Techy Weekend

Seems like the weekend was dedicated to computer-related stuff, but I know we did other things in there, like grocery shopping and stuff like that. 

I installed the new hard drive for Darc’s computer all by myself!  *flexes superwoman muscles*  Actually, it was basically a simple plug-in, so nothing very complicated.  The instructions were completely wordless, so it was fun trying to decipher what the little drawings were trying to show.  But I prevailed!

The next day Darc spent re-installing all his software and what-not, after he got his new x-ray glasses.    It’s like he can see the world in a whole new way now.  And now he can see how truly beautiful I am and how lucky he is that he’s married to me.  Oh shut up!  I can boost my own ego if I want!  Neener!

Plus, thanks to the big grocery trip, I’ve got lunches prepped for Darc for the next couple of weeks.  I love it when things are easy!  If only I could get something that would get the coffee prepped every night, then I’d be all set. 

How was your weekend?

Plugged In

Well I did it!  I downloaded the latest Firefox V5.  So far it’s okay, and I tweaked it to look much like the V3.6 I was using, so that’s nice.  I’m a little bummed that some of my add-ons won’t work now, specifically the Blog it from Windows Live Writer add-on.   I used that one all the time. 

Such is the price of upgrading.  Not everything works!  But it does seem a bit faster – before I upgraded Darc and I had a little race.  He’d click on a site in his V5, and I’d click on the same one in my V3.6 and we’d see who loaded first.  He always won. 

So while there are a few things I’ll have to get used to, overall it’s pretty good so far.  Hopefully the add-ons I like will catch up.  After all, Firefox isn’t standing still.  They already have V8 in the works and later versions in the pipeline.  Get ready!  The Internet waits for no one!

Finally Flying

Do you see it there?  My new terabyte baby!  It got here Wednesday and I have done nothing but play play play, and I don’t even have my Sims installed yet! 

It’s a mini-tower and it fits so nice and neatly on the shelf with just a tiny bit of overhang.  There’s a little door there on the bottom that flips open to reveal the multi-card reader and several USB ports.  I can’t believe how great it picks up the wireless signal too, even though it’s tucked in the back.

I’m using my old monitor, because it was nice and big and still works just fine, even if it is at least 5 years old.  I might upgrade to a newer one some time in the future, but for now, I’m good.  I don’t think I much prefer that wide aspect ratio on the new stuff anyway.  

I have even managed to get all my data off of the old Flintstones laptop in the kids room, thanks to my handy dandy little thumb drive.  And the things I use online, like FireFox that has all my personalization, were super easy to move over too since I found add-ons to sync between computers.  They really work!  Siphon, WebMail; Delicious and GMarks remembered all my bookmarks.  I love it when things work like they’re supposed to!

I also used a great little plug-in for Live Writer, Import and Export Wizard for Windows Live Writer, that worked really well. 

I’m trying to adjust to the new keyboard.  I’m like a diva I suppose when it comes to keyboards.  I don’t care for the flatter ones, but the old fashioned kind seem to be going out of vogue.  It doesn’t help that I like to keep my nails really long either, I know, but my vanity won’t let me keep them short. 

After Darc got his new laptop, it was so fun to sit on the couch and surf, and I thought maybe I was going to be good with a laptop myself.  But then I saw this one while browsing, and I realized I am truly a desktop girl.  Sofa surfing has its place, but I think I’m more happy with the throne aspect of my desk chair.    And a whole terabyte to myself, heh. 

So I am one happy camper and it was all relatively painless, as far as setting up a new computer goes. 

It has been a long time since I put up that post about my computer dying.  It was May 28 2009 when I posted this –>>When it rains, the day after my computer died.  [insert mournful tune here]

623 Days Between…
May 27, 2009 and February 9, 2011 (delivery date)

623 Days!

= 14,952 Hours
= 897,120 Minutes
= 53,827,200 Seconds

It was a long 53+ million seconds, but it’s over, and now this Falcon is finally flying free!

Oh, I skipped the funnies this week because the one I got in the email was kind of man-bashing, and I just … didn’t want to go there.    Hopefully next week’s will be better. 

And check out Darc’s interview over on Bryce’s StoryHack site!  I love how Bryce got the video with the robots talking, it rocks!  Interview with J. Dane Tyler

©DarcsFalcon All rights reserved

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Buy J Dane Tyler’s Fiction now!

What?

No more Microsoft Money?  *thud*  What the?  Seriously?  But … but … but … I’ve been using it for 15 years!  How can they just dump me like that?  I feel so abandoned!  Now I have to start looking around for another program to use.  Wah! 

What’s interesting is that MS says there’s no real market for it anymore, yet there’s something like 2 dozen programs I have to browse through, so there IS some kind of market out there for managing money.  And I hate Quicken.  *ptooey*  And I’m not the only one.

To make me feel even worse, they made this decision back in July.  Of 2009.  And stopped supporting it in January of this year.  I am SO behind the times! 

Plus, my husband sent me a bunch of links to programs that are similar to MS Outlook.  I love Outlook.  Remember the old days in computers, where when you bought a program, you could put it on every computer you owned?  Microsoft won’t let people do that anymore, *ptooey* on them.  But my new computer only comes with like a trial version of MS Office, and I don’t know how much it costs to buy the code to unlock the full version.  More than I have, I’m sure.

Looks like it’s time to start shedding the MS skin I’ve grown so comfy in.  My computer life came of age when MS was pretty much the only kid on the block and made all the rules.  But as much as I love them, there are times to branch out a little, step out of the comfort zone.  I simply can’t afford $500 for the full Office suite, much as I’d love it. 

Maybe if I find those winning lottery numbers, I’ll give you a call.  In the meantime, I’m really going to miss you Money, and Word, and Outlook.  You’ve been my very good friends for eons in computer years.  And I’m sorry I won’t get to know the new baby OneNote.  Wow that looks so ME! 

©DarcsFalcon All rights reserved

Marvelous

So what was the big cause for all the excitement on Friday, you ask?  At least, those of you who also follow either me or my husband on FaceBook did. 

Well, it’s this – we finally got our own Internet service, and no longer have to rely on the borrowed connection from the complex here. 

Can I have a “WOO!”? 

We found this awesome service, and we have 2 weeks to try it out and we can return it any time for free within those 2 weeks if we don’t like it for any reason.  So that’s pretty nice.  The price is reasonable, if we move we can take it with us, and heck, if we travel we can take it with us.  Sweet, huh?

And sooo freaking easy to set up!  I just plugged it in and there were like 3 steps and voilá!  Online!  Fast speeds too.  The first thing I did was log into my favorites list on YouTube and start watching some videos I haven’t seen in a year.  Like this one:

I want to do this if we ever renew our vows!

What a joyful way to wed!

And I’ll tell you a secret.

Remember when I did my own SSRLP?  (Super Secret Real Life Project)  Well, I finally got paid.  And … and … and … I ordered my own computer!  Oh my gosh, even typing it, it still seems so unreal!

For close to 2 years now I’ve gone without my own computer.  You have to remember, Darc and I each had our own computers when we met – heh, that’s HOW we met! – so we were always a 2 comp family.  He had his space, I had mine.  But for these 2 years we’ve had to share.  I think we did pretty well readjusting like that.  But sometime within the next 7 days I will have my own brand spankin’ new computer.  Can I have an “amen!”?

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, even new computers and Internet connections. 

1TB.  I’m still pinching myself. 

Now I have to go find a spot on my desk to put it.  My desk!  I haven’t sat at my desk for any length of time in almost 2 years!  I am so excited I can barely contain myself. 

©DarcsFalcon All rights reserved

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Thursday Thankfulness

It took me a while but I figured out what I’m thankful for this week.  Now, don’t laugh, but I’m thankful for keyboard shortcuts.  Specifically, the keyboard shortcuts for the Google Reader and for Mozilla’s FireFox. 

Why would I be thankful for something like that, you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you!  For some reason, the mouse seems to hang on this computer.  In fact, pretty much everything hangs.  When I click a link, it’ll take probably a full minute for it to open.  If I click down on the scroll bar, nothing moves.  If I try to click over to another tab, nothing moves.  Everything just hangs … waiting … processing.  Laptop by Flintstones, that’s why.  This poor little thing with it’s impossibly slow processor just doesn’t want to move in real time with mouse clicks.  So, I found the keyboard shortcuts and know what?  It helps!  Granted, it’s not like, fast, or anything, but it is faster than trying to cope with waiting for the mouse to get moving.  Now I can just hit the “j” key to get to the next item in my Reader, and don’t have to wait several minutes for the stupid scroll bar to work. 

Silly, yes I know, but it’s the simple pleasures in life, right?  One of these days, you’ll all be so jealous of the computers I’m going to have.  In the meantime, me and my “j” key and my “m” key are going to continue on in our new relationship.  🙂

Thankfulness?  You know you have one!  Care to share?

Check out my husband’s latest book, available for download!

A Fine Cast of Characters on Amazon US (Kindle version) A Fine Cast of Characters on Amazon UK (Kindle version) A Fine Cast of Characters on Smashwords (non-Kindle versions)

©DarcsFalcon All rights reserved

Thursday Thankfulness

I’ve been trying to think of the things I’m grateful for.  It’s a long list.  Today I want to express my gratitude for something I sort of have a love/hate relationship with.

That’s right.  The old laptop.  No, that’s not our old laptop in the picture, but I liked the old-fashioned look of it.  :)  Our old laptop isn’t that new, actually.  We got it at a time when we needed something portable, and as inexpensive as possible.  The one we got suited us at the time. 

But it never was fast, not with that old Celeron processor.  I don’t think we really realized back then how slow it would be.  It wasn’t really an issue, and then when we upgraded to real desktop computers a few years ago, well that sleepy old laptop became a game center for the kids.  They had no real concept of speed and since the Internet wasn’t an option for them, who cared? 

Now that my computer is in the intensive care unit, that old laptop has become my friend.  Sorta.  See, even though Darc used to tell me he thought I’d like to have a laptop of my own, I knew I didn’t.  I hate the keyboard.  The keys are too squished together, and for someone like me who does like to keep the fingernails to an impractical but more feminine length, that scrunched up laptop keyboard is a nightmare. 

Then there’s the whole mouse thing.  Luckily, we have a normal mouse for our laptop, but if I had to deal with that weird little pad down at the bottom, it would drive me nuts.  I just can’t. stand. them.  I like the mouse → there , not ↓ there.  Detached with a tail, thank you, not embedded like a plastic Barbie pillow.

So it’s kind of like that song – if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.  That old laptop is seeing me through, at a time when I need it to.  So I’m grateful.  I try to be as patient with it as I can be – which admittedly isn’t a whole lot but I’m trying!  I’ve gone without a computer before, and believe me, ‘tis a far, far better thing to have an old laptop, than nothing at all.  🙂