Been Gone

But for reasons.  Being on the computer makes me smoke, and I have been fighting that by restricting my computer time.  The Mark's Mews blog is primary, so I manage to do that.  Emails came second, and that has been difficult.  I've had to write them in increments.  This blog seems least important...

Not that I don't enjoy writing on it.  Just that my non-smoking willpower gets worn out fast and by the time I get to THIS blog, I need a cig.

WELL...  The computer crashed.  Sort of.  More accurately, an upgrade to Mac Yosemite (OSX 10.10.2) crashed my iPhoto.  Don't know why, but some internet search showed a LOT of unhappy upgraders.  I spent a couple of hours a day for a week trying to get at my photos with no success.  Tried un-upgrading, and other stuff too.  No luck. 

Apple doesn't LIKE un-upgrading!!!  It offends them that you don't like the new stuff.  

I could have lived with the new "Yosemite" operating system if it allowed me access to the old photograghs, but there was an endless loop of "fixes" with no end.  I finally had to do the serious thing.

Thank goodness for "Time Machine".  It stores my previous versions of the hard drive.  You would think that makes it easy to just copy back the previous old version.  You would be right.  And you would be wrong.

Its possible.  But not easy, they say.  I know because I read all kinds of internet searches about doing it (and some said it worked and some said it failed.  I knew it COULD work, because I had done it once before.  It took the help of a Verizon IT tech (2 years ago I think).  Not his job, but he helped me.  And I wrote down the steps on some scrap paper.  A foot-high stack of which is always on the corner of my computer desk

I went through the stack and actually found the scrap! 

It worked.  Two hours for restoring the older OSX version, 30 minutes for "repairing" the iPhotos Library, 30 minutes for repairing my emails (and I had to endure 15 minutes of re-receiving 200 emails and deleting them as they were all duplicates).

But everything seems to be working last lat month again, and I am greatly relieved.

All that sitting around and watching the s-l-o-w progress made me get more cigs.  Damn!  Well, one night in 3 weeks isn't too bad.

I've been busy.  But that's the next posts...

Thanks for visiting after 6 weeks of no posts...

Getting Back To Normal

Sometimes, when too many things aren't working, you have to pull back and simplify for a while.  And you never know how long it's going to take.

Too many things on the To Do List can get overwhelming. So, you clear the board, make a new list , drop a few things off that can be delayed and start at one thing at a time.  The things that are driving you crazy aren't always the biggest problems.  In fact, sometimes the best thing to do when you get overwhelmed is start at the smallest.

Solving SOMETHING is always good...

So I tackled the messy TV/VHS/DVD problem that was (in the long term of life) a minor problem but one that was becoming obsessive.

PROBLEM:  Couldn't tape old VHS tapes to DVDs.  CAUSE:  Too much equipment and too many connections.  SOLUTION:  Isolate equipment, simplify...

After trying (unsuccessfully) to do things halfway, I disconnected everything.  Set up the old VHS player and the old DVD recorder on top of the stereo cabinet.  Purpose, to make those work with the HDTV separate from all the other equipment (cable box, new DVD/BluRay player, etc).

First thing was to see if any DVD I copied from VHS tape would play.  Most wouldn't.  But one DID, so I knew it could work.  Given that, it was just a matter of figuring out cabling and what had worked once.  Which was maddening because the connections interfere with each other.

It took various attempts over 2 days, and even more simplification.  I FINALLY figured out to get a connection straight from the DVD recorder/player to the HDTV.  I tried all sorts of simple connections, like the 3 red/yellow/white cables.  And the VHS player has only one "audio out".  Well, I had this cable with one plug at one end and 2 plugs at the other, and that sure seemed to match the one VHS audio out and the 2 DVD audio in.  Nope...

I tried everything...  Some tapes even recorded for a few minutes and stopped. But there was still that one VHS Tape-to-DVD that worked...  And the HDTV offers sources of TV, HDMI1, HDMI2, HDMI3, HDNI4, AV, Component, RVU, and Screen Mirroring.  Half the things I tried just went blank on copying or showing on the HDTV, and almost half the others went blank on the copying WHILE showing up on the TV.  So I had to keep thinking.

But only "almost half the connections didn't work, not all"...  I didn't find the one that worked easily, and it's almost embarrassing.  I found an HDMI connection on the back of the DVD player/Recorder.  I stuck it from there to the HDMI3 plug on the HDTV and I got a connection working from the DVD player to the TV not involving the cable box! 

I reasoned from there that if the DVD would play a pre-recorded DVD to the TV, and if I could play a VHS tape through that to the TV, the DVD player/recorder HAD to record a VHS tape onto the DVD player recorder if I could see it on the HDTV!

It did.

I've been recording old VHS tapes that I couldn't find new DVDs to purchase (the viewing quality would be much better).  But there are some VHS tapes I have that simply aren't available for DVD purchase.  I'm copying those first.

And even better, I can copy some old VHS tapes, VHS player to isolated DVD reorder WHILE watching regular HDTV by choosing the source function on the remote.  By which I mean, if the DVD recorder is copying an VHS tape directly, the HDTV doesn't CARE because there is no direct connection between the regular cable source (HDMI1) and the DVD connection (HDMI3).

And as I truly have THAT figured out successfully, I can get on to the other damnable problem about evaluating the insulation work proposal, building the garden enclosure, etc.

Sometimes there are just too many problems to solve, and I get too frustrated solving none of them. Now I think I'm down to the others that are more easily solvable and can move forward.

Sorry I got all weirded out there for a couple weeks.  I had a few too many things to solve at the same time.  You live alone and sometimes that means you don't have experience at juggling several problems at once.  And no one to help you see the obvious things you are overlooking.

And I solved the home insulation work order Saturday.  I had the planner come visit and we went through it line by line.  She had to admit that several lines of costs and proposed work were contradictory.  They didn't need to both blow in insulation into basement wall panels from above the panelling AND drill 3" holes in the panel to do the same. And they now understand that there WILL BE plywood flooring on the joists along the center length of the attic for storage.

She brought up the SMECO website (and I confirmed it on my own desktop).  The contractor IS a partner in the rebate program, and the work IS included as part of SMECO's energy-saving program, and they have a high rating on Angieslist.

Seriously, I was concerned because they cold-called me originally with promises of partnership with SMECO and rebate programs.  Essentially, that's no different from someone knocking on your fdoor promising to resurface your driveway cheap.

OK...

They only wanted a 10% down payment (reassuring because a scammer would have gone for 25-50% I think). 

The work was completed Thursday, to my general satisfaction but I will need to see several billing cyclings of bills to see if all this makes any difference.  Hoping for good news on the bill 3 months from now.

The final contractor visit was Saturday.  A person came to conduct a final "negative air pressure test".  They seal the open front door and use a large exhaust fan to measure how much the air pressure inside drops in the air-conditioned part of the house.  They guarantee a 20% reduction (minimum to get a $2,000 rebate from my electric company), and try for 25-30%.

The guy did the initial test and was disturbed that it hadn't reached 20%.  So he searched the basement and found a place where the garage was open to the basement and sealed that (no charge).  He redid the test and was still baffled at failing the 20% guarantee.

Then he laughed his ass off.  He was using the wrong initial test measurement before any work was done!  He was transposing the digits, going from (flawed) memory.  And I had the original data and double-checked his claim AND did the reduction calculation myself.

The insulation and sealing work had achieved a 41% reduction in air leakage!  That doesn't mean my electric bill will go down 41%, there is other electrical usage in the house.  But it does mean that this improvement will pay for itself in 3-4 years and I plan to stay here longer than that!

Fun With Monitors

Soooo, I bought this new monitor for the old PC I use only to play Civilization 2 (and maybe retrieve some old files and photos from AND it has MS Paint which I've always liked for creating greeting cards).  At 19.5" diagonal, and 16:9 aspect, its bigger than the monitor on my "real" computer (the fast internet one).  But I needed one that had the older-style connections (male, D, 15 pin plug, so I didn't have a lot of choices). 

Opening the box, I found warranties in several languages, a page of disclaimers, a page of warnings, and a CD.  No set up instructions...  Those were on the CD.  Um, how do you read a CD if you dont have a working monitor?  How often do YOU replace a working monitor with a new one?  Plus there was a page that said if the monitor did not receive a working video input it would turn on.  I had to think about that later...

Fortunately, the monitor was good for both PCs and Macs, so I could load the CD in the Mac while I set up the monitor on the CD.  The CD PDF manual was pretty pathetic.  Even though I could choose among languages to read it in, there were mostly just pictogram instructions.  One instruction said to repeatedly press the f8 button while booting up to get to a "safe screen" and and a page of possible ways to get to setting up the monitor.

Nothing happened...  Which could either mean the plugs weren't connecting, the monitor wasn't compatible, I had a "too old" version of Windows (and how can you find out if there is no monitor to click on the Windows icon to see what Windows version you have?), and how do you know the electrical cable is working if the monitor won't even light up?

BLEH!  It was a real Catch-22*

Fortunately I saw a PFD-manual reference to a small LED light that would show a working connection to the computer.  I didn't find one, but feeling around the bottom of the monitor frame I found a  pinhead-sized plastic button hidden about as well as possible.  I pressed it.  The monitor lit up (HOUSTON, WE HAVE LIFT-OFF).

The brief printed guidelines were COMPLETELY false.  NONE of the setup instructions had anything functional about them.  The manufacturer probably fired the person who wrote the instructions for the 3-generation previous version and never had them rewritten.

The instructions DID have some useful guidelines for setting the screen resolution and aspect choices.  IF you figured out that they were in the wrong order.  If I was new to this stuff, I would have returned the monitor to the store as "non-functioning"...

Then I turned on the Civilization 2 game I use the PC for.  The colors were HORRIBLE!  Dark, blurry, and the text was unreadable.  OK, little habit here.  I often just squat in front of the computer rather than bother with a chair.  I often did my computer work at the office and home squatting, standing, etc because I am restless and hate to just SIT.  But when you stand or sit a lot, squatting  puts a different tension on the leg muscles that can be relaxing.

So image my surprise when I stood up and the computer colors suddenly became perfect, then "too light".  This monitor is apparently very direct "square-on" to be color-correct".  I was angry!  I went to the Mac and loaded up a full screen color photo and tried the same "from squatting to standing" examination.

I was shocked!  It did the same thing.  Then, with some testing, I realized that the situations where I squatted to use the Mac were for reading email and that is in black and white.  When I am doing lengthier work, I sit.  Try it yourself; with a full color photo on the screen look at it from below to middle to above.  Do the colors change severely?  Mine do.

So, when I use the old PC to play the Civilization 2 game, I will be sitting in a chair with the monitor aimed directly at me for proper colors.

It shouldn't have been that hard.  Of all the parts of a desktop computer, the one part that OUGHT to be utterly "plug and play" is the monitor.  If it doesn't just "come on" automatically, its really frustrating,  And useless.


*  If you don't know what a "Catch-22" is, its a situation where one is trapped between conflicting rules from which there is no escape.  Catch-22 is a novel by Joseph Heller about absurd situations in WWII.  The title was originally Catch-18 but was changed because of a then-recently published book Mila 18, then changed from Catch-11 because of a movie Ocean's Eleven, then changed from Catch-17 because of the movie Stalag 17, then not Catch-14 because "14" wasn't considered a "funny number", finally landing on Catch-22 for the duplication of "2" which seemed to fit the duplication concept AND "2" standing for the deja vu situations in the book.  I knew some of that, but got more from Wikipedia...  Didn't want to do a "Rand Paul" here.

A Cautionary Tale of Sad Computer News

A long post, and I won't blame you for not reading it to the end.  But there are some lessons that may be worth reading...

No, I haven't gotten a diagnostic call from the computer repair shop I mentioned in the last post.  Instead, I messed up my own working Mac Mini computer.

Over the past few years, I have tried out several anti-virus/disk management programs for the Mac, and not been really happy with them.  Viruses aren't really a problem for Macs, but they are good about detecting viruses that could go on to infect PCs that I communicate with, so I want to keep the anti-virus protection up to date.  Mostly, I want the programs for hard drive management and they are S-L-O-W.   Several hours to read all the files looking for viruses, and a lot of one-at-a-time decisions about most programs.

I like Macs, but it seems there are a couple of weaknesses.  They don't "hold" your name/passwords to some websites as well as PCs do.  So when I actually have to shut down the computer, I have to sign in again.  A minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but it does get tedious when you have several program updates the same night and have to restart the computer after each one.

That wouldn't be too bad, except that I play computer games that use adobe flash a lot.  For some reason, Macs accumulate some files than clog the system.  Even THAT's not too bad; on my older PC, I would simply crash in mid-game.  One the Mac, things afterwards slow down and it locks up while searching something on Firefox or writing a letter and I have to restart the computer (meaning all those sign-ins again afterwards).

So I found a program called MacKeeper that promised to do all that better and great hacking protection (and had good reviews).  And since I had just run into a person who I thought intended to do me ill (old story, I won't go into that now except to say never blow up at a former friend whose past malicious behavior shows they know a LOT about computers).

I used the program and it seemed to work well.  Fast scanning of all files, etc.  No problems with hack attempts.  A couple of nights ago, I noticed some additional features.  The were sub-routines to identify and delete unused apps, find and delete "leftovers" (orphaned files related to deleted programs),  etc.  It wouldn't just do it automatically, I had to check each file to be deleted.

After tediously checking boxes carefully for an hour, I got a bit casual and just started taking its advice.  You can guess that was a BAD move...  It was in the applications part of my directory, and just after I clicked OK for the latest batch, I saw Firefox was on the list.  It was too late to stop it!

I have to admit the program is thorough.  When I could control the computer again, I found I had deleted Firefox.  OK, no real problem, I have TWO backup systems.  One is an external drive called FreeAgent, the other is a built-in Mac backup called Time Machine.  Both save your hard drive initially and changes to it thereafter.

Well, FreeAgent had told me last week that it was full and I should delete some older backups, and I had just done that, saving backups from Jan of the previous several years and a quarterly one for this year.  I didn't examine The Time Machine (I find it a little confusing to use).

So I examined my computer dock (graphic sidebar of active applications) and Firefox was gone.  So was the Mac word and spreadsheet suite called iWorks.  So was the MS Office Word and Excel.  I have NO word-processing or spreadsheet programs, and the only browser I had was Safari  (which seems to fight me all the time).

After spending a good part of yesterday and this morning trying to find the lost programs in the two backups, I gave up.  I downloaded Firefox (at least its free), but there were no bookmarks.  I had about 13 years of some useful and unusual bookmarks saved.  Well, at least I knew that I had seen a boormarks.html file in the backup list.

Yeah, it was from 2008!  Both backup programs had faithfully saved one old bookmark file for 5 years.  I checked both backups programs "every way from Sunday" (as my Dad used to say) for 2 hours before I gave up.  There was just that old one.  So I imported it.  The first thing I did was open every single bookmark.  Most were no longer working and I deleted them.  Some were still working but were "repurposed" and I deleted them.  Some I could not imagine why I bookmarked them and I deleted THEM!

It didn't leave me with very many bookmarks, but at least I still had the organization of the folders (blogs, reference, hobbies, garden, pets, etc).  The first additions were my blogs.  And you know, it was hard to get those.  It was easy to SEE my blog, but it took some thought to find how to get to my dashboard (my blog has "blogspot" in the url, but the dashboard has "blogger").

I slowly used Safari to get the urls of some other sites (like cat blogosphere) and bookmark them into Firefox.

I've lost a lot of bookmarks, but I had too many old unused ones anyway.  Old ones I want, I can find again easily enough and bookmark them.  And my Feedly bloglist RSS is safe because I set it up as my home page on Safari (open up Safari, and there it is).

I had the Mac iWorks and MS Office word and spreadsheet programs downloaded rather than owning the reloadable CDs, so I think I would have to buy them again.  Fortunately, I don't need the MS suite programs with their advanced features anymore.  The simpler Mac Page and Numbers apps will work fine.  And it seems they are only about $20 each.  MS Office for Mac costs $140. (and I'd rather not have any MS crossover programs on the Mac for security purposes).  And I used to make CD backups of some programs, I might find them.

But not tonight!  I'm worn out and (as calm as I may seem), very angry and frustrated.

Those backup programs (as I understood them) were SUPPOSED to allow me to completely restore my hard drive in case of failure.  I HOPE it was just my fault in not setting them up properly, but my recollection is that I was pretty darn careful about doing it right.  But I'm going to really triple-check it when I dig into them both tomorrow!

If you have a backup system, I suggest you really examine it carefully.  Make sure that what you think is a saved program isn't just the sidebar graphic or the desktop shortcut.  Look at "properties" or "info" or whatever gives you file size amounting to MBs.  You may not actually have the actual program saved.

I got fooled because my older computers had a full-sized 2nd drive and when I copied the main drive to the 2nd drive it WAS a real copy of the whole drive, applications and all.  I was used to that.

It seems to me that, not matter how careful you try to be, a train wreck will occur on your computer every few years.  And something you assumed worked, won't work the way you think it will...

Well, That Was Fun, But A Surprise!

Last night around 10:30 pm, I lost access to one of my 3 email accounts.

I spent the better part of 12 hours trying to get it working again and only managed to lose access to ALL 3 accounts.  I boiled, I steamed (taking an hour off  at 6 am to rip the grass away from the front yard trees and prune a few wayward branches in frustration management).  I had tried to find a way to reach Verizon but could only get a dumb computer assistant that was worthless.  Verizon does NOT want you to reach an actual human being...

I was so angry I was QUIVERING.  I wanted a HUMAN on line to solve this problem!  I am sorry to say that I wouldn't let any of the Mews up on the computer desk.  I couldn't handle the distraction.

About 9:30 am I finally remembered that I had old paper bills from Verizon and THOSE had a customer service telephone number.  AHA!  I had a telephone number, and it got me right through to a human (probably few people have that number now)!

It took HIM (matter of chance) an HOUR to fix the problem after I let him take over my computer (and I have to say that almost every serious computer problem I've ever had has been solved SMOOTHLY that way).  I had to keep entering a password (must be Verizon policy since he could see what it was) but it did make me feel involved and gave me the illusion of privacy.

Watching the onscreen typing from the Verizon rep was a hoot.  He types as badly as I do.  He kept deleting keystrokes, LOL!  But he fixed it and that's all I really cared about.  My emails accounts are working again.

But you won't guess the sweet part of the frustrating hours on line...

Iza put her precious purple softy-mouse at my feet while I struggled.

When she comes in from the deck sunpuddle, I will start a DVD nature show and give her as much laptime as she wants...  And she is getting extra treats tonight.

Replacement To Google Reader

Well, I finally did some research on a replacement to Google Reader, since it it planned to be shut off July 1st.  I figured it would be a good idea to try out a few for the last month.

I considered functionality, simplicity, familiarity, and ease of transition most important.  My needs are simple.  I only use RSS feeders for blogs on a single desktop computer.  Anything else, I have a bookmark for.

I went to a few discussion sites that compared the features of cloud RSSs versus web-based RSSs, and I'm not comfortable with The Cloud.  I like applications ON my computer.  OK, I'm OLD...  LOL!

But seriously, if its on my computer, it can't disappear overnight since I have daily external backup right here.

The one I found most interesting was The Old Reader <http://theoldreader.com/>  It seems to be very similar to Google Reader, and is relatively easy to import the Google Reader list.

You can sign in with various accounts, but I chose to create a new one separate from Google (just in case).  I like to distribute my services around to frustrate the aggregators. 

You export the Google Reader file in Google Reader to a zip file.  Then you just create an account with The Old Reader (love the name) and it offers you to browse a file to open.  On my Mac, opening a zip file automatically unzips it, I don't remember on a PC.  You might have to unzip it first.

But with the Google file unzipped in Import, The Old Reader just loads it.  It does take a few minutes.  I got an email message saying the import was complete, so look for that.

When the Google Reader subscriptions are all imported, they will all show 10 or 20 unread per subscription.  I suggest visiting all your subscriptions down to zero so that you can just mark ALL read after the import.  I didn't think of that and I regret it.

And this point, your Old Reader should look generally like Google Reader, but there are some differences.

1.  You don't click on the blog title to access it.  Below the blog title, there are "site" and "feed" buttons.  "Site" brings you to the home page of the blog; "feed" brings you to only the newest post.

2.  To show only the updated blogs, you have to go to your name in the upper right corner.  There is a drop down menu.

At "feed display mode", choose "show unread only, and at "Post Order" check "Show only those folders/feeds that have unread items".

And you are good to go!  It sounds more complicated than it is.  It only took me 15 minutes, and I'm a bit slow and cautious at this stuff.

Anyone have a RSS they like better?  My ears are open...

Farewell Google Reader...

I use Google Reader, and Google is gong to shut it down July 1st.

I deliberately use different services from various providers because I don't want ANY of them to learn TOOO much about me.  I will suffer poorer quality service at the start to avoid control.  In the same way I left Microsoft to go to Apple, and Google Search for Bing, I will leave Google for some other reader service.

Google thinks it is too grand to leave.  They don't know me.  I will accept 2 star service in return for being CHERISHED by some new startup service provider.  And they are out there just waiting for those like me to give them a try.  I'll try them...

I always will.

What companies like Google DON'T realize is that there will always be competitor services, small start-ups that will someday become the IBMs/Microsofts/Googles of the future.

Google has decided that I am not worth their continued support.  If I owned stock in Google, I would sell it tomorrow.  (Disclaimer, I own index stocks and some may involve Google, but I don't know that).

I sometimes wonder how much some internet service providers understand about their users.  Do they really think they have a monopoly on any service?  Do they really think that their users can't move to other providers?

There IS such a thing as thinking you are "too big to fail".  That's exactly the point where a company SHOULD be broken up into constituent parts that compete.

Let's see how much better the parts of Google serve us, the users, when they get broken up into smaller competing units...

And back up your Google blog immediately.  I just did.  See instructions HERE.  Its tricky, but I did it and I'm no genius.  It did take some effort though.

Almost Entirely Back!

It is funny now, after all the problems are solved.  But it wasn't before that.

I was frustrated when I first hooked up the new Mac Mini.  No monitor picture...  And that was the same problem I had a week ago.  Not knowing the cable lingo made it hard.  The old Mac Mini had two ports labeled with a "monitor" symbol.  The new one didn't.  Just one labeled HDMI (which I understand, having an HDMI TV) and one I didn't labeled "Thunderbolt".  Thunderbolt did match the plug I had on the VGA-to-monitor cable, so I tried it.  Nothing. 

Why does this sort of thing only happen after business hours when I can't call anyone?  And please don't say just go online; the monitor wasn't working, LOL!  So I struggled with things all night.  And I mean "all night"  I went to bed at 9 am.

Who knew that the FOURTH time I re-plugged the monitor cable in it would work just fine?  I try things over and over again because I really don't know what else to do.  And sometimes it works.

So there I was at 4 am with a working computer.  I tried to play a game of cribbage at pogo.com.  No luck, just endless "loading".  After that, I did what any annoyed and frustrated person would do who smokes and drinks.  I went out ant bought a pack of cigs from the all-night 7-11 and poured myself a glass of wine when I got back.  Surely the problems would resolve themselves after my punishing myself with drugs...

No.

This morning, I called the computer repair shop and asked for help.  The guy who answered the phone seemed knowledgeable.  He directed me to the "About The Mac" click and asked me to read what it said.  When I got to memory (not RAM) it said 512 MB.  Yes, "512 MB".  He said, "well there's your problem, you didn't get enough storage".  I said the Mac Mini ONLY comes in 512 GB or 1 TB.  He said I should have gotten the 512 GB drive and I could come in for an upgrade.

I was annoyed by that, but thought for a minute and decided that was preposterous.  NOBODY offers a 512 MB drive any more!  So I told him so and asked if there was someone more knowledgeable I could speak to.  He got all huffy about THAT and said he would have someone call me back.

Two hours later, I got a call back.  The guy said the 512 MB was just the graphics memory and I had a full 512 GB hard drive.  So we proceeded to go through the system to prove it.  I really DO have 512GBs.  Which is fine because I had only used 100GB on the old computer.

It turned out that I didn't have the new Java script needed.  I HAD downloaded that at the computer's request the night before, but nothing had happened.  OK, usually, you have to download those files and then install them.  But since there was no file to open in the downloads folder, I assumed it self-opened (which seemed a process improvement).

No.

It saved to my documents folder for some reason.  With the computer guys help, I found it and installed it.  Problem solved.  I asked who the previous guy (the idiot) was and the person I was talking to wouldn't say.  But, as the problems were solved I let it go.  I assume the first guy is a relative of the owner of the shop, LOL!

I had 200 emails to read...  I think I'll go watch TV for an hour (Rachel Maddow on MSNBC) and come back later to start visiting the cats' friends...

Computers are maddening.  I know enough to use them and figure out some problems, but not enough to solve the weird problems.

Computer Scare

I have a confession.  I am hard on inanimate objects when I get angry.  I have punched holes in walls, in hollow doors, and I have been known to throw things.  There are reasons why some people live alone...

Don't worry, I never take out anger on people or pets.  I also play online computer games with other people.  That's not really a good combination.

I thought I had ruined my computer last night.  I was playing Risk and had won 3 games in a row, and reached a level where I was playing a real expert.  I had him on the ropes when suddenly I couldn't make any moves.  After 3 turns of complete frustration, I threw the wireless mouse at the wall.  It broke apart quite satisfactorily...

I had an older wired mouse to replace it.  I still couldn't make any moves.  The keyboard went next, then the wineglass (which had only ginger ale).  So I shut off the computer.  I spent the next hour on my hands and knees carefully collecting bits of glass in a small wastebasket so the cats wouldn't step on them.  That was penance... 

This morning, I set about reconstructing the computer...  The wireless mouse went back together well, the keyboard  was plugged in...  Nothing.  I tried an older keyboard.  The only problem with it was a "B" key, so it should have at least worked otherwise.  I tried an older wired mouse that would only scroll up.  That didn't work either.  I checked the monitor for power, it had it.  Rebooting my Mac-Mini, I could hear the power-up sound.  The monitor would come on with the "no signal" graphic normal at start up.  I was baffled.  I tried every combination I could think of.

I worried about what scheduled blog posts said that I meant to edit.  I worried about emails I wasn't receiving.  I worried about what I was missing on the CB... 

I was so annoyed that I ate dinner early because I didn't have anything else to do.

I kept going at it all night.  I am not skilled at computers, but I am analytical and persistent.

 -->

 -->

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The monitor connection to the computer had come loose...

All is well.  The wireless mouse still works, the keyboard still works, the computer still works.  Meanwhile, I feel pretty stupid...  Throwing things at walls never accomplishes anything useful.

A Redo On The Lawn

I haven't re-seeded the lawn in years and there are thin/bare spots.  So before Tropical Storm Lee came through, I thought I would take advantage of the predicted rain for the week to keep new grass seed wet while it germinated.

I didn't realize how MUCH rain there would be and how HARD it would fall at times.  Some of the seed I put down then has germinated - in thick separated bands.  It looks like the lime markers on a football field!  And all the formerly bare spots are still bare.

So much for THAT $42 worth of grass seed!  So, today, I bought another bag and I re-seeded the lawn after mowing it down as short as I dared (1").  This time, I even raked the lawn roughly and collected dried crumbled grass clippings to cover the bare areas after seeding.

After seeding the lawn again, I sprinkled the dried grass clippings over the bare spots.  Not thickly, just enough to give a little cover and hide them from the birds...  Then I spent an hour gradually watering the seeds enough to let then soak up some moisture and start germinating. 

I saved about a lb of grass seed for patching spots that don't grow this time.  Its a blend of 3 Rebel tall fescue.  I like fescue, but it isn't a spreading grass, so bare spots develop.  I think I will get some bluegrass for the sunnier areas next time.  It spreads.  But the lawn is at least half shaded, so I need fescue on most of it. 

Sorry no pictures again, but for some odd reason, I can't upload pictures on THIS blog.  Works fine on the cat blog, and as far as I can tell, the settings are the same.  I don't have any maximum picture upload issues, as all of mine are in the "free" range.  And pictures that won't upload here WILL upload to the cat blog.  It's driving me nuts.  I posted a question on the Blogger Help Forum days ago, but have not gotten any responses.  Any ideas are more than welcome!