ramblings

Update in Computer Land

IMGP0760Finally the pieces are coming together with the computer.   If anything has been ingrained into my memory it is how the support a company offers makes all the difference.

One of my backup drives would not restore, heck, it did not even get acknowledged by Windows.  After clicking through the companies support pages it came down to remembering the user name and password I used last year.  ugh err ok I forgot to write it down.

Eventually I gave up as the support site returned errors on every email I have – so I decided to try and re register the drive in order to get access to the new version of the software and drivers.

Now I needed the serial number. No big deal right? Wrong the print was so small and I am telling you I mean small! Three of us tried reading it with a magnifying glass and even then it was hard to read. Ought to be a law against that.

The backup software never did work but the folders are there. Thanks to my pal that has access to one of the pay driver update sites.

The other drives manufacturers site was very user friendly, and it remembered me!   I logged on, searched for the drivers and in two minutes  I was done. A few keystrokes later my drive worked. Then I plugged in my oldest drive and windows found the updated driver and happy joy joy it works also.

Now can you guess which drive I will recommend to someone or purchase again – sure is not the dinky arse serial numbered suck-o support site companies now is it?

The best thing happening right now is 254 GB of photos are happily backing up along with  3 GB of MP3’s.

The pics on the hard drive that were not backed up – boo hoo – I morn 🙁 . …  I also heard back from Nikon and none of their products will work with Vista 64 nor do they have any updated drivers for the D80.

Thank you for emailing us.

Compatibility and support for Nikon software running on a Windows 64-bit system is under review by the Nikon Quality department.
At this time we do not have any time table on when we will or if we will issue drivers and software support for this new system.

I apologize for this inconvenience.

Again, Thank you

Jay
Nikon Technical Support.

So now I have no software to post process with! Capture NX, Elements, nada. Good thing I use a card reader and not direct cable hook up to get my photos of the camera.

It is kind of nice having a clean start. All the useless files that build up on my drives are no longer there to suck up space.  Plus even though the clock speed is slower than my old computer it seems to perform better with some of the programs. Cool. Not sure of all the ins and outs of duo v quad but so far I am a happy camper with the gateway for the money – not bad.

I sure have learned to set the backup program to monitor and backup everything. Easier to delete garbage than to loose the good stuff. I have 2T worth of drive space to use so there really is no excuse not to. I downloaded the trial  version of the newest Adobe Photoshop Elements, even though it is not certified to work with the 64bit system so far I have not experienced any problems with it. The upgrade is under 100 bucks so I am thinking that is the way to go right now if I can come up with  the bucks before it expires. I have to see if the laptop will run NX with any speed.

Had a few drops of rain yesterday and this morning the wind is blowing it is nice and cool right now (59). Not sure if it is still cloudy as I have not stuck my head outside to look. I think I am going to go cut up a few nectarines and maybe treat myself with a little sugar on top of em. ‘Then again there is apple pie emm decisions, decisions.

Ok I am going to be a piggy and have both!

Come on and Comment

3527813108_9cb66d264a_mThis blog is not new but it is new to the MS blogging community. Who wants to alienate themselves from a much-needed platform? Not I. Sometimes I read and re-read someone’s post but because I have become wary of my own abilities, I do not comment much for fear of making an arse out of myself.  My comprehension skills are in the toilet.

When I was in high school, I was not much of a joiner. I did belong to the choir, a couple of local baseball teams and our church music group performed a lot in the community but other than that, I was kind of a loner. I had friends in each of the typical high school cliques and a few of us nerds hung together mostly for self-preservation :).

Then there is the problem of coming up with the right terminology. While I usually know what I am trying to say, what the meaning of something is, I cannot always recall the terms, the vocabulary words themselves. Somewhat silly since I am the one trying to express myself.  So, I find myself meaning one thing and after writing it realizing that something totally, different came out and it is misunderstood.  Ah!

I am wondering if this is causing some of my misunderstandings when trying to communicate with Dr.’s.  DUH

So,  if you are reading this have mercy on me and drop a comment or two my way – and I will do my best to visit your blog and formulate something that might pass for an intelligent comment.

Photo Credit: Tony J Case

My Reality Map and Eating Elephants

reflectionIt is difficult to see the world as it is sometimes. MS has been warping my reality, changing things, not especially in a way I particularly like.  I can put my mind to over coming, maybe better stated: stubbornly refusing to accept limitations, or I can try to go with the flow, better stated: listen to others view on the subject.

Each has its points. When I push, I end up exhausted and sometimes I even hurt my little self, yet I accomplish something. When I believe I cannot, or should not do something I end up pissed and/or frustrated but those around me worry less.

In the late 70’s I worked in a small appliance repair shop. The man who owned it had been in business over 30 years. It was an interesting place. The watermark line high up on the walls was from the 1955 flood. Scribbled on the bathroom wall in faded black there were two sayings – “purdy boy floyd was here” and below in red lettering “you can’t eat an elephant in one bite”.

The owner Ed had a theory that if you did not paint over something, never cleaned anything (yep dirt was good in Ed’s mind) than it was always there as a reminder a mark in time. He really was right, I did ask who Floyd was and found out he was a drunk that Ed sponsored and he scribbled on that wall when he got drunk again, stole the shops moneyand left town. Ed was right because he left the mark someone living still remembers about Floyd.

As for the elephant saying, that was Ed’s, he scribbled it there one day doing his thing. That it was best I not forget that saying because it was all he thought I needed to know to get along in the world. I have since heard different versions of the saying but Ed was right – I can eat an elephant in one bite.

My map of reality is warped, I tell yah, warped.

Fussy Feed Fest

apps_errorI am sure you have noticed a new theme around here. Between SBcee/YaWHOOO web hosting not allow writing to the htacess file and the last them having no support for anything built into it, I decided to change.

I should have known better, really, everytime I do this it ends up with me scratching my head and going ugh???

So far the theme itself is working but the rss feed is not doing it’s thing. The main post rss feed here is showing the big red “X”. I have read that it just may do that until I write a new post. Not exactly what I was planning on doing right now. I want to play with the theme a little.

I still am thinking of moving the domain to a different provider that allows a tad more control over things that SBcee/YaWHOOO peeps. Ever since they made us change over to the new package ithas been interesting to say the least. This site can not even use the pretty peramlinks cuase they won’t allow writing to the htacess. The positive thing is I have not been hac ke d lately – oh please not an invitation to do so.

So, hope you are interested in following this blog and that your rss reader feed works – augh!