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      Monday, December 04, 2017


geekstuff
12:54 PM - 12/04/2017

The topic: I think Brian’s new computer is pretty close to him being able to use it
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So, I get the new computer unboxed, put the stand on, pull the old monitor and computer out, vacuum most of the dust bunnies from that area, all nice and clean, set up the new computer, plug it in and start it up. The monitor keeps going black. Huh? What the hell? I finally unplugged it from where it was plugged in (to a battery back up system) and used a heavy duty extension cord for a plug in across the room. No more problems. Okay, we'll have to find a more convenient outlet to run this thing.

Then there was the installation of the mouse and keyboard. No place was it mentioned that it was a unifying receiver, one that took information from both the mouse and keyboard. I kept looking for the dongle for the keyboard, but there wasn't an additional one, it was with the mouse dongle. So, very few cables on his side of the desk now.

Cortana kind of surprised me. When she started talking, I about jumped out of my skin. But I must say, the speakers on this system aren't half bad.

For some reason, the DVD drive won't open, it opened earlier but won't now. Not really a problem at this point, I have a bunch of portable DVD drives that I got when I used to make the Disney movies after the meets. I can just plug one into a back USB port and leave it. If anything else goes wrong, then we'll address it. We have a four year warranty on it (Costco concierge automatically doubles the standard warranty and I don't know if it's a seasonal thing, but then doubled the warranty that they usually have, so four years).

I installed Paint Shop Pro X7 from a DVD, that I got back in 2002. Guess what? When it checked for an update, it updated to a version that came out in 2014! Checking, I also purchased the newer upgraded version for cheap in 2016, so....it's not like I'm getting something for nothing. Anyway, I think it will be a lot easier for Brian to manage his photos now. The application is a lot more user friendly. He doesn't edit much, just resizes.

I went into his email and sent some test mails to myself, with attachments (that's why the photos are important; he wants the potential customer to see what they'd be getting, how well they're made....and also, he told me later, when they go someplace cheaper and compare what they got with what he makes, they'll understand why his cost more). It kept trying to pull the photos from onedrive, what the hell is onedrive? I check on it, nope, don't need access to his photos from everywhere in the world, I can do that with my NAS. It would only serve to confuse him.

Fortunately, on this system, it can be uninstalled and it is.

I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I had a problem with his old computer, which is destined for a new home, a long way from here. When I plugged an external hard drive in to back up the info on that computer to transfer to the new computer, the blue thing in the front USB i/o port broke. And neither port would work and there was a strong probability of shorting out the computer. I spent a week looking for a replacement part.

First place I bought it from was a scammer. Supposedly was sent out on the 20th of last month, I should have had it Saturday, the 22nd. Nope. I contacted them Monday. "Oh, the post office damaged it, we're getting a replacement tomorrow, I'll send new shipping info".  I waited until Thursday and nothing. I contacted them, they blew me off. I put in a dispute with my bank. Then I found another place, with shipping it was almost a hundred bucks, but I wanted that part. I ordered it, then got a notice from them that they cancelled the order, the part was on backorder, didn't know when it would be in.

I went over to the Meh forums, I know people there work with computers and posed my question. Where to find this part. And someone found it on eBay. I checked it out and it was only $28, so I went for it. Supposedly brand new. Of course, I was a little nervous about it, it said it was for a different computer than mine and looking at the specs for that computer, this part would never work in my system. And the number was different. I paid with PayPal so knew I'd have some recourse if it was wrong.

It got here Saturday. It was right! And the number was right! I took the old computer back to Brian's shop this morning, blew all of the dust and stuff out with his compressor, came back in and the old part came out smoothly and the new part went in smoothly. I put the front and side back on, took that and the old monitor into the kitchen, plugged them in and we have working USB 3.0 ports on the front!  I felt so geeky!

So, I've been going from the kitchen to the office, from the office to the kitchen, looking for files I need for the new system. I'm getting a lot of walking in. lol

Of course, all of this takes time and Brian is antsy. He asked what I wanted for lunch, tuna sammies, I said. He made them, and came back into the office, I tell him "okay, I've got your pictures on the computer, but I don't have it set up for you to access them via your email, so you can't work with them yet." 

Him: Oh, but I can do quotes?

Me: Yeah, you can do quotes. But you can't add pictures. (There's a little eye rolling on my side of the room.)

Him: No pictures yet?

Me: What did I tell you?

Him: The pictures weren't ready yet.

He went back out to work on hydraulics.

So, I have a few things left to do, but I don't think I need to install some of the old programs he had. I think using the new Microsoft Edge browser should work nicely. For pop ups and ads (but if it doesn't, I'll install an add blocker). I have to put the security software on it still and maybe Roboform (the old version), but if I can get away with not, just tell him his passwords, the browser software should save them as he goes along.

So, that's what I've been doing this morning. When Brian asked me if I'd done my computer yet, I just looked at him. Really? Are you kidding?  "Well, you're just so fast at this."  Yeah, nice save, buddy.

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geekstuff    conversations   

      Saturday, December 16, 2017


geekstuff
06:07 AM - 12/16/2017

The topic: Life has a way of getting in the way of great plans…
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My plan was to have all of my cards finished and out at the beginning of this week.  That didn't happen.

The problem, mostly, was that computer we got him. The all in one. Remember in my previous entry I mentioned having to find another outlet to run it on? I knew there was something just not right with that.

The screen blacking out did not stop. I added programs. I removed programs. I contacted the manufacturer's support and I was told to install these updates (there were three links, one for the BIOS, one for the chipset and one for the graphics card. "If these don't work, contact us and we'll set up for you to send the unit it for repair.".  "Uh, no, this is a new computer, I'll just return it" was my response.

I installed the updates. For about a half hour, there was no flashing. Then it started again.

Frustrated, on Monday, I'd had enough. We would return the machine. I started the process of wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system to factory settings. Got it up and running and it worked. No flashing. Great! Maybe we won't have to return it.  It goes into sleep mode. It comes out easily. Just to be safe, it stays on sleep mode overnight. It wasn't turned off.

Tuesday morning, he comes in, brings it out of sleep mode. No monitor. Oh, I can talk to Cortana, but there's nothing on the screen. That's it. I'm done. Start the wipe of the hard drive again. It gets so far and stalls. To hell with it.

I unplug it, take everything apart and it's ready to be returned to CostCo. We were there when they opened.

I hadn't installed my new computer yet, it was still in the box, I was getting his up and running and working on the cards. It's not  a priority.  After the unit was returned and our card credited, Brian did the shopping and I went to the computer section. Found a really nice model, a Dell XPS, and checking it against the specs for my new computer, the one sitting at home on the coffee table in its box, the HP Envy, this was a more robust unit. 4GB graphics card, 16GB of RAM vs the 12GB of the one on the coffee table.  I salivated. We got this computer, and this would be mine and Brian would get the one on the coffee table. He also got a new monitor. The man who worked in the tech area came over and we discussed the problems with the all in one. He said the problem with those is when something goes wrong, the entire system doesn't work. He said he didn't care for them at all. Yeah, me either. It looked nice and was great in concept, but possible downtime was a major consideration.

We get home, in less than three hours I had it up and running, most of the programs he uses installed.

He has had no problems since. And I started working on cards.

geekstuff    computer    all in one   


otherstuff
06:49 AM - 12/16/2017

The topic: About plans
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Brian had an appointment Wednesday and I was going to go with him, but Tuesday night my IBS or whatever the hell it is flared up. This thing I've had since my twenties. I didn't want to be sitting in a waiting room and have the pain hit, so we decided I didn't really need to be there. Sleep that night was awful.

I spent the day dozing off and on. I lost a day of papercrafting.

I decided this time I didn't want to take any pills to help things along. I wanted my body to do it on its own. After Brian's colonoscopy a few months ago, he was told to take a fiber supplement for is diverticulitis. So, he said I should take it as well. If it would help this from happening, I was all for it. But my body wasn't used to the fiber, I guess.

Ever since my gallbladder was taken out, I've had a reflux problem. It's really been a drag on my activity level, having that acidic stomach. Omeprazole works, but it's not a long term solution. So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try a Zantac in the morning and at night (don't take more than two tablets a day as per directions). Yeah! No stomach problems. Well, there was some breakthrough, but it wasn't really bad. It really sucks to be wakened from a deep sleep by stuff coming up your throat, burning along the way. Burning is what acid does. But the Zantac has a side effect. Constipation.

And yeah. That happened. So, with the Zantac side effect, the upped intake of fiber, my poor intestines were lost. They didn't know what to do. So, they just hurt.

Funny thing, though, for years I've taken an orange soda flavored Zipfizz in the morning, before breakfast, with my BP pill. Well, Wednesday, I didn't have one. At all. I didn't have one Thursday, or Friday. And you know what?

No reflux. No upset stomach. And Thursday we had Taco Bell for dinner. Amazing.

So, Zipfizz will now be used for it's purpose. As a pick-me-up when I really need one (it has a ton of vitamin B). Not as a substitute for good old boring water. I'm not saying Zipfizz is a bad thing, I'm just saying I can't take it every day, first thing. My body doesn't process things like it did when it was younger. Your mileage may vary.

141031017


geekstuff
07:08 AM - 12/16/2017

The topic: Plan interference part three
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So, all the pieces for the last three cards were cut last Sunday. Fifty-three sheets of paper. At this point, I'm trying to decide what to use for sentiments and embellishments. I needed a certain text on a curve for a banner.

I decided to use my Mint stampmaker.

I got the stamp designed and started the process and the computer wouldn't recognize the stamp maker. Oh, if I disconnected it from the computer and reconnected it, I got the little box saying "installed". But I couldn't get the Mint software to recognize that it was connected.

I restarted the laptop. It stalled. NOOOOOOO!!!!

I restarted again. Same thing. I finally ended up doing a recovery (yeah, just like Brian's all in one). I did research new laptops, found a couple I liked, Brian said I could get one, but if I can get this one working again, I won't worry about it.

Luckily, I did get it working again. I'm not happy with losing my settings, but it's not like there's a lot of stuff on it that can't be replaced. And I did use the save your stuff option, so if there are any pictures on there that hadn't been transferred to the external drive, they are still available. Somewhere.

I got my stamp made. I did a test ink of one, not happy with it, spent some time researching the best way to emboss using a Silhouette Mint stamp, did a couple of test stamps and I figured I could do this on Friday. Yay!

Shut down for the night.

stamps    geekstuff    craftstuff   


catstuff
07:32 AM - 12/16/2017

The topic: And then, there’s number four
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During the sleep time on Thursday night into Friday morning, Mario was very growly. He's growly at the other cats, but he was particularly bad this night.

There was a lot of "shut up, Mario" from both of us.

Friday morning, I found out why. His back end was VERY painful. Ah, come on.....

I wasn't sure what it could be. Thoughts were urinary blockage or constipation. Neither were good options. As soon as it was eight, I called the vet's office. We made an appointment for ten am. Then I saw Mario in the office, on a throw rug. He was trying to poop. He had urinated. So, this narrows it down.

The doc checked him over, took a mini-blood test, and Mario got an x-ray.

Mario has always had a problem with his lower back. And it's gotten worse as he's gotten older (he's seventeen). We could see the deterioraton on the x-ray. The vet called it stenosis. And pressure was put on his nerves, think along the lines of sciatica. And it's hard for him to push out these hard, dry little stools you see here in the x-ray.  It's not that he can't push them out, it's just too painful.

So, Mario got fluids, Mario got an enema, Mario got to stay at the vet's office until he passed the stools, then he came home with some steroids (for the back problem) and stool softener. And from now on, he'll get psyllium added to his meals. Of course, these will be special meals, just for him, so I know he's getting what he needs to be getting. Vet said if possible 80% wet food for him. Yeah, okay. I just wish he wasn't such a slow eater.

I finished one card yesterday. Four to go.

vet    stenosis    sciatica    mario   

      Sunday, December 17, 2017


otherstuff
08:04 AM - 12/17/2017

The topic: Cards are done!
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Finished the envelopes last night. Yay! Now, to figure out who to send what. And one of them needs a little message about how to open the card, it's not tricky, but it's not obvious.

We might go see a movie this morning, Brian needs a break. Then when we get home, I need to wrap some gifts for shipping tomorrow.

I also need to get the cards addressed and stamped. I'm really sad that most of them won't get to their destinations by Christmas, they didn't last year. That's why I started on them so early this year, before Thanksgiving. The best laid plans...

I'm getting excited about setting up my new computer, I keep thinking about it, but I have all this other stuff to do first.

Darn it.

      Thursday, December 21, 2017


otherstuff
11:43 AM - 12/21/2017

The topic: Woohoo!
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Presents for the vet's office were wrapped (six hours on Tuesday, two and a half hours yesterday) and delivered yesterday afternoon.

And I just finiished writing on and addressing the cards that I'm sending out this year. I didn't make extras, so, that's kind of sad, but I just ran out of time.

Now, I can get started on putting MY new computer to work.

Honestly, my holiday stuff is pretty much done. No more to do. No decorations, no family visits for meals, just another day. Each year, I lose a little more of the Christmas spirit and at this point? It's pretty much gone. Last week I set up a new station on Pandora (connected to my Roku) for holiday music. Listened for less than a half hour and I was "okay, that's enough" and turned it off.

I kind of feel like we're living under a cloud since November 2016. Just not rich enough to matter, I guess, and that's just wrong. As an American, I feel we should ALL count.

Oh, well. At least we don't have kids to worry about. That's something to be thankful for.

 

      Friday, December 22, 2017


geekstuff
08:37 AM - 12/22/2017

The topic: Facebook makes me crazy with its rules
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My images no longer show (you know, the little graphics in each entry), they had been pulling from the one at the bottom.. I tried changing that one, then they started pulling the image from the banner at the top. Really weird.

Then they quit pulling text from the first part of my entries. They're doing all of this to stop the fakenews postings.

I have to add some sort of special tag, called Open Graph, or og. I found a plugin that should work, but I have to figure it out and that's not going to happen any time in the next couple of weeks.

This morning, my PC wouldn't boot up. I usually just start it, then walk away. I went back into the office and it was doing a disk repair. I was bad, I shut it down and restarted it.

Chose "start windows normally" and it booted right up. But it looks like my new computer couldn't have happened at a better time. It's not that the old computer is bad, it just needs to have the hard drive cleaned and a clean install of Windows done. Which I'd planned on doing anyway, I backed it up last week, took over two days to complete.

And I have end of the year paperwork to do. I'd like to finish that by the end of the year. Right now, Quickbooks is only on the PC, lost it on the laptop last week when it went bad (it's okay now). I may reinstall it today. I dunno.

Maybe I'll do laundry instead.

geekstuff   

      Sunday, December 24, 2017


geekstuff
08:30 AM - 12/24/2017

The topic: Bored spitless.
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I'll probably work on switching the computers today. And tomorrow.

Not feeling the holiday spirit at all. I thought maybe the closer it got, the more I'd be feeling it.

Nope. I can hardly wait for it to just be over.

 

hated it   

      Tuesday, December 26, 2017


geekstuff
08:26 AM - 12/26/2017

The topic: So far, so good
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14110213

The new computer is up and running and I'm slowly getting things added back in.

The sucky part is some of the software I had needed to be updated and the add-ins for those programs also needed updating. Not all cost money, but some of them did. Meh.

I finally got all of the external hard drives connected to the same power strip, so when I push this little button on my power center, they all come up. And then, every single one of them opens on my desktop. That needs to stop. It's not like I use them all that much, they're more for storage than anything else, but still. Pretty much everything I've ever downloaded is on one or another of those drives. It's a bunch of fun looking for things.

But it's sure a lot neater. I was able to get rid of a lot of cables. I like not having them all bunched up in the back of the computer.

The holidays still suck. I got a couple of cards, that was nice. From a couple of people I hadn't heard from in a while.

We had beans and weenies for dinner last night. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Brian's off getting the oil in the car changed right now, I'm still working on setting up programs.

Oh, the firewire card I pulled out of the old system and put in the new computer worked right off the bat. And, oh, my gosh! Opening this system was a dream! No screws! No screwdrivers! I plugged in my old Canon Elura this morning and started up my new VideoStudio Ultimate (it was on the laptop, but lost it in the crash, took so many tries to get that software installed properly, very frustrating) and went to the "Capture" option and it found the camera right away. That's pretty awesome. I like it when things work the way they should. I didn't have to install any drivers or anything. Yay!

There was a problem with the NAS drives. Well, I thought there was a problem, but the files just needed to be indexed. But now, the Rokus see them just fine.

And that's about it for now. Still working on stuff. And Charlie is still an asshole.

 

geekstuff    computer   


catstuff
11:42 AM - 12/26/2017

The topic: Cats. Gotta love ‘em.
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With all of the cables and cords I've disconnected this weekend, naturally something's is gonna go wrong.

The speakers next to the television do not work. The light comes on, but there was no sound. Great. I found that out yesterday.

This morning, I turned on my little stereo system that's been in here forever. Doesn't work. I first tried with the remote, no luck. Then I got off of my butt, got a stool and tried turning it on manually. Nothing. Hmm

Look behind it with all the dust and cobwebs. There's no plug to the thing. No plug, no power.

Damned cats.

Of course, it isn't plugged in to the power strip. Of course it isn't. It's plugged into the wall behind these filled to capacity oak file cabinets. Right? Because that's just how life goes?

I grabbed a flashlight and shined it between the cabinet and the wall and I saw said cord. I was able to easily grab it, I climbed my stool and plugged it in. Voila! We have sound!

And the speakers by the television work now. Yay! I have music.

141031024

catstuff   

      Thursday, December 28, 2017


otherstuff
06:58 AM - 12/28/2017

The topic: Facebook changed their specs for weblogs
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They've changed their rules for sharing. I use(d) an online freebie that automatically pulled from my weblog.

But it wasn't rendering correctly at all. So, last week, I tried my own hand at the special code they need and failed miserably. I put in a support ticket.

It took a while to muddle through (I still don't know if I completely understand the way it works), but now it should share right.

It wouldn't pull the category name, so I redid the category images, which I had to redo anyway since they were too small for FB. I added the category name to the picture. And the title of the entry will show.

Crossing my fingers that it takes. Testing in 3...2.....1


geekstuff
08:48 AM - 12/28/2017

The topic: New system is ready
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I still have a little tweaking to do, but it looks like it would be safe at this point to reformat the old system and get it cleaned up and ready to ship out.

Since I'd punched out slots in the back for the various expansion cards I'd used (for the FAX, for the firewire), I found some things online that will replace the punched out slots, so there just aren't holes back there. It would be nice to get the computers out by the end of next week.

The new cables should be here today so I don't have thick cords hanging down the side of the glass next to me. Brian made our "desks" when he was in the glass business and holes were pre-drilled in the glass when he put them in. The problem is the power strip I use has a plug that is too wide for the hole. He took the power strip to his shop and opened it up, thinking he could just undo the wires and put those UP through the hole and reconnect them, but they're soldered in place. So, that won't work. I got a short three pronged extension cord that should work, the old power strip didn't have the flat head and it took a little working the hole, but it did go through. I'm not thrilled with this option, but it's cheaper than a new power strip with twelve plugs, yanno?  Then I'll slide the strip against the wall, behind the computer and I'll have a little more space.

I also ordered a new wireless mouse. It was supposed to be here yesterday, using the Amazon one day shipping for prime members. I'm thinking that one day shipping thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. This is not the first time the shipment didn't make it here the same day. 

But it should be here today. Yay!

Yesterday I was working on getting the plugins for my graphics program re-installed and looked in the closet here that hasn't been opened in quite a while. The track is horrible, full of cat fur and dirt and probably a little old cat pee. I worked it open, didn't find what I was looking for, but found a bunch of specialty paper. Nice. I pulled that all out to go through it, now it's neatly stacked on my beading table. I had it piled in the chair that used to be the catcam chair. (Is it odd that I've had two inquiries about their whereabouts this month? They've been gone for a while now and I didn't renew the domain this time.) Well, Brian told me that it wasn't nice for the cats, since they like to lay in the chair, so, I had to move it.

Well, I need to print some stuff out for him. It's nice to be almost done with the upgrade, though. I hope nothing important is lost, like pictures or movies, but they're all someplace, I'm sure. I've been very good about backing up since I lost so many little movies when a storage drive died.

14110111

geekstuff   

      Friday, December 29, 2017


mrs. crankypants
07:31 AM - 12/29/2017

The topic: Advertising idea I hate
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The auto commercials around Christmas.

The one where the one lady was so excited that she got a great deal on after Christmas sales for holiday decorations and her neighbor says "Yeah, look what I got"....a brand new SUV.

Or the ones where it starts out with kids keeping watch and being disappointed, then the new vehicle shows up and they're now adults and so excited.

I'm sorry, but these ads really hit me wrong. So indulgent. How many people do you know that can go buy a car on the spur of the moment? Years of payments to come. When so many of us are just scraping by....

Just hate them.

hated it    bad commercials   


otherstuff
07:44 AM - 12/29/2017

The topic: The farther we get from
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Christmas, the better my mood is getting.

All that's left of the switchover (that I can think of, anyway) is the video plugins. And that's always fun. Yeah, no, it's not. But it's not urgent at all.

For the next three days, I will catch up on paperwork. Two months of invoices, entering payments, and three months of bank reconciliations. Yeah, I let 'em slide again. Organized my pile last night and am ready to start today.

I also want to get the little throw rugs in here washed and the floor vacuumed.

I'm glad I'm not so depressed and angry. I look forward to catching up on my paperwork.

14110901

      Saturday, December 30, 2017


geekstuff
09:23 AM - 12/30/2017

The topic: Guess how much paperwork
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I did yesterday.  Go ahead. Guess.

If you guessed "none", you guessed right.

And did ya hear me screaming? And dropping eff bombs all over the place? You didn't? Are you sure, because I was most certainly doing that. Until about midnight.

It was one of those days when the hits kept coming. Nothing really bad, but nothing I could walk away from either. Well, I could have, but that's just not in my DNA.

So, here's what happened. Way back when in the dark ages of my internet presence, I used an email client (fancy way of saying program) by the name of Eudora. It was Qualcomm software. I really like it and upgraded as they upgraded the software. Then they quit working on it. But it's still a most excellent piece of software, in my opinion. It still runs. And it's really super simple to move and install. I have all of my old emails, back to 1998. Neat, huh?

Now, the majority of those emails are license codes for software I've bought through the years, which come in mighty handy when transferring your files and software to a new computer. If you've saved the install or setup files, you will most likely need those codes to get the program to run and to get rid of the nag screen. Some of the stuff I have is so old, the companies who sold the software no longer support it, or are out of business. So....

Although I've had Eudora on my systems, I haven't used it much for email. The reason? I can't get it to send. I dunno what I'm doing wrong, but every time I try to send an email, I get an error message. Not fun. So, I just started using my Gmail account. And I started saving emails on my Gmail account, instead of downloading them to my hard drive. No biggie, right? But I would occasionally do the download thing and I had my Gmail settings so that all the email downloaded would be deleted off of my Gmail account.

See where I'm going with this?

Yeah. I downloaded all of my mail from Gmail. All of it. There was nothing left. It was all on my system.

And I kept playing around with the settings for sending mail and not having any luck and actually having really screwed up the settings to where I couldn't even download mail, I went to the old Eudora files and copied them over to the new one.

And my inbox? All mail that I had downloaded less than an hour previously, was gone. Disappeared. Written over. Not merged, not added to, but just gone. The last new mail in my inbox was April 18, 2017. Let's see, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December (counting on fingers), eight months of mail. Gone.

And it wasn't in my Gmail either. Because I had it set to automatically delete the files when they were downloaded! Isn't that just great?

So, I re-installed one of my recovery programs, hoping it would find some snippets of mail. Nope. I tried another one, a trial version. Let it do a deep scan. Oh, you want to reinstall the data? You have to buy the software for the low, low price of $69.95.

Eff bombs. What can I say?

So, doing more research I did find a page with a way to contact Gmail about missing mail. It's for people who've been hacked, not dumbshits like me, but yeah, okay, I'll try it. I was honest about what happened when I filled in the form, so...  It doesn't always work, but it did for me. They were able to restore the mail that had been in my Gmail box when I trashed it all. There were almost five thousand pieces of mail in the trash alone (the restored mails did not go into the folders I had originally save them to). Mail that had license codes and download links. Yeah, I still save them. The first thing I did was go through that trashed mail and moved it to other folders in Gmail.

It's going to take a while, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten most of the stuff I needed. And I changed the settings for when I download to just keep them in my Gmail. I think that will be a lot safer than going through this again.

So, getting that done took pretty much most of the day.

While waiting for the recovery to do its job, I checked out the various streaming movie sites for great deals. Amazon has some great savings on buying movies, Vudu also has some good pricing. HDX movies, two for $9.99. And Google has the offer out again that they had in November, you can buy one movie for half price. I got seven streaming high def movies for less than forty bucks. Cool, right?

So, we're done in the office around seven, head out to the family room. I ask him if he wants to watch a movie. Sure.

The Roku isn't seeing the internet. The repeater isn't repeating. More eff bombs. We have repeaters because the way this house is situated, there are walls between the router and the various devices. I have a repeater in the extra room and one in the dining room. The one in the dining room isn't working. I almost got it reset, but working on a little, tiny tablet, things don't always work the way you want them to. Especially with those little tiny radio buttons. I was afraid I'd bricked it, trying to do the reset thing.

Just to be sure, I got the repeater from the extra room and was able to set that one up. The Roku saw it. Okay. So, it's not the router (which had been reset multiple times during the computer switch over). It was getting later and later and Brian was asleep on the sofa and I'm nothing if not persistent. I got the other Roku and tried again, to set it up.

I almost had it, then the setup stopped. I ended up searching for help on the laptop in the family room, found another way to set this repeater up. You need to actually connect it to a computer with an ethernet cable, it won't work wirelessly. I had an idea that my netbook was in the hallway closet, deep under piles of stuff. Seeing as it was after eleven, I didn't really want to mess around looking for it. I went into the extra room, grabbed the old laptop out of the carrying case, found the plug, took both of those, along with the repeater and an ethernet cord and a wired mouse, into my bathroom.

I shut the door and got everything connected. Unfortunately, while I was trying to get the repeater set up as a router, the stupid laptop was trying to install the drivers for the mouse and I kept getting a bunch of annoying popups about the status of the installation. But, I finally had success. I disconnected the ethernet cable from the router and turned on the Lenovo tablet I had bought for my mother-in-law way back when so she could read her granddaughter's blog entries on her trip across the Pacific Crest Trail. She never did use it and it came back here.

And it came in handy last night. I was able to get the repeater up and running. Took it out to the dining room, switched it out with the one from the extra room, changed the wireless connection on the Roku, and there it was, it saw it! Success!

I took the extra room repeater back to the extra room, left the laptop on my bathroom counter (still there) and shut down the laptop in the family room and settled down on the sofa. Played a couple of games of Candy Crush, then turned everything off and dozed off. I was in bed by midnight.

And, I got no paperwork done.

And, I still can't send mail from Eudora. But I'll get it. I'll get it set up right one of these days. Just not today.

geekstuff    computer   

      Sunday, December 31, 2017


otherstuff
10:25 AM - 12/31/2017

The topic: Conversations
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Brian's putting up more lights in his shop so he can see what he's doing. He knows how important lighting is, but I guess didn't realize exactly how big a difference it makes until he installed more lights in my storage area (aka the garage). It's like daylight in there.

Him: I wish my back would quit hurting.

Me: I wish I didn't have those invoices to do.

Him: I wish I didn't have cancer.

Yeah, he has cancer, had a biopsy done on the 12th and he got the results on the 22nd. It's his prostate, survival rates are great for this cancer. But it's cancer.)

crying

conversations    cancer    brian   

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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