Woot! I finally got off me arse and got Bob the Wonder Computer hooked back up to the house, so I can blog and surf the net on my beloved laptop instead of the perfectly lovely, but not Bob, desktop machine. Yay!
Meanwhile, if you e-mailed, commented, or otherwise communicated with me electronically in the last few months and I haven't responded, I am working on it - I had a backlog of nearly 300 e-mails to go through, and it's taking me a minute.
Bob's old. He's slow. His battery is crapping out and his processor is slow enough to cause log jam whenever I try to navigate from one page to another...but I love him, and I'm delighted to have him back up and running. Now, if only I can get Sprout to give me a few minutes to blog every day, I'll feel golden...at least about blogging!
Showing posts with label Bob the Wonder Computer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob the Wonder Computer. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
In case you were wondering...
...Bob the Wonder Computer has a full memory and can't get online. A friend has offered to try and help clear the hard drive, but until that happens I have limited online access, so not much blogging is going on around here. I miss the Blue Nowhere and y'all...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Bob Is Dead, Long Live Bob
Bob the Wonder Computer, as some of you may know, suffered some kind of computery stroke a while back - all of a sudden, he froze up, and when I got him unfrozen he was moving as slow as a politician keeping a promise. OK, maybe he wasn't that slow...
Any way, I managed to copy all my Word files (all my stories, songs, poems, stories, letters, documents, and stories) to disk and to a flash drive so I could keep pecking away at things on any computer, which is a good thing because if I'd lost them? You'd still be hearing the screams.
I also got my photographs onto disks, except for October of 2007 which said it copied successfully but then the disk came up blank...after, of course, poor T had begun wiping Bob's memory clean, so...sigh...bye-bye, photos of the spider climbing in the jack-o-lantern's eye, lovely dark silhouette against the orange, glowy light of candle and pumpkin. Bye-bye, photos of family carving the pumpkins that year. Bye-bye, pictures of Evil Genius in his dinosaur costume, trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Still, it could have been worse.
I was able to write on Bob, and even play a game or two, if I didn't mind incredible delays in booting up, opening files or moving between active programs. I could not, however, get online. Y'all, I need my Internet. I'm pretty sure there's a minimum daily requirement of vitamin I, without which I will shrivel up and die.
Something had to be don to poor Bob. Something drastic. Something had to be done or I was going to have to sell one of T's kidneys to the highest bidder and go get a new Wonder Computer...but I love Bob and am loathe to part with his geriatric self.
T, possibly fearing for his kidney, possibly because his lizard brain was tingling with that warning that people get when someone close to them is a breath away from running amok through the neighborhood with a sharp object and a crazed gleam in their eye, or possibly because he felt sorry for me and my beloved Bob, hatched a plan.
He wiped Bob clean, effectively killing him from the inside out, and reinstalled Windows.
He reinstalled Word.
He reinstalled AOL (don't start - I've had AOL since practically the beginning, with the same screen name all these years, and no matter how craptastic it can be sometimes, I love it and am not moving on until you pry it from my cold, lifeless hands).
Bob is back!! He's not the Bob I knew and loved, but he is some version of himself - at least for the next month, until Windows will shut itself down because I cannot register it (it's not pirated, bootlegged, or stolen - much like me, it's dysfunctional, cranky, and confused about its existence). Sometime between now and then. I need to find the money and spring for a new copy with a working registration key. Hmm...where's T with that kidney?
Lessons learned? Always back things up. Always check the backed up thing on another computer. Then check them again. Flash drives are easily portable and have as much or more memory to them as my entire Bob - I got an 8 gig one for less than ten bucks, and it's can clip to my key chain. Bob has a 20 gig memory. I'm not telling Bob about the flash drive - I don't want him to feel bad about himself. It's not the size of your hard drive...
Also keep a new version of Windows handy, because selling a kidney is harder than you think - eBay disapproves of that sort of auction.
Bob is dead, long live Bob.
Thanks, T. You done good.
Any way, I managed to copy all my Word files (all my stories, songs, poems, stories, letters, documents, and stories) to disk and to a flash drive so I could keep pecking away at things on any computer, which is a good thing because if I'd lost them? You'd still be hearing the screams.
I also got my photographs onto disks, except for October of 2007 which said it copied successfully but then the disk came up blank...after, of course, poor T had begun wiping Bob's memory clean, so...sigh...bye-bye, photos of the spider climbing in the jack-o-lantern's eye, lovely dark silhouette against the orange, glowy light of candle and pumpkin. Bye-bye, photos of family carving the pumpkins that year. Bye-bye, pictures of Evil Genius in his dinosaur costume, trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Still, it could have been worse.
I was able to write on Bob, and even play a game or two, if I didn't mind incredible delays in booting up, opening files or moving between active programs. I could not, however, get online. Y'all, I need my Internet. I'm pretty sure there's a minimum daily requirement of vitamin I, without which I will shrivel up and die.
Something had to be don to poor Bob. Something drastic. Something had to be done or I was going to have to sell one of T's kidneys to the highest bidder and go get a new Wonder Computer...but I love Bob and am loathe to part with his geriatric self.
T, possibly fearing for his kidney, possibly because his lizard brain was tingling with that warning that people get when someone close to them is a breath away from running amok through the neighborhood with a sharp object and a crazed gleam in their eye, or possibly because he felt sorry for me and my beloved Bob, hatched a plan.
He wiped Bob clean, effectively killing him from the inside out, and reinstalled Windows.
He reinstalled Word.
He reinstalled AOL (don't start - I've had AOL since practically the beginning, with the same screen name all these years, and no matter how craptastic it can be sometimes, I love it and am not moving on until you pry it from my cold, lifeless hands).
Bob is back!! He's not the Bob I knew and loved, but he is some version of himself - at least for the next month, until Windows will shut itself down because I cannot register it (it's not pirated, bootlegged, or stolen - much like me, it's dysfunctional, cranky, and confused about its existence). Sometime between now and then. I need to find the money and spring for a new copy with a working registration key. Hmm...where's T with that kidney?
Lessons learned? Always back things up. Always check the backed up thing on another computer. Then check them again. Flash drives are easily portable and have as much or more memory to them as my entire Bob - I got an 8 gig one for less than ten bucks, and it's can clip to my key chain. Bob has a 20 gig memory. I'm not telling Bob about the flash drive - I don't want him to feel bad about himself. It's not the size of your hard drive...
Also keep a new version of Windows handy, because selling a kidney is harder than you think - eBay disapproves of that sort of auction.
Bob is dead, long live Bob.
Thanks, T. You done good.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Crash, Bang, Boom
Mostly crash.
Somehow, in the middle of loading photos onto Bob the Wonder Computer yesterday afternoon, something went horribly wrong with Bob's internal mysteries. He froze up, and I had to unplug and remove his battery to shut him down. When I restarted him, he was sluggish and half my programs won't open. His connection to the Internet is tenuous at best, and even after cleaning his cache (you know some one's a friend when they'll clean your cache) and defragging (which is nothing like the decompressing I do for myself, but often has the same benefits)(but with less alcohol), he's slow, hesitant to open programs or files, and is shy of the Internet.
So.
I am using Dino, the desktop brute, which is one step more evolved than knocking two rocks together to communicate. Dino doesn't have any of my pictures or Word files on it, barely has my preferred Internet interface, and occasionally freezes while it ponders the deeper meaning of 101001100101010011100.
Sigh.
I went through this last year, and our roommate's brother fixed it...but he has since lost his ever-lovin' mind and I'm not sure how I feel about entrusting my beloved Bob to a madman. Although, come to think of it...I'm mad, and Bob does fine for me. Meanwhile, I am doing the few things I know to do to help Bob feel better - I'm purging files, defragging, crunching extraneous cookies, and generally trying to give him more internal room to work - he only has 23% capacity left, and I think he's feeling crowded in there.
If I don't comment as often as usual on your blog, or post every day here, it's because I am trying to get Bob better and also fighting the Evil Genius for time on Dino. Wish me luck!
Somehow, in the middle of loading photos onto Bob the Wonder Computer yesterday afternoon, something went horribly wrong with Bob's internal mysteries. He froze up, and I had to unplug and remove his battery to shut him down. When I restarted him, he was sluggish and half my programs won't open. His connection to the Internet is tenuous at best, and even after cleaning his cache (you know some one's a friend when they'll clean your cache) and defragging (which is nothing like the decompressing I do for myself, but often has the same benefits)(but with less alcohol), he's slow, hesitant to open programs or files, and is shy of the Internet.
So.
I am using Dino, the desktop brute, which is one step more evolved than knocking two rocks together to communicate. Dino doesn't have any of my pictures or Word files on it, barely has my preferred Internet interface, and occasionally freezes while it ponders the deeper meaning of 101001100101010011100.
Sigh.
I went through this last year, and our roommate's brother fixed it...but he has since lost his ever-lovin' mind and I'm not sure how I feel about entrusting my beloved Bob to a madman. Although, come to think of it...I'm mad, and Bob does fine for me. Meanwhile, I am doing the few things I know to do to help Bob feel better - I'm purging files, defragging, crunching extraneous cookies, and generally trying to give him more internal room to work - he only has 23% capacity left, and I think he's feeling crowded in there.
If I don't comment as often as usual on your blog, or post every day here, it's because I am trying to get Bob better and also fighting the Evil Genius for time on Dino. Wish me luck!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Winding down.
Unlike every other day of the last week, I didn't spend much time on Bob the Wonder Computer today. Just enough time this morning to spend more money we don't have on some educational stuff for Bird and send an e-mail to someone about what mum might like for her upcoming birthday. Then Bird and I had a date with our local McDonald's Playplace. Whee.
The day was beautiful, and if we had a park worth a damn around here, I would have taken the little guy there, but we don't. What we do have is a crappy little playground with no trees, no swings, and an aging, rusty, rather untrustworthy play structure in town. We have a lovely swing set/jungle gym/spend-a-mortgage-payment-or-three-and-then-build-it-yourself thing in our back yard, but it is lacking in one key ingredient - other children.
So yesterday evening when Bird was mournfully wishing he could play with someone, I told him we could go to McD's today for lunch. He was in a tizzy - he loves the place.
Say what you will about the evils of McD's (and I am among those who can list those evils in order of importance, alphabetically, by date, or cross-referenced of you want), they do make a nice play area. We had our choice of outdoors or indoors, and Bird wanted out. I sat and read the physics book I've been slogging through for the last six months or so (Faster that the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation by Joao Magueijo) (I love the book, but it makes my poor addled brain heat up something fierce, so I read it in little bits and try to digest it well before reading more) while Bird had a blast running and playing with complete strangers like they were long lost friends. It was beautiful weather, a preview of springtime with a blue sky, warm sun, a soft breeze, and a freshness to the air that'll last about as long as a mayfly.
When the kids at the outdoor part had all gone, we moved to the indoor one, where more new friends awaited. McD's does this one thing for a number of communities - it gives them a place for children to play that is safe, always contained, often climate controlled, and fun. They do mandate that you purchase something, but a small drink costs a buck and you're in like Flynn. Of course, most folks buy more - I let Bird order his lunch and I had an iced coffee drink with all the sugar and fat I need for the next month mixed in. Vanilla flavored. We spent almost three hours there, between to two play areas.
Bird was not a good sport about leaving - he was having too much fun. I managed to get him out without too much drama, although he did vehemently proclaim that he didn't love me any more. I told him that was fine, because my job wasn't to make him love me but rather to raise him to function well in human society. He didn't like that - he always upsets himself when he says he doesn't love me or T and ends up in tears apologizing and declaring his undying love within a minute or two. Poor little guy. He was worn slap out, didn't even fight going to his room for a little quiet time.
It's so nice outside that I opened a window in the living room to let in fresh air. I'm glad the neighbors didn't call hazmat about the fuggy cloud that must have floated out that same window - we've been closed up all winter, and you just know the air in here needs a good cleaning! The cats were trembling with excitement and took turns alternating sitting in the window with their whiskers aquiver and flopping down in rainbow-speckled puddles of sun and becoming boneless.
Now Bird's in his room, winding down for the night, and I am finally able to cruise around the net and see what's going on - which isn't much, as it turns out. Just as well - I was up way too late last night and really should just call it an early evening. Which means I'll likely be up until two o'clock again. Oh, well. I hope y'all had a good day, too.
Tomorrow I plan to blatantlythieve borrow a blog topic from someone else because I kinda giggled at the prospect. See ya then (I hope)!
The day was beautiful, and if we had a park worth a damn around here, I would have taken the little guy there, but we don't. What we do have is a crappy little playground with no trees, no swings, and an aging, rusty, rather untrustworthy play structure in town. We have a lovely swing set/jungle gym/spend-a-mortgage-payment-or-three-and-then-build-it-yourself thing in our back yard, but it is lacking in one key ingredient - other children.
So yesterday evening when Bird was mournfully wishing he could play with someone, I told him we could go to McD's today for lunch. He was in a tizzy - he loves the place.
Say what you will about the evils of McD's (and I am among those who can list those evils in order of importance, alphabetically, by date, or cross-referenced of you want), they do make a nice play area. We had our choice of outdoors or indoors, and Bird wanted out. I sat and read the physics book I've been slogging through for the last six months or so (Faster that the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation by Joao Magueijo) (I love the book, but it makes my poor addled brain heat up something fierce, so I read it in little bits and try to digest it well before reading more) while Bird had a blast running and playing with complete strangers like they were long lost friends. It was beautiful weather, a preview of springtime with a blue sky, warm sun, a soft breeze, and a freshness to the air that'll last about as long as a mayfly.
When the kids at the outdoor part had all gone, we moved to the indoor one, where more new friends awaited. McD's does this one thing for a number of communities - it gives them a place for children to play that is safe, always contained, often climate controlled, and fun. They do mandate that you purchase something, but a small drink costs a buck and you're in like Flynn. Of course, most folks buy more - I let Bird order his lunch and I had an iced coffee drink with all the sugar and fat I need for the next month mixed in. Vanilla flavored. We spent almost three hours there, between to two play areas.
Bird was not a good sport about leaving - he was having too much fun. I managed to get him out without too much drama, although he did vehemently proclaim that he didn't love me any more. I told him that was fine, because my job wasn't to make him love me but rather to raise him to function well in human society. He didn't like that - he always upsets himself when he says he doesn't love me or T and ends up in tears apologizing and declaring his undying love within a minute or two. Poor little guy. He was worn slap out, didn't even fight going to his room for a little quiet time.
It's so nice outside that I opened a window in the living room to let in fresh air. I'm glad the neighbors didn't call hazmat about the fuggy cloud that must have floated out that same window - we've been closed up all winter, and you just know the air in here needs a good cleaning! The cats were trembling with excitement and took turns alternating sitting in the window with their whiskers aquiver and flopping down in rainbow-speckled puddles of sun and becoming boneless.
Now Bird's in his room, winding down for the night, and I am finally able to cruise around the net and see what's going on - which isn't much, as it turns out. Just as well - I was up way too late last night and really should just call it an early evening. Which means I'll likely be up until two o'clock again. Oh, well. I hope y'all had a good day, too.
Tomorrow I plan to blatantly
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sorry, Geek Squad.
Yes! Bob's back!
Our roommate's brother was kind enough to take pity on my Bobless plight and found the problem. Apparently Bob the Wonder Computer wasn't speaking to himself. It seems he decided to get a little confused about which wireless Internet card thingy he had in him and was trying to access the Internet with a card that he didn't have. Yeah, I have no idea.
So D fixed Bob and now Bob is speaking to himself, me, and the Internet once more. All is right, at least for now. I'm sure the Geek Squad won't even miss us...especially since I never called them to make an appointment in the first place.
And now I am off to the wilds of Bird's room, where I need to clean, move furniture, and question my sanity re: the new bed coming tomorrow. Who said anything about measuring??
Our roommate's brother was kind enough to take pity on my Bobless plight and found the problem. Apparently Bob the Wonder Computer wasn't speaking to himself. It seems he decided to get a little confused about which wireless Internet card thingy he had in him and was trying to access the Internet with a card that he didn't have. Yeah, I have no idea.
So D fixed Bob and now Bob is speaking to himself, me, and the Internet once more. All is right, at least for now. I'm sure the Geek Squad won't even miss us...especially since I never called them to make an appointment in the first place.
And now I am off to the wilds of Bird's room, where I need to clean, move furniture, and question my sanity re: the new bed coming tomorrow. Who said anything about measuring??
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Dang.
I may have spoken too soon; last night, Bob the Wonder Computer started having the same trouble we encountered last week. Poo.
I'm bummed. Oh, well - there's always the Geek Squad.
I'm bummed. Oh, well - there's always the Geek Squad.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Woo-hoo!! (Cautiously)
Bob the Wonder Computer seems to be back to his old self. Maybe. Possibly. I think.
I have no idea if it was one of the desperate "ohmygodmycomputeriscrashingmaybeIshouldgetridofthisprogram" actions that did it, if Bob was just having a moment, if the planets were aligned all funny, or what. All I know is, all of a sudden tonight, he logged right on when asked, and is now letting me frolic on the Internet once more. Thank goodness...my hands were starting to hurt from the odd keyboard height and angle, the chair at the desk offends my bottom, and there's nowhere for me to prop up my feet. Now that I've backed everything up on disk, I can and will work on both machines, but at least I have my Bob back. For now.
He's still going to visit the Geek Squad when the tax money comes. T thinks I should upgrade memory and other things I don't understand but could probably use a going-over. If nothing else, someone ought to take the old boy apart and clean all the crumbs, cat hair, and tiny little dust critters out of him, and the screen could use a little Windex, or whatever you're supposed to use to clean screens...'cause it's not actually Windex... Also, I would love to be rid of some of the programs that gum up his works and slow the old boy down. Not that he's old, he's only three, but in computer years, what is that? About a hundred?
Y'all, I felt like part of me was missing. Yeah, yeah, a gal can be too attached to her computer, but I am used to Bob. I write on him, compose songs (well, lyrics anyway) on him, all my photos are on him, and I bring him everywhere. Bob has been more places with me than T or Bird. Only Mum has travelled with me more. Bob is one of my safe things, like a security blanket but way cooler. Whew. Sorry. Got a little overwrought, there, for a moment.
Call me silly, but I missed him so. Let's hope I am not delighted too soon... M'kay, now that I've been silly in public, I'm crawling abck into the kitchen and making dinner. Later.
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