Journal. A Tale of Two Computers.
Yesterday I decided to have a look why Pat could not use the CD writer on this computer. All I could find was the missing drive letter D and looking further, according to the computer D drive did not exist. I gave my friend Brian a ring, told him the symptoms and he said "funny...", I'll come over, I have to go downtown". The CD Writer loaded a disk, spun the disk and nothing else.
Brian duly arrived checked what I'd done already and then proceeded to run a few of his test programs. "H'mm" he said, its probably either a loose plug or its the drive". So we duly pulled the computer apart, and checked the plugs. All OK. Brian then got a spare CD writer, plugged it in and 'hey presto" everything was back to normal. So we left the test drive sitting on top of the computer case until I get a new replacement.
Anthony has been wanting a new computer for a while. He has my old computer but it is now long out of date. He has checked quite a few packages good and not so good. Last Thursday, the day before yesterday he called me to have a look at a computer package offered by Dell which I duly did yesterday, Friday. He wanted a quick answer to what I thought because the offer closed at midnight that day. Anthony rung me at 7.30 p.m., I told him what I thought and he said he would buy it. I said to him to give me a ring after he had ordered it. He laughed and said that it might be midnight as he was dickering about whether or not to get a couple of extra add on's. I said "don't bother.
Its Saturday 2 p.m. now and he hasn't rung yet. I wonder if he did order it over the Internet by the midnight deadline?
This morning I went down to my other friend Gregg at his computer shop and got a new CD Writer kit. I will fit the new drive next week. I never pick Gregg's brains, he probably would offer to look but he is the business professionally and time to him is money. It is an unwritten rule in business not to ask a friend a favour like this. Greg brings his monitors to me to fix and and I take my problems to him to fix or ask elsewhere like my friend Brian who is an avid computer enthusiast.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Journal. A Windy Day.
Sun, showers and wind this morning, pleasant when the sun is out. I'm down in the office again. We have modified the office layout after we closed the business down. We should have used this layout originally, we now have much more room.
Pat is away again at a meeting, she left mid-morning and will be back mid-afternoon. It is a Church craft get together making new Xmas cards from old ones to sell for the Ladies Fellowship funds of which Pat is Chairlady ( I don't like this Chairperson business). She left around 10 a.m. armed with coloured card, old Xmas cards, press-on stamps and glue sticks. She will pick up a roll for her working lunch.
I've just been looking at a local NZ web site... Price Spy which monitors the price changes of computer parts. I have it set for monitors. I'm going to buy a new monitor, a 19 inch TFT flat panel when the prices come down a little further. Prices have been dropping steadily. I will still keep and use my present 19 inch CRT monitor both hooked up to this computer.
I installed the beta version of Google Desktop on my laptop last night to try out its features. It integrates together the normal Google internet search and Desktop Search to search your own computer. I have come to no conclusion yet due to lack of time last night. I did try 2 searches and it seemed to work ok. I also put in "Eric" and I got over 1300 hits, not much good with broad searches but may be good to find that old file 10 layers down. We'll see.
Sun, showers and wind this morning, pleasant when the sun is out. I'm down in the office again. We have modified the office layout after we closed the business down. We should have used this layout originally, we now have much more room.
Pat is away again at a meeting, she left mid-morning and will be back mid-afternoon. It is a Church craft get together making new Xmas cards from old ones to sell for the Ladies Fellowship funds of which Pat is Chairlady ( I don't like this Chairperson business). She left around 10 a.m. armed with coloured card, old Xmas cards, press-on stamps and glue sticks. She will pick up a roll for her working lunch.
I've just been looking at a local NZ web site... Price Spy which monitors the price changes of computer parts. I have it set for monitors. I'm going to buy a new monitor, a 19 inch TFT flat panel when the prices come down a little further. Prices have been dropping steadily. I will still keep and use my present 19 inch CRT monitor both hooked up to this computer.
I installed the beta version of Google Desktop on my laptop last night to try out its features. It integrates together the normal Google internet search and Desktop Search to search your own computer. I have come to no conclusion yet due to lack of time last night. I did try 2 searches and it seemed to work ok. I also put in "Eric" and I got over 1300 hits, not much good with broad searches but may be good to find that old file 10 layers down. We'll see.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Journal. Monday Morning.
Just another day now that I am retired, the day we put out the recycling items for collection. Vicky and Ian were in my thoughts again this morning, not that they are usually far away at this present time. The photos of Jen and Pete's new born baby had just arrived and the world is their oyster and I thought to myself, life it is continually changing. We have our ups and downs, joys and sadness. One household of our family is up and another is sad.
Spring is here and with it sun and showers. Downstairs here in the office I spend time on the computer on days like this. It is nice to work in the garden in the sun but everything is wet from the showers. Weeding in the wet is not my favourite job.
Just another day now that I am retired, the day we put out the recycling items for collection. Vicky and Ian were in my thoughts again this morning, not that they are usually far away at this present time. The photos of Jen and Pete's new born baby had just arrived and the world is their oyster and I thought to myself, life it is continually changing. We have our ups and downs, joys and sadness. One household of our family is up and another is sad.
Spring is here and with it sun and showers. Downstairs here in the office I spend time on the computer on days like this. It is nice to work in the garden in the sun but everything is wet from the showers. Weeding in the wet is not my favourite job.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Journal. Thoughts and a Visit.
Pat didn't go to Church this morning, it is not often she misses but she did go for a Church meeting later. I spent the morning doing genealogy, something I haven't looked at for a while. I have just received a new computer program, a dedicated database for storing all kinds of genealogical data so I was modifying it for my needs.
Anthony arrived late morning so we spent the rest of the morning chatting and looking round the garden. After lunch Anthony suggested we might go round the Lake in the late afternoon for a walk and I jumped at the idea. I had let my walking lapse since we returned from England and I have made a few half-hearted attempts to start again without much success.
After lunch Pat and Anthony went through the way to talk and I went downstairs to send some emails off and a little more genealogy.
We enjoyed the walk later. We went via up Rayner Rd and then across the paddock to the lake. Pat picked us from the Yacht Club later, my legs were tuckered out.
Anthony didn't stay for dinner. In the evening Pat had the local bird club monthly meeting and I once more continued with my new program.
I don't seem to be able to raise much enthusiasm for birdkeepng anymore after getting rid of all the birds after I became ill. We did try for a while, bought a kitset aviary but never managed to erect it other than make a base for it. After the kitset lay un-erected on its prepared base for over 12 months we sold it.
I've not had too much luck with some of my interests over time. Model railways came to a sticky end too. I had the old empty bird breeding shed 4.2 metres by 2.4 metres which I widened to 3 metres (14 ft. by10 ft.). Ideal for model railways.
Over time ants had made their home in the structure. I thought I could eradicate them but no, they returned and returned. Cutting a long story short the only solution would have been to abandon the shed and put up a new structure elsewhere in the garden. The problem with ants is that they leave their droppings all over the model structures.
How one can ramble... this started out as a short few lines.
Pat didn't go to Church this morning, it is not often she misses but she did go for a Church meeting later. I spent the morning doing genealogy, something I haven't looked at for a while. I have just received a new computer program, a dedicated database for storing all kinds of genealogical data so I was modifying it for my needs.
Anthony arrived late morning so we spent the rest of the morning chatting and looking round the garden. After lunch Anthony suggested we might go round the Lake in the late afternoon for a walk and I jumped at the idea. I had let my walking lapse since we returned from England and I have made a few half-hearted attempts to start again without much success.
After lunch Pat and Anthony went through the way to talk and I went downstairs to send some emails off and a little more genealogy.
We enjoyed the walk later. We went via up Rayner Rd and then across the paddock to the lake. Pat picked us from the Yacht Club later, my legs were tuckered out.
Anthony didn't stay for dinner. In the evening Pat had the local bird club monthly meeting and I once more continued with my new program.
I don't seem to be able to raise much enthusiasm for birdkeepng anymore after getting rid of all the birds after I became ill. We did try for a while, bought a kitset aviary but never managed to erect it other than make a base for it. After the kitset lay un-erected on its prepared base for over 12 months we sold it.
I've not had too much luck with some of my interests over time. Model railways came to a sticky end too. I had the old empty bird breeding shed 4.2 metres by 2.4 metres which I widened to 3 metres (14 ft. by10 ft.). Ideal for model railways.
Over time ants had made their home in the structure. I thought I could eradicate them but no, they returned and returned. Cutting a long story short the only solution would have been to abandon the shed and put up a new structure elsewhere in the garden. The problem with ants is that they leave their droppings all over the model structures.
How one can ramble... this started out as a short few lines.
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