Computer Woes

Computer Woes

Several weeks ago, the keyboard on my laptop just stopped working.  I noticed it stopped sometime after a restart that followed some Microsoft Windows 10 updates. 

The Geek Squad fixed the problem, but not before I pleaded that it was a software problem, because it happened right after a restart, and I did not need a complete (cost prohibitive) rebuild.

Last week, after another 45-minute Microsoft Windows 10 update, my keyboard once again was not working. (I implore all Mac users, please do not give me the Mac lecture, I've heard it 1000 times, I don’t want to hear it again and I don't want a Mac…thank you.)

I brought it in to the GS, convinced that they could fix it again, and they did.

In the meantime, I purchased a second PC.  I don’t need anything fancy.  I don’t download terabytes of stuff, I don’t watch movies or do fancy editing.  I surf, I blog, I play solitaire.  I figured two PC’s would be convenient as I would not have to lug one up and down from bedroom to basement and then back when the battery runs down.

I bought a Dell, even though to me, Dell is a comic book company.  The GS sales-dude said the Dell would meet my needs, and it was dirt cheap.

The worst part of a new PC is setting up files the way you like them, getting MS Office without paying again as I am supposed to be good for up to three devices, and establishing all your favorites with correct passwords.

The process is a nightmare and, in the past, has almost resulted in Mrs. C leaving me.  I might have a patience problem.   

In several hours my new Dell was set up to my satisfaction with less stress than usual.  I was happy.  I now have an upstirs PC and a downstairs PC.

Until.

My new Dell started acting goofy.  It was slow opening some stuff up, but not too bad, but suddenly the little thingy that lets you put the PC to sleep or open up other applications did not respond.

I did a restart.

The PC screen lit up but said and did nothing.  I waited.  I waited some more.  I continued to wait.  I started getting antsy.

“This friggen frggan piece of shutter-bumble is not working!”

“Relax, it will come on, remember you bought a Dell to save money.”

“What, so if I buy a Kia and turn the key to start the engine it might just do nothing?  Should I be patient because it is an inexpensive car and you can’t expect it to start right up? 

“This is a computer, not a car, it is different.”

“It could at least say for me to ‘wait’ instead it says nothing.”

“Give it time.”

“Fuck that!”

I shut it down and restarted it again.  This time it did say “Working, wait.”  When it came on it asked for my sign-on and password.  It wanted me to change my password.  It did not like any of my passwords and made me copy some almost indiscernible jumble that was presented in-order to get a new password. 

Finally, I was back in action.

Except every time I start the damn thing up, it forces me to change my password which is that same onerous process again, plus I am running out of passwords…AND I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO SIGN ON ALL THE TIME…I DON’T HAVE TO SIGN-ON TO MY OTHER PC!!

Currently my password is “Pissoff13” because they would not accept “Fuckyou13” anymore, and every time I change my password I have to write it down someplace.

Now I have to go see the Geek Squad once again and have them set me up to not have to use a sign-on and password to start up my new PC.

Grrrrr.

Otherwise, everything is fine.

I See A Rip Off

I See A Rip Off

I have two pair of glasses.  One is an upstairs pair, one is for downstairs and outside.  Even with two pair I am always looking for my glasses or I end up with two sets together.

 

My downstairs glasses keep dropping a lens.  The teeny screw that holds the lens in place keeps getting loose and the screw lies topside down, so when it gets loose it falls out.  A dab of crazy glue works for a while but eventually the screw slips out and the lens follows.  So far I have not lost a lens.

My upstairs glasses are glued together because I sat on them and they are not made to be sat on.  Mrs. C fixed them so that you can not tell they were sat on, but her special glue fix also gives out over time and has to be re-glued.

I decided that I need a pair of glasses that I can count on to not break as glue loses its potency.  I also would like a pair of glasses for the basement and a pair for the car, so I will never be without glasses when I need them. 

I can survive without glasses, but they make TV watching more comfortable and driving the car safer.  If I needed glasses all the time I would not be taking them off and leaving them around, and one good pair would be enough.

Anyway I decided I need new glasses.

My last three pair of glasses came from “Fancy Smancy Frame and Lens” a local hoity toity optic store.  I wanted to go to “Glasses “R” Us” but was told by my wife that I should get the best for my eyes.

The best for my eyes glasses that I purchased from “Fancy Smancy Frame and Lens” cost over $600 each, and that did not include the optometrist’s fee.

The glasses I purchased at “Fancy Smancy Frame and Lens” do not seem so special to me.  Designer frames are stupid.  How much of a genius do you have to be to design a pair of glasses?

For my new glasses I went to Costco.  I got a new (almost the same) prescription for $75.  I picked out two different yet similar frames.  The total cost for everything…$265.

When I was done with the fitting, I mentioned to the lady doing the measuring,

“The last pair I bought cost me over $600.”

She replied, “I know, I used to work for one of those rip-off places.”

Maybe these new glasses will not look as Fancy Smancy as my other two pair but they should still help me see clearly.  

You know, in the 12 years I have owned and worn $600 plus glasses, not once has anyone ever said to me,

“I love those glasses.”  

THE PAINTING

THE PAINTING

I think Fathers Day is soon, so my re-runs is for my Pop

this re-run is from June 2014

I thought my dad could do anything.  He was a Chemical Engineer.  Only smart people are Chemical Engineers.  He was a math whiz.  During the Second World War, he stayed in the US working on some complicated war related project that only really smart people worked on. 

He had smart hobbies.   He grew vegetables hydroponically in a greenhouse when that process was mostly just in books.  He designed and built small racing sailboats that out performed others in the class and were unsinkable to boot.  He built radios.  He built electric light dimmers before they were commercially available at the hardware store.

Dad knew how to skin-dive and he could hold his breath for over two minutes even though he was a smoker.  He sailed, knew navigation, he had his pilot’s license and flew his own single engine plane.  Pop was a good bowler and golfer.  He played piano by ear, and could strum whatever chords on the banjo that were required for a sing-along.  I’m pretty sure my father could do anything he put his mind to doing.

 In the '50's, pop almost died from an infection of the heart.  During rehabilitation he took up painting.  I can remember some portrait sketches, but don’t remember if he ever finished them.  I think he only finished and framed (he made the frame himself of course) one painting.  It was of a hunter and his dog.  Funny thing was pop never hunted and we did not have a hunting dog.  He hated hunting.  He went squirrel hunting once with a friend and he could not bring himself to pull the trigger on the poor little creatures.

Anyway he did complete that one painting, and then he went on to another endeavor.  I think he may have tried the hobby for three months.  The painting was not great, it was never worthy of living room display, but somehow I found it, I liked it, and I saved it.  It hangs in my garage where I see it most every day.  It represents one of my father’s least successful endeavors.

Still, I think it is pretty good.  Maybe I’ll bring it into the living room for Father’s Day.         

I think he had potential