Everything dies.
Especially anything electronic. Over the past couple of months I’ve had my desktop computer’s hard drive fail, my PDA upped and died, and most recently my laptop just decided it wasn’t even going to turn on anymore. At least the latter had the decency to give up the ghost a few weeks before we head off to Arizona this weekend so that I had time to get a new one, then reinstall and configure all the software.
There’s something therapeutic about setting up a new computer. It’s a pain in the ass, frustrating as hell, but still liberating to have everything fresh and shiny-new, if only for a day or so. All those weird little programs you tried and abandoned, but didn’t bother to remove from your hard drive? They’re all gone. But so are all the weird little programs that you found useful, but you can’t exactly remember what they were called. You just know that they worked better than the half-dozen others you tried with similar names.
But eventually, the new computer’s up and running.
At least mine is. Now I can concentrate on getting ready for the trip. And setting things up so that I can contribute to this blog while I’m in Tucson.
I feel your pain. There is a reason there is a personified evil linksys router behind me in my icon. Only problem with new computers (laptops in particular) anymore is that they don’t come with a copy of the OS seperate of all the little crappy utilities, if they come with disks at all. So even if you make restore disks, whenever you need to reinstall, part of the setup process is fighting to uninstall half of the crap that comes with it.
I hope with that run of luck, you have invested in a good backup drive and have started a backup routine. I concur on the new computer feeling. That is one of my job duties and I always feel a certain sense of pride when it is loaded and configured, something akin to the act of creation, I guess.
My new computer arrived yesterday. I have put a couple things on it– antivirus, Office– but haven’t done so much as download Firefox yet. It will be interesting to see how my habits change.
Forget blogging … I’m jonesing for another book of short stories. Get crackin’
“Over the past couple of months I’ve had my desktop computer’s hard drive fail, my PDA upped and died, and most recently my laptop just decided it wasn’t even going to turn on anymore.”
That’s what you get for letting Sophie use your stuff.
~~a long-time fan.
I just hope you didn’t lose any of your music mp3s .. if you have any video footage of your performance in Tucson, you know you must share!
Well…the computer is dead….long live the computer. Not really sure why you single out electronic things as especially mortal…but we shall have to make allowances for literary license…you don’t appear in danger of having yours revoked, anyway. ;-)
Let us know if you think that it is in danger of expiring and we shall, I am sure, take steps to assure your continued licentiousness. Within appropriate boundaries of course.
Looking forward to hearing about your trip…hope it’s productive and fulfilling. Fair winds.
Been there, done that! I don’t mind losing the junk programs I’ve accumulated, but I do miss the little helpers. For next time (there’s always a next time), I recommend Belarc Advisor. It’s a free download. Run it and it creates a complete profile of everything on your system. Save it off to a thumb drive or floppy or hardcopy. (I run a new profile about every six months just in case.) I used my profile when I had to set up a new work computer and it was invaluable at helping me quickly assemble the critical programs I needed. (Disclaimer: I have no association with Belarc.)
Ive recently had to reinstall windows on my home computer, losing a lot of data, and b) had my work computer’s hard drive give up the ghost. My conclusion: the God of Computers has it out for me. That jerk.
pal300:
I’m a complete nerd about backing up my work files, so I hear you.
Butler309:
My next book from Tor is Muse & Reverie, another story collection, and it’s already been turned in.
eris esoteric:
She must be sneaking on when I’m asleep. But now I know what;s happening.
fangirl:
the MP3s are safe. I back them up on a seperate hard drive, then again on another, ever since one of the externals died taking with it all the music I had on it. Don’t know about video footage. I was too busy doing stuff!
Maerian of Sidhevair:
I’ll put something together about the trip when it’s done. But if you’re on Facebook, I’ve been throwing up photos every day.
Schaz:
I’m going to check out Belarc Advisor when I get home. Thanks for the tip.
Talia:
Careful! You don’t want to piss that god off even more!