Yes, time does fly when you are busy with trying to sort out a computer that doesn't want to work. Our desk top had a problem shortly after we bought it whereby it was just turning itself off and would not turn back on for a while. We worked out it was overheating as the problem increased the warmer the weather got! So we contacted the manufacturer (via email as I hate long boring phone conversations with someone in India. It's not that I can't understand them, or them me, but it does take time and often doesn't solve the issue) and of course, as we had tried all the ways they said to solve it, the computer had to go away for repair. That it did (while we were in CA on holiday) and came back repaired but back to factory settings. Luckily I had been able to back everything up to the external hard drive I have, so no big deal.
Anyway, now it is having a power problem in as much as it won't switch on. There is power to the unit but the on/off switch will not power up the unit. Of course, there are solutions to try listed on the website (don't you love that, you have a computer problem, but need a computer to get to a website to see how to cure it? Is that a Catch 22 or what?) The computer will power up sometimes and stay working correctly for days and then from nowhere the problem starts again. Which is what happened Monday, so I contacted the maker and of course it has to go away again and, of course, they say to back up anything before you send it as they may have to set it back to factory settings-all very well if I could get it turned on!
Luckily I have actually been backing everything important to the external hard drive and saving very little on the computer, but there were a couple of things I hadn't backed up, like the magazine text I am working on with a January 15 deadline! Most of it was on the backed up version, thank goodness, but it was little things that I had corrected, added that were missing. This is what has been taking my time as I have been reconstructing the information I needed from emails and memory. I think I am where I was and I know that if I try and power up the main computer that it will now mysteriously work, seeing I have spent two days working on things I have already completed.
It has been a good thing to have a laptop to work with and a new one at that. We got the new laptop when the other computer was playing up the first time. My husband wanted to use the old laptop to do something and could not believe how long it took to do it, so we went shopping for a nice new one which is fast and light weight and I love it! It is a touch screen model and once I find more time (!) I can teach it to recognise my handwriting, so I can write on the screen and it will convert it to text!
Not that my older laptop has been discarded, no far from it. I have that upstairs hooked up to my embroidery machine. It means I can download the embroidery designs from purchased discs and transfer them from the computer straight to the sewing machine and then the machine stitches them out. I can also play with the design on the computer and save it, then transfer it to the machine. So I don't have to take the new laptop up there and it doesn't matter that the old one is a bit slower, as it does the job just as well. I can also surf the Internet up there when the machine is stitching as we have wireless and it works all over the house and garden.
Modern technology can't live with out it, can't always live with it!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
How I spend my time....
Okay, so it has taken me a few days to get back to my blog. I think I have time to write something and then I get busy doing something else on the computer and the mood for adding to the blog has left me.
So what do I do on the computer that keeps me busy? Well, apart from everyday boring things like on-line bill paying, banking and such, I edit a quarterly 24 page membership magazine for a national sewing organisation the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). Basically I solicit articles, designs and such from the members, add items from the chapter newsletters I receive, take photos, collate it all and send it to a graphic artist to layout. Then I proof the printers version and okay that. I also answer questions from members and answer to our board. All of this is voluntary and can take from 10-20 hours a week of my time depending on what part of the quarterly cycle I am in. We also have a national convention and I attend with camera in hand to take photos of events, daily classes, people and such. Thank goodness for digital photography, as I would not take so many photos if I used film and at least with digital I get to review them straight away and delete the bad ones!
Another time consuming computer occupation is originally coming from England, we still have friends and family there, so we are able to keep in touch via emails. This also applies to our many friends over here. So much easier to send an email as there is often a time difference to consider.
Anyway, that explains some of where my time goes each day on the computer, but then there is the life away from the computer doing the boring household things like washing, drying, cooking. My hobbies such as sewing take up time too. I like to do handwork when I sit down in the evenings to watch TV and I do any machine work during the day. I always have several projects on the go from smocking and embroidery, to knitting and crochet. I have more ideas of things I want to make than I will ever have time to complete. Like many people who sew I have a stash that never seems to get any smaller, even though I really have been very good and not added to it for many months. I have been trying to make things using everything from my stash (and that includes buttons, trim and threads). It makes it so much more satisfying to know that I didn't have to buy anything. The things I like to make are varied, but since learning about smocking and heirloom sewing some 12 years ago, I make quite a few children's items. Not having any children ourselves, most of the things I make get given away (but I photograph them and keep a record). I always have something on hand for a new baby and make friends little girls dresses and such. I am sure I will cover this area of my life and interests in more detail ad infinitum.
I also attend a watercolour art class each week and although I rarely find time to paint at home, do enjoy my three hours in class. Depending on the time of year, I also have the small front and back gardens to attend too, which are planted with perennials, so not too difficult to maintain. Then there are organizations I belong to with meetings to attend, such as the local chapter of SAGA and a group for woman with British connections, called the Daughter's of the British Empire (DBE), which sounds very pompous, but isn't. Plus the all important lunches with friends here and there. Some weeks I hardly find time to be at home during the day!
All that having been said, time waits for no man and it's dinner time. So I end today's blog and get on with my other life.
So what do I do on the computer that keeps me busy? Well, apart from everyday boring things like on-line bill paying, banking and such, I edit a quarterly 24 page membership magazine for a national sewing organisation the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). Basically I solicit articles, designs and such from the members, add items from the chapter newsletters I receive, take photos, collate it all and send it to a graphic artist to layout. Then I proof the printers version and okay that. I also answer questions from members and answer to our board. All of this is voluntary and can take from 10-20 hours a week of my time depending on what part of the quarterly cycle I am in. We also have a national convention and I attend with camera in hand to take photos of events, daily classes, people and such. Thank goodness for digital photography, as I would not take so many photos if I used film and at least with digital I get to review them straight away and delete the bad ones!
Another time consuming computer occupation is originally coming from England, we still have friends and family there, so we are able to keep in touch via emails. This also applies to our many friends over here. So much easier to send an email as there is often a time difference to consider.
Anyway, that explains some of where my time goes each day on the computer, but then there is the life away from the computer doing the boring household things like washing, drying, cooking. My hobbies such as sewing take up time too. I like to do handwork when I sit down in the evenings to watch TV and I do any machine work during the day. I always have several projects on the go from smocking and embroidery, to knitting and crochet. I have more ideas of things I want to make than I will ever have time to complete. Like many people who sew I have a stash that never seems to get any smaller, even though I really have been very good and not added to it for many months. I have been trying to make things using everything from my stash (and that includes buttons, trim and threads). It makes it so much more satisfying to know that I didn't have to buy anything. The things I like to make are varied, but since learning about smocking and heirloom sewing some 12 years ago, I make quite a few children's items. Not having any children ourselves, most of the things I make get given away (but I photograph them and keep a record). I always have something on hand for a new baby and make friends little girls dresses and such. I am sure I will cover this area of my life and interests in more detail ad infinitum.
I also attend a watercolour art class each week and although I rarely find time to paint at home, do enjoy my three hours in class. Depending on the time of year, I also have the small front and back gardens to attend too, which are planted with perennials, so not too difficult to maintain. Then there are organizations I belong to with meetings to attend, such as the local chapter of SAGA and a group for woman with British connections, called the Daughter's of the British Empire (DBE), which sounds very pompous, but isn't. Plus the all important lunches with friends here and there. Some weeks I hardly find time to be at home during the day!
All that having been said, time waits for no man and it's dinner time. So I end today's blog and get on with my other life.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year, New Blog
I finally set up my Blog page. I have wanted to get one started for ages, but always found something else to do. It's not like I need another way to 'waste time' on the computer or anything, just thought it was a good way to start a diary come journal. Who knows, it may make me famous!
I will most likely jump from subject to subject, just as I do when I am talking with people, but then that is me-too much going on in my brain and not all of it relevant.
Hopefully I can add to this on a regular basis, if not I'll let our computer cat, Catsby, add to it for me. We have two tabby cats, Paris and Catsby (litter mates and 14 years old now). Catsby loves to sit next to or on top of the computer mouse (where else?) and also tries to influence what keys are pushed on the keyboard-dangerous when I am doing the on-line banking! He also likes to see what is going on in the world, but only from the BBC website, of course. He is right here with me now, and feigning sleep. He is ever hopeful that I'll stop typing and tickle him.
So, it's the first day of 2009, and here where we live in Connecticut we have snow. It snowed New Year's Eve during the day and although it melted quite a bit as the sun was out, we still have a white layer in the garden. The temperature hasn't been much above 25 today, so no doubt it will all freeze again tonight. The birds emptied the big feeder with help from the local squirrel population so that needs a refill, along with the two samll feeders. That's another of Catsby's interests, watching the birds on the feeders from the computer desk. His brother, Paris, just likes to sleep, eat and sit on my lap just as I pick up my sewing or knitting.
Spent this morning putting away the Christmas decorations. We have no room for a tree, so I put out my collection of Father Christmases, on bookcases, shelves etc. Not one of them is the same and they all shapes and sizes. The cards we get go in a wire wreath on a door. It all looks bare when they all get taken down. Still, need to do that before Twelth Night and as it's housework tomorrow, it got done today.
Housework-there's something I really don't like doing, but it has to be done as I don't like the place looking dirty and untidy! We only live in a small house, so it doesn't take too long and as we pick up and put things away everyday, it helps a lot. Our house is very unusal for the area as it is made of brick and in a row of four houses joined together. That's called terraced in England, here they call them townhouses. We have a small front and back garden which help make it look very English. It has just two bedrooms, one bathroom, living room and eat in kitchen, but also has a basement, which is great for storage and also where the washing machine and tumble drier are.
Well, I guess that's enough for today. Who knows what I will ramble on about the next time? I am stopping now as it is dinner time and I am hungry (fish sticks, oven chips and and baked beans tonight-yummy!).
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