A person and a device
Ted and I talked about space and living arrangements, and I've moved into a room at my parents house. Besides repairing and improving various computers and putting out feelers for work and whatnot, I've spent a lot of time scanning old family photos. I've processed about 160 pictures so far, ranging from 1869 to 1948. I've been doing it the slow way. focusing on quality and future usability. I'm probably 20-35% done with the 1869-1969 collection.
One of the perks of being here is that I've had the opportunity for more conversations with my mother, father, and sister. My favorite thing has been talking with Allison about various subjects, some serious, some not. It's been good to get to know her current self better, although more than that it's been good to experience her being cheerful and open. When I wasn't here yet, my interactions with her mostly involved the cold exterior. But over the last month, there's been an increase in warmth, expression, talkativity, and trust. She still thinks I'm eccentric and nerdy, but it's not a huge barrier. My facetious theory is that she's merely rebelling against her inner nerd in order to mesh better with the folks with which she hangs.
The room in which I am staying was formerly occupied by Allison, and has a large amount of her creativity on the walls and ceiling. It's far too cool too take down, and I like having it there. Might add a few Escher posters. They'd match.
The other blog's been moving more slowly since I've been here. I've been very focused on scanning the old photos.
My computer adventures over the last two months include: fixing the sound, size, and speed of Allison's desktop, helping my uncle Shawn get his otherwise dead laptop back into working order, devirusing an acquaintance's computer, dejunking and reconfiguring my mother's computer for better performance, backing up the contents of my nonbootable laptop, making old data accessible for Ted and Diana, and recombining two old desktops into one computer with a more optimal operating system arragenment.
Of course, my own primary computer developed a problem that is beyond my ability to repair: the video card itself suffered heat damage and has failed. This particular part needs to be specific and definitely compatible with the other hardware, and I don't have the tools to remove the old one and put in a new one. So unless I wanted to live the life of barely graphical OSes (MS-DOS or Windows Safe Mode, anyone?), then I was SOL. Except that I (foolishly, perhaps) opted for the extended warranty when I bought the computer two years ago. The warranty expires in May of 2010. Murphy's Law lost it's first opportunity to thwart me. The people that answered the phone at the warranty company were very strange: they were competent. Unlike Verizon or other large companies, these phone answerers were knowledgable about the topic of computer hardware, and I was highly satisfied with how they responded to my questions and comments. They sent me a box and a speedy shipping label for it, and my computer has been mailed to them. So at this point, I'm waiting until I get it back in the mail, or they call me, or I discover that it's all a scam.
One of the perks of being here is that I've had the opportunity for more conversations with my mother, father, and sister. My favorite thing has been talking with Allison about various subjects, some serious, some not. It's been good to get to know her current self better, although more than that it's been good to experience her being cheerful and open. When I wasn't here yet, my interactions with her mostly involved the cold exterior. But over the last month, there's been an increase in warmth, expression, talkativity, and trust. She still thinks I'm eccentric and nerdy, but it's not a huge barrier. My facetious theory is that she's merely rebelling against her inner nerd in order to mesh better with the folks with which she hangs.
The room in which I am staying was formerly occupied by Allison, and has a large amount of her creativity on the walls and ceiling. It's far too cool too take down, and I like having it there. Might add a few Escher posters. They'd match.
The other blog's been moving more slowly since I've been here. I've been very focused on scanning the old photos.
My computer adventures over the last two months include: fixing the sound, size, and speed of Allison's desktop, helping my uncle Shawn get his otherwise dead laptop back into working order, devirusing an acquaintance's computer, dejunking and reconfiguring my mother's computer for better performance, backing up the contents of my nonbootable laptop, making old data accessible for Ted and Diana, and recombining two old desktops into one computer with a more optimal operating system arragenment.
Of course, my own primary computer developed a problem that is beyond my ability to repair: the video card itself suffered heat damage and has failed. This particular part needs to be specific and definitely compatible with the other hardware, and I don't have the tools to remove the old one and put in a new one. So unless I wanted to live the life of barely graphical OSes (MS-DOS or Windows Safe Mode, anyone?), then I was SOL. Except that I (foolishly, perhaps) opted for the extended warranty when I bought the computer two years ago. The warranty expires in May of 2010. Murphy's Law lost it's first opportunity to thwart me. The people that answered the phone at the warranty company were very strange: they were competent. Unlike Verizon or other large companies, these phone answerers were knowledgable about the topic of computer hardware, and I was highly satisfied with how they responded to my questions and comments. They sent me a box and a speedy shipping label for it, and my computer has been mailed to them. So at this point, I'm waiting until I get it back in the mail, or they call me, or I discover that it's all a scam.