Water and Water and Computers

There was only a single lifeguard yesterday so I ended up swimming in the outdoor pool yesterday. That's the Olympic-sized pool, 50 meters long. It's a lot of fun to swim in, and the water is wonderful, but it's quite a different workout than I get from the smaller, 25 yard pool I usually swim in during the week. 16 laps vs 36 laps means changing my workout quite a bit.

If I ever make it to Sydney, Australia, I'll have to check out
the Bondi pools. Just look at this wonderful location. 

The next heat wave isn't going to hit until next week, so it's been comfortable sleeping. When I get to the gym in the morning it's around 60 degrees F outside, so it makes for a cold walk to the pool, and an even colder wet walk from the pool back to the locker room. On Saturdays we only have the outdoor pool available for swimming, so I often will do the elliptical and recumbent bicycle in the gym instead. But today, I think I'll swim. Six days in a row for the water. SCORE!

It's a long swim, but such fun. My summer is running away, so I'll
take advantage and swim outdoors again today. 

The computer system I operate at the shop runs from a Win-98 platform on two computers from 1998. It's getting slower and slower and less dependable, but I looked into an upgrade of our sales program a couple of years ago and the price was more than $12,000. That was NOT going to happen. But it means that I'm limping along on a mechanical hard drive that has so many sector errors I can't even do a scan disk without compromising the system. I keep my fingers crossed.

I run two computers on Win 98, two on Windows XP, two
on Windows 7 and one on Windows 8.1. I tried Windows 10 and
hated it. I pulled that system back to 8.1. Yesterday was the
final day of the "Get Windows 10 For Free" never-ending update
requests. Now I can look at enabling automatic updates again. 

Yesterday the computers were acting up, but finally, after shutting down and restarting, things went smoothly again. Every day I'm crossing my fingers with our sales computers. They work great, but how long will they continue to? It's a bit frightening ...   I wonder if I can find a new hard drive for a Win 98 system out there for a reasonable cost? If so, Dale could probably install and dump everything over to the new drive. I'll have to think about this some more. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll be cooking T-bone steaks and butterfly shrimp on the grill for Sunday dinner. Yummy!

It Comes Down to Choice

So, the political conventions are over and the dust will settle. As happened in Minneapolis in 2008, the economic "boom" that was supposed to have accompanied the convention by delegates shopping or using local vendors and restaurants didn't really happen - at least not in Cleveland. Maybe Philadelphia was different, but probably not. But the conventions were different from earlier years, even if the delegates were not.

The 1968 Chicago Convention was televised brutality against anti-war
demonstrators and the Chicago police. It's still touted as the most
violent demonstrations to occur at any political convention in this country. 

The conventions were unusually contentious. Not since the riots outside of the 1968 Chicago convention during the Vietnam war have I seen such divisive delegates, platforms, and proposals. The lines are drawn and this time they are broad and colored an intense red or blue. This time there is no middle ground.

In the Obama vs Romney election, the red and blue states ended
up in this configuration. No big surprises here. I wonder how
different the map will look after the November election. 

There is a Green Party candidate, and the Libertarian candidate right now is polling more than 14% in the polls - higher than for many years. But politicians in America pay lip service to the voters and merely stride ahead to do what they want - accomplish their personal agenda and the populace be damned. Well, we're damned this time.

Donald Trump - Businessman turned Politician. Candidate for the
Republican Party. 

On the one hand we have the candidate who supposedly knows and understands finances, business and money. But he has run his own businesses into the ground multiple times, declared bankruptcy several times, and really needs to put a cage around that mouth of his. His off-the-cuff responses and remarks are disrespectful, prejudicial, and merely choose the target of the day from the piles of manure he's left behind him.

The Democratic Convention made history by nominating a female
for President. Hillary Clinton has the qualifications, but will
she get the voters? 

Then there is the democratic candidate. I'm actually thrilled that a woman has been nominated for the office, although in some areas that may work against her election instead of for it. But at least she understands women's issues - something that the Republicans will immediately move to eliminate. Unfortunately, with the Democratic candidate, there is an issue with trust. She trusts too much, and her explanations when she is caught in an error just don't follow through.

So here is the platform. We just have to live through a few more months
of hateful words pulling this nation apart before we can start hunting
for a band-aid to begin the healing process. Gah!!! I really hate politics sometimes. 

Truthfulness is not expected from anyone in politics, but it's a nice goal. I know who I'll vote for, but I'm not happy about either choice. Can we have a re-do? Have a great Friday, The weekend looms ahead and we'll actually have nice weather for it before going back into the high temps and humidity.

Breathing Again

Yesterday was SO busy. I'll catch up with your comments and other posts today because my time was spent with computer things yesterday. Sorry - I'm usually much more prompt than that!

I'm usually better at responding to posts and friends comments
than I was yesterday. So sorry. I'll catch up today. 

Dale and I spent more than three hours getting my hard drive switched over, data dumped, tests made, backups performed, etc., etc. It was really great to see him again, but he was a typical Minnesota guy - operating on a very different temperature than I. He always has multiple electronics on, so I expected it to be cool because he'll run A/C to keep cool. But he ran A/C to be cold! By the end of my three hours, I was almost shivering, even though I was wearing a t-shirt and hoodie. I was never so happy to walk into muggy, hot temps. Dale, on the other hand, was in a t-shirt and barefoot and was totally comfortable. *sigh*

I knock on wood often - it's just a silly superstition. I didn't
realize that a movie had been made with that title. It
starred Danny Kaye. My older friends will recognize that name. 

Everything is working really well (knocking on the nearest piece of wood) and I had an opportunity to cull through a large pile of mail and crap that had landed on top of my CPU over the past two years. So all in all, it was a win/win for me even though my credit card had more loaded onto it. He had originally quoted me two hours of work, but even though it took longer, he only charged me for the two hours. We also had a chance to catch up a bit since the last time I had dropped by, so all was good.

I still need to double-check my back-ups, start working on
duplicate items and make sure we caught them all, revise
my backup plans, oh - and buy some tickets for when Sharon
gets to town in early September. 

Now to catch up with other things that are pending. It's such a relief to not have to worry about my computer again, although I have a lot of fine tuning to do with my backup programs and such. I'll be happy while swimming my laps today because one more thing is off my 'To Do' agenda. Have a wonderful Thursday.

How About An Extra Few Hours Today?

So, to start out, "The Secret Life of Pets" was funny and adorable. The theatre was packed, but because it is reserved seating, Chickie and I didn't have to worry about finding seats, we just went to the ones on our ticket and settled down - each with our free popcorn and I with my hot dog. We watched the previews - nothing really blipped on our radar for later-in-the-year viewing - and got immersed in animated pets and their relationships and anxieties.

Max (the smaller dog) and Duke (the big, fluffy dog)
are rescued and then hunted down by Bunny. It sounds
really stupid, but the antics of the pets combined with
the ups and downs of New York made for a highly
entertaining movie. 

The story basically comes down to Max suddenly having to share his home with a new dog - Duke. While at the dog park they escape and are caught by animal control. On the way to the pound they are rescued by a totally crazy bunny and then set off to try and find their way home.

The rescuers are led by Gidget, the fluffy white dog in the
center with the pink bow in her hair. She's determined to
rescue Max. She's accompanied by two other dogs,
a very fat cat, a guinea pig, a canary and a hawk. 

Meanwhile, the fluffy white dog in the apartment across the street from Max realizes that he's missing and rallies (sometimes bullies) the other pets into joining her to find him. The action takes place throughout New York and into Brooklyn, encompasses a large variety of animals including cats, snakes, the bunny and an alligator, and has a happy ending. We laughed so much and the audience clapped when the film ended, so ... good job on "Pets". I give it 4-1/2 stars and recommend you go see it for a lighthearted night at the cinema.

Just a great reminder of the bond between humans and
their pets. It's wonderful to have fur children, and even
though I don't own any pets now, I have enjoyed sharing my
life with them in the past. 

Today is my "day off" but it starts by taking my computer to my computer guru for a new, much larger, solid state hard drive. It's always interesting to visit with Dale. I can guarantee he'll show me some really cool stuff he's building while I'm there, but visiting with him also will put a crunch in my time for the day. It's worth it, though. I'm really looking forward to the increased capacity.

I love my computer guru, he's really talented at hardware,
but specializes in that. Sometimes I have to go elsewhere
for answers on software questions, but he's built several
computers for me over the years and they've all been great. 

So have a wonderful Wednesday. I hope to catch up with Aearwen later today, get groceries, do laundry, and start the next phase of my library cleaning agenda. No rest, but that's expected for my 'day off'.

Going To the Movies

So tonight Chickie and I are going to see "The Secret Life of Pets". It's gotten great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with a 74% approval rating. The only movie rating higher right now is "Star Trek Beyond" which I also want to see. Unfortunately "Ice Age: Collision Course" is only rating at a 12%. Bummer. I was thinking about going to see that, but I may have to pass.

I love the fact that one of the characters is Pops, a disabled
older dog who has a wheelie. Here's to diversity! 

Another film that's doing well in the theatre is "Ghostbusters" with a 73% approval. An LJ friend of mine saw that within the last week or so and highly recommended it, so I may see that instead of Skrat and the gang from Ice Age.

I was looking forward to "Ice Age: Collision Course" but the reviews
are terrible. Guess I'll skip this one. 

But a movie tonight means a very busy day tomorrow and less sleep than usual. With an 8:00 am appointment with my Computer Guru for my hard-drive swap-out, Wednesday will be crunched for time. Also, these mid-week later-night adventures with Chickie always catch up with me later in the week. So it goes - the sacrifices I make for the sake of modern culture and friendship - LOL.

I might consider going to "Ghostbusters" instead of "Ice Age". Friends who
have seen it have said it's very funny and worth seeing. 

It's a Tuesday at the cinema, so my admission is only $5 and I get free popcorn. If I decide I'd like something more substantial, I can get a hot dog for $2. A night with Chickie at the movies on a Tuesday is certainly within my budget. Huzzah! Have a great day, all. I'll be back tomorrow, smiling from the antics of animated pets.

Le Tour Wrap-up and Lobster - Yummy!

Le Tour de France is complete and the summer is rushing away from me. Within the next month, Renaissance Festival will begin and my Sundays will be filled by driving out to the Fest grounds and enjoying the end of summer and beginning of autumn. I have SO MUCH to do in my house before I get to that point. I'm going to have to shift into high gear.

The problem isn't the cleaning as much as the clutter. We're
working on it steadily, but it's a lot of work and we have
minimal time in which to do it. Sharon comes in six weeks.
The clock is ticking! 

On Wednesday I take my desktop computer out to my computer guru. He's going to install a 1TB solid state hard drive for me, dump over my data, and generally clean things up. I'm red-lined on storage on my current main drive and that's nervewracking for a system that is my main computer. The laptop is all good and fine, but the desktop is my workhorse.

I love lobster tails on the grill. It's so easy and they
taste so good. 

Yesterday's dinner was spectacular. Hubby manned the charcoal grill for T-bone steaks, lobster tails and corn in the husk. I added grilled onions and mushrooms and pasta on the stove. So good! I immediately portioned my dinner into two, so I get to look forward to this again for dinner tonight. Yippee!

Podium Winners from left to right: Peter Sagan, Chris Froome, Adam
Yates and Rafal Mijka. Congratulations to the winners! 

So as I get ready to leave for the swimming pool and a chiropractic appointment, here are the final standings of the 2016 Le Tour de France. Have a wonderful Monday!

Overall Winner - Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Sprinter Winner - Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
King of the Mountains - Polka Dot Jersey - Rafal Mijka
Best Rider Under 25 Years of Age - White Jersey - Adam Yates
Most Aggressive Rider - Peter Sagan
Stage Winner - Andre Greipel
Team Winner - Movistar
CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE. Now ... on to the Olympics!