More Computer Woes
You know about the blind Mac (though I now have a plan to recover the data from it). A while ago my gaming box (an older custom-built PC) started to have video card issues. What I didn't know about was that the laptop's HD was going to wake up dead a few days ago with no warning. One new HD later, I'm in the process of re-installing the world. Fortunately I've been doing regular backups, but unfortunately, the last one I did was probably in early January. (Yes, I have a more aggressive back-up policy/schedule now.)
If I can't get the data off the dead HD, I may lose my birthday trip photos, a bunch of knitting patterns, a couple hundred recipes and my 2008 tax return. Some of this stuff I can recover from other sources, some I cannot. Needless to say, if I can't get the data off the drive myself, I will still have to hold onto it in case of IRS audit. Should the IRS come calling, I'll cheerfully hand them the dead HD and have *them* recover my data for me. (What do you bet that I *never* get audited now?)
And as the sprinkles on the cake, the gaming box video card has pretty much died completely now. I'd also forgotten that that computer had started throwing Blue Screens of Death (BSoDs) prior to my switching to the late G5. I am hoping that a new video card might fix the BSoD issue long enough that I'll have a viable backup machine for the next 18 mos. Why 18 mos, you ask? Because it's going to take me that long to save the cash to buy a new G5. Yes, I could buy one today on credit, but I rather like not having debts. Within the next year I will be completely debt free, except for my mortgage and student loans. I intend to keep it that way.
So, the grand total is three dead computers in about three months. One and a half have been resurrected. I'm hoping that I'm done replacing hardware for the next five years.
Today's Amusement
I saw this animated short earlier today. It's quite cute!
The Great Clean-Up of 2009 continues
I didn't do as well this week with staying on top of the daily chores (laundry folded and put away, errands run, etc), but I'm back on track now. I ended up doing a mountain of laundry yesterday and today. Ordinarily I wouldn't have bothered folding it, but I did make myself do the whole job last night.
As I write this, I am pondering a stack of VHS tapes I have collected over the years. These are recordings of miscellaneous television programs which I may or may not have watched. I'm thinking they can all go away. My VCR isn't even connected to my television. I discovered after I moved that connecting the DVD player and VCR to the TV resulted in a crummy image, so I pulled the VCR from the series. I may decide to just get rid of the VCR altogether. I have perhaps a dozen commercial videos that I obviously haven't watched in a while. I could even replace the VHS copies with DVD copies. Recently on the local FreeCycle group, someone was even looking for a VCR for their mother, so I could even send my VCR to a good home!
Today I'm going to declutter under the kitchen sink and in the pantry. I make a point of writing the month/year that I open herbs and spices on the bottles. Given that this is 2009, I could/should probably get rid of anything from 2005 and earlier. I can certainly afford to buy fresher herbs/spices. I should probably take stock of what's in the freezer and get rid of the unrecognizable stuff and anything I haven't used in the last year.
If I can't get the data off the dead HD, I may lose my birthday trip photos, a bunch of knitting patterns, a couple hundred recipes and my 2008 tax return. Some of this stuff I can recover from other sources, some I cannot. Needless to say, if I can't get the data off the drive myself, I will still have to hold onto it in case of IRS audit. Should the IRS come calling, I'll cheerfully hand them the dead HD and have *them* recover my data for me. (What do you bet that I *never* get audited now?)
And as the sprinkles on the cake, the gaming box video card has pretty much died completely now. I'd also forgotten that that computer had started throwing Blue Screens of Death (BSoDs) prior to my switching to the late G5. I am hoping that a new video card might fix the BSoD issue long enough that I'll have a viable backup machine for the next 18 mos. Why 18 mos, you ask? Because it's going to take me that long to save the cash to buy a new G5. Yes, I could buy one today on credit, but I rather like not having debts. Within the next year I will be completely debt free, except for my mortgage and student loans. I intend to keep it that way.
So, the grand total is three dead computers in about three months. One and a half have been resurrected. I'm hoping that I'm done replacing hardware for the next five years.
Today's Amusement
I saw this animated short earlier today. It's quite cute!
The Great Clean-Up of 2009 continues
I didn't do as well this week with staying on top of the daily chores (laundry folded and put away, errands run, etc), but I'm back on track now. I ended up doing a mountain of laundry yesterday and today. Ordinarily I wouldn't have bothered folding it, but I did make myself do the whole job last night.
As I write this, I am pondering a stack of VHS tapes I have collected over the years. These are recordings of miscellaneous television programs which I may or may not have watched. I'm thinking they can all go away. My VCR isn't even connected to my television. I discovered after I moved that connecting the DVD player and VCR to the TV resulted in a crummy image, so I pulled the VCR from the series. I may decide to just get rid of the VCR altogether. I have perhaps a dozen commercial videos that I obviously haven't watched in a while. I could even replace the VHS copies with DVD copies. Recently on the local FreeCycle group, someone was even looking for a VCR for their mother, so I could even send my VCR to a good home!
Today I'm going to declutter under the kitchen sink and in the pantry. I make a point of writing the month/year that I open herbs and spices on the bottles. Given that this is 2009, I could/should probably get rid of anything from 2005 and earlier. I can certainly afford to buy fresher herbs/spices. I should probably take stock of what's in the freezer and get rid of the unrecognizable stuff and anything I haven't used in the last year.
Comments
Hang in there with the computer.
I do periodically get better for a while about cleaning when the messes are small instead of waiting until disaster-level disorder. Then the weather gets nice or I travel and things pile up on me again. I tried waving my magic wand at it, but so far that hasn't had any effect.