Friday, September 12, 2008

A Surprise a Day Keeps Boredom at Bay

When it comes to photos for today, I got nothing . Although I essentially had nothing three days, I ignored reality. Today, I am going to face the fact that I haven't had time to process anything and go plain-jane.

All right, back in Bear Valley for four or five days and are you ready for even more good/bad-for-me news? It turns out that the underlying problem with my computer was the monitor. Boy, do I feel stupid. Good thing I never claimed to be technologically inclined. Since the surprising healing that took place a few days ago (and absolutely no lost data, thank goodness), the computer had failed to boot several times. Thus on the day of our departure for the regular commute to Los Angeles, I found myself chatting with yet another Dell employee. It turns out that the computer was booting, but all I was seeing was a black screen. Certainly, this may just mean a bad cable and a relatively simple fix, but this is a very old monitor and we know they don't last forever. Obviously, the bad news is that a new monitor isn't in the current budget—not by a country mile. Everyone can surely guess that the good news is a newer, bigger and better monitor. Life just keeps getting more and more innerestin'.

In the meantime as soon as I got back up and running, I reviewed what data I have on my C drive and noted with relief that I had stuck to my guns and was keeping pretty much zero data there. With all the moving mess, I had feared that I might have slipped up with my backups toward the end, but that wasn't true. Still, what I had dreaded most of all was the long, tedious hours it takes to set up a computer what with installing the system and the programs, then digging out the endless stacks of programs, updates and those miles of serial numbers not to mention the interminable online updates, drivers, etc. Sometimes I think one of the nicest things about having piles of money (actually, I can think of a million fun things about having piles of money) is that I wouldn't bother with updating programs. I would just buy the new program complete. That would make re-installation of a system a breeze. But, wait. If I had stacks of money, I wouldn't have to do any of those things myself. I think it's obvious that I haven't had enough sleep, yet.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

One Toe in the Water


(Click on the thumbnail to view larger image)


I have a computer! The real wonder is that apparently I didn't lose any data. After finally getting the system set up yesterday, (until then, I had been too discouraged to get into it) I held my breath and called Dell. I was ready to get the official word on my chances of salavaging what little data I keep on my C drive and dodging the nightmare of restoring all programs (each with its multiple updates), as well as all the drivers and devices. While the first person I contacted before the moving van arrived had been extremely pessimistic and this second one was not much more hopeful, I felt strong enough to face the ordeal and we plunged into the process. The woman I spoke to was patient, thorough, and personable, but we flailed about a bit without getting anywhere, then suddenly we (as it seemed to me) stumbled into a menu and I think with a mind all its own a clean-up process lurched into full gear. Just between you and me, the gal from Dell seemed as surprised as I that when the scrubbing ended rather than having a blank drive I had a restored system. Whoopee! Ladies and gentlemen, one small step toward normalcy.

Of course since I had only been using CS3 for a few weeks and I was working on newly installed external drives with a filing protocol in transition, I still feel a bit lost and tentative. Still, I finally see a glimmer of light at the end of what seemed an interminable tunnel.