admit. I know he didn't expect to run into so many problems, (thank you Microsoft/Dell) and definitely didn't expect to spend nearly three weeks on it.
ReplyDeleteOh he felt so bad when things went South and he lost everything (!), but he thinks most has been recovered -- I just have to go through all these files individually to "find" them. I bitched a bit, (okay, a lot!), but have learned long ago that it gets me nowhere but madder, and that's not good. After all, what's done is done.
When do I get my halo?
Yay Webster! I am glad you are back. Sorry DH screwed things up, but you are back...and that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI am giving you a halo, albeit a tad tarnished.
Cheers
Sorry about your laptop troubles. Unless there was something seriously wrong with your laptop, usually switching out an operating system is not a good idea ... definitely not something I'd ever try on my own. I had to have it done once (only because my PC crashed/there was an issue with my operating system), but fortunately my company has an IT department that handled it. But that was relatively simple (re-installing windows). In your case -- was it switching a piece of hardware designed for Windows to Linux? -- it must have been a lot more complicated!
ReplyDeleteBest,
Marty
glad you are back and no more computer woes hit ya.
ReplyDeleteThe latest and greatest (LOL) restore discs that are shipped do not like to reinstall on anything but a blank hard drive. Kind of limits the options. Gosh my computers have you make a set of discs and you only get to do this once. One failed - I suspect if that puter crashes I will have to go buy the Win operating system to get going again.
I lost a lot of my stuff the last crash - I did have a backup of my address book and news reader links although it was old as I had become lazy with the backups.
I feel for you what a pain!
Is the pirated copy the reason you can not use wma? I do not know how the library book things work. do you download the file and then listen or must the windows play it right then? Confused.
lap tops are so picky about drivers . ...
Well glad your online again.
Wow, that's, umm, a love gift that keeps giving.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're mostly back online but too bad about the lib books as I know that you're hardcore about those.
Good luck figuring out the 812 mystery files!
Not fun. When your computer is a major means of connecting to the outside world, it's hard not to be a little touchy about it. I'm glad you're back!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of your thoughtful remarks. DH tried to make up for it by adding 1G more memory (it was on sale). Funny, I don't even notice. I am happier that he fixed the leak on the kitchen faucet! That was driving me nuts! LOL
ReplyDelete