Timers are my best friends. They are accommodating, understanding, uncritical, and essential. I have a manual timer for the kitchen, at timer on the range, and a timer on the computer. Today they were all three put to good use.
Geeky Computer Details
After seven hours of downloading and updating, Mavericks for Mac is installed on the MacBook Air. This task requires intense focus for short periods of time. Simultaneously, the iBook was wiped clean and then fresh operating system was installed. Simultaneously the iMac software updates were installed. Simultaneously the old G4 was dragged out of the dark regions of the closet, the monitor for it carefully balanced as it was brought down from the top shelves of the closet, and the whole works hooked up and started up.
And I was responsible for getting dinner into the cast iron dutch oven, in a timely manner.
The real challenge was dinner. The timer told me when to get up and turn the searing meat, when to add the onions, when to add the potatoes, and finally when to add the carrots. Without the timer the meat might have burned, a vegetable might have been forgotten, or the stove might not have been set at the correct temperature for the afternoon.
The outcome with the computers is mixed.
The iBook is toast. I could not mount it in target mode on the G4, as I had hoped. It did start up on its own, and worked long enough for me to erase the drive and reinstall the original operating system, which started up and worked like a charm. Then it froze. Then it would not startup again. There is some sort of issue, perhaps overheating, who really knows. But, since it is a 2004 model, and will not run up to date software, it is not worth spending any more time trying to rescue. Rest in peace, faithful iBook.
The old G4, ca 1999, works like a charm. The monitor is an old one, but will not work with the new computers and that is a shame, because it is the best monitor I have every owned. The G4 has a nice pair of speakers, that again will not work with the new computers. So I am considering setting up the old G4 as a stereo system, CD player. The other reason I would like to hang on to the G4 is that it has some great software on it, like Photoshop and Mac OS9.
The iMac updates completed without any issues.
The Mavericks update on the MacBook Air was seamless. There were a few surprises though.
1. Mail behaved very strangely at startup and had thrown some of my important messages in the trash. They were retrieved successfully.
2. The old version of Little Snitch had to be uninstalled and the new version installed. It is security software, and so it was the first priority.
3. Another was trying to find the settings to allow TypeIt4Me to run correctly. I did eventually stumble upon them, via the software itself.
4. Another issue is that Netflix won’t run. Apparently a newer version of Silverlight was required, which had to be located and downloaded. Silverlight too had to be uninstalled, and then reinstalled. Also the browser needed to be shutdown and restarted after the install, in order for the plug-in to work properly, which it now does.I suppose a few more glitches will be discovered as time goes on.
After working on all four computers simultaneously throughout the day, two of them could be shut down. The G4 to be relegated back to the closet. The iBook readied for recycling.
Yesterday I almost missed my 14 year anniversary in online journaling. So much has changed since I began, with the technology, and even in my own life. When I began to write this journal, Terra was still a teenager living at home, and Luna had recently moved to Calgary, Alberta. Now Terra has a husband and home of her own. Luna has a husband and three children, and will be moving to England after Christmas. Attila and I started out together in our first city house, moved to the country house, and now own another city house, in a different city, where we would like to retire.
I seldom read what I have written in the past. However, when trying to remember the details of some life event, I do a search on my blog to jog the memory. It works a treat.
Just as Attila and I emerged from the back door for our evening walk, a heavy wet snow began to fall. As we walked it weakened, and by the time we had travelled a quarter of a mile it had stopped snowing altogether. It melted as soon as it came into contact with the earth. Tonight 2 cm of snow will accumulate, according to the weather mavens.
It seems we have charged the masonry heater just in time!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
0°C
Date:10:15 PM EDT Wednesday 23 October 2013
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 100.8 kPa
Visibility: 2 km
Temperature: 0.1°C
Dewpoint: 0.1°C
Humidity: 100%
Wind: calm
Quote
“A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.”
Dutch Proverb
Happy Belated journaling anniversary! I’ve been reading since 1999, my how time flies! A lot has changed since I first started journaling, so many moves, etc. I like the quote about patience.
I am always amazed at the internet, all the web sites that were put up years ago, a lot of them are still there. It’s almost like trying to get my head around the idea of outer space, which I think about a lot actually, trying to comprehend the size of it… can it really go on forever or is there an end to it… but if there is an end… then what? The internet is similar in my mind. Is it getting crowded yet? It is if you want to sign up for affordable health coverage down here in the U.S. I wonder how long our old sites will stay viable. I am enjoying reading some of your very first entries, too. Thanks for the link yesterday.
Congrats on 14 years of journaling! That is an achievement which requires a very strong sense of commitment and perseverance. I came to your journal from a link in John Bailey’s “Old Grey Poet” blog (from whom we don’t hear much these days) about 2001 when you were still in the city and I was still living in England. Yours is one of the very few blogs I’ve stayed with over the years. I have been enjoying every post since then and hope you will long continue!
Joan, i love the continuity! I have been reading your entries all these years as well! The world is a better place, in my humble opinion, for these happy years of reading!
Good questions Bex! I do wonder how long our sites will stay viable. Makes one wonder. Technology is changing rapidly. I suppose it would be a good idea to print the entries, or save the as .pdf files for preservation.
My home computing began with a Commodore 64. I will never forget the misery of trying to save to disk, which would not work for me, after days of following the instructions in the manual. Moving on to the next portion of the manual, and the next, and the next, I reached the very end of the manual. That is where they decided to mention that the disk had to be formatted before you could save data to it. at the very END of the manual, pages and pages after instructing you how to save files. I decided then and there that computer manuals were, and still are, only written for people who already know how it is done. Being obtuse is the refuge of the small of spirit.
My next computer was an Apple IIC. It did not have a hard drive, and did not connect to the Internet! I used the Internet on the University servers, mostly interacting with other academics, in those early years of computer technology. Actually, when I started using computers at the university, we were carrying around boxes of punch cards!!!!
Thank you Sandra! I hope to be writing here for decades to come, and I enjoy hearing from you, from time to time. When I don’t write, I don’t feel right.
I read John Bailey’s entries for years, and miss hearing about his day-to-day.. He switched to Twitter, which I don’t use, but I don’t think he writes much there either. His site is still there, and every once in a while I visit to see if he has popped in with an entry.
Thanks for these many years of sharing your thoughts, Maggie. It was great to see your very first entry, too.