The computer is dead, long live the computer
So, on the off chance that anyone is wondering why I fell off the face of the world this time around, here is what happened. Shortly after returning from roadtrip 2011 (which wasn't particularly fun but accomplished what it needed to accomplish), I was getting caught up on my e-mail, when my hard drive suddenly started making horrible clacking noises. Moments later, I got the Blue Screen of Death, and not just the "restart the computer and everything should be fine" sort of BSoD like all the other times I've seen it in my life, because every attempt to start the computer thereafter accomplished a big fat nothing. The machine is dead. Fortunately, thanks to backups on an external hard drive, I didn't lose everything. Unfortunately, thanks to not backing up as regularly as I should have, I did lose everything that I've done since mid-November. That'll teach me.
Anyway, I figured that while I searched for a new computer I could still get online with my old desktop, but no such luck. I couldn't get that machine to boot properly either, even though it had been working perfectly the last time I had had it turned on back in the fall. Thus, my internet access was limited to 1. my DSi, which could log in to LJ but couldn't post due to all the "upgrades" making any page with a comment box too big for the DSi's memory to handle, and 2. borrowed computers which I wouldn't want to trust with any of my passwords and such. So, aside from checking the weather report and simple things like that, it was pretty much no normal internet activity for me. I finally got a new computer a few days ago (my wallet is still crying) and since then have been getting used to the new keyboard layout, learning Windows 7, adjusting settings, creating system recovery discs, un-installing pre-installed crapware, and all the various other things that traditionally go along with trying to cram your soul into a five and a half pound collection of electronic bits that you just met.
So, yeah, there it is. I'll be back with more later, when I have the brain for it.
Anyway, I figured that while I searched for a new computer I could still get online with my old desktop, but no such luck. I couldn't get that machine to boot properly either, even though it had been working perfectly the last time I had had it turned on back in the fall. Thus, my internet access was limited to 1. my DSi, which could log in to LJ but couldn't post due to all the "upgrades" making any page with a comment box too big for the DSi's memory to handle, and 2. borrowed computers which I wouldn't want to trust with any of my passwords and such. So, aside from checking the weather report and simple things like that, it was pretty much no normal internet activity for me. I finally got a new computer a few days ago (my wallet is still crying) and since then have been getting used to the new keyboard layout, learning Windows 7, adjusting settings, creating system recovery discs, un-installing pre-installed crapware, and all the various other things that traditionally go along with trying to cram your soul into a five and a half pound collection of electronic bits that you just met.
So, yeah, there it is. I'll be back with more later, when I have the brain for it.