But my main project over the last two days has involved working on my laptop computer, which worked well during on the trip ... but on Tuesday, the day after we got home, proved incapable of booting up. It would hang up partway through. Sometimes the desktop icons would show up; other times, I just get to see that lovely green hill and blue skies, my current wallpaper. Either way, that's as far as it went.
Been there. Done that.
Yes, it's a pain. What did Ian Fleming write? "The first time is happenstance, the second time is coincidence, the third time is enemy action." This is the third time I've done this, and it's getting real old. I've had the computer about three years.
I'm not in a position to buy a replacement now. Maybe in another year or two. Then I can get one that has a wide screen, is much lighter and has much better battery life. I have vowed, however, that whenever the day comes, it will not be an HP. I've had quite enough of those tricks, thank you.
The first time it happened, I lost everything on the hard drive. Everything. Last time (about September 2005), I was able to save some of the stuff, and this time I was able to do likewise. The programs can be re-re-reinstalled. But the document files aren't available elsewhere, so I backed them up to a CD-R.
OK, the laptop is now in the process of installing exactly 63 updates. It's on No. 12 right now. So I'll turn around once in a while (the laptop is upstairs, perched on a chair behind me) to check for progress.
I don't know if I have written about this, but just after Christmas I invested in a new cell phone. Since my contract had expired and I was on month-to-month status, the new phone cost me nothing (once I get around to sending in the forms for the $20 rebate). It doesn't take pictures--I have a camera for that--and it
doesn't do videos. But it's a lot brighter than my old one and should have improved battery life as well. The number keys are much larger and brighter for use in the dark. I'm happy with it.
I don't use my cell phone a lot. For the first two years I had one, the signal quality here was poor--one bar, if that. Sort of defeats the idea of having a cell phone if you can't get a decent signal. But about a year ago they installed a new antenna locally, and now our signal is nice and strong. Happiness is seeing all four bars on the display.
Since the battery on the old one had limited standby use, I usually had it switched off unless I was expecting a call. So that's something else I have to un-learn--from now on, it will be on more often than off.
(It's doing update 42 of 63 now.) Another thing about the new phone is that you can switch off the jaunty electronic melody it makes when it's switched on and off. That was beyond the old one's capabilities, so when I switched it on (such as when I phone my mom from the office), its jaunty tune echoed all over our office, which is usually pretty quiet. The only sound you usually hear is typing. Either stories or web surfing or computer solitaire.
(We're up to 59.) So that's my new phone. I've been adding names and numbers to the directory, and it can quick-dial hundreds of numbers. With the old one, you were limited to 20. Of course, I have less than 20 names in my directory, but you never know.
OK. All those dozens of updates have been installed, and I have to reboot. That I'll do, but that's enough computer work for tonight. I can carry on the "rebuilding a laptop" project tomorrow night.
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