Swimming, Kindness and My Computer Guru

My main computer is fixed. There's nothing quite like the feeling when your computer Guru tells you it could be a switch issue OR it could be the Mother Board. The dreaded thoughts flood in and semi-terror hits ... except, this had happened to me in the past so I was hoping it would be an easy fix. I dropped my old computer off with Dale and told him to take whatever time he needed, I had the laptop, so I wouldn't be without a computer. He phoned mid-afternoon telling me the deets, but it boiled down to the switch doing weird things - which has happened before. He said it was a simple fix and ready for pickup - no charge. He's SUCH a sweetheart. I grabbed a couple of containers of baked fruit for him and his lovely wife to enjoy, met him in his workshop, patted his dog and he told me what had been wrong and what to do in future if it happens again. (I know I'll be calling him and dropping it off once again ... but I have his instructions taped to the Black Box.) 

Having my old, black box computer back 
next to my desk where it belongs makes me 
VERY happy indeed. I would have paid Dale 
whatever he needed, but he said No Charge, 
which was SUPER sweet! 

It's nice to have it back, however. The thing I really miss when I don't have my main computer is my Adobe Photoshop. I have Photoshop Lite on the laptop, but I have the full-blown photoshop on my desktop computer. It's an ancient version, but I use it almost every day. I'd say it's my most commonly used program with the possible exception of those I use to generate my daily chat with the Universe (that means You!). My black box is nice and clean once again (dust is inevitable with computer systems), and is purring happily next to my side, happy to be home once again. All of the cables are properly in position and I'm relieved to have such a good friend/computer geek to help me out every now and again. 

The water certainly isn't calm any more. It's in use from 
5:00 am until the YMCA closes at night, and it pulls 
people in from all over the Twin Cities. It's one of only one 
or two places that has an outdoor pool available, and there's 
something really special about swimming under the open 
sky. 

Today is the last day of my outdoor swimming for the week. The pool is wonderful, and a great workout on another level entirely than the smaller indoor pool. There's just something magical about being in the pool while the sun comes up. I love it. The first day was a bit of a slog, and I know I'll have other days that won't go smoothly, but yesterday was an easy non-stop. I got my rhythm back, and loved the longer length. It's rather amazing the difference - I get just as good a workout in the smaller indoor pool, but that longer length really allows me to stretch out and push a bit more. I'm loving it! 

Kindness can be easy to do and can make a HUGE 
difference in the life of another person. Be that kind 
person today. 

So that's about all I have to chat about today. I'll plug in some photos and call it an early day for a change. That'll be nice, actually, because it's also a trash day and I need to put the buckets out at the curb for pickup. My yard waste bucket is crammed full. DH will be delighted to have it empty once again. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Be kind, and do something you truly love today - even if it's just dancing to a song on the radio that you love. It'll lighten your heart, and that's important in these days of conflict and pain. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Life, Computers and Swimming - Little Complications

My desktop computer isn't operational today, so I'm stuck with the laptop. This makes things quite a bit less convenient for me. I think it's a minor problem - the ON/OFF switch isn't working properly. Hopefully my Computer Guru will be available to take a look at it. But I'll be writing my daily blog from the laptop for several days, probably, and it's not quite as "user friendly" to me as my desktop computer is. 

My main computer setup is quite similar to this (and 
so is DH's setup - we have the same computer models 
that Dale built for us years ago). I think it's operating 
just fine, just the switch failed. It should be an easy 
fix, if he's got the time to deal with it. I'm "off" today, 
so driving it up to him in the far northern suburbs. 

But, we get knocked down and come back up again - right? It's rather the story of my life, and I think it's a story shared by many, if not all, of my readers. Life has this habit of throwing curve balls at all of us, and we're going to miss catching them every now and again. I had noticed the ON/OFF switch seemed a little "soft" over the past few days, but it still operated, so I merely noted it and went on with my work. Now I can't do that *sigh*. 

ARGH! is just about all I can say. I know we're operating 
with really old equipment, but I'm just not at a space 
right now to hire Dale to build us new ones. Rock ... meet 
Hard Place - LOL. 

The outdoor pool yesterday was glorious. It's a cold run out to it, and an even colder run back into the building after I'm done, but it's SO worth it. I'm really out of shape! I got a good workout yesterday, but my snorkel isn't working well any more (they do die after a while). I went onto Swim Outlet at work and ordered a replacement which should arrive in a few days. I'll have to put up with the one I currently use for two more days, but as much as I love swimming with a snorkel, it's not mandatory. I'll see how it works today, but I might just swim without it until my new one arrives. 

I was hesitant when I first got a swim snorkel, but 
I've adapted to it really well, and it allows me to 
swim pretty much non-stop. But now my snorkel 
is on its' last legs, so it's time for a new one. 

So, I'm going to see if I can get some photos plugged in here and then head out to the pool. Life - always throwing adventures out way - LOL. I hope you have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow - probably still on the laptop for the foreseeable future. Slava Ukraini.. 

I'm Busy, and I'm Running Behind - Built-In Obsolescence in Life and Holiday Cards

I'm not looking forward to going into the shop today. I'm absolutely sure that I have 100's of price tags waiting for me to enter them into the computer, and a billion other things on my Must Be Done Today list from having been away from the shop for several days. It's going to be a bit of a nightmare. I also have to take the little bit of time I have before opening to work on my holiday cards. It's been one of those years where the time I had in May (when I actually started work on them) and the time I have now (which is with deadline breathing down my back) have compressed, and I have a TON of stuff to do before I'm ready to stick these into the mail. It's not the first Thanksgiving spent working on my cards, but even for that, I'm behind. 

I'm running behind schedule, and that's NOT a 
good thing. Just one more pressure. I don't worry 
too much, I know I'll have my cards in the mail by 
Solstice. But will they arrive timely at my overseas 
friends' homes if I run that late? Hard to say. 

Have I put out a "Call for Cards"? Yes, I think I did put out the first call. Let's make this one the second call. I only push out to you three times (at best), figuring that you'll read one or more of my daily posts and get the idea that you HAVE to let me know you want to be added to my list. So ... if you haven't already messaged me privately to let me know you want a card and to confirm your mailing address, please DO THAT NOW! Next week will be hectic, at best, with our After Thanksgiving Day Sale and our Small Business Saturday Sale. The latest I want these cards in the mail is Solstice, and that's a firm deadline, which I really like to ignore by being much earlier. This year seems to be throwing up roadblocks to my annual card left and right, so make sure to contact me about your address. 

My Computer Guru, Dale, is amazing, genius, laid-back 
(fortunately) and a pack rat. All of those qualities combine 
to lead into a true genius IQ guy who is willing to help 
me out in the worst of times. I pay him, of course, but 
he really should charge me more. I'm quite fortunate in 
this particular friend (and he saves each holiday card, 
which is so incredible). 

I got the invoice from my Computer Guru in yesterday's email. Of course, I had already paid him before I left his workshop on Tuesday night, but he said he wanted to detail everything he had done on the invoice for his own reference, as well as my own. It ended up being FOUR PAGES LONG. Paragraph after paragraph of things we tried that didn't work, or things we tried that did. Pathways we took that led to dead ends, and new parts and paths we tried that worked later on. It's a good thing Dale's a pack rat of old computer parts. We're dealing with a computer from the early 1990's, and that's a hard one when you need new hardware. 

I'm very fortunate that my Computer Guru is a pack rat 
of old computer parts. We ended up raiding that stash 
for several new hard drives, a new fan, a new power 
supply, and other bits of this and that to get my computer 
operational once again. It was a messy repair, both for the 
hardware and the software. I really needed a day in the 
kitchen after the stress of two days of computer repair. 

In some ways, it's similar to how we are, as people. When we start breaking down, we're vintage 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, etc. Getting parts and solutions for those older decades is a really tough thing for doctors to do. As much as we use "planned obsolescence" for our machinery, whatever force of Creation exists has done the same thing for us. We age, we change, and we wear out. 

The one thing that we cannot stop is time - the progression 
of time only runs in a single direction, and we're all 
subject to Time's rule. It's not a bad thing at all, really. 
I don't think I'd want to live forever. The world is a 
beautiful place, but it's also a really messed up place, and 
the politics are causing me to be grateful I won't have 
more than 30 more years of dealing with political 
"leaders" who are doing anything BUT leading. 

So, I have thousands of things that stacked up, just waiting for me at the shop, but I will guiltily spend an hour or so first thing in the morning working on my holiday cards, because that's one more thing I have on my plate. I'd like to be at the next stage within a week, I'd feel much happier about progress if I was. Make sure to message me with your address, have a fabulous and fantastic day. I'll be grabbing some of the lovely things I cooked yesterday to make today a bit more tolerable. It'll be a day for the keyboard, I'm afraid. I'm off to the pool, have an excellent day, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Miracles Can Happen - Dale Comes Through Again

My computer guru, Dale, managed a miracle again with my aging computer system at the shop. He managed to restore all of my data - not just from 4-2022 backwards, but up to our current date. It was a true miracle, and it took hours and hours of work. I was at his place for most of the day on Monday, and until 4:30 pm on Tuesday, but I walked out of there with a repaired CPU and, getting to the shop and getting everything plugged back in ... it works! Hallelujah. It wasn't inexpensive (although he always gives me a deal on his hourly rate), but it's complete and should get us through the next year or so. (crossing fingers) 

I guess there is actually a storefront in Arizona called 
"Computer Guru", but as far as I'm concerned, the 
title only belongs on Dale. We had some interesting 
theological discussions while sorting out bad hardware 
and old backups for uncorrupted  data. It wasn't easy, 
and it took the vast majority of two days. I now have 
a completely new hard drive (with a second one 
thrown in), and he even managed to save current 
data that we feared was trashed. 

Despite the computer issues, I was able to get to the pool yesterday. One nice surprise as I was returning to the locker room afterward, was seeing a long-time swimming friend, Anna, changing out of her street clothes, ready to hit the pool. She was quite obviously pregnant, almost ready to give birth. She said she'd been swimming later in the day, and yes, she was quite far along in her pregnancy. She was as chipper as ever, though, so it certainly doesn't seem to be slowing her up at all. Our mutual friend told me that Anna was from Ukraine. I had no idea - just knew that she had an accent. I hope she hasn't lost friends or family in the war so far. 

The chicken jerky only takes 4-6 hours in the dehydrator, 
so not an extensive amount of time. But I also want to 
do ground beef either today or Friday. DH has been wanting 
me to make jerky with my new toy, and I've been wanting 
to try it out for that too. 

Today will be a very busy kitchen day. I'll do my usual chicken for dinner, but I also have chicken and ground beef in the refrigerator to use in my dehydrator for jerky. I'm looking forward to using my dehydrator for something other than an overabundance of peppers. Speaking of the peppers, I put a bit into my "Ogre Juice" batch last week, and it was beautifully spicy. Just a taste change to the normal flavor profile, and I'm enjoying this batch. 

Today is a total "Crunch Time" day. Between 
laundry, cooking, and shopping, I'll be a busy, 
busy person today. I have some basic work 
to do for the shop, too (filing some tax returns 
on-line, etc). No rest, but no real need for any 
either. Activity is good. LOL

So, my time is crunched today - it's a trash and recycling day and I have bags of both stacked in front of the door leading to the garage and the trash bins. Just one more extra thing to do before I head for the swimming pool. I hope all of you have a magnificent Wednesday. I've got a TON of things on my to-do list, so I'll be a busy, busy bee. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Monday Was a Hell of a Day - Tuesday Might Not be Much Better

I had to call Chickie in to work yesterday, while I took the store's computer system apart and brought the main computer up to my Computer Guru for hospitalization. Dale and I sat with that computer, finding X, eliminating Y and trying Z ALL DAY. I finally left around 4:30 pm, leaving the computer doing a procedure that would take it most of the night. I'll be back at his place again today at 9:00 am, after he's done feeding and taking care of the horses. 

I had to take the main store computer to Dale's 
computer hospital yesterday. I was there from 
9:00 am until 4:30 pm, and we left the computer 
running something or other for the night. *sigh* I'll 
be back at his place at 9:00 am today. 

So it was a long day, and a frustrating one. I'm not sure we'll be able to totally recover from this crash, but we have to try. Right now, it's looking like we might be missing some serious data due to hard drive corruption issues, and DH and I will just have to deal. I'm not sure exactly how, but one way or another, we'll have to manage it. In the meanwhile, we're hand-writing receipts and that's much slower and not necessarily accurate. It's all we can do, however. DH says what he needs more than anything is the Sales History, that the inventory can be toast, if necessary. 

Dale keeps his computer room cold - he's often 
got several computers running, and those can 
heat up a room. Plus, he runs hot. I, on the 
other hand, run cold, and I freeze to death in 
his room. I dress accordingly, but I've been 
known to wear my parka in that room sometimes. 

Dale always keeps his space quite cool - a bit uncomfortable for anyone other than him (he apparently runs really hot) and Frosty the Snowman. I know that, and I try my best to dress accordingly, but I've been known to sit there bundled in my coat while he's in shirtsleeves and barefoot (he tends to be barefoot at all times whenever possible). We got into a couple of decent theological discussions while waiting for the computer to do X or Y, and those are always fun. 

Dale is a devout Christian, having arrived at his 
beliefs through intensive study of 10's of 
thousands of hours, delving into every religious and 
belief system on Earth, and putting all of them to 
the test of scientific principles. He's rigorous, and has 
written 1000's of pages of information about how he 
came to his conclusions, and maybe he's right. Who 
can say for sure? He's certainly got the statistics and 
facts to back him up. Myself? I just can't go there. It;s 
totally not my belief system. We might actually have the 
same beliefs, but with different labels. 

He's a devout Christian from a scholarly viewpoint and years of intensive study, comparison and analysis of religions throughout the world and history. I'm a confirmed non-Christian, or I simply refuse to place a name and body type on my idea of a diety. I haven't studied theology as deeply as he has, nor do I really want to. He's written 1000's of pages about theology and why he's determined that Christianity is the only true pathway, I go with my heart. We're NOT on the same page, and it can lead to interesting discussions and debates. Neither of us are moving on our personal platforms, and we hold onto them for many different reasons. 

Dale is brilliant - genius brilliant. When he delved into his religious 
studies, he taught himself original languages to be able to read 
the texts written in Assyrian, Hebrew and other languages. He 
usually starts every day out with up to four hours of meditation and 
scholarly research, and has extensive knowledge. He could easily 
teach at the advanced college level if he was so inclined. He 
does have a blog where he posts his studies and deductions, but 
I don't read it - it's too deep for me to understand clearly. I see 
with the heart, he sees with the head. Both visions are accurate, 
as far as they go. 

So, I'm heading back out to Dale's this morning, probably around 9:00 am. I'm hoping I left my laptop bag on top of his pool table - I suspect I did. I was pretty brain dead by the time I left his place at 4:30 pm. I owe Chickie a replacement day off, and DH and I agreed we'll offer her next Tuesday, giving her Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to work next week because of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. I need to get my "Turkey Day Holiday Sale" flyer revised, polished, and published ASAP, which is why I was looking for my laptop. *sigh* I need the pool! I need to clear my mind from computer crap and lose myself in water, rhythm and breathing. I hope you have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Oy Veh - It Never Rains But it Pours - Computer Woes Once Again

The store computer has been acting up, flashing screens up when closing down for the day. But it was still shutting down, just with a lot more hassle. BUT, on Saturday night, it didn't shut down at all, and we couldn't start it up without an immediate error, not allowing us any options. It was time to call my Computer Guru - Dale. On Sunday, I left him a message and he messaged me back later in the day. I'll call him at 7:45 am today, tell him more about what's going on, and then if he thinks he might be able to help, I'll go to the shop, pull the computer CPU, and head up to Dale's house/workshop in a far northern suburb of the Twin Cities. 

There's nothing that gets to me much more than computer 
issues, and I'm the person who's supposed to be able to 
figure all of that out. But it's an antiquated system, 
dating from the early 2000's, and it's got quirks and age. 

At the same time as we're (hopefully) getting our computer repaired yet again, we also started looking into other resources that we could use to operate the shop until we shut down next year. That's turning into something a bit more difficult, but we have a few leads on Point of Sale systems that might work for our particular set-up. The key is that we don't want to spend a lot of money - we're going out of business next year and it makes no sense to spend thousands and thousands (and some of those systems are in the $10,000+ range). We'll be using it for 6 months or so, and need to keep the expense as low as reasonable to get something that will work for our set-up. 

First we get the Black Screen of Death - it's looking 
for a line of code that's corrupted or missing. It's stating 
that we should call our ARBA dealer - that's a bit 
frightening - I don't think that company is even in business 
any more, and they stopped supporting my equipment 
in the early 2000's. 

Add in the fact that the Wild lost both their Friday and their Sunday games - the Sunday game was absolutely pathetic! - well, it wasn't one of the best weekends I've had. It's been two years since I last had to contact Dale about a computer problem with our system. I'm really hoping he can manage to get this one off the DOA list, through Critical Care and into home care. *sigh*. I lay this event totally at the feet of DH. If we had kept to my personal time schedule, we would have already had our "Out of Business" sale and the doors would be locked for good. But NO ... he's dragging his feet, wanting to get rid of the Air Flite aspect of the business - something he should have done at least a decade ago. We're all paying the price for his inability to move forward into unknown territories. 

After the Black Screen of Death, comes the Red Screen of 
Death. This one stays on the screen, and the only way to get 
out of it is to hard-shut the system down. However, when we 
turn the computer on again, we're back to the black screen of 
death, followed by the red screen, and we can't get the system 
up and running at all. We'll see what Dale can do, but this 
may be the end for our old computerized register system. 

Chickie is being a real trooper - coming in to work on her day off so that I can take the computer up to Dale and deal with all of that. It's always a total PITA when we don't have a functional computer - every sale has to be hand-written onto carbonless receipts and entered into the system when we have an operational system once again. If someone is buying a bunch of beads - some on clearance and some not, that can be a LOT of handwriting to do. 

It's not impossible to operate with hand-written invoices, 
but it's a royal PITA and takes a LOT of time. Without our 
computer system, we're dead in the water. Usually Mondays 
aren't super busy, and I'm going to hope that's the case today 
while we're without a sales register. 

So, this will be a day that I probably won't want to remember, except I'll have the chance to catch up with Dale a bit, and that'll be lovely. He's been a great friend over the years, and really, I have no idea what I would have done over the years without his skill and expertise. We get along really well, and he's on my Holiday card list - LOL. So, I'm off to do my crazy day and I'm hoping everything will be fixed and back in operation by the end of the day. *sigh* Have a good Monday, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. I'll be back tomorrow.

A Tale of Computers, Printers and a Computer Guru

I had a nice long conversation with my Computer Guru. To remind you (and me for future reference) I've been unable to use Google on my main computer for several days now. The file is corrupted and I get the following message: 

    The procedure entry point SetProcessMitigationPolicy could not be located in the dynamic link library

My major concern with this is software platform - I'm running Windows 7 on my main computer, and Google is no longer supporting Windows 7 or 8. So although I know I could have uninstalled Google and reinstalled it from their website options, I was concerned (since my computer system is no longer supported), whether that was a viable option any more. 

"Hmmm ... that's a legitimate concern", said Dale when I mentioned that aspect to him. "Let me try something on a really old computer I have that's still up and running." So, he went over to a Vista computer he has in the corner of his workshop powered that up, and tried a couple of things. What we finally decided would be the best solution would be for me to go into my "Downloads" file on my computer and find Google there to reload it from an older version. Hopefully that will fix the problem. After I'm finished cooking today, I'll give it a try. 

After Dale was done with the "business" aspect, I mentioned that I had enjoyed the book he had recommended to me - "Person of Interest-Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible". He's an adamant Christian, and I'm an adamant Pagan. He bears hope of bringing me into the fold, and no ,,, it's never going to happen. But he keeps trying and I keep enjoying his efforts. So after a spirited discussion for another 15-20 minutes, we signed off. 

I also spent an hour or so trying to see if my older laser printer could be made to work with my register software. I need something more effective to print out my End of Day and inventory reports than my current printer which needs to have each page hand-fed to it now (it's dying of old age and heavy use). Unfortunately. this was a no-go. Although the printer is recognized by my computer in general, the actual sales register program does not recognize it as a legitimate resource and can't send the reports to it for printing. So the older printer went back into the corner. 

I turned to the internet, as I often do, and tried to find a replacement printer and I actually found one! The same model as what I'm currently using, at a reasonable price ($50 plus $20 shipping). Apparently the guy selling it had a total of 10 that he got from a company that was upgrading their printers. This was quite recent ... the beginning of the month. He'd already sold one of them, and I decided I was willing to make a $70 gamble on a new/old printer. It should be shipped to me within a day or so and I'll know if it works when I get it hooked up. Hopefully it will automatically feed paper and, even more importantly, price tags, so that I won't have to go jump through the printing hoops I'm currently dealing with. 

On that note, I'm out of here. We're getting snow (probably about 1/2 inch total, so not much, but wet and heavy stuff), and I'll need to shovel before I leave for the swimming pool. Have an excellent day, and if I get any time to do computer stuff today, I might be back to my regular format tomorrow with photos and all! Here's hoping, (although that may not happen until Friday). Slava Ukraini. 

Happy Valentine's Day to All - Computers, DH and Pictures

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you who read my blog - my friends and relatives scattered throughout the world. Is Valentine's Day celebrated in your part of the world? A feast of love and chocolate is what it's become in the USA. I'm not so sure the chocolate has followed the feast into other lands as well, though. DH has once again decided that the calendar doesn't work for him, so we'll be "celebrating" on Sunday instead. *sigh* He does this often - changing a holiday to be more "convenient" for him. I guess calendars were made for other people. 

I'll be calling my Computer Guru today and arranging to bring my main computer over to him tomorrow. Hopefully the weather won't be horrid. Today and tomorrow are supposed to have a fair amount of rain, and with temps hovering around freezing for some of each day, ice is definitely a possibility. I'll need to be careful as I go to and from Dale's place and on my shopping trips tomorrow. Adding trips to Dale's will make my plan to do stuffed cabbage for my dinners a bit mor difficult, but I'll manage one way or another. 

I'll need to figure out why photos weren't coming through into my DW posting yesterday. I really don't have a lot of time to experiment and practice, but I'll try to set some time at the shop aside to try a few things. Don't be surprised if there's a quick afternoon "test: run just to try a few things out. I'm not doing it to confuse you, my friends and readers, just to attempt to get my photos back and into my daily blog. 

So today is a swim day, At least I've got something I'm looking forward to. It's one more holiday that isn't a holiday in my life and I have a lot of them. I'm going to work really hard at making today a really positive day. I need one of those in my life. Talking to Dale should help. He always seems to "get" me in one way or another, and if I can get my old computer to access Google once again, I'll get Dale started on building a new main computer for me. I think it's time to upgrade from Windows 7 - LOL. Have an excellent Tuesday and HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY to everyone (other than DH). I'll be back tomorrow. (I'm going to skip pictures today until I have time to figure out why they weren't coming through on DW. Sorry about that!) 

Football, Computers, and My Crazy Life

I hope those of you who love football had a chance to see yesterday's Super Bowl, because it was an excellent game. Once again it turned into the Patrick Mahomes show, but that was fine because there was some excellent football being played. The Eagles were ahead at halftime, but Kansas City came out after the break (for a rather "meh" performance by Rihanna") the team came back revitalized and renewed and just took over the game. As much as I don't like Kansas City, they well deserved their win and Mahomes deserved his personal MVP award as well. 

Patrick Mahomes and family from the Conference 
Championship game. 

I'm having computer issues, so I'll be posting using my laptop for a while. I'll call my Computer Guru today. I think it's about time for him to start making me a new main computer, so I'll get him started on it. Unfortunately, that means some things that I have on my main computer are almost inaccessible to me for a while, so the laptop will have to do, and I'm sure it will do just fine. I'm just letting you know in case things appear differently on your end (although I doubt it will). 

I really hate having computer issues, but I knew I would 
need to upgrade my computer soon, and that day has 
now come. He's been working on a new computer for 
DH for more than a year - it's been low priority and the 
chips were hard to get. Mine is going to be a higher 
priority, so we'll see what Dale can do for me. At least 
chips are a bit more available now. 

What's happening on my computer is the complete inability of Google to load up - totally understandable since I'm still running Windows 7 on that computer, and Win 7 and 8 have been discontinued by Google's software. I'm running Win 11 on the laptop so I shouldn't have any problems on the portable while Dale builds me a new computer. Hopefully the computer chip issue has been resolved. I'm quite sure he'll be able to transfer my data from the old to the new computer without any difficulty. 

I use regular Photoshop on my main computer (and have 
used that software for years). I have Photoshop 
Elements on the laptop, and it's OK, but less powerful. 
The question comes down to "Do I need the power 
of Photoshop?" It's a considerable difference in cost. 

The main thing I hope to get transferred is my Adobe Photoshop from my main computer. I run a watered down version of the newest Photoshop on my laptop, but it really does operate differently and I'm comfortable using my old version for my blog pictures and other photographs. I have become more accustomed to Photoshop Elements, but it's not my favorite. Needs must, however, and I can get used to using almost anything with practice.. 

Another day in my crazy life. I can't get old, because 
my life won't stand still long enough for Death to 
catch up to me - LOL. 

So, I'm going to wrap this up and see how well I can plug photos into it. I plan on being back tomorrow for another day in My Life - crazy as it is at times *sigh*. Have an excellent Monday and Slava Ukraini. 

Today Is a Snow Shoveling Day - I'll Be Moving Snow Off Concrete All Day

Winter has finally hit and we'll get snow for most of the day today, with the heaviest being in the early morning - just in time to impact my drive to and from the gym. I had some yesterday, shoveled the driveway when I was leaving to see Dale with my computer. Today will be worse. It's supposed to be wet, heavy snow, and I want to at least get my side of the driveway cleared before leaving for the swimming pool. I set my alarm for 3:00 am and actually awakened before then. I'll do my morning meditation either while shoveling at the shop, or afterward. It's going to be a high exercise day, and I'll have nothing to do with it at all - not a purposeful day, in other words. 

According to Google, you're not supposed to be 
shoveling snow after age 45. Obviously in this 
instance, Google is absolutely clueless. I'm in my 
late 60's, and I'm still shoveling. I might not be as 
fast as I was as a youngling, but I get the job 
done. What I really hate are the big snow jobs in 
the deep freezes. But today we're at freezing 
right now, so it's actually pretty warm - leading to 
wet, heavy snow. 

The computer is fixed. It turned out to be the power supply, which was Dale's original thought. He's a genius, of course, so I'm glad he was correct and that he had something on hand that would be available for the repair. I was back out in mid-afternoon picking up the computer and handing him money. He only charged me for the part, he threw in the labor, and we had a small window of time to talk about his autistic dog and his two horses. He also gave me a printout of a book he recommended for me, so I'll try to find it today (on something other than Amazon). One of the great joys in our lives is theology. He keeps trying to convert me, I keep firm in my own beliefs, but love to challenge him every now and again. The book sounded interesting. I have the note buried in my jacket pocket right now, but if I find it and order it, I'll let you know what it is. 

I'm hoping I can get this as a Nook book. I know 
Amazon has a Kindle version, but even though I 
have the Kindle app on my phone, I really prefer 
to read my books in Nook format. I have no 
intention of ordering a physical copy. Nope, absolutely 
not. 

Between all of the trips here and there, meals were interrupted, laundry was hit and miss, and I didn't end up finishing my Wednesday chores until almost 8:00 pm. I did scrabble together a quick pea and chicken soup yesterday, which I hope I'll enjoy. I'll certainly eat it for the four days or so I made, but I may never make it again if I decide it wasn't for me. I had two bags of frozen peas in my freezer that I had to get rid of, so when I was at the store, I made sure to pick up some more chicken stock. It's VERY green - LOL, and turned into another blender soup which is excellent. I have hopes that I won't mind eating it, and I now have a freezer without frozen peas, a win in my book. 

I ended up using this recipe - Pea Soup from Eating 
Well. I added a little bit here and there, but it was 
a blender soup - after a quick simmer, it was tossed 
into the blender and pureed. It turned into a quick 
soup to make and I now have two very green 
containers of soup in my refrigerator, and no peas 
in my freezer. 

So, I'm out of here. The driveway is calling to me to get shoveling and it's going to take me a while to get it done (and of course will need to be re-done several more times). DH is dreading pulling the snow from the roof, which had been beautifully clear before now, but I think it's going to be snowing for most, if not all day. So he may not have the opportunity to do much about the snow until tomorrow. I'm out of here, and grateful to have a functional computer once again. Be kind, stay well, and Slava Ukraini. 

It's a Very Busy "Day Off" and Computer Repairs are Added To the Mix

Today I take my main computer up to Dale, let him work on it, and when he contacts me, I'll drive back up to him again to pick it up and pay him money. *sigh* It'll be worth it to get a repaired computer. I desperately need files that are on it and that I can't access directly through the laptop. All of the cables are labelled and removed, and the big box is sitting next to my study door, waiting until I get back from the pool before I put it into the car. 

Dale looks nothing like this. He's a large man, very tall, 
with hippie hair and bare feet (in any weather - his feet 
are always warm where mine are always cold). He's become 
a good friend over the years and is another person who 
saves my holiday cards. 

We're barely above freezing, but we are. So I'm hopeful the roads won't be sheets of ice today as I drive to the pool. Of all the weather aspects of our winters up here, serious ice is my LEAST favorite road condition. I don't handle ice well. To be honest, I think MOST people don't handle ice well. But I've got a good start on a very busy day with my first load of laundry already washing, my laptop ready to post today's daily post, and just enough time to deal with it in 33 F temperatures. That's very borderline, though, so I'll have to be cautious. No broken legs today! 

We don't get as much ice to deal with up here 
as we do snow, but when we get ice, it's a 
miserable experience. I park in a part of the 
YMCA parking lot that will allow me to have 
a level walk to the door. I got tired of 
dealing with ice when  parked next to 
Rosemary down the northern slope of the lot. 

I might buy myself a Holiday Gift of an online course in reading Egyptian hieroglyphics. It's put on by a professor at Penn U. It's NOT inexpensive, but if I pay in three installments, I can easily cover the cost, and since it's online, it's available to me whenever I need/want without time constraints. I've been studying hieroglyphics for decades now, but have hit a wall. Maybe this would be what I need to break through it. Merry Christmas to me - LOL. 

I've worked through several books on Egyptian hieroglyphics 
over the years and have always been overwhelmed. Her 
approach is different. Learn by actually reading the carvings, 
not a printed font. See the differences and the weathering and 
see how to recognize what it is you are seeing. Much of it 
are standard phrases, and it would be a delight to be able 
to actually read more and study a bit less. And, more than 
anything, enjoy myself while doing it. 

I got cards yesterday from Iris, a long-time friend in Germany for whom I used to do Beta work on her stories, and from my "sister" and "brother" Starlet and Peter back on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It's great to hear from them. The last I heard, Starlet was in the hospital again with an aggravated lung infection and an infection from a non-sterile needle from an IV she received at the hospital in Pine Ridge. Yes - a non-sterile needle at a hospital. That's the state of health care in the Rez, and one more example of the wide gaps between those who have and those who have not. 

There are so many different color palettes for Christmas. I've 
probably used them all at one time or another. The lovely 
think about getting holiday cards and putting them on display, 
is the total randomness of the colors and images, that still 
manage to work together for a harmonious whole. Rather 
like people at a gathering, working together for joy. 

It was lovely to hear from both of them, however. Their cards have joined the others on my mantlepiece and look beautiful hanging there. Small bits of color against the white marble and darker wood above. There's something so wonderful about holiday cards. 

When I look through photos on Google, I see a lot of 
"cards hanging from a mantle" photos like this one. 
But, this is a TINY fireplace, compared with my full 
wall, and I don't use a string - I just attach the cards 
directly to the marble mantlepiece. By the time 
Christmas comes, I usually have a lovely display of 
cheery cards to look upon. 

So, since I'm in a rush today and will have a schedule filled with errands (and interruptions to drive 1/2 hour north for computer work two times), I'm cutting this off here today. I'm going to find some photos, get it formatted, and post. I hope all of you have an excellent Wednesday. Slava Ukraini. 

Day 2 Of Posting from Voodoo - Things Are Working - My Guru Will Work on My Main Computer Tomorrow

So, here we go again, Day 2 of my laptop for my daily post instead of my main computer. This SUCKS, especially on a swimming day when my time is already constricted. I spoke to my Computer Guru yesterday morning, and I'll bring the main computer over to him so that I can drop it off around 8:00 am tomorrow morning - just before he heads out to take care of the horses. I'll pick it up later in the day (I hope). I really want my main computer back - it's a lot easier to post my daily blog with it than with Voodoo. 

My main computer isn't too different than what is 
pictured here. A lot of tower, a lot of different 
drives, and an interior with several fans to keep 
the components cool while it's on. It needs a good 
cleaning too, and Dale has all of the equipment to 
do a great job with that once he's got the side 
plate removed. 

Still, at least I have options, and that's a great thing. And it's the holiday season which means we're busy at the shop. I was busy with customers all day yesterday - DH helped every now and again, but mostly it was me and them. Fortunately, I rarely had more than two at a time, but we were both kept hopping - people trying to finish up holiday gifts that they are making for family or friends. 

I can't thank those of you who have been kind enough to 
send me holiday cards enough. It's these bright reminders 
of friendship from across the world that keep my heart 
warm in the darkest days of winter. I'm honored that you 
took the time and effort to send them my way. 

I've received several lovely holiday cards, and wanted to send a shout-out and "Thank You" to the following people: Alexcat, my High School friend Pam in Denver, Sam in Nebraska, Shiremom and the wonder dog Pippin, a new friend this year - Adopted Writer, and of course a fabulous 3-D card from my writing friend Tinnean. 

It's good to get used to using my newer Adobe 
Photoshop for my photos, but I'm not always 
thinking really clearly in the early morning, 
and often operate on finger memory. Using the 
different Photoshop version I have on the 
laptop requires me to actually think before 
I work with the photos. LOL Using my brain! 
Who would have thought? LOL

So, since it's a swimming day and my time is constricted (and I'm working on the laptop - a LOT more work for the same result), I'm wrapping this up and moving along with my day. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Just as rushed, but hopeful that I'll have my main computer back by Thursday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

Today (and the Next Few Days) I'm On The Laptop - Apologies For Equipment Failure

On Saturday night, after I returned home from the store, I reached to my mainframe computer and turned it on, only to be meet by a loud BEEP from my APC. I immediately shut the computer down again and reached behind my screen to see that the APC was pulsing with a red light. Time for a new battery - *sigh*. Checking my phone, I saw that Batteries Plus was open until 8:00 pm so I determined I would head over there as soon as I was finished with dinner.

The APC I have for my computer is quite similar 
to this one. DH has a larger one for his computer 
just a few feet away to the East. They have saved 
our computer systems through lightning storms 
and power outages. I wouldn't be without them. 

This isn't something I hadn't done before. I have two APC units in our computer room - one for DH's computer setup, and one for mine. I have two others at the shop (and a third currently not in use for a backup computer that I rarely turn on). I've changed a lot of these heavy brick batteries. It's pretty simple - pry the old one out, disconnect the leads, put the new one in, connect the leads, turn the APC unit back on and voila - ready to go.

The battery that I purchased is quite similar to this 
one and not too expensive for what it does. It's 
a brick, though. Heavy and clunky. 

EXCEPT ... it didn't go. The APC was fine - all green lights. The computer monitor and printer were fine - the other two things that are plugged into my APC. But my computer wouldn't turn on. I wasn't getting any response when I pushed the "Power" button. I should have felt a little resistence from the switch, I should have heard a small "click" when I pushed it, but it was like pushing dead air. The computer switch had broken.

 

All I need is my computer power button to be 
functional once again. I know my system is old, 
but I don't have the money right now to deal with 
Dale building a new one. He's been working on a 
new computer for DH for more than a year (the chip 
shortage has been a serious issue). 

Now, as a fix goes, this is pretty minor, and I didn't want to bother my Computer Guru with such a minor thing over the weekend, so I'll phone him today and try to drop the computer to him on Wednesday. The weather is supposed to be lousy on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he's not close by, but no matter. I'll drive out there twice on Wednesday - once to drop it off, and once to pick it back up. Whatever's necessary. I'm pretty sure it just needs a new ON/OFF switch to be fully functional once again, and it could use a good cleaning because I can't get to it at home to vaccuum it out periodically (which I should be doing, I know). I'll phone Dale when the sun is up and he's done taking care of the horses. Hopefully he can envelope me in. Meanwhile, I'm on the laptop for a few days, so my daily posts may be a bit different - not bad at all, but a bit different - LOL.

I love "Voodoo", my Lenovo laptop that I purchased more 
than a year ago. I use it constantly, and it's working out 
great for me. It's not what I usually use for my blog posts, 
however, so I beg your understanding if things are a bit 
more stumbly for a few days. 

 
Today I start work on my e-mail for our 4-Day End of the Year Sale. I need to make sure everything is accurate, that the dates are correct, and that I have all of the people added to my mailing list that I need to get added. Unlike most stores, we rarely run sales. We have clearance items at deep discounts all of the time - overstock from beads that just have too much quantity on our shelves. But a true sale - where almost everything in the store is reduced? Those things are extremely rare for us.

It's a huge sale, our 4-Day End of the Year Sale, 
and I'm starting work on that e-flyer today 
when I get to the shop, But I have a lot to 
do before then, so I have to get this posted and 
get out of here. 

 

We have our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales where beads of various types are on deep discount, but those sales don't apply to much outside of our beads. Our four-day sale, on the other hand, applies to almost everything in the store including the artwork, Navajo weavings, Hopi and Zuni Katchinas, Pueblo pottery, sterling silver and turquoise jewelry, and various artifacts such as scatter fans and peyote rattles. This sale is a BIG sale, and every once in a while, we'll move some serious product. We all work all four days, and then we collapse for three well-earned days off. (Of course, DH and I have to come in to do the year-end printouts and reports and reset the computers for the new year, but that's relatively minor and doesn't take more than two hours).

 

So, I guess the rest of my month is pretty much scheduled for me. My crazy life. I had been looking forward to one more "normal" week before diving into our holiday schedules, but apparently my main computer decided against normalcy in my life. I hope it's the switch, that would, at least be an easy and relatively inexpensive fix. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow - again on the laptop. Slava Ukraini.