Archives for February 2018

Seems that I managed to transfer whatever ails my old laptop to my new one too.

Spent all day trying to fix it.

Am a little stressed.

I basically did nothing but work on the computer issue all day. In between teaching students. No writing, no music, no exercise, no nothing.

I wish that these things wouldn't make me panic like that but I can't just put them aside and do something else.

I haven't yet run out of things to try, so there is still hope. Hardware seems to be okay, so I should be able to somehow fix this.

Wish me luck.

So most of yesterday was dedicated to trying to get the laptop running again. And failing. I think I might be able to get it in good working order again but then I decided that the thing is just too old. It's like having an old car. You get more and more repairs and then you're afraid to use it on long trips, and the impending doom of being without one suddenly keeps hanging over your head.

Oh, and I didn't go running yesterday. And didn't make music or write. Funny that.

Some time in the afternoon I decided to get a new laptop. And to use the emergency fund for it (not all of it, just a quarter or so). I tried buying one online that I could pick up at the Apple store with no luck. (That was a fun experience, the website kept crashing on my iPad, and I had to do the whole thing on my phone, and then it told me I could pick it up in two weeks. Um, no.)

So I tried buying one at the gravis store (that used to be the only store selling Apple products in Munich in the olden days), and their website had a glitch that didn't let me. But they had the one I wanted in stock. Not in the color I would have liked but when I have to decide between having my computer now and it being a gray I don't really like and having it in two weeks – that decision was easy. (If it had been pink I might have waited.)

My last student canceled which meant I could leave the house (without dinner and already quite hungry) with loads of time to spare before the shop closed.

Or so I thought.

Now it is rather icy here in Munich at the moment, and yesterday there was some kind of train chaos in the city. I knew about it but thought that by then it would only mean slightly delayed trains.

The train I took to Munich was delayed five minutes – not a big deal. Then we were told that this one wouldn't stop between the Western and Eastern edges of the city. Since I wanted to go right to the middle I left the train at the Western edge and waited for the next one. For twenty minutes. With hundreds of others. While freezing.

The next train again didn't stop at all stops but I decided to just take it anyway and wind my way back from the East train station by subway or something. So I took that train (and yes, the one I had arrived in would have been a better choice but I didn't know), and then the subway, and then a tram, and arrived at the store about 45 minutes later than expected. It was still open, though.

It took me a few minutes to attract a sales guy. I think I got the youngest and most inexperienced one in the bunch. I looked at him and said, “I want a Macbook pro with an i5 processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, and a 512 gigabyte hard disk, please,” which seemed to surprise him.

“You're certainly well-informed,” he said, “with touch bar or without?” I keep forgetting that these guys in computer stores don't expect middle-ages women with handknit (and handspun, of course) mittens and hats to know anything about computers. Silly.

“Without.” Of course. The touch bar is nonsense, and makes the computer quite a bit more expensive plus impossible to take apart for repairs.

He actually asked me about color after he had already fetched the computer, getting my hopes up for the same model in silver. They didn't have it, of course. I had seen that on their website already.

Then I let him talk me into buying longer warranty. I saw through his, “I'll make you a deal you won't be able to refuse”-spiel but paid for it anyway. I hope I won't need it. And then I said that while I didn't expect this computer to last me more than seven years like the old one I certainly hoped it would last me three. And then he started telling me that with the amount of data we are processing these days one can't expect a computer to last that long. Huh? You mean because I buy a new computer the amount of data it needs to process suddenly changes from last week to next week? I mean my old computer wasn't just sitting in a closet. I'm using this thing, heavily, all the time.

I told him the difference is that with my old machine I could open it and swap out parts if they didn't work anymore. The new one is all glued together, and the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and they're impossible to repair on you own. Which does make me somewhat cranky.

Then I bought an adapter so I can connect regular USB cables to the computer.

I did not buy anything else even though I have an extensive list but I'll research the connector hub, external hard drive, cables and ton of adapters for all kinds of things plus a case for the laptop in peace later.

The way home took about as long as the one there. I went the roundabout way again which was a mistake but I didn't know that.

I had dinner at half past nine. Good thing I bought some chocolate before venturing into the city. And my husband thoughtfully put a beer in the fridge for me. Which I drank in bed huddled under three blankets.

I feel like I'm still not quite thawed out, and had a big bout of sneezing just a minute ago.

But. Shiny new computer! Which is exciting!

I feel a little bad for spending so much money, and did toy with the idea of doing a hackintosh (which means installing the Apple OS on a computer that's not by Apple) but one big reason why I've been using Macs for the past, um, 38 years is that most of the time they just work. Setting the new computer up will take some time, especially since I only have half the disk space that I have on the old one but I will be able to just connect the new computer to the backup disk, type in a few informations, and then it will do its thing for the next few hours.

Yes, I know I will have to re-install all.the.software. And one thing I really dislike about the new machine already is that it only has two USB ports, nothing else, and one of those is needed to charge the computer. And it isn't even USB proper, it is “thunderbolt” or USB-C which means nothing else connects. (I told the boy that I need FireWire, Ethernet and HDMI as well, and he was all “FireWire? What's that?” Kids these days.)

So I guess there won't be any writing today as well. There will be grocery shopping, though, and quite a bit of teaching, and strength training (the soreness from Sunday's training is just coming through full strength but today will be arms again), and a lot of computer stuff, I guess.

I still haven't unpacked it but will right after posting this.

Yesterday didn't really go all that well, I spent most of my day sitting around reading a book about depression and anxiety, and how much that is a problem of how our society is working. Which made me a little depressed.

I did do strength training which makes me happy (and my leg muscles a little sore, as it should). The boy and I watched some Star Trek and such in the evening which was nice, and for once I managed to not open a second beer after that. Very good.

The boy had turned the computer off after we had used it as a DVD player, and when I turned it on again to have another look at the novel-in-progress it wouldn't boot up properly. It boots, the status bar goes to 100% and then it gets stuck. Fun!

So I went to bed too late because I wanted to try a few things, and then I woke up at 4.30 thinking that the decision I had made on Saturday was completely wrong (lucky for me it wasn't final yet and is easily reversible), and by 5.30 I couldn't sleep anymore because of the computer issue.

I am very, very happy to have an ipad with a keyboard so I can type this. I am also happy to have a backup of my computer, and especially happy that I have backups of my novels in several places including my tablet and phone.

After a bit of googling I think there might be a solution for my computer problem. The error was “Too many corpses being created” by the way. I can start it in recovery mode and the hard disk checks out fine so it should be something software-related.

I am also extemely happy that if I needed a new computer I could dip into the emergency fund and get one.

I am not happy that I will have to spend many hours on a malfunctioning piece of equipment. I haven't really changed anything, it just spontaneously decided to not work anymore.

Oh, and the boy overslept this morning. But I woke him up and he still left for school in time. Lesson of the day: if you use your ipad as an alarm, make sure it is charged.

I really hope that I will manage to go for a run today, and write lots of words in addition to the many hours of re-starting the computer yet again, this time with a different key pressed down. The internet tells me that I either need to delete all users, or re-install the OS, or wipe the hard drive and re-install everything. Yeah, this will be fun, for sure.

I guess there won't be a lot of music today. There will definitely be quite a few students. I hope to be able to teach them without using the computer. That shouldn't be a problem for most of them but when I give singing lessons we usually sing along to something playing on the computer. But I can make do with plugging the tablet or phone into my stereo, no problem.

Yeah, great start into the week.

Though I have to say that things like these make me oddly calm inside. It makes me realize what is really important, and I feel competent dealing with crap like this.

Yesterday was mostly a day off. I spent a lot of time thinking (and crocheting) and reading „Lost Connections. Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions“ (amazon-affiliate link).

I only ran five kilometers, and helped making lasagna and salad, and the boy and I watched an episode of „Star Trek – the next generation“ and two episodes of „How I Met You Mother“. I even wrote 500 words for the first time in days.

This morning I woke up early after turning the lights out way too late, then I wrote about a hundred words, and started researching the backup and syncing problem I’ve been having with Scrivener, the program I’m using for writing.

An hour later I seem to have solved the issue. Then I realized that I had forgotten to take my thyroid medication which means I will have to wait another thirty minutes before having breakfast.

Today I want to record the podcast, write some more, make music, and go to bed early. Also read.

I guess that’s doable.

Have a relaxing Sunday!

So yesterday went somewhat differently than planned. I guess I should come to terms with that because that’s just life happening.

I had to go to the health food store in the morning because we wouldn’t have been able to make pizza otherwise. Which meant there was no time to clean. (Let’s not think about the time I spent on ravelry that morning, okay?)

Which made me rather cranky because my nice little plan was derailed.

I moved the boy’s piano lesson to right after lunch, and then dreaded doing the dishes and cleaning the house and folding laundry.

And then I thought about how silly it is to spend my energy dreading things that a) have to be done reagardless of how I feel, and b) are actually making my life better.

So I decided to be happy about cleaning, to think about how much I like moving, and doing things where you see a difference afterwards, and not only to think about how happy it always makes me to have a clean house but to enjoy the process as well.

And it worked. I’m a bit surprised as well.

And then I decided to look forward to teaching, and to eating pizza in front of TV in the evening, and that made for a very enjoyable day.

The only thing I didn’t do – yet again – was writing. Which could make me cranky again but I don’t want to. I guess I wll just write a little more today and tomorrow and get caught up. I am a little stuck in the story and don’t know what happens next but I know if I just force myself to write it will come to me.

I also finished a pair of socks and am looking forward to cast on for the slippers I want to make.

Life is great.