Indoor Gardening Started!

It's always a bit of work to get started each year.  Here is how it looked last week...

Well, things pile up over the Winter.  So I organized some supplies into piles, moved some stuff to the shelves in the garden shed, and threw out some junk.  That left me with this...

NOW, I have some working space and am ready to go.  The barrel (above) holds my personal premixed potting soil.  WAY cheaper than buying those small bags, and I know for sure what is in them (I try to stay organic).  The tubs below are the various components that are left over, plus some of them are used potting soil from last year.  Those are fine for established plants but not for new seeds. Kitty litter tubs make great containers (good size, good handles, good tops). 

The long narrow planters are for indoor lettuces, pak choi, and leafy celery.

The stacked trays below are filled with my sterile potting soul mix for the new seeds.  I poured an inch of hot water into each tray so the soil could soak.  Dry potting soil takes a day to get saturated.  It is not like regular dirt, LOL!

So, tomorrow, I will be able to plant seeds.  The first will be the heirloom tomatoes I hope to graft onto vigorous disease-resistant rootstock.  I've never succeeded in that in 3 years but I keep trying.  I learn a little bit each time.

The rest of the trays will go to perennial or self-sowing flowers I am trying to establish in old beds, some mass-annuals like marigolds and zinnias, and other veggies like bell peppers and melons.

I used up 1/2 of the barrel of the potting soil, but the trays are filled and saturated.  That means all I have to do is plant seeds according to schedule.

And I have a great schedule!  Years ago, I made index cards for each veggie, sorted by "weeks before and after last frost date".  Each card has the name of a veggie and the indoor or outdoor planting date, the kind of fertilizer it wants, and the spacing per square foot of garden space.  Example:
 
And I have 2 calendars marked with + or - weeks related to last frost to remind me which cards to look at for planting each week.

The growing season has STARTED!

Coronavirus Pandemic Preparations

I'm not a survivalist, an end-of-civilizationist, or someone who expects a political revolution.  I don't expect aliens, zombies, or the mole-people to attack.  I don't have the garage stocked with AK-47s and ammo.  I don't even have an outside generator.

To be honest, I have a couple of basic hunting weapons, and a few replica swords (I participated in re-enactments a couple of decades ago for fun) and those are functional enough if I wanted to sharpen them.  I have a hunting-quality crossbow, too (there are relatively tame deer in the swamp across the street).  But I'm not expecting any need for stuff like that.

What I AM considering though, is that the Coronavirus MIGHT spread enough (and mutate sufficiently) to sicken enough people to disrupt standard food and supplies distribution for a few weeks even in the US.  So I am taking some basic steps which will not waste money in the long term but might prove useful if I wanted to avoid going out more than necessary.

Here is what I am NOT doing:
1.  Buying cases of freeze-dried food and MRE-equivalents.
2.  Buying guns.
3.  Buying cans of gasoline.
4.  Buying a generator.

Here is what I AM doing:
1.  Buying an extra 6-pack of TP, hand soap, laundry detergent,.
2.  Buying a case or 2 of distilled water (my Venus-fly-traps need it anyway).
3.  Buying an extra case of cat food.
4.  Buying a dozen each of canned soups, stews, and chili.
5.  Buying a few large bags of mixed frozen vegetables.
6.  Buying a large Pork Butt to cook, cube, and freeze in portions (I do that anyway every few months).
7.  Buying a dozen chicken thighs for the same reason.
8.  Checking my non-prescription drugs and anti-infection ointments and bandage supplies.
9.  Pre-ordering refills of the cats' meds.
10. Filling my riding mower 5 gallon tank with gas, filling the portable 5 gallon can with gas, and topping off my car gas (I have gas stabilizer, so it won't go bad and will get used over Summer if otherwise not needed). 
11. Buying an N95 NOISH-approved particle respirator 10-20 pack (if I can find them).  That's for if I HAVE to go shopping or visit a doctor waiting room (but even then, I work with solvent and sawdust sometimes, and they work for those too so I'll use them eventually).
12.  Calling my doctor's office about getting a copy of my medical records (a good idea anyway).
13.  White gas (a generic term for camp stove and lantern fuel).  I have a single burner backpacker's cooktop.  "Just in case".


I've probably forgotten a few things. 

Things I already have that might be useful to consider for others to consider:
1.  Rechargable batteries and charger.
2.  Slow-burning emergency candles.
3.  Charcoal for the smoker.
4.  A crank-powered flashlight and a crank powered radio.
5.  Powdered milk, powdered Gatorade (electrolytes), bread flour, sugar, salt, spices.

I don't expect it will get all that bad.  I'm not the paranoid kind; I expect things won't get as bad as some fear.  But buying stuff that you can use eventually won't hurt and may keep you from going out among the sick could make things easier.

Just a thought...

Comments About That Unusually Helpful AOL Tech Person

Comments came up about how unusually helpful the AOL tech was and that she didn't want company recognition...

I had dealt with at least 6 AOL techs over the last couple months.  I'm not saying they weren't helpful to the degree required for their jobs.  But if there was something I couldn't do or understand, they lost patience quickly.  So they didn't go out of their way to help.  They were following AOL rules.  One is paying $5 per month per email account that they could verify.  Another was that I had to know the previous passwords which were on the dead Mac Mini.  They pretty much just tried to get me off the phone to get to the next customer.

I should mention that the previous ones might have had trouble because I didn't have a 2nd phone for sending a code to, or call waiting set up.  I did contact my service provider (Verizon) to set that up.  It just took a button click on My Account and then discovering there was a button on my phone labeled "call waiting'!  Well, you don't see what you aren't looking for...

When I talked to this latest one, it was obvious she was not so concerned with AOL rules.  She didn't ask if I had an paid account for each email address.  She asked if I had passwords, but when I said I didn't (and explained why) she said "then we will set of new ones".  She was patient after asking questions that I didn't fully understand.  She answered some questions she didn't have to bother answering.

An example was "what is the difference between POP and IMAP accounts"?  She explained that POP was easier for AOL but did not allow recovery of email files while IMAP took a little more work, but allowed recoveries.  When I mentioned that my working email account was POP, she said "well let's fix that first".   And she did.

She was on "remote control" over my computer by then.  She explained what she was doing at each step.  After changing my primary email account from POP to IMAP we went to the marksmews email.  She didn't ask if I had a monthly payment account, she just went about setting it up as IMAP.  To do so, she generated a master password on her end and told me to enter a password of my own afterwards to change it.  And she specifically said at all such times that she had turned off her vieing so that she couldn't see my new password. 

OK, that might have been untrue, but I was trusting her.  I think she was being honest.  Besides, I'm sure anyone at AOL could see my passwords if they wanted to.

So she had my cavebear email changed to the safer IMAP format and the marksmews email set up the same way.  She asked if I needed further assistance.  I mentioned a 3rd email accounnt.  When she asked why have 3 accounts, I explained it was one general email and one each for 2 blogs (cats and gardening) just to keep them separate.

She laughed and said she admired organized computer files.  I didn't mention that I keep so many folders of various kinds that I used to drive the computer guys nuts at work when they had to solve a problem.  They make sense to me and that is all that matters.

So she went about setting up my yardenman email (gardening) as Imap and went through the process of creating a temporary new master password at her end *sending a temporay code to my call-waiting) and then going off-viewing while I created a new one for myself.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience.  I have never in my life had a better experience with a computer company tech.  So why did she decline to let me thank AOL on her behalf? 

Well, during our hour-long chat, I mentioned that she was unusually helpful and did she really enjoy doing this?  OK, I would expect any company agent to express a positive attitude whether they actually enjoyed their job or not.

She seemed actually happy to help people get problems fixed and to be the one to fix them.  So parts of being happy at what you do are hard to disguise.  She seemed to REALLY enjoy what she was doing.

I get that.  When I visit my favorite gardening forum, the first thread I go to is the "Questions" thread.  Some guys love cars, some like sports, I was gardening as a preteen.  So it has been 60 years...  I love to answer gardening questions!  I get positive pleasure from helping other people garden well. 

So, apparently, the AOL tech rep I spoke to feels the same way about computers.  I think that she knows that she is breaking AOL rules by helping people without asking for payment programs or pushing add-on "pay-for" services.  It just gives her pleasure to help others with her expertise.

An aside...  The internet has been the greatest opportunity for people to share their individual knowledge since the invention of the mass-printed book.  Before the printing press (invented in symbol-driven China, but much more applicable to European letter systems), scholars had to write individual letters to the few others they knew about things they had discovered (expensive, slow, and uncertain of delivery).  After the printing press, scholars could write whole books available to all who could buy one (it still wasn't cheap).  But 1,000 books reached more people than a dozen short letters.

With the internet, we can reach a Billion people if they are interested and nearly for free.  So sending answers to questions (whether computer, gardening, cooking, etc) into the internet is basically "books cubed".

The AOL tech woman is one of those.

Email Accounts

This is long and has a pretty good ending, but you'll have to read to get to it!  And I'm writing this is relatively good humor, as you'll see by the end.  Consider it "a novel to read in 20 minutes".  I'm done complaining.  LOL!

I originally set up 3 email accounts on Verizon mail years ago (2008).  It was quite easy.  So I set up a primary email for myself (friends, family, shopping, my Cavebear's Lair blog).  That is me "in general".

I set up one for the cat blog (Mark's Mews).  That one gets 95% of all my emails of course.  Mostly notifications on comments.  It is easier to read them in email than actually going to the blog.  And all of those are saved that way "just in case".

I set one up for my garden posts and forums (Yardenman).

I was happy as a pig in mud.  I loved being organized in my slightly different 3 personas.  No deceit intended, but it was just easier to have family, cat blog, and garden forums separate.

And then, in 2017, Verizon sold their email accounts to AOL.  "Rest assured", they said, "you keep your email addresses forever, and will get more experienced service at no cost.  This is for YOUR benefit".  I ask, are there more chilling marketing words than that?

AOL is used to people having one email.  But they worked hard to get my 3 accounts transferred.  And they did succeed.  I ended up with a dozen different passwords and I wasn't sure which went to which email account, but they assured me they could always find it or give me a new one.  No cost.  I was a legacy from Verizon, and free service was part of the contract.

Nothing is forever...

When I foolishly downloaded Mac OS 'Catalina'  last November, everything to Hell in a Handbasket, as they say.  Catalina was a 64-bit system and none of my 32-bit apps worked.  And it was not reversable.  Apple WANTS everyone to "progress" and that meant 64 bit.  I kicked like a mule and I bit like a crocodile.  Didn't do me any good.  Catalina wasn't leaving my computer. 

So I pulled out the previous Mac Mini (that didn't have 'Catalina') and started migrating the Catalina one to it.  I had some short cables, so I had to snuggle both Macs on one desk.  Along the way, I moved one that still had an overlooked cable attached

That cable caught my wine glass and spilled it onto the Catalina Mac.  It's OK to laugh.  I'm trying to write this as a comic-tragedy...  The Catalina Mac was immediately fried.  Dead.  No power.  Drowned.  Zombied.  6' under.  You get the point....

So I had the older one I stopped using in 2017.  But I also had an external backup from a few days before.  On Mac, it is called "Time Machine".  Theoretically, you can restore your computer  down to the last email setting from it. 

But what they don't tell you is that it has to be the same computer.  To a different computer, it is just a collection of apps and docs and folders.  Guess who was on "a different computer"?

I tried everything for a couple months.  Ceiling Cat KNOWS I tried (I'll get some credit for that somehow someday, I'm sure, but not NOW).

I bought a new Mac Mini, not realizing that it was a cloud computer and had little memory.  I was able to return it.  I bought a real one.  1TB and faster stuff.  So I confidently went to use "Migration Assistant".  Apple says it will copy everything from an old computer to a new one.  Guess what doesn't work as claimed?  It copied most of the old Mac, but not the photos or email or settings. 

I'm going to guess it is partially my fault.  I customize and organize my computer files freely and in ways the designers probably didn't expect. 

When we got our first office computers (Convergent Technology, aka C3) in the early 90s , the spreadsheet was called Multiplan.  It had a way to link files together.  I linked freely.  I crashed the system.  Not to the point where our Data guys were upset, but to where the Multiplan programmers and C3 managers called me asking what I had done.  Well, it was more like "What the F ing H*ll did you do

I told them that I had explored their spreadsheet and used the features.  They had to rewrite large parts of their spreadsheet code to allow what I did.  I am very likely infamous at C3 and possibly mentioned in some software articles from the time.  

So I can get around software given a half a chance, and I find things the programmers didn't think of.  I couldn't fully migrate the old mac to the new one.  The Photos would NOT go (too many I suspect).  The settings wouldn't transfer (I had to many alterations?) maybe.  My mail wouldn't go at all!

I got the photos transferred one folder at a time using an external HD.  The new computer didn't like it the way I did it, but it has to copy files directly if you are determined enough.  On tyhe other hand, you can't MAKE it copy "settings" apparently.

So then I called AOL about the email.  Remember that part about free service forever?  Forget that. Never heard of it.  And they hate us legacy Verizon email users.  They ARE stuck with keeping our email addresses working though.  I have no idea why that and not the free service, but that is money and who really knows what the contract actually says.

They demanded I have a separate phone to receive temporary codes.  I only have the landline (yeah, I'm THAT primitive).  Call waiting would work, but I had never set that up and wasn't even sure I had it.  AND they wanted me to pay $5 monthly for a support account for each email account.  I went for one for the Cavebear email account.  If I had to live with one, that's "me".

They got that working, but refused to touch the others unless they could send a text or voice code to a separate number.

Well, after finally getting the photos moved and setting up new setting all around, I set up a "chat" with a Verizon agent.  She told me I had call waiting and how to activate it.  Stupid me, it was right there on a phone button!

But armed with call-waiting, I confidently called AOL again, expecting to have to pay $5 per month for tech support for each account.  And expecting to have trouble understanding what the agent was saying.

And THIS is why I am so thrilled.  First, imagine an Asian Indian/Irish accent (it sounded beautiful whatever it was).    Second, imagine not being asked to sign up for a year's worth of monthly payment for 3 accounts.  Third, imagine someone who cheerfully led me through all the stages of all 3 accounts (correcting a few previous mistakes by the previous AOL agents) for over an hour and got all 3 accounts working AND even helped me get the email accounts under my Inbox.

I even asked her if she enjoyed her job when it takes so long for a customer like me and she said she really does enjoy helping people with difficult problems.    She seemed sincere.  OK, I get that.  Sometimes I spend hours at a gardening site answering questions that will never benefit me in any way.

And another thing.  They always tell you a name when they start and you never remember it.  So when I told her at the end that she was the most helpful tech person I ever dealt with and wanted to commend her to AOL, she requested I didn't.  I was stunned.

After we tested sending a few emails between my accounts to be sure it was all working, I thanked her and hung up.

And I immediately emailed AOL.  I told them I didn't have her name, but I gave them the case number, and that they had better make her "Employee Of The Year" because she did what 5 other of their agents didn't! 

I do have 11,000+ emails to sort out, but that is sure better than none.  I can do that.

And I did an internet search about where my Firefox bookmarks are.  I learned I can't "import" them because they don't get the idea of importing from Firefox to Firefox.  I'll bet I can import them to Safari and THEN to Firefox.  I LOVE "workarounds", LOL!

I have duplicate pictures that won't go away using a "duplicate-remover" app.  I'll remove them manually over the next few weeks. 

BTW, I learned the difference between email settings of POP and SMTP.  Email providers love POP because it is simpler.  SMTP files are recoverable.  POP files aren't.  Take a look at your email settings and see which you have...  If they are POP, call your email provider and demand a change.

But nearly everything is re-established on my new computer.  3 months of misery.  But you know what?  Next year, I will hardly even remember it.   Times heals all wounds.  And in the grand scheme of things, the past 3 months will not matter next year. 

Happiness to all.  My computer life is finally coming back into order...

And thanks to all who read this far.

Mark

I Won

I beat the computer!  I won.  I got around all the problems.  I have all the original-size photos (though many duplicates I will have to manually delete)).  I have all my documents.  I have all my apps (I think).  I can read everything I can think to search for.  I can see the smaller pictures I use in the blogs (The Mews AND Cavebear's Lair).  I can't find anything (other than some Firefox bookmarks) missinbg on the NEW computer that were on the OLD.  I restarted the new computer to make sure they reappearred after a shutdown.



I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT! I DID IT!   I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!
 
OK, that's enough...

The built-in Migration Assistant didn't work.  The special USB cable with the installed transfer chip didn't work.  The Mac Help Forums didn't work.  Drill Doctor app didn't work.

But *I* did.  I found all the parts of my Mac that held any files or apps and JUST PLAIN COPIED them one by one to an external drive and then to the new Mac one by one.  I relentlessly, ruthlessly (I wonder where Ruth went?), doggedly (woof, woof) replaced everything with the old stuff.

So now I have everything moved from a Mac OS "Catalina-infested" 340GB 4 RAM Intel 5 processor to older Mac OS "High Sierra" but 1TB 8 RAM Intel 7 processor.  And I am going to back up the whole HD and plant my butt on the current computer until Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) comes with an army of nerds and beats the computer to death with iCloud crowbars!

I'm going to carefully pack up the OLD Mac Mini (it still has everything on it).  Then I am going to shut down the NEW Mac Mini so I can undo the spread of electrical connections and tangled cables of both Macs.

Then, and ONLY then, I will start up the new Mac Mini and see how fast it works.  I even have a brand new (no faded letter keys) keyboard waiting for this day.

OK, here I go...



(Gahan Wilson - February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019)

Yeah, its working...

Happy Valentine's Day

To all:

Computer Problems 3

I'm not winning...  I got the NEW computer to load my Photo Library from the OLD one and thought my problems with photos was solved.  Well, sort of.  I loaded the files, but most were duplicated 2-6 times.  So I found  free program that was described as safe and effective on several Mac sites.  One thing ot does is remove duplicate files and you can specify which folders to search.

So I did that.  You click on "scan".  After it scans all the files in the folder, it compares them all to find the duplicates.  Then you click "remove" and hope...

It found about the right size of files (90GB).  It set about comparing the files. After several hours, it offerred "remove".  I clicked. After another several hours, It removed about 25% of them.  Argh!

I'm trying it again, because I still had the New one connected to the OLD one with a usb cable, and maybe that messed it up.

This is almost becoming a game.  Sort of like Tron or one of those old "quest" games where you form a team of characters and search a castle solving problems to get at the treasure at the end.  Well, better to view it that way than go running down the street screaming in frustration.  Though I have often screamed "WHAT NOW?" after some failures, I maintain a determined (and rather surprisingly) good outlook.

My entire Govt career was FIGURING OUT THINGS and SOLVING PROBLEMS, and to be honest, I kind of miss that.  So the game now is "Cavebear vs The Evil Computer".

The NEW computer doesn't have much on it yet (and the OLD one is actually working), so if it chugs away day and night I'm not really losing any functionality.

  ---------------------

But there is more to life than computers (no REALLY, it's true).  So in that spirit, here is my real life To Do list for the next few days:

1.  Feed the emerging spring bulbs with slow-release fertilizer to improve flower growth next month and bulb  regrowth afterwards.

2.  Lay down that packing paper shippers use as cushioning between the garden beds.  I save it.  I must have 100s of yards of it neatly smoothed and folded.  Then I'll cover it with large wood chip mulch.  That should kill the weeds.

3.  Three years ago, we had heavy snow.  There were enough fallen leaves on the top of my chicken wire garden enclosure for the snow to accumulate.  The weight bent the PVC-covered steel pipes I used.

It took a week to pull each one out of the sockets, straighten then, and replace them.  So I bought more steel poles to support all the centers of the existing pipes.  I need to set them up.

4.  I planted a lot of pansies last Fall, but I had some left over and put them in planter pots.  Ivident;y that doesn't protect them from the freezing weather enough (they and small and withery).  So I might as well bury the pots in the garden soil for insulation.


5.  I have briars growing in the front yard landscape bed.  Bad look.  So I better dig them out before they spread .  It rained a lot a few days ago, so the soil is workable.

Cheers...

Computer Problems 2

I think I actually solved the photos import!  After trying to import photos from the OLD mac to the NEW one  and letting it process for 3 days (!), I gave up and clicked on "stop importing".  It obviously wasn't working.

So I shut down both computers and looked at the possible cable connections.  HDMI cables give the faster connections, but each has only one and the new monitor I bought only uses HDMI.  So I couldn't connect the 2 macs that way. 

And trying to import the OLD photo folder to the 4TBMy Passport external drive wasn't working.

So I had the thought of just COPYING the OLD iPhoto folder to it.  Took 10 minutes!  Then I ejected and unplugged the My Passport external drive and plugged it into the NEW mac.  And restarted the NEW mac.  (Always a good idea to restart after attached a new device)

Then I went to iPhotos and tried to import from the My Passport.  Nothing...  Gloom...  The iPhoto Library folder stayed "greyed out"  (not recognized) on My Passport.  But I went back to Finder, and opened the file there.  It opened there just fine! 

So leaving it open, I went back to the NEW mac and opened iPhoto, chose "import", and moved my mouse to My Passport.  The iPhoto folder was BLACK (recognized.  I clicked OK (import)

AND IT STARTED IMMEDIATELY COPYING THE PHOTOS!

I can see the photos flashing by on the screen.  Apparently there are 65,000 files.  After an hour, there are 30,000 remaining, but IT IS WORKING!  As the Scarecrow said in 'The Wizard Of Oz'  "Oh Joy! Rapture!

 

Computer Problems 1

I'm going to just list the Title by numbers until this misery is over.  And not try to list too much at once.  This is all getting too bizarre.

The Mac Migration Assistant app says it will migrate all the OLD files, apps, photos, mail and user settings to the NEW computer.  It didn't.  I tried that twice.  It did make me create several new user accounts.  So I did some net searching and found a forum thread that said you have  make sure to have only one admin account.  OK, I checked and I had 3 on the NEWEST.  I learned how to delete 2.

So Migration Assistant should have worked then.  No.  Just the Mac OS and the apps (I think).  It's hard to tell; the NEWEST has apps.

So I decided to try to manually transfer my photos.  Those are the most important files.  I found they were actually in 3 places.  On an old windows computer, on an "unnamed album", and in the primary iPhotos library.  I imported the files from the old windows computer using a flash drive.  So I started importing the "unnamed album" to the primary iPhoto library on the OLD Mac mini.

So far, it has been "preparing to import" for 12 hours.  I know it is doing SOMETHING because my Activity Monitor app says it has read 215GB and written 190GB so far.  So I dare not stop it.  It MIGHT just be a horribly slow process.  I mean, I have about 7,000+ photos in the "unnamed album" original size (1-5MB each).   

It may just fail entirely.  I'm going to bed soon, so I'll let it run overnight and see what happens. 

Meanwhile, I'm getting quite an education about how Macs operate.  In fact, while searching for answers on a Mac Help Forum, I was actually able to answer someone else's question about where the iPhoto files are stored! 

Oddly, the NEWEST Mac is functional.  It just has no OLD files on it, working as a brand new computer.  So I can use Firefox to open my blog accounts and dashboard and any site I can find or recall the URL of. 

*SIGH*

Losing my mind

You know how you think you have a problem solved and it isn't?  Yah.  Me too and really lately. 

I spent most of Thursday night trying to migrate the old Mac Mini to the new one.  I can follow instructions, but it wouldn't work because I didn't have enough of the right cables.  No matter what I tried, I needed a USB to USB cable.  It was a surprise that I didn't have one.

Rule 1.  No matter how many cables of various combinations of connections you save in a box, the one you need won't be in there.

Rule 2.  Walmart won't have them.

Rule 3.  "Best Buy" will have them at 2x the price. 

I bought a Best Buy cable.

And it was weird.  The cable itself has software.  For  file transfers between Macs, it has a program that opens "GoBetween" and "Easy Site"  It wanted internet acceptance.  I refused.  I couldn't figure out what they wanted annyway.

But I figured out how I could migrate a different way.  I have an external drive that has 4 TB.  So using Migration Manager on Mac I copied the old Mac Mini to the external drive and then "restored" the external driver to the new Mac Mini  (and it promised that it would save all files and even individual program settings),

It didn't.

I can copy files from the old Mac Mini to the new one, but I have to keep both on separate active Mac Minis and monitors to do that.  And guess what?  I'm lacking a cable. 

That's why I'm losing my mind!

Fixed Computer Problem

Well, I HOPE I have solved my computer problems (both Mac and Windows actually).

1.  I brought the Mac Mini that won't start to a local computer store today.  They are really a Windows shop, but they will do simple repairs on Macs.  After a half hour, they determined that the CURRENT Mac Mini was not repairable by them.  Some of the spilled wine got inside and shorted out some circuits.  Too complicated and time-consuming to clean and no guarantee that would solve the problem...  They did say they could pop the drive out and migrate it to an external storage device if I provided the device.

And they didn't even charge me for the diagnosis work!

They also advised me not to bother shipping it to an Apple repair store; saying that Apple doesn't actually repair hardware anymore, they just migrate the drive to a new unit and charge you for it.

The OLD Mac Mini I'm limping along with right now is making fan noises (which assures that it will fail soon).  And it is SLOW (well it IS a 2010 model).

So I went to Amazon and looked at new ones.  They are all designed for Cloud use, meaning they have less storage on the hard drives.  I'm not ready for the Cloud yet.  So I did a google search for Mac Minis  and found there were more powerful standard Mac Minis.  One site lead me back to Amazon, where they also offer 3rd party "diagnosed, cleaned, renewed" Mac Minis guaranteed by them, 90 day warranty and 3 year repair guarantees (for under $60).

I ordered and renewed Mac Mini with a faster Intell chip, 1 TB storage, and 2x the Ram of my current one.  That should last a while, and it will arrive in 3 days.  Plus I get 5% back using my Amazon Cedit Card!

AND, I got no flak this time requesting to return the underpowered128 GB Mac Mini I bought last month.  They even sent me a free shipping label.

So I am returning a useless new 128 GB Mac Mini at $720 for a fully renewed faster 1 TB one at $560 that will probably serve me well for many years.  I will migrate the OLD Mac Mini I'm using right now to the new one.  And I will have the local computer place copy my drive on CURRENT one that wont start to a 512 GB external drive I saw at Walmart for $50.

That way, I will have all my OLD files saved onto the new one and can pick and choose which newer files to save to it from the CURRENT one.  That's not as complicated as it seems.  I migrated the backup of the CURRENT Mac Mini to the OLD one (which is sort of why it works at all).

So, cheers and drinks all around!