Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

new computer

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 23:15:04 GMT

My shiny new Macbook Air laptop has arrived, and so far I have determined that the packaging is well designed--both the shipping box and the interior box have obvious "pull here to open" tabs that worked smoothly. I'm pretty sure the box contains everything it should, but not entirely, because I have also discovered that they assume I have another computer, or at least access to one, with which to read the online-only "getting started" guide. They also assume I have a magnifying glass: the minimal printed information in the box is printed in an annoyingly small font.

Those are both valid assumptions, but it adds some friction to the process.

I bought a new computer now because I will be needing one moderately soon: this Windows box is old, I'm not sure it will support Windows 11, and I've been vaguely meaning to replace it for a couple of years. I wanted to buy a new computer before Trump's threatened tariffs affect the price and/or availabilitu of new computers. (According to DSL, my Macbook was shipped from Shanghai.) So I'm not in full "shiny new machine!" mode because I'm going to have to move a bunch of stuff from this Windows box to a machine running MacOS, and figure out in the process what I actually need or want to keep.

It's a Mac because I asked Cattitude's advice on buying a new computer, and this is what he recommended given what I use my computer for.

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Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:15:32 GMT

I did another round of text banking training today, because Common Cause is using different software than the campaigns I was already working on. So I did that, did a little texting, got frustrated, and sent an email to the trainer, who said something like "I forgot to tell you that you have to use Chrome."

I may give it another try; I don't love software that prefers specific browsers, but I can live with that, if they bother to tell me.

More cheerfully, my new (wireless) keyboard, mouse, and wrist rest arrived today. I should have replaced the keyboard sooner, rather than propping it up with a notepad after one leg broke off. And the wrist rest was flattened by many years of use; I don't remember when we got it, but it has a "Software Etc." logo, and that company changed its name in 2004.

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I have a new computer

Sun, 07 May 2017 20:05:07 GMT

The new computer is a Windows desktop machine. It will be replacing a Mac. I suspect I am going to be discovering all sorts of interesting things about file incompatibilities, especially years of saved email.

There's at least one trip to Microcenter in my future, for speakers, a webcam, and a better keyboard, but that can wait a day or three. Tomorrow's plans involve going to a state legislature committee hearing (to show people care about a bill that will stop Massachusetts police from working for ICE or other federal agencies unless the feds pay for it. (Yes, it would be better to stop it altogether, but this might be easier to get through, and might have the same effect.) That's another political thing I've never done before, but the ACLU wants people there, I don't have conflicting plans, and the state house is now "take the T to Park Street" instead of a schlep to Albany.

Whether I shop for hardware tomorrow will depend on a combination of how I feel by then, and how annoyed I am by this keyboard in another twelve hours.

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still not buying a computer

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 01:55:58 GMT

I've been meaning to replace my Mac for a while, because I need something faster/with more capacity for handling current software. "A while" meaning several months.

After discussions with cattitude, and several months of not getting around to buying a computer for various reasons (like not wanting to shop right before Christmas, and travel plans, and so on), I decided that I wanted to look at the screens on the current Mac laptops before deciding whether to get a laptop or a mini. (I've been using a nice big monitor in front of a laptop for years.)

I went to the Apple store in Copley Square yesterday, looked at the monitors, thought about it, and decided that the mini is the way to go. We sat down and decided on specs (processor speed, amount of memory, no I don't want an Apple mouse or a trackpad), and after a bit of fret I was ready to order, when Cattitude suggested that he should look at the Apple rumor sites and see if there was likely to be a relevant announcement soon.

Apparently they are likely to either announce a new/better mini in March, or discontinue the line, either of which is a reason to hold off on buying one. So, I will put up with another few weeks of slowness before replacing this (assuming for the moment that it keeps running that long, which I expect it will).

This is vaguely annoying, because it feels as though I finally stopped procrastinating, only to run into an actual reason for not acting. The important point here is not to delay further once the announcement is made, but to decide what to buy and then order it right away.

(No, I am not looking for advice on what machine to buy.)

So, that's been my exciting last couple of days, along with bits of proofreading, exercise, and petting the cats.

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Five things make a post

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:08:25 GMT

In the last few days, I have filled out two different "Parliamentary consultancy" questionnaires on same-sex marriage, both of which included questions about the role of religious celebrants. I'm not a citizen or resident of either Australia nor the United Kingdom, but neither form asked for an address or about citizenship, and they both wanted input from all "interested parties."

We saw a mourning cloak butterfly in the park yesterday. They tend to be one of the earliest kinds of butterfly, if not the earliest, but this seems early even for mourning cloaks. (I got close enough to get some pictures, while it was sunning itself on a dead branch.)

I finally installed the necessary software on our (moderately) new printer/scanner/fax machine, and configured it for wireless use, and cattitude has printed to it from his computer. (The device ships knowing how to make black-and-white photocopies.) Once I check them over, we can file our taxes. And then I made myself some hot chocolate, because dealing with printer software is like that.

I continue to be annoyed by people who have been warned not to say "like" instead of "as" so often that they now write "as" where they should write "like." And I probably couldn't code in Lisp to save my life, but I will be counting parentheses as long as I live. I get paid to fix both of these, but only one of them irritates me if I see it in print.

Having left my all-purpose cardigan at the gym on Friday, and lost an earring from one of my favorite pairs yesterday, I will probably be a bit cautious about carrying valuable things (valuable either in dollars or for sentimental or practical reasons) for a few days. I have earrings I like but am not strongly attached to, and they will do for the moment.

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viruses?

Sun, 23 May 2010 16:28:01 GMT

Update:

I cleaned out the email inbox, emptied the "recycle bin," and reran the scan. Nothing wrong.

Now, I get to see whether the system still hangs semi-randomly.

It's running slowly at the moment because, just to be on the safe side, I downloaded a couple of free scanning programs that my work IT department uses (and which I thus know are legitimate), and they're both hitting the disk. So far, SuperAntiSpyware has flagged a bunch of cookies but nothing else.

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ISP and gym

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:48:02 GMT

I'd just like to note that I like my ISP. Over the weekend, I couldn't upload email from my PC to the ISP's server. Download, yes. Monday morning, I logged into the Web mail program and sent a message to "staff," describing the problem. An hour or two later I had an answer, explaining it as a known problem for people using Verizon DSL lines, and including the solution, in both Mac and PC versions. I suspect there are ISPs that would have looked at it and just said "We don't support Eudora*," rather than telling me that that Verizon had blocked port 25 and here was what I needed to do in my Eudora directory so I could specify the port for outgoing email. Shortly after I sent a thank you, I got a second message, from porcinea, saying that while the workaround the first person had given me would work, a different port was more likely to remain good indefinitely.

Today, I went to the gym after work. I was trying to be gentle to my right shoulder. This goes along with being diligent about all the rotator cuff exercises through Sunday (which will make about ten days) and seeing if that helps sufficiently that I decide I don't need to see my GP about this. (I might call her anyway, for a general check-up and a tetanus booster.)
( Numbers, as usual )

*The vendor no longer supports Eudora, so it wouldn't be absurd or even especially unreasonable for an ISP not to, and to have just said "they're blocking port 25, use nnn instead" without telling me how to do that in Eudora. But this is Panix, my $HOME away from home, which doesn't like to tell people that their hardware or software is out of date when it can help solve a problem instead.

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Tell me why, I don't like Mondays

Mon, 04 May 2009 23:05:14 GMT

I am banged up, and my work PC may be sick.

I am banged up because, in trying to cross a platform to change trains this morning, I tripped and fell over someone's wheeled bag. Skinned my left elbow not quite enough to draw blood, and my left knee slightly. Also, serious stiffness in the left shoulder, upper arm, and hip. And now some in the right upper arm. (Yes, I am taking ibuprofen.) I was going to work out this evening. Feh.

I also switched the mouse at work back to right-handed, and discovered that I have lots of habits of where things are on my desk, and what I do with which hand, that were being confused. That's not why I'm leaving the one here alone; it's that I don't feel like rearranging the piles of stuff on my desk here to make room for right-handed mousing without knocking books or papers on the floor.

By late afternoon and on the trip home, I discovered more bits of myself seem stiff. If this had to happen, I'm glad it was now rather than Friday (because one of the things I did this weekend was help adrian_turtle move boxes and put a duvet away for the season and similar things that weren't a big deal, but might be annoying and/or difficult right now).

When cattitude gets home from work, I'm going to ask him to check me a little more thoroughly for scrapes, and maybe take a hot bath. I may also dig out a leftover vicodin from last spring's surgery before bedtime; at that point, the sedative effect wouldn't be a disadvantage, but added help.

There is some kind of virus on my machine at work, and a number of other people's (a quick look at symantec suggests Trojan.Bankpatch.D). I have talked to the IT guy, and he has installed an anti-malware program, which scanned my machine and found nothing. I would have more faith in that if I hadn't reported signs of the virus to the IT person, who agreed that yes, it looked like a virus. (IE should not start itself up and offer to download screen savers.) However, mine didn't misbehave other than show two suspicious offers of downloads; other people have had their machines freeze. Nonetheless, I am treating my thumb drive as known safe offsite backup; it has a version of my work from end-of-day Thursday, and is in my daypack.

[If you're reading this on LJ, it is crossposted from Dreamwidth and mostly an update of an entry from earlier today, partly to put the stuff on DW and partly to have a more current and complete note of things, since I do sometimes use LJ entries as references on medical matters.]

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