Poor, Sick Merrybell...?
I'm mainly posting about this so I can establish a timeline later if I need to. :)
So it looks like Merrybell may be sick. Which...actually, before I go on, how geeky is it that I call my computer by name like that? Do I sound like a wannabe? I bet I do. Okay, let's begin again:
So it looks like the Mac Mini may be...breaking. There. That's better.
It has always made a sort of grinding noise briefly when booting up, but lately I've noticed that it has begun making the noise while searching for files. Even more recently, it's started doing it out of nowhere and locking up as it does so. At such times it reminds me of a car engine trying unsuccessfully to 'turn over'. Usually it stops after a minute or two, but yesterday it went on for so long that I had to shut the computer down to get it to stop. Not good.
Grinding is computer-ese for 'My HDD is dying. Please help.' This much, I know. I reacted accordingly: I immediately looked up the means by which I should back up my files and promptly did so. The process took FIVE HOURS. I kid you not! While it was doing that, I consulted with Fe and other trusted computery people to figure out whether this situation is fixable or will require a new Mini or what. At this point, I still don't have a clear answer to that question, but it will, as always, come down to a question of cost.
So.
Naturally, after all of that craziness and a subsequent good night's 'sleep', today the Mini is purring quite contentedly and making nary a peep. Here's hoping that it continues to do so, but at this point it has been with me for just over three years, so it's pretty much due. We'll see what happens, though.
In other news, Project Common Ground has a spiffy new website of which I am rather proud, and I am feebly attempting to get the word out to attract advertisers. This is the big bad scary part, and in this economy I feel particularly absurd even trying. Businesses are closing their doors all around me, and I'm trying to get them to spend money with me? Of course, on the other hand, advertising with me is effective and costs almost nothing, so maybe I should just look at it that way.
The hard part is knowing exactly what to do, actually. I have a newsletter component that I really like, and one of the first things I did was to set up a newsletter and send it out to every Direct Sales Consultant for whom I could find an E-mail address. Effectively, I sent out spam. Legal spam (I looked up the rules), but spam nonetheless. For obvious reasons, I felt rather dirty doing this...a sensation that intensified as I saw that even MY OWN Inbox was routing my messages to the Bulk Mail/Spam folder. How depressing! But four or five of the nineteen people I sent the mail to read it, and several of them have apparently read it multiple times, so maybe they're intrigued. I'll be eager to see if anyone calls or E-mails. So far, no one has, but no one has unsubscribed, either.
Guess we'll see how it goes. :)
So it looks like Merrybell may be sick. Which...actually, before I go on, how geeky is it that I call my computer by name like that? Do I sound like a wannabe? I bet I do. Okay, let's begin again:
So it looks like the Mac Mini may be...breaking. There. That's better.
It has always made a sort of grinding noise briefly when booting up, but lately I've noticed that it has begun making the noise while searching for files. Even more recently, it's started doing it out of nowhere and locking up as it does so. At such times it reminds me of a car engine trying unsuccessfully to 'turn over'. Usually it stops after a minute or two, but yesterday it went on for so long that I had to shut the computer down to get it to stop. Not good.
Grinding is computer-ese for 'My HDD is dying. Please help.' This much, I know. I reacted accordingly: I immediately looked up the means by which I should back up my files and promptly did so. The process took FIVE HOURS. I kid you not! While it was doing that, I consulted with Fe and other trusted computery people to figure out whether this situation is fixable or will require a new Mini or what. At this point, I still don't have a clear answer to that question, but it will, as always, come down to a question of cost.
So.
Naturally, after all of that craziness and a subsequent good night's 'sleep', today the Mini is purring quite contentedly and making nary a peep. Here's hoping that it continues to do so, but at this point it has been with me for just over three years, so it's pretty much due. We'll see what happens, though.
In other news, Project Common Ground has a spiffy new website of which I am rather proud, and I am feebly attempting to get the word out to attract advertisers. This is the big bad scary part, and in this economy I feel particularly absurd even trying. Businesses are closing their doors all around me, and I'm trying to get them to spend money with me? Of course, on the other hand, advertising with me is effective and costs almost nothing, so maybe I should just look at it that way.
The hard part is knowing exactly what to do, actually. I have a newsletter component that I really like, and one of the first things I did was to set up a newsletter and send it out to every Direct Sales Consultant for whom I could find an E-mail address. Effectively, I sent out spam. Legal spam (I looked up the rules), but spam nonetheless. For obvious reasons, I felt rather dirty doing this...a sensation that intensified as I saw that even MY OWN Inbox was routing my messages to the Bulk Mail/Spam folder. How depressing! But four or five of the nineteen people I sent the mail to read it, and several of them have apparently read it multiple times, so maybe they're intrigued. I'll be eager to see if anyone calls or E-mails. So far, no one has, but no one has unsubscribed, either.
Guess we'll see how it goes. :)