Ptorchwood Ptales & Ptimely Pthoughts

I think I'm just going to make it. This old computer is just about dead.

New computer arrived a week ago. It's at work but nothing has been loaded on it yet. Why? I forgot about one little detail. My current computer was set up primarily for music recording - and I have an old M-studio hardware/software system I was using. Ten years ago it was 'state of the art', now its pretty dated. But I figured, I'd just keep it to use the amp to run my speakers through. So I checked to see if I can use it with the new version of Windows. I can't. No biggie, I figure, I'm not recording anymore anyway. 

But...I have monitor speakers and without a working M-studio - I have no amp for the speakers. So I could put the new system together and I'd still have no sound. I ordered an inexpensive amp (and a hardware firewall that my Sys Ops guys insisted I get) online and they should be at my house tomorrow (Wednesday). Once I have it I'll be taking my hard drives down to work for them to transfer my files onto the new computer files (Thursday). Then I'll try to put the whole thing back together again Thursday night. Try is the operative word. If you hear cursing from Chicago Wednesday or Thursday night- that will be me. 

For added fun - I'm supposed to post my story for the TW Classic Big-Bang on Thursday. I think it will go up Wednesday after work - cause it will be Thursday in London, so I think that's fair. I'm hoping that getting the disc drives out afterwards aren't a big deal but you never know. And I'm not counting on getting everything back together and working on Thursday night. 

The good news - in sorting through stuff from my old computer - I managed to clear out some space in a small cabinet and on my desk so things will not be so cluttered with the new system. That's good because with Teddy lying on the desk and Ida helping me type, there's not much room for anything else. 

Wish me luck.  All that's left now is the crying, whimpering, cursing, pleading and bargaining with the computer gods. 

I got me a smart phone! Its only taken me two weeks to get the basics programmed the way I want. 

First off, I chose this phone not just because it was free, but because it seemed to have everything I wanted including direct sync with Outlook (personal, not professional).  Well the direct sync isn't so direct - you have to use GMail. Ok - but I already have a mail account but now you want me to set up GMail. Hmmm.... I search for work arounds, try several free to try programs, nothing works. I do find a complicated fix which requires actually reprogramming the phone, but I decide that I don't want to risk voiding the warranty. 

I set up a 'dummy' Gmail account so I can back up stuff on there. Put in a one friend's contact info and sync. WOAH! My phone somehow populates with many contacts' information. I am puzzled. How did this happen? And then I notice that some of the contacts are not current. Many hours later I figure out that my phone is synching with a list from T-Mobile. Long ago I had a T-Mobile version of a  basic Blackberry which I promptly lost only a few months after acquiring. I'd totally forgotten that I had backed all that stuff onto T-Mobile for safe keeping. So 80% of what I want is now on the phone. (Go me!). I update this info and sync back to T-Mobile.

Interestingly enough the phone will sink with Outlook for contacts, but the calendar program that the phone comes with sucks. I go to the Android Marketplace (look at all the shiny apps!) and try to download calendar program and security software. AM says I have 'no device associated' - finally realize I have to add the phone to my GMail information.

Then it only takes me two days of trying every calendar program around to choose one and of course I have to sync through GMail. I have an ancient Palm that has my calendar, back that onto Outlook , sync everything and its not terrible. Just one problem - every birthday is listed 10 times. Hmmm.

Finally figure out that GMail has repeatedly added repeated events. Ten listings means, I've had the Palm for ten years. So I manually delete all the duplicate listings for the fairly large number of birthdays/anniversaries/other occasions and sync. Check my phone and it didn't carry over. Hmmm. Delete multiples from phone and sync. Now they're back on GMail. Whhhhat? Can't seem to make the deletions stick. After many hours of frustration I suddenly realize I DID NOT DELETE THE PROGRAM THAT SYNCS OUTLOOK WITH GMAIL.So every time I synced it was backing up those multiple historical listing from Outlook to GMail.  So dump that program, delete all the multiples and it works!  And I will admit that GMail has some nice color coding that carries over to the phone calendar.

It only takes a couple of hours for me to figure out what a widget is and get the calendar views I want on my home page.

Email is a snap. I can link my current non-Gmail account to my phone and that works fine. I can read all my emails and go to live journal and read porn!!! Yay!

So now all I have to do is update some birth dates that weren't on my Palm calendar (but on my contact list info) manually. And find a decent app for adding Jewish holidays onto a standard calendar. And learn how to use the camera. And figure out if I want to leave the GPS on or not.

This has eaten up two weeks of my life - and it irritates me that the non-TMobile version of this HTC phone will sync directly with Outlook. Yeah, Google, I know you want to monetize everything and I accept that you will do that with my web browsing, but really, my calendar and contacts? Ok - let's see what you do with the every six week repeating event CHANGE LITTER BOX! If you have an app for that, I'll be seriously impressed.

As a bonus, my phone acquired an echo yesterday - got a new sim card put in this AM and everything is fine.

Now let's get back to writing TW!

First Things First:  Life is, well, interesting. My mom's doing a lot better, but now we're having cancer scares with my dad and sister-in-law. Oy! Dad's is much more worrying, but we won't know anything until some more tests are run. Let's just say that 2010 has not been the greatest year health-wise for my family. 

I've been having some minor eye problems and have had to restrict my time on the computer a bit. So no writing on-line the last couple of weeks (hence no new Chanukah story this year). I guess an average of 15 hours a day on the computer is not so good for one's vision. Who would have thunk. Apparently electronic devices cause you to blink less - and with all the sinus/allergy medicine I have to take take my eyes get very dry anyway. I ended up with mild corneal cracks (yikes!) which lead to a sudden and rather dramatic loss of vision. The good news is that some steroidal eye drops have helped, the bad news is that this is likely to be an ongoing issue. The worst part - this means no Kindle or iphone in my future.

I have some ideas for some Christmas stories starring our favorite TW pet - I'm hoping I can start something next week. The working titles are Myfanwy's 1st Christmas, Myfanwy's 2nd Christmas, Myfanwy's....well you get the idea.

My annual holiday party is this Saturday. Just finished placing my Peapod order (yeah, online groceries), and I have pretty much everything else I need. House still needs to be cleaned.  Oh joy!

All my Chanukah and Christmas cards are mailed, I have one small kid's gift to buy and all out of town gifts will be mailed by Friday. All other gifts are wrapped and ready to go. Mostly stuff for my co-workers and some special children in my life.

I found the cutest books for kids this year (I am the official book lady).  And after I bought the books, I noticed there seemed to be an overall theme.  See if you can guess:

For the little girly pre-reader, we have:
No, that is not me on the cover.

For the little girl just reader, we have:
No, that's not Ida on the cover, but I think she'd be a very good doctor.

And for the big girl (7) reader we have:

  Yes, that cat has an uncanny resemblance to Teddy (behavior-wise anyway).

Finally, for the really big girl, with the bad eyes (yes, that's me) we have:
No, that's not me either, though I wouldn't mind...

Anyway, my eyes are tired, so I'm getting off the computer before I get myself into trouble. Nighty-nite!