This morning it was just plain dead. I called Apple support and after an hour and a half of fooling around with this and that, the guy on the phone concluded that it was the power supply that was blown, so I had to take it into the Apple store for repair. Good thing I bookmarked the board onto my husband's computer, but I have no access to my email or address book. Grrrr.
As long as my husband is at work downtown, I'll have access to his computer, but if he decides to work at home, I'm out of luck. Apple said they'd be done in a few days, so I'm hoping it'll be back by Thursday. Anyway, I juat wanted to let you know that I'm not MIA, just computer-less for a while.
BTW, Apple said that there was a ton of dust and lint inside my computer and that's likely what caused the power supply to overheat and blow. The darn thing's only 7 months old! I had no idea I was supposed to take it apart and vacuum it once a week. I never had to do that with my PC's before, and never had this problem. What a pain in the neck.
I was dragged into the computer world, kicking and screaming about ten years ago. I began slowly, just using my new-found knowledge to do a little genealogy research, which was still in its infant stages on the internet. None of my friends had email addresses, so there wasn't much use in my trying to email anyone!
Because my husband was one of the very first computer nerds on the planet (not to design, but to USE), and because my kids needed computers for school, I always got the hand-me-down computers. No problem. They were always perfectly adequate for me.
Until the internet exploded with genealogical information.
And until information and online classes on cloth dollmaking began to flow like lava from an active volcano.
And until I got myself onto numerous genealogical and dollmaking emails lists. (At that point, my mailbox was so filled with emails that I had to create separate accounts for each separate interest. My dollmaking email lists alone keep that particular mailbox filled with nearly 1,000 mails. I don't have time to read them all...)
And until all my friends and far-flung relatives got email addresses.
And until I became president of the little doll club I joined ten years ago, and had to coordinate a lot of stuff associated with that.
And until I began to collect a lot of recipes from online sources.
And until I began to collect pictures on my computer.
And until I began to learn how to restore old family photographs through PhotoShop and Photo Impact Pro.
And until, as "alumnae class secretary" of my former boarding school, I realized that my computer was a great way to find "lost" classmates (well, okay -- my graduating class only had 35 of us, but still, there are a few people to track down), and to encourage them to come back for reunions. (CRAZY BIG ONE coming up this April. I can't POSSIBLY be this old!!!)
And until I stumbled onto a soap message board one day, totally by accident...
Now, my husband admits that I probably know more about certain aspects of the computer than he does...
I still have an old table top computer that has "stuff" on it, but about a year ago, I began to borrow my husband's hand-me-down laptop. I noticed that it was very handly when I wanted to do those Tivo-live threads on AMC. When it finally bit the dust last June, my husband told me that I absolutely deserved to have a brand new, super duper, laptop of my very own! Wheeeeeeee. He got me the same one that he'd gotten for our youngest daughter -- a nice IBM think pad. Well, as has been the case with most of my cars, I think that I once again got the lemon! My daughter's computer has been fantastic -- not one problem. Mine has had assorted problems, and the FIRST time that I took it in for repairs, they scolded me for the amount of DUST inside!!! They wanted to know what in the world I was DOING to my computer, and I told them that I wasn't doing one darned thing to it. It had nothing but tender loving care. Then, they wanted to know why the board was cracked. (MY BOARD IS CRACKED???!!!???) What ABUSE had I inflicted on my poor computer, and I assured them that my computer sits safely in the same place, day in and day out, and hasn't been hurled across the room -- not even once -- hasn't travelled to distant locations, and hasn't been loaned out to anyone, including members of my own family.
And, the battery won't hold a charge.
So, they ordered me a new board, and transferred some additional stuff from my old, dead, laptop which they had failed to do before. Unfortunately, they didn't ADD this information to my new computer, but OVERWROTE my current information with the old stuff, thereby OBLITERATING six months worth of genealogical correspondence, and bookmarked locations for pertinent family information!
As I said, I feel your pain, KaeEll...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
However, the computer I have now is slow with all the programs I have installed that I used regularly. My brother has already spoken of getting me a laptop or something. That will be my next big purchase, I have decided. I'm going to save a bit of money from my income tax return. I can't buy a new one with the return though, because I have already allocated many of those dollars to dental work and a trip to San Antonio next month. (I'm going down for a bachelorette party for a girl I met on my other board, the E! Tv boards..that is another story in and of itself). So, hopefully something this fall or winter I'll have something new. And I will learn from your pain.
I got it back!!!! The Apple store called me this morning and it was ready. I'm impressed as all get-out! The guy showed me where to vacuum - the vents at the back where the fan inside blows the dust down...don't have to remove the panel after all.
I actually had withdrawl pains having no computer for 36 hours. Maybe that's a sign I should use it a little less, lol.
Moore - I used to get my one son's handy-me-downs - he needs to buy a new computer every 18 months or so to keep current (for work) until one day I said, hey, wait a sec, and that's when I got my new iMac, big screen, with bluetooth accessories. So whenever I have a problem with it, I freak, because it's supposed to be so much better than PC's (according to my geek-son). My husband uses an IBM Thinkpad, and I don't really like it, but that's just me. I prefer the big screen and a keyboard that I can move around. The one drawback is that I get about 5 seconds warning that the batteries are about to die in the keyboard. I use a corded mouse now, for that very reason.
Jojo - tell us the story of your friend having the bachelorette party. Have you ever met her face to face before? I think it'd be great fun to meet all of you guys here one day.
I get hand me downs too I can't believe they didn't back up your stuff for you Moore! I'd have killed someone! Actually my husband deleted alot of my family tree once too. Luckily it's the one thing I keep as a hard copy back up, too much work and all those birth certs and stuff.
I like genealogy but boy does it go slowly.
I try to limit my pc use, my hubby claims the kids bug him too much and I don't spend time with them. They just want their daddy when he's home, ya know. Long story there
Woohoo! Yay for getting it back! Now you'll know to keep it dusted, LOL!
Okay...On the E TV Boards, there was a huge thing going on last year that we refer to as the Spoiler Wars. People were getting pissed that other people were posting spoilers in the title, or not labeling spoiler threads correctly. Anywho, it got really, really heavy, and I and another poster decided to lighten up things a bit based a question another poster asked us in one of our community threads. This poster had asked about vibrators, and it got a really funny discussion going, so in all the spoiler war threads, we went to posting about vibrators, hijacking the meanness and just having a fun. It was in good fun to lighten the boards. Well, out of that was born a community, and I started this little thread called Good Vibrations. Once it gets to be so big, 1,000 posts or more, we start a new one. We're up to part 29 now, after having started last May. We've had ups and down, and we're in kind of a down situation now, but nonetheless still alive. We're known as the dirty birdies around the board because of our candid sex and vibrator discussions. A lot of the discussion have actually been very educational, but we still have our fun! Well, one of the members of that community goes by the name pinkypie, and she's getting married this year. She's having a bachelorette party next month, and it will be a "fun party." For those of you who don't know what a fun party is, its a tupperware party, only with vibrators and other stuff like oils, creams, etc. I have become good friends with Leah (pinky) and I decided that since I haven't been out on my own for a girls weekend in FOREVER, I was going to make the journey down to San Antonio, Texas, where she lives. It's a 7-9 hour drive, and I'm taking off early Friday morning on March 23rd to drive down. I'll leave out on Sunday morning. Jackson will be holed up with grandpa that weekend.
It will be the first ever person online I will meet. I'm way excited. And nervous. A road trip by myself is scary. But I'll manage.
I actually could have met Brandon last year, as I drove right by the exit to his town when driving through Colorado to Wyoming last year. I could kick myself now. . .
You know, it IS scary how one can go so quickly into computer withdrawal!
Fortunately, there were other computers available to me when mine was being "fixed" so I didn't have to go on any strong medication, but frequently I needed information that was stored in my own computer, and would realize it when I was on someone else's.
The thing about the genealogy is that I lost a lot of email addresses, and correspondence that I had SENT to people, along with bookmarks. Some of it I might be able to reconstruct (not what I actually wrote, but I could probably retrieve some addresses) if I ever wanted to weed through all of the past incoming mail stored on AOL. I haven't been up to doing that yet, though, because I was so demoralized about it all, and I haven't had that kind of time either! Truthfully, there are probably STILL some lives that are in serious jeopardy over there at Computer Helpers. (snorts when typing "helpers"...)
Genealogy IS slow-going, but sometimes you get a breakthrough that's just so overwhelming that it makes you cry! I've had a few of those... Some of them have been ENORMOUSLY meaningful to me. And, I'm rapidly becoming a bit of an expert on one of my "brick walls"; I even found a distant cousin (a TOTAL stranger) who was willing to participate in a DNA study.
I'm glad that everything is back to normal for you now, KaeEll.
Enjoy the roadtrip, JoJo. Don't be nervous -- you'll have a great time!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Jojo, you'll be fine on the road trip! Have you tried listening to a book while driving? It really helps pass the time. Most libraries have a great selection.
I used to think nothing of driving to Ann Arbour, Michigan to visit a friend, kids in tow. That was a 6 hour drive for me. And we had, for about 12 years, a seaside house that was a 17 hour drive away. Now, *snort*, you couldn't pay me enough to drive that far. But you're young and dauntless, Jojo. It'll be a piece of cake!
KaeEll, that is such a great suggestion. JoJo -- you need to listen to this one!
My husband has ripped through a lot of books on tape while driving our kids back and forth to various long-distance schools.
A couple of years ago, he gave me one on the rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, and it really did make the time pass quickly. But, as KaeEll said, libraries have best sellers, and just about anything that would be of interest to you...
There's also something very soothing about hearing another human voice while you're alone on the road, but you have the luxury of turning if off when you want to take a break from it! LOL...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Books on tape is a great idea! That will be good for when I tire of the radio. I have the satellite radio, so I have fun flipping through the channels, mainly pop, 80's, hair bands, the nfl channel and the comedy stations. I also admit I listen to the Broadway showtunes station. Heehee.
Hehe Vegas sounds uber fun! Luckily we have a family computer and I pretty much controll it completely. The hubby gets on occasionally to check e-mail or to check his myspace but other than that it's mine ... all mine lol. I am also looking at laptops because that's my one splurge i promised myself with my financial aid/student loans this year. We are going to have 2 stories now, and there will be times that I'll need to lock myself in the bedroom and get online for school stuff or just to unwind.
I do kinda know how you feel though because before we got my compaq (which I love because i don't need too much just something for my message boards, pics, and music) we were given my dad's hand me down computer. At first I hated it because it was so extremely slow. Then I realized why. My father in his infinite stupidity never deleted anything at all. Never even defragged it. Now one would think that when he went to the computer repair place they would have told him this, but instead he got dooped into buying loads of extra ram. So I just completely wiped the computer and installed my windows xp since it was running on ME (which I hated anyways). Now after that, the computer was wonderful. It had so much extra memory it was insane. I wouldn't have gotten rid of it except after we got this one, because I wanted DVD burning capabilities and slots in which to insert my sd cards and what not for pics, the other one just kinda sat to the way side because we were living in a place even smaller than this, and well there was just no where for us to put it up. On top of that we only had one modem for the DSL and even though we could have added more through wireless connections, that computer was so old that there wasn't anyting provisioned for that. So I sold it to my grandma's "male friend" for 100.00. I figured, that he'd get plenty of use out of it, and 100.00 was a fair price since it was so old. LOL of course now I've found out that he purchased himself a 100.00 paperweight and never uses it. I kinda feel bad for selling it to him, but I really though I was doing something good. I think if he still goes on without using it I'll offer to buy it back from him for the same price, and use it for the kids. I would just feel bad knowing that I'd sold something to an old man that he'll never use. Then again my grams tells me not to feel bad or be surprised. He has a habit of doing this. Apparently he has 4 cars in his garage (not brand new or anything but in good condition) that he got at auctions. He had planned on fixing them up then selling them for more than what he paid, but he only got as far as the fixing up part and then just kinda abandoned the project all together. He's also got 3 of those huge metal rolling tool holder things (love the jargon) all filled to the brim with the same stuff. He figures it's a good deal so he should buy it. I know this sounds horribly morbid, but I would hate to be his family when he passes away. They are going to have so much stuff to go through. Then again there won't be much to worry aobut with dividing. He'll already have enough stuff that each child gets one of everything. He's a good guy though anyways, in fact my grams has been more or less living with him lately to care for him after his heart surgery.
we gave my father in law our old PC. we thought he'd do word processing, instead of using his Type Writer!! But he never caught on. It's weird he's so intelligent, but then my dad who is street smart but never got his HS diploma picked up on the PC right away! We get stuck fixing his viruses alot though!! Don't know what the hell he's looking up
She's a jealous girl but still sexy as ever!
