Computer Resurrection

Four months ago, after getting my new laptop (which I’m glad to say still works just fine), I ventured an over-optimistic experiment with my old (W.Vista) one. I tried to install an extra keyboard on it, with the disastrous result that it suddenly refused commands from any keyboard. I could not even type in the password. It was a complete deadlock situation - with Windows. Fortunately, though, I also had the alternative system Ubuntu installed on it. And Ubuntu had no problems with the keyboard. So I’ve still been able to use it for some emailing and blog reading.

On and off it has kept bugging me though that I’ve not been able to access Windows on it since that is where I had most documents etc stored.

Yesterday I got it into my head again to give it another go and see if I could fix it somehow. And I did, but I don’t know how!

The manual only had a few lines of cryptic info about how to restore the system “without recovery CDs” which seemed to mean losing everything I had added and changed since I bought it. Nothing about how to restore things with  back-up discs that I actually had.

In a stroke of desperation though, I put one of my last back-up discs into the computer anyway, before pressing the start button. Then the machine told me that for unknown reason it couldn’t start but asked me if I wanted it to search for what was wrong? I said yes please (which I could do with a mouseclick, didn’t have to use the keyboard).

It rattled on for a bit, and then there was the log-in box – and suddenly it did allow me to type in the keyword! After that, all was back to normal. Obviously the problem was fixed. I don’t think it had anything to do with the files on that back-up disc. I could probably just as well have put any old CD in. (?)

I’m not risking more trouble by trying that old keyboard again, though. So I’ve decided to invest in another wireless one instead (not to have to keep moving the one I already have between the two computers).

Another piece of good news on the computer front is that I also got my documents and photos and music from the crashed XP desktop back recently. My brother managed to salvage them and put them on an external hard drive for me.

Mixed Up

 

This week I’ve spent some time trying to come up with better ways of (re-)organizing my photos on the computer.

Right now I’m at a stage in the process where I seem to be in danger of just making more of a mess of things than I started out with.

I switched to digital photography in 2006; but for the first three years, I still only took about 3-400 pictures a year. I filed them per month, and it was not a problem. I also had prints made of the best ones and continued to paste those into proper photo albums.

Last year in July, all of a sudden I went photo-crazy. I had been keeping this blog for six months. In July on top of that I joined the shared photo blog Soaring Through The World. From then on, I started taking my camera with me where ever I went. And made use of it… It’s been fun, and I’ve learned a lot . BUT. Since 1 July 2009 until now I have taken over 5300 photos. (My camera is keeping count.) I.e. more photos per month than I used to take per year. (It should also be noted that I have not even been further than ~20 km away from my home during this time…)

The 5300 are only “straight from the camera” shots and do not include edited copies, or collages, or scanned pictures. Those come into “problem” categories of their own.

I’m sure that in this digital age of ours, I’m not the only one with photo-organizing problems. What I’d be curious to know is:

How do you do it? How do you file and store your digital photos in a clever way that makes it easy (?) to find your way back to the pictures that you no longer remember exactly when you took?

I started out with a filing system which came with my camera. But that got messed up when I started moving pictures around, making changes in my original folder system. Then I started over. Then my (old) computer crashed. I had the originals saved, but not my edits. I started over again, on my (old) laptop. And then a few months later started over again on my new laptop; now tagging all new photos in Photoshop Elements. After a few months I find this too is growing into a complex science in itself, with Categories and Sub-Categories and Keyword tags… which, it seems, do not get automatically transferred to copies I make using other software (like Picasa).

Picasa on the other hand goes kind of crazy when I start making extra copies of folders, like I’m doing now (so as to be sure I don’t lose anything while messing around).

What I was hoping to accomplish was really to simplify things, by abandoning a system with too many sub-folders (which were not a big problem with Picasa, but causing me a lot of tiresome clicking and searching with Windows Live Writer).

If anyone has some words of wisdom and experience to share, please do so before I get even worse entangled…!

By now you’re probably wondering about the photos in this post. The common thread between text and pictures is supposed to be expressed in the title - “mixed up”…

Yesterday I went to have a look at a temporary fashion outlet in an exhibition hall (originally an engine shed). The new clothes for sale turned out to be all mixed up with old machinery and stuff borrowed from the Textile Industry Museum.

I did not find anything I wanted to buy (typical teenage fashion) but it was an interesting place to take photos!

Oh, and you should imagine disco music in the background, too (rather loud).

Mixed Up: Mixed together in an uncertain manner; confused, muddled or bewildered.

Lost

 

(Origin of the picture unknown.)

Yesterday afternoon I suddenly found myself without internet access.  Luckily it had been working just fine in the morning. I was able to complete and send off the income tax return forms and bank payments I'd been working with. Then I turned the computer off at lunch time. When I turned in on again later there was no connection. Waited a while to see if it would just come back. It didn't. So then I spent some futile energy on checking everything one should check before calling the service guys. You know -  shutting things off, unplugging, checking wires, restarting, looking for the manuals and all the numbers they might want... Then it was too late to make the phone call!   

Not sure whether 'funny' or 'scary' is the best word for how lost it suddenly made me feel, to find myself unexpectedly disconnected like that from "the rest of the world" - not knowing what was wrong, how long it might last, or how to fix it.

Still disconnected this morning. Had breakfast, then called the cable company. They informed me there was an external fault somewhere, nothing to do with my modem. They had been working on it since yesterday.  When I got off the phone and back to the computer... I found myself connected again!

Somewhere inside though, I have a sort of weird feeling that I might still need some shutting off and unplugging and recharging... Finding it very hard these days to get back to where I was, when something happens to disturb my concentration.

A Computer Update Ramble

I've had my new computer for a week now. Strikes me that this is actually the first time I've set a brand new computer up all by myself. Most of my computers through the years I have inherited. Not the previous laptop, but I think I got some help getting that one "started" too. This time I only had help getting the box home from the store!

My new friend is blissfully silent, with bigger and better screen (17,3") and 10x the capacity of the old laptop. The hard drive of this one is 640 GB. And Windows 7 is definitely an improvement compared to Windows Vista, which I have on the old one.

... Or should I say... had on the old one... Because after being successful with installing this and that on the new one without problems, I got a bit over-optimistic about my abilites, and also tried to install something - an extra keyboard - to the old one. Which apparently it did not like. Anyway, it went on strike. When restarting it to complete that installation, I found that Windows no longer accepted commands from any keyboard to even type in the password!

... Fortunately, though, I also have Ubuntu installed on that laptop. And Ubuntu still lets me in. So at least I can still use it to access the Internet. (It might also be possible from U. to remove the faulty Windows files from the hard drive, but that's something I don't think I dare try on my own, since I'm not really sure which files do what.) Feeling very stupid about that experiment. But at least before I got all daring, I already had all documents and photos safely copied onto Bella (the new computer) (+ extra copies on an external hard drive)

Bella came with full license Photoshop Elements 7, which I have installed, but which will require some further "looking into" before I grasp all the possibilities. Meanwhile, I've also installed Picasa 3, which I've been getting used to over the past few months.

The big irritation at the moment is that every time I turn the computer on I get a pop-up window reminding me to install the trial version of the anti-virus software that came with the computer. Which I don't think I want. I have instead dowloaded AVG free, which has served me well for years on my previous computers. I suppose the only way to get rid of that pop-up window from Norton is to uninstall the whole thing, I just don't want to be too hasty about that decision.

I also have not installed Microsoft Office (which would also demand payment after a free trial period), but Open Office instead.

Windows Live Writer (blog editor) was included. I had already downloaded and tried that out a bit on the other laptop. It does give some interesting new layout possibilities. One thing I recently discovered though (has anyone else noticed?) is that Live Writer doesn't seem to accept collages made in Picasa.

With web browsers I've been a bit back and forth before... Right now I'm trying to get properly reaquainted with Mozilla Firefox. For one thing it has the advantage of being able to synchronize bookmarks even between Windows on one computer and Ubuntu on the other...! I decided to do a big clean-up among my old bookmarks, though. With too many, one almost loses the point.

When my brother was here for Easter, he also relieved me of the chrashed desktop, including the old heavy screen. Glad to be rid of it! It has been sitting there for 4½ months, just taking up space while being of no use at all... (My brother is also going to have a go at retrieving lost data from the hard drive. Or otherwise at least see to it that no one else can either.)



Bella, connected to all the extra appliances in the study.

And there was morning, and there was evening...

... Actually, for some reason, in the Book of Genesis, they have it the other way round: "And there was evening, and there was morning..."   Strikes me that I have no idea why, so shall have to look into that some day. But not right now; I'm too tired! Besides my own Creation work (getting things installed on the new computer), I had some things to sort out on behalf of my dad. What with making phonecalls, and waiting for people to call me back etc... When I was done with that I was too tired to go out (as I had intended). Lay down to rest... and fell asleep... and when I woke up... there was evening! (Well, late afternoon, anyway.) I wish you a good one, if yours is still before you. Not much left of mine!



Some days, it's an upside-down world...

A New Friend

May I introduce my new friend: Bella. 
I fetched her from the store yesterday (when I had the assistance of my brother), but didn’t have time to sit down and get acquainted with her until today .

Yes, it’s a SHE this time. Funny, I’ve always thought of my previous computers as male, whether they’ve had a name or not. About time for a female! (It’s a Packard Bell EasyNote LJ75.)

I’m going to take my time getting to know her better over the next few weeks. (I’m writing this on the old laptop.) Today we’ve just been going through the basics… Getting her started, making recovery discs, that sort of thing. But so far, so good! I think we’re going to get on quite well. 

Getting Closer...

... to an important decision. Ever since my desktop computer crashed in November (still feels like somewhat of a Trauma), I've been thinking of getting a new computer. The harddrive space left on my present laptop keeps shrinking rapidly in spite of all my efforts to clean up, and put backups on an extra hard drive etc. The battery capacity is very low, too. And it's Vista, and generally slow. I really want to get a new one before this one suddenly gives up, too.

So I think I'm getting ready to take the plunge. There might be a purchase in a few days when my brother comes down for Easter. I think a 17" screen laptop is what would suit my needs best for now and the near future. It will primarily be used as a desktop one, but it will still be possible for me to move it and use it elsewhere if needed. I have my eyes (well, thoughts!) on one which besides Windows 7 also comes with Photoshop Elements 7 preinstalled. And it has 10x the harddrive space compared to this one. Hmmm...



Shrubby Cinquefoil - Dasiphora fruticosa - Ölandstok

Playing Monet

When I had my computer crash back in November (an event that ought to be world famous by now), one of the programmes I lost access to was Paint Shop Pro 9, since I did not have the original CD.

Dan (of Wood and Pixels) then very kindly offered to send me an early version of Photoshop Elements (2.0) which he no longer had use for himself. I got it before Christmas, but I have waited to install it because I felt I needed to get my original pictures reorganized properly first. I did have copies of all my original digital photos saved but it took some time sorting them out anyway. (I'll refrain from boring you with every detail but it included some basic reorganizing and renaming of catalogs to better be able to find things.)

Today, finally... I decided it was time to take the plunge and install the new software and have a first look at it. Always confusing to try and find your way in a different set-up... But to prove I'm getting started, here is one of my very first random experiment with the Artistic filters (which is the part I have been missing the most from Paintshop).

I have not yet entered the mysteries of layers, but I might get there, some day...


Thank you Dan!

Back in the Study

One thing Santa (kind of) brought, is that I have at last been able to "reclaim" my Study!

After the hard drive crash on my desktop computer in November, it felt like the whole study basically turned into a sepulchral chamber /slash/ store room... Since the old computer screen was too heavy for me to move, and it was not possible to connect it to the laptop, it has just been sitting there, on top of the computer table, looking blank and ominous... Besides being of absolutely no use on its own, it has also been in the way of setting up the laptop properly, connecting that to other appliances etc.

Using the laptop on top of a table of ordinary height, like the writing desk in the study, or on the kitchen table, just doesn't work well for me (for any length of time), because of my neck/shoulder/arm problems. The alternative has been sitting in bed or in my recliner chair in the living room. To be able to do that sometimes was of course why I got the laptop in the first place (three years ago); but it does not work equally well with all kinds of "jobs"...

At Christmas, finally, I got help from my brother to move the old screen aside (onto a tea trolley on wheels until we've decided on its final destiny).

What a relief! It really felt like getting the whole room back.

Now the laptop sits on top of the computer table, from where not only can it be connected to the printer/scanner, but also to the rollermouse* wrist-support and the wireless keyboard on the lower shelf, at the proper height for me! Moreover, this way the laptop screen is also at the right height, and I find the whole solution works better than I thought it would. I hardly even miss the bigger screen now. I shall have to reconsider again whether it is really a new desktop computer I want... The main problem with the current laptop is really that it has very little storage space left (+ I would like to update from Vista to Windows 7). But an alternative to buying a new desktop might be a new and better laptop instead...(Living alone, there really is a considerable advantage in keeping as far as possible to machines that one can actually manage to lift and move about without help!)

Anyway - having had a few "indoors" days after Christmas, I've started (re-)organizing my photos; renaming catalogs by dates to begin with, to be able to find things more easily. And taking care to make back-up copies! ;) This being one kind of job that I find I do better in upright position at the computer table, rather than leaning back in a recliner chair...

Next Year (!) I'm also looking forward to trying out the Photoshop Elements software that "Santa Dan" was kind enough to send me... (Hoping there will be enough space left on the hard drive for it.)

*A rollermouse is a technical aid which is basically a wrist-support with a built-in mouse.

Wordzzle and other Challenges of the Week

Just in case someone by old habit should happen to come here today to look for my usual contribution to Raven's Saturday Wordzzle Challenge, I'm repeating the fact that last weekend I moved my attempts at fiction to a new blog of mine, Wordly Efforts. Including all previous episodes + new summary of my ongoing Wordzzle-based story The Slumber Party Mystery.

After finishing that job, my desktop computer died, which still remains a mystery unsolved.

Thanks to also having a laptop computer though, I have managed to keep blogging, so scroll down or have a look in the blog archive to see what else has happened this week. Now if you excuse me, I think I will have to answer to the laptop's request to be allowed to do a complete back up...

Updates

1. Update on the hospital visit in the morning with my dad:
Worrying beforehand did help. It all went much better today than last time. (See yesterday's post about Hope and Worry.) We are still not much wiser, though. The specialist will have to do some digging into the past, trying to collect medical records from other places, before he can determine whether new medication might possibly be of any help. For me, however, it was a huge weight off my shoulders that this time an assistant from home care was also with us through the whole visit.

2. Does this experience also really mean that I feel I have to update my theology? In case someone actually feels unsure about it: No. I never seriously thought that when Jesus said "Do not worry about tomorrow" he meant: Never think in advance. The whole context in Matthew 6 has to do with a much bigger picture, what things we find most important in life. (To increase our bank account, or our compassion.)
                                                   

3. Update on the computer situation:
In the late afternoon, I tried a couple of more internet tips on the dead computer, but without success. I'm not going to make any more desperate attempts, that might only lessen the chances of retrieving  lost data from the crashed hard drive by help of other means. My brother will probably be able to help me with that later on.

So I have accepted the fact that I will have to buy a new computer. It has been on my mind for a while anyway. Just hoping the laptop will continue to keep its spirit up in the meantime, until I decide on the best alternative for the future.

Today I have been able to safely transfer all my original 2009 photos, and also some edited ones, from my backup USB flash drive onto the laptop. Phew!


It's not the End of the World.

My Computer Died

After writing the previous post on my desktop computer, I turned it off and went out for a walk, and to get a few things from the supermarket. When I got home and turned on the computer again a couple of hours later, it was dead. Apparently it had some sort of sudden heart attack - important system file damaged or missing...

I called my brother the Computer Wizard on the phone (he lives in another town), and we tried a few things, but it did not work. He did find a web page for me with some other suggestions and I might try them another day when I'm less tired, but my hopes are not high...

Well, at least I still have the laptop and so I'm not out of internet connection! But the laptop too has been complaining about being tired lately and a couple of times threatened to go on strike. (Had to unplug the battery and reinsert it to restart.) Apparently neither of my machines has been very pleased with my blogging habits of late...!

I will have to start thinking about getting a new computer.

The worst thing about the present situation is that I have all my edited photos on the dead one; as well as the PSP software; as well as a lot of personal documents and whatever; as well as that's the one connected to the printer; and...

I do however have some of the photos stored in the Picasa webalbum. (The ones I've already used on the blogs + a few yet unpublished.) The original photos from this year I also have on a memory stick (which I hope is still alive). Photos from previous years I have on CD-R, and also some older documents. It's mostly things like edited photos and documents from this year that are gone unless they can be recovered.


Apart from the loss of Data, I can also foresee a considerable loss of Time and personal Energy over the next few weeks, trying to fix things.

For the next few days I had already scheduled posts for my Picture Book, so no immediate panic. And (now I'm repeating myself, just to help myself breathe calmly) the laptop is still alive so I'm not without internet. And... I don't know what I'm complaining about, really. Still feels like I just lost a friend, though!

The Invisible Are Visible Again!

Welcome back, Followers - I'm glad to be able to SEE you all again today!

I'm a little concerned, though, that yesterday's post may have been misunderstood by some who perhaps were not having the same problem that I had...

So I'd like to clarify that my complaints yesterday were all about a pure technicality: the Followers widget boxes kept showing up empty for a couple of days, without any avatars in them, both on my own blogs and on other people's that I visited, and whichever browser or computer I used...

I did not really think I had lost my followers, and I did not really feel all that "out of touch" with you; I was just irritated about wasting a lot of time trying to find the fault in my own computer (or head), while really it was with Blogger all the time. When I turned to the Help forum, I found lots of people having the same problem since two days back - and Blogger rather unhelpful, not even including it among "known issues", in spite of  lots of complaints about the same thing. Today, however, it seems the problem has been resolved (although Blogger still has not properly commented on it).

So that was really what it was all about; even if I might have happened to add a more philosophical undertone to it when writing my blog post yesterday... That was just meant to lighten up the mood of irritation with technology!


(click on image to be transported)

With the new Picture Book blog, I'm actually more than happy that some people have already found their way to it. After all, it has only been a day or two since I put up the first link! It would truly have been a miracle if anyone had found it before that. (Actually, I did not even particularly want anyone to find it before that, because I wanted to take my time figuring out what it was I wanted to do...)

I'm not saying there aren't days when I keep checking my email for comments, and wish there were more of them. And certainly there is room for a few more followers yet in my widget boxes. But I'm not complaining about those I already have - just so you know!!! I never expected everyone to read everything, or even less comment on everything... (I don't do that myself, so how could I expect it of others?)

If anything, I'm still truly fascinated that I've managed to connect with a number of people "out there" (in cyberspace) at all. When I wrote my first blog post back in January, I really had no idea I would be meeting so many interesting people. Now I'm talking especially to you who are sometimes commenting here, and who know that I sometimes read and comment on your blogs too: You're all amazing, you know! Each in his or her own unique way... I have learnt so much from you already, and I expect to learn more as we move on!

I'm glad I found you, or you found me (whichever came first). That's why I complain (to Blogger) when you disappear out of sight.

I Am.You Are.

People are getting back from their holidays. I run into them at the supermarket. They tell me where they've been, and they ask about me. They understand, when I tell them about death in the family (my mother), that I probably haven't been having the best of summers. But it's when I try to explain the good parts of my summer that I get that blank stare from them...

"I've been out walking a lot," I say, "with my camera, taking lots of photos."

They smile expectantly, thinking of travelling and new exciting places.

"Nowhere in particular," say I. "In the parks, around town, in the neighbourhood..."

They stare. Sounds of silence creep up on us. I know it's pointless to go on. If I add the hours I've spent at the computer, trying to grasp the mysteries of photo editing software and blogging, they will just stare even more. There's no way, at least not in the crowd at the supermarket, that I can explain about magic moments with dragon flies in the park, exploring reflections in windows and polished stones, seeing "the Niagara falls" in the little dam we pass by every day, or going round and round every statue and sculpture in town looking for new angles.

"Who have you been seeing? Who have you been talking to?" they ask next. And I say well, I had lunch with A, and B stopped by last week, and I talked to C on the phone. That doesn't really cover much, but that's as far as our common ground supermarket language goes. That language does not have room for the experience of entering other worlds through the computer screen and communicating with people who aren't "really there". I can't casually say to these supermarket friends: Dan went to a car show recently and got to sell a lot of pictures. CJ spent the summer in the Hebrides with GB and took some fantastic photos. And oh, good news, Rae finally found a house!

I went home and sat down to meditate over how I came to live in two worlds.

("I am - you are" photo taken by me at an outdoor art exhibition. There was a whole row of these white stones, with the same words in different languages.)

One Minute Winner

The One-Minute Writer blog by C. Beth encourages setting aside one minute a day for writing, and provides daily writing prompts. You can either link to a post at your own blog or just write a comment.

The other day I found that a comment I wrote on May 17 about the Internet had awarded me the button below. The writing prompt was: "Reflect on how the Internet has changed relationships, and whether the net effect is positive or negative."

Click on the button to read my entry as well as all the others!

And in case the button goes on strike some day, or whatever, here is a copy of my "winning" entry:

Nine years ago, an accident turned my life upside down. Not only did I have to stop working, I also had to make a lot of changes in my private social life. Since I can no longer "keep the same pace" or do the same things as many of my old friends, I have lost contact with a lot of them. But through the internet, I have found new friends, new interests, and new and different ways to keep up my some of my old interests, too. One good thing about the internet is that one does not necessarily need to be online at the same time to be able to have a meaningful discussion. In forums and blogs, you can "take your time" and still feel you are communicating with other people.

Picture from unknown source, found by Google picture search.

Back On Track

It seems I have managed to reinstall the Followers gadget. (Had to remove it last week because of technical problems, see posts from 27 February and 1 March.) However, when I tried putting it back at the bottom of the margin, below all the other gadgets, it evidently got upset and again blocked the whole blog from access. I had to move it up a bit to get it to cooperate. Now we seem to have agreed on a compromise solution (somewhere in the middle)...

I have recently been watching the British TV adaption (from 1981) of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the behaviour of this widget/gadget thingy here sort of reminds me of the depressed robot Marvin... Quotation from Wikipedia:

Marvin is the ship's robot aboard the starship Heart of Gold. He was built as a prototype of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's GPP (Genuine People Personalities) technology. Marvin is apparently afflicted with severe depression and boredom, in part because he has a "brain the size of a planet" which he is seldom able to use. Indeed, the true horror of Marvin's existence is that no task he could be given would occupy even the tiniest fraction of his vast intellect.

.

Troubleshooting

Yesterday, suddenly I could not access my blog at all through Internet Explorer. I kept getting an error message saying the address could not be found, and the search process was aborted. Every now and then, though, I could still see the page behind the error message, so it was obviously not gone... And my other blog was still accessible. Switching to Firefox, I could also enter this blog that IE stubbornly maintained did not exist. Big mystery...

I was kind of hoping the problem would mend itself during the night, but it did not. Reading some help messages at Blogger Help Group this morning revealed that other people "out there" were having similar problems, and some blamed the changes recently made to the Followers function.

So I removed the Followers gadget in my margin and now I seem to be rid of the problem. I will wait a while before I try to reinstall it. If many users are having the same trouble, I'm guessing it's a bug that Blogger/Google will have to find a way to fix.

The computer is a wonderful invention, but not always a time saver. I wonder how many times I have said "I'll just take a quick glance at..." - and ended up spending hours trying (more or less successfully) to fix some kind of error...!