Look what was delivered today

It looks HUGE. It always looks small at the store next to the 24" but I think this is still pretty darn big! I can't believe I have to wait two more weeks to play with it!!!!!!!!

It seems my computer is nearly dead

I can get it to start up, but as soon as I open a real program, boom it crashes. So this weekend in between baking holiday cookies I am going to ensure I have copied all my files to the external hard drive. I am 95% sure I have all my photos I just want to check them from Mike's computer, and maybe copy over some of the free digital scrapbooking stuff I haven't copied lately, and check on my music files. You probably won't be seeing any pictures until after the 25th since I would have to set up Mike's computer to download from my camera, work with RAW etc and then do that to the mac two weeks later. Besides I don't think I will have a lot of time to be taking pictures before the 25th anyway so not much of a loss.

New Computer

My current home computer that I bought three years ago is, frankly, getting a little long in the tooth so it is time to look for a new one. I am thinking that for once I will go with a desktop type machine (though since I love to research stuff I am still keeping laptops on the list). The laptop I have will still function fine for when we travel and I want to surf the web, email, download my photos from my camera etc, and for web surfing, emailing, message boarding, at home on the couch. So why spend the same amount to get less?

Last night I spec'd out and priced 6 options! 2 Macs, 2 HP notebooks, 2 HP desktops. All of them were over $2000!! I did discover that I don't know what I really need in terms of a graphics card (you have a lot more choices with a desktop on those), so that will take more research. I also need to go look at the 20" and 24" iMacs and regular LCD screens to see what size I really need. I just want to get a computer that I will be able to keep doing photography stuff on for the next three years!

Man did I pick an expensive hobby!!

I am sure you are totally bored by now

And sick of hearing about my computer, but it had a miraculous recovery last night. I started it up and it was FINE!! Crazy right? So now I feel a little lost. I don't know how much fixing it really needs. At least we can wait a little longer to get me a new one.

Tomorrow Mike is having his eye surgery repeated. Yeah a 5 day weekend!!!!!!!

Oh Thank Goodness

I was so worried going to sleep last night that when I woke up this morning and tried to start my computer nothing would happen. I used Mike's computer last night to see exactly what the damage would be if my hard drive was really gone, how many weeks of photos would I lose. Five weeks was the extent of it, included in that, nearly all of the macro shots I have taken (if not all), pictures of my riding lesson Mike came to, pictures of me in my fuzzy slippers recovering from wisdom tooth extraction last week, and all the 200+ slides I had scanned for my Dad (though those could be redone). I held out hope but tried to learn to let go of those pictures.

This morning I got up, showered and booted up my laptop, I told it to start in safe mode, that seemed safest right? IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how long it will last but it lasted long enough this morning for me too hook up the MyBook external hard drive and make a copy of all those wonderful images I thought I had lost!

Of course I am still left with a computer that doesn't really function as is, and a hard drive I don't trust right now, but I have my pictures back and I can take some time to rebuild. And remind myself to backup my pictures far more often than once a month!

OH NO OH NO OH NO

My computer is freaking out!! The hard drive won't stop spinning, I can't get it to start up. I start it up with the recovery disk and it doesn't see my hard drive!!!!!!!!!!!! OH NO!! I haven't backed it up in a month! So yes I am luckier than most if it is toast I only lose 1 month of photos, but that is A LOT of photos in my world, that I don't have high res copies of anywhere! My computer helper (ie Dad) doesn't seem to hold out a lot of hope for it. For now I am waiting until tomorrow to try to start it up again and see if it can wake up one more time to let me get my macros, lesson pictures, puffy surgery face photos off of it. Cross your fingers for me okay?

Computer Surgery

Tonight I completed my first computer hardware repair! Are you proud of me? Back in early winter Michael and I were sitting on the couch and he is just so cute I got a little caught up in kissing my husband (not a bad thing at all!!) and I kicked over a glass of grape juice that was resting in the tray on our ottoman/coffee table. Spilled it right into my computer. We were really lucky and it didn't fry the computer at all, just left the left side of the key board (particularly w e a 1 2) very sticky. I tried to live with it but it wasn't going away, so $98 and a new keyboard from HP Parts later (along with some advice from my Dad about where to find instructions), the sticky is gone! Banished forever!!

You're right, I need a life.

Sharing

Mike and I are trying to share the computer for a few weeks, until we decide how much we can really spend on a computer for him. Already I am not liking it. I miss having my computer in my lap all night while we are watching TV. Now it is over here on the desk! And sometimes he is on it when I want to be. This sharing thing will take work, I don't do well with sharing.

Tomorrow is a big day though. I am going to a book signing. I plan to take pictures. And if I can get on the computer tomorrow I will post them.

For some reason I am nervous about asking for time off to go back to Apalachin to have a wedding. Is that weird? I have tons of vacation time. Actually the whole wedding thing makes me nervous. Everything except the dress, that is just perfect. Getting married is HUGE and it's really starting to hit me.

Crazy

Last week was really crazy. Mike was sick all week, so I spent a lot of time taking care of him and finding him a doctor to see. I wasn't feeling great myself so we went to bed early everynight.

One day sort of on a whim I went to try on wedding dresses and I fell in love with one. So I called back the next day and bought it. Oops! That wasn't in the plan. But I am really happy about it.

My riding lesson was great. We went back to the in-out jump that we tried a couple weeks ago and Nifty didn't know what I was asking for. My instructor worked with him on it in between times. Which was very handy because this time he did it really well. Yeah! We got some good jumping in. Oh and there was another woman in my lesson this week. She seemed nice. We shall see if she stays around.

To top off the week Mike's computer died last night so I spent copious amounts of money today to get software to try and recover it and an external hard drive to back up to in the future for both of our machines. Don't want my computer to get any ideas about acting up now!

I have a dress, I have a dress!!!!!!!

Wireless issues

Tonight it is back to hunting online. Once I get my wireless router fixed. I was reading up on it today and I think that I might have to assign a static IP address since I get good signal strength but I can't get on the internet. I am not used to having to fix this stuff all on my own! But Dad doesn't know about the computer yet. Though he will know soon when I take the old one home. I will probably take the new one home too. It is just too nice to leave behind! Besides I will need something to do when I am not making my sister do yoga with me! Which I am sure she will love!

Mike and I had a tame weekend. We went and watched the PSU game with Jenn and Tim. The game was pretty boring up until the last couple of minutes, but hey WE WON!! So I am happy! Other than that we pretty much went shopping and watched TV. We wanted to go to the movies but there was nothing we wanted to see. Then I drove him to Trenton early yesterday so he could get home. He is trying to get back on a daytime schedule and he is having a tough time with it. He has been on nights for weeks if not months!

Last night I tried to hookup my Forerunner to my computer to download my runs and I realized that my new computer does not have a serial port. Now I need to get a USB Serial Adapter. Hmm, maybe that is a gift for Dad to get me? I am not in a big rush to get one. But I will want it at some point. I am boring today huh? I am really tired, all I want to do is go home and curl up on the couch with a big bowl of Kraft Mac and Cheese some episodes of Gilmore Girls and my computer with the ability to get on the internet! Not go to the gym and lift heavy things for 40 minutes, go home and eat healthy stuff, work on fixing my router and try to figure out what to wear the concert that we are going to Thursday night at Roseland Ballroom.

I am depressed.

I don't get to see Mike this weekend. He has to work tonight 7pm -7am and again tomorrow night. So if I was up there I would be alone over 50% of my time, and when he was home he would just want to be sleeping. That really sucks! I hate his job!

Don't get me wrong, I have plently of stuff to do this weekend, movies to see, cleaning to do, shopping to do, running to do (I could finally try to get in a longer run!), laundry to do, webpages to visit, etc. I can keep myself plenty busy. But the fact is that I don't want to! Stomps foot and pouts! I WANT to see my boyfriend!

No more news about the trip yet. I am just waiting for something to happen with that as well. Though I suppose I could take matters into my own hands and call myself! I will tonight if I don't hear anything. Before I go to Blockbuster and rent a bunch of teenybopper movies!

I am debating what I want to do with my old computer still. I need to 'fess up and tell Dad that I bought a new one. It's silly that I feel like I have to hide that from him, but I know he didn't want me to buy one, but it is my money! I know if I can afford it or not. And I decided that I can. And I am glad I got it! I am really happy with it, a little too happy with my new game maybe. Anyway, I think my sister wants the computer for when she goes back to school, though I don't know when that will be, she is still pretty sick. I thought of offering it to my roommate, as her computer is rather old and a mac at that, but I don't know how much of an improvement it would really be for her. I don't want to saddle her with more crap.

One of my parent's cats is sick, the one who was mine. That makes me sad too!

B

While I was working on my simulation this morning, writing down columns in Excel that I needed to add up I realized that there are a wealth of two letter pairings beginning with B that have meaning. Shall we list them?
BA - Bachelor of Arts
BB - those little guns that shoot pellets
BC - as in 2000 B.C the year
BD
BE - be
BF - in the world of message boards boyfriend
BG, BH
BI - a sexual orientation
BJ - a sexual behavior
BK - Burger King
BL
BM - bathroom behavior
BN - Barnes and Noble
BO - body odor
BP - blood pressure
BQ - barbeque
BR
BS - bullshit or Bachelor of Science, hmm interesting!
BT
BU - Boston University
BV, BW, BX
BY - by
BZ
Did I miss any?

Using the new computer was fun last night but so far the wireless internet seems a bit tempermental. And I am not sure why. I suppose that might take some playing with. I seemed to have good signal strength on the couch downstairs but poor upstairs on the bed (in the same room with the router). But downstairs sometimes it would just stop working. I am not really sure how to fix that. This being the first time I have had a wireless connection. I checked with my second computer at those time and it still could connect to the internet so it wasn't a problem with my ISP. This is all so confusing! I guess I should get out the manual that came with the router and see what it says. I know things can interfere with the signal, like cordless phones and the like, though there aren't any in my apartment.

My roommate got a new car on Friday. She drove me down the street in it last night, very smooth! And it smells all like new car!

Loving the Wireless

Finally I can say I am updating my webpage from my couch, without any wires! I love MY NEW COMPUTER! It has a nearly disturbingly wide screen. I almost don't know what to do with all that space! It will be good for watching DVDs though. I promise to be nice to you all and never update my webpage from my bathroom. Though that would be funny! Look how Michael has brought me down to his level of potty humor!

The weekend in NY was pretty good. Though we didn't do much. Mike was so tired from working all week. But I did get my own set of keys to his apartment. It is almost like I am a real girlfriend! Actually he is probably going to have to work at least part of every weekend for the next month or two. It will just be easier if he doesn't have to be there to meet me if he is working.

Yeah!!

The new computer came yesterday! YEAH! Not that I have had a chance to play with it yet. The FedEx lady was nice enough to bring my other package too that I couldn't pick up over the counter. Stupid thing was, there was no sticker on the computer. As if the virus software is somehow worth more than the computer? Dumb! But hey I have them both now. If only I had time to enjoy them!

Turns out Mike doesn't have to work tonight, and I am dying to see him since it has been three weeks since we went up to Massachusetts together, and a month since I have really had quality alone snuggling time with him. So sorry new computer but I am going to NY tonight! All morning that Leaving on A Jet Plane song "My bags are packed, I'm ready to go . . ." has been running around in my head though there are no jet planes involved in my travel plans!

Yesterday I was reading my sister's blog and she talked about her weekend with Dad. It's weird to hear her talk about being "daddy's girl", though it was true. Mom has told me many times how when I was born (~2 years and 2 months after Val) Val didn't mind sharing Mom with me, and even played along by giving her doll a bath while Mom was giving me one, but as soon as Dad came home, she was all over him! He was her daddy and he didn't really get to play with me. That doesn't really bother me, Dad and I are too much alike to get along really well! But it is weird how she feels like she isn't that anymore just because she has come out. Maybe not weird but sad. I don't think of her as any less my sister because of that, and it makes me sad that she thinks that Dad thinks of her as less of a daughter.

Stupid!

Last night I went to pick up my virus software at FedEx and because of some sticker HP put on it they couldn't release it to me over the counter. Stupid! Oh well it is getting sent back to them, and I will just get a refund and buy it elsewhere. The major problem is that delivery of the computer will be conducted the same way, no redirection, no picking up at the counter, no way to get it except to take time off of work to be at home and wait for it. Well they tried to deliver my computer today, and I wasn't there to get it. Needless to say I am working from home tomorrow morning so that I can be there to meet it! It is just so stupid.

Good Weekend

We had a pretty good time this weekend. I took a lot of pictures. The Chocolate Exhibit really sucked. I wouldn't recommend going to that. It was really tiny. What was much better was the Titanic Exhibit.

They start by giving you a boarding pass with information about a real passenger. You can then travel through the exhibit pretending you are that person. At the end you can look up if "you" lived or died. The boarding pass I got was for Helen Bishop. It was a really great exhibit and it will be here in Philly until January 2005. Go see it!

Sunday we went to see Vanity Fair. I liked it. Though it was rather depressing.

Dad and I managed to fix my computer on Sunday. Though I am not sure how stable it is. I got all my files copied off of it and burned on to a CD using my work computer. I felt much better once I could balance my checking account again. That along with all the pages for this webpage are now stored on a 128MB thumbnail drive. I can always have them with me! But it doesn't really matter how stable the old computer is, because the new one leaves China today! I hope it gets here before I go up to NY this weekend.

Other excitement

With all this computer related excitement I forgot to share the work excitement. A new guy joined our group this week. It's weird but it's like I can already feel the dynamics of the group changing. But I suppose that shouldn't be surprising when you increase a group by 33%. Something has to change right?

Boy my butt is sore today. Which is odd, often my hamstrings get sore from exercise but not my gluteus maximus! But I managed to run through both stiffness from lifting and a headache this morning to complete 2.36 miles before I walked! At this rate by the end of next week I will be able to run my entire planned 2.5 miles. I guess it is time to start reading up on fartlek. (And no that is not passing gas while you run!)

Twelve more days! How am I to survive? It just doesn't seem real that I am getting a new computer!

Mom is coming down this weekend and I am really excited! We are going to do so much fun stuff! I will finally get to see the Betsy Ross House! Don't worry I will be sure to take lots of pictures! Because I am sure you are all dying to see it!

What did I get?

Are you wondering what kind of computer I bought? If not stop reading because I am going to tell you about it. It's an HP a cutomized zt3000 notebook. I won't tell you how much it cost but it has an Intel Pentium M Processor 725, a 15.4" WXGA widescreen display, a 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 Graphics Card, 512MB of SDRAM with an open slot to expand in the future, an 80 GB Hard Drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive, Intel Pro Wireless 2200 802.11b/g & Bluetooth networking, and MS Office Basic. (Word, Excel and Outlook, what is this MS Works crap?) Did I drive you away yet with my unabashed geekiness.

The other day I was talking to my roommate about the difference between being a geek and a dork. I admit that I am a full on geek, and I am also a bit dorky, but in a cute way. I don't think either one of these things is bad but to me being a geek is just being into gadget-y electronic stuff of varying kinds, be it computers, computer games, fancy cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras etc. Being a dork may include that as well in some people but it doesn't have to. To me being a dork is more about lacking some component of normal social skills. Which I suppose everyone does to some extent. Maybe we are all dorks?

Now I think I need new stuff for my new computer! Like a new bag for it! How am I going to wait 13 days for it? I don't think I can make it!

Gadget-lovers Anonymous?

Is there such a thing as gadget-lovers anonymous? If so I need to go. I did a bad . . . bad thing. . . . I bought a new computer. Shoot me now.

Freak out

Last night I had a little freak out because my roommate's bird got out of his cage after she had left for work. I didn't know how to get him back in, and I didn't want to get close enough to him to let him bite me. But I didn't want to just let him run lose. One because I didn't want to clean up his poop! And two because he might hurt himself or something else and I wouldn't know how to deal with that! Luckily I opened the big cage door, got a piece of doweling that I had laying around to hold open windows and talked/herded him back in and he went in pretty easily! I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't!

How weird is it that I am so happy and relieved that dooce is home and feeling better? And that I was worried about her? I don't even know this woman. But you get kind of attached to the people who write blogs that you like to read, and her blog is one of my absolute favorites!

It was tough not to run out and buy a new computer last night but I managed not too. I spent most of any free time I had at work yesterday looking up information on new computers on the internet since I can't do that at home. I have made an appaling discovery. There are far too many choices out there! This computer problem has made me realize that I probably really do need a new computer, that one is quite old, and starting to feel really slow. And I would like to be able to keep my more personal stuff on there instead of at work, like all my pictures and music. That computer can't handle any of that. It has like a 6 GB hard drive! But I am afraid that to get the computer I really want from someplace like HP or Dell I might have to spend a bit more than I thought I wanted to. But I suppose with 0% interest for 12 months I can afford it. As of December my credit card debt will be all gone so the $250 - $300 a month I have been putting towards that could help me pay off a new computer much faster. Tonight I am going to go over to Circuit City and just test drive some. See how they feel and look. Mom will be here Friday with disks from Dad and if that fixes the old one I might be able to make it until the holidays before I buy a new one. Maybe there will be good deals then?