In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1008087
PAGE 47 of 116
Looking into it, ironwood not wildlife friendly. It might do OK if planted on a little hill of amended soil.
I think I'm going to try elderberry. According to various websites it can get "as tall as" 30 ft but the height is more typically 6-12 feet. But even at 30 ft (which is about twice the height of a normal one-storey home) I don't think it would be overwhelming in scale even if it was right next to the house. IMHO it only gets disproportionate when a tree is right next to a house and more than twice the height of the roof ridge.
If you're looking at an area that doesn't get much water, it's unlikely to grow to its tallest form.
My problem is the width: It wants to grow a wide as tall, or wider. If grew even larger-than average (say, 20 ft) the planting would have to be at least 10 ft from the house and 10 ft away from the front sidewalk. (in reality, I would plan on it being farther from the sidewalk. I'm looking for morning shade on the entryway. Also, I'm thinking ahead to the day when we have to take down the star pine, and want a "replacement tree" for the front yard.) But since it takes pruning, I would want to "limb it up" into a narrow-form multi-trunked tree, more vase-shaped instead of rounded, and see how that goes. Since it's a fast-grower, I'll know soon enough if I've made a terrible plant choice. It wouldn't be the first one!
That takes care of one side of the front door. But the house is asymmetric, planting the same tree on the other side of the doorway 10 ft from the house would put it significantly forward of the first tree. Need to sketch it out and see how that would look.
I'd also like to try it in back. I have two candidate areas- the first is a dedicated "xeric area" where I grow verbena lilacina, sonoma sage, dusty miller, succulents, and a (recently planted) musk sage. (TBH I've had it in a pot for so long I forget which species it is.) It would look great there. And then there is an area currently occupied by two 70' Mexican fan palms, which I absolutely hate, hate, hate. The only animals that seem to like them are rats. That's an area that could use some shade in the evening. But I don't want to overplant too much of the same thing, even tho it sounds pretty ideal.
I also want to take out that awful "heavenly bamboo" and put something a little more useful. I read an article about the things you should and shouldn't grow in a garden, and it was all about growing things that are expensive or that really taste MUCH better fresh-picked. They were high on herbs (no need to buy a big bundle when you just want a few snips), tomatoes, asparagus, and raspberries. Their argument for raspberries is that they are so soft/fragile that growing and transporting them commercially make them very, very expensive. Why have "heavenly bamboo" when you can have raspberries???
I'm also tending coffee trees altho that is a whole different ball of yarn. Anyway, I have a lot of ideas and not much gardening time!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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I went to Calscape https://www.calscape.org/ and clicked on two of their generic searches; one on california native trees and the other on california native shrubs. I don't know why I didn't think of that before.
And I got multipage lists for each!
trees
https://www.calscape.org/loc-California/cat-Trees/ord-popular?srchcr=s
c5ee4d76cbcafa
shrubs
https://www.calscape.org/loc-California/cat-Shrubs/ord-popular?srchcr=
sc5ee4d6ae312f2
There's an option to 'order by scientific name' which I found helpful, since - if you already know you don't want a conifer or an oak, you can always skip past the abies, the chamaecyparis, the juniperus, the picea, the pinus, the quercus ...
I intend to peruse these lists at my leisure. Perhaps they'll have something for you that's just what you're looking for. 
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Okay, that picture looks like the shape of the piece the case is missing.
Which picture do you mean? I'm confused about the statement that a picture I posted is the shape of the piece that the case is "missing".
Quote:
I have 2 things. Blair's desk top with the missing piece and I use a laptop for talking to you all as I can't use the desktop. I really do hate laptops because as I've said in the last little while I feel like I have to jam my face into the screen to see properly and I up the zoom on it.
I hear you. I've never liked laptops for that very reason. Well... that and I could historically build a computer 10 times as powerful for roughly the same amount of money, since I have a $300 case that has a longer lifespan than I do, I've already got hard drives, and I already have monitors much larger than a laptop screen, so the cost goes way down when building a new one.
That being said, I wouldn't mind getting a new laptop when funds allow for it. They almost all have HDMI output these days and are powerful enough to do everything that I'd ever care to do while doing it on a big monitor instead of the tiny laptop screen.
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I want the desktop working as it has my finished book on it and I want to get back to finding a publisher. Can't really do any of that with this laptop as no Word doc on this. So if I want to do that that means doing 2 different things.
Please tell me that you have that book backed up in at least one other place and that it is on your laptop too? If you do, please invest in a USB thumb drive or two and also back any of your writing on them as well. They are relatively cheap these days, especially for the small capacity you'd need to store written work. Don't buy these used, and buy them from a reputable dealer and produced by a reputable company like SanDisk or Kingston. Look for 8GB drives, since they will be larger than you would ever need and are pretty much dirt cheap these days.
Here's what they look like (more or less... they all have a different "look" to them):
Not sure if you have Best Buy up there, but 8GB SanDisk USB thumb drives $4.00 off now and only $5.99 each.
$10.00 USD is too pricey. You can usually buy them in bundles of 2 or 3 and get them cheaper in a pack too.
Quote:
From your description I am looking for a monitor with VGA(angled, one side longer than the other and pins) because that is what the ends look like to me.
Sure sounds like VGA to me.
That computer IS pretty old, huh? Unless you have any real sentimental attachment to it, or you DO have things on there that you didn't back up before it became a problem, I suggest you consider just upgrading to a new PC, and/or buying a new laptop with an HDMI output and a large monitor you can plug it into. If you do that, you can also buy a Keyboard and a mouse with USB ends to plug into the Laptop so it will basically function exactly like a Desktop for you.
In that case, I would still keep your old laptop as a backup since it takes up so little space, or even have that in a different room ready to boot up if you wanted a change of scenery when you're working. If you have your written works on those USB thumb drives I mentioned, you can just take it out of one machine and pop it into the other and resume where you left off on the fly.
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This desk top has other problems as well as I think the keyboard is gone too which would mean I think the mouse too. The keyboard doesn't light up anymore that I can tell.
Now if you really want to try saving this computer and you need a new keyboard and mouse, we're going to have to take a look at the ends of those as well. If the computer is old enough to only have VGA output, there is a very good chance that the keyboard and mouse have "round" bits on the ends and plug int
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Oh... and something else that I thought about considering USB ports and ease of use for you down the road.
If your computer doesn't have any easily accessible USB ports on the front that you could stick your thumb drive into and take it out, that's going to be a huge hassle for you mobility wise. You can still install it in the back of the case for your backup purposes, but you probably won't want to be moving the case around to take it out all the time and you should probably just leave it and consider it a backup drive for all of your essential stuff that will be easy to transport to a new computer whenever you do upgrade. You might even consider plugging in 2 of them just to have 2 places to back up all of your work, if you have enough USB ports back there after plugging in a USB keyboard and mouse too.
The idea here is that we don't want to leave ANYTHING on your computer's hard drive that isn't backed up on your USB thumb drives in the case that you would want if the computer dies.
Unless the computer's hard drive was busted, I would have a very easy time getting that important data off for you and putting it on a new PC, but that does require a kit that you can hook up a the bare drive to your new PC with and some knowledge of taking the system apart. There are people who will do this for you for a fee, but we want to make sure that you can avoid that ever happening by just making sure you always backup your written work and anything else important on these thumb drives so you never have to do that.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Well... I won't say yesterday was a waste of time, because it wasn't... but it's just another reminder of the fact that I just have too much house and property.
I spent another 3 or 4 hours just cleaning up debris from the last storm, and that was after about 90 minutes of doing so on the day of the storm. Then I mowed the lawn and blew what is hopefully the last of the helicopters and all the grass clippings, and cleaned up all the residual crap in the street and on the curb toward the sewer so it doesn't get blocked again. By the time I was done with all of that it was already 6:00PM and I didn't feel like doing anything else.
The good news is, the 2nd application of bug spray seems to really be working. I haven't seen any insects at all around the foundation of the house or the garage, let alone any ants. They're still a problem further out, and closer than I'd like, but at least we're making progress. Weed spray has worked a charm too. My property hasn't looked this good in years.
But the mole poison is a joke. Internet said it would be. My neighbor says he catches his with mousetraps and peanut butter put right out by the holes. I'm a bit skeptical about that, but I'm going to be trying that today. My lucky neighbor got the considerate family of moles that only tear up the sod he put down a few years ago instead of actively trying to destroy the foundation of his house like the jerks I've got living under my dirt.
I watched some videos on testing all of the ground wires in your car, and I've got a multimeter. I might spend a little time on that today. I also watched a video on how to clean the nozzle of a power sprayer. Different make than mine, but hopefully I can figure out whatever differences this one has and not bust it in the process. I'm pretty sure some crap just built up in the nozzle from years of not being used because the beast of a motor still runs like a champ.
Still got to organize the tools in my house too. Hopefully I can at least put a dent in that as well.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As usual, I over-anticipated what I could accomplish.
Keep your head up, and know that you're not alone.
What on earth is an Elephant Ear? Out in my parts that term brings up memories of gluten packed cinnamon treats that my brothers and I loved when we ate them at carnivals as a kid, but the idea of trying to put that in my body today makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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KIKI: This is what I might pick out for you:
I've seen stands of red shanks (adenostoma sparsifolium) that are VERY attractive. But they grow in areas that are SO dry ... like, on south and west facing slopes, at elevations where you would NOT expect much extra rain (or any snow) that if you had anything else nearby in your yard that you were watering, you MIGHT kill the red shanks. Places I've seen it: on the 57 fwy just south of the 10 fwy, on the west-facing slope of the eastern side of the 57; and on the west/south-facing lower slopes of the San Jacintos on the road back from Idyllwild.
Chokecherry (prunus virginiana) is upright, like Catalina Island cherry, but much darker green.
California bay laurel (umbellularia californica) has the benefit of killing off understory plants (natural weed control!)
Not a big fan of palo verde or mesquite. Besides, they might not like your area.
If you have space for a large 75' tree, try CA black walnut (juglans californica). It's native to the SG foothills, endangers, and very wildlife friendly.
Of all of them, I would suggest red shanks, if you don't mind keeping that area dry.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Walkies for me.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Okay, that picture looks like the shape of the piece the case is missing.
Which picture do you mean? I'm confused about the statement that a picture I posted is the shape of the piece that the case is "missing".Quote:
I have 2 things. Blair's desk top with the missing piece and I use a laptop for talking to you all as I can't use the desktop. I really do hate laptops because as I've said in the last little while I feel like I have to jam my face into the screen to see properly and I up the zoom on it.
I hear you. I've never liked laptops for that very reason. Well... that and I could historically build a computer 10 times as powerful for roughly the same amount of money, since I have a $300 case that has a longer lifespan than I do, I've already got hard drives, and I already have monitors much larger than a laptop screen, so the cost goes way down when building a new one.
That being said, I wouldn't mind getting a new laptop when funds allow for it. They almost all have HDMI output these days and are powerful enough to do everything that I'd ever care to do while doing it on a big monitor instead of the tiny laptop screen.Quote:
I want the desktop working as it has my finished book on it and I want to get back to finding a publisher. Can't really do any of that with this laptop as no Word doc on this. So if I want to do that that means doing 2 different things.
Please tell me that you have that book backed up in at least one other place and that it is on your laptop too? If you do, please invest in a USB thumb drive or two and also back any of your writing on them as well. They are relatively cheap these days, especially for the small capacity you'd need to store written work. Don't buy these used, and buy them from a reputable dealer and produced by a reputable company like SanDisk or Kingston. Look for 8GB drives, since they will be larger than you would ever need and are pretty much dirt cheap these days.
Here's what they look like (more or less... they all have a different "look" to them):
Not sure if you have Best Buy up there, but 8GB SanDisk USB thumb drives $4.00 off now and only $5.99 each.
$10.00 USD is too pricey. You can usually buy them in bundles of 2 or 3 and get them cheaper in a pack too.Quote:
From your description I am looking for a monitor with VGA(angled, one side longer than the other and pins) because that is what the ends look like to me.
Sure sounds like VGA to me.
Unless you have any real sentimental attachment to it, or you DO have things on there that you didn't back up before it became a problem, I suggest you consider just upgrading to a new PC, and/or buying a new laptop with an HDMI output and a large monitor you can plug it into. If you do that, you can also buy a Keyboard and a mouse with USB ends to plug into the Laptop so it will basically function exactly like a Desktop for you.
In that case, I would still keep your old laptop as a backup since it takes up so little space, or even have that in a different room ready to boot up if you wanted a change of scenery when you're working. If you have your written works on those USB thumb drives I mentioned, you can just take it out of one machine and pop it into the other and resume where you left off on the fly.Quote:
This desk top has other problems as well as I think the keyboard is gone too which would mean I think the mouse too. The keyboard doesn't light up anymore that I can tell.
Now if you really want to try saving this computer and you need a new keyboard and mouse, we're going to have to take a look at the ends of those as well. If the computer is old enough to only have VGA output, there is a very good chance that the keyboard and mouse have
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Back from my walk and some grocery shopping. No rain so far but grey clouds have been around all morning.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That picture of a hard drive is the shape of what is appears to missing from the case.
Yeah. That's what I thought you meant. It's got to be inside of there, unless you or somebody else opened up the case and took it out. The computer won't boot up without it because it won't have any Operating System data to load after the initial BIOS checks. That would also mean that everything you've ever saved, including all of your work is gone too if it's not in there. (And also means that you were never able to use the computer or even save your work in the first place if nobody has removed it since).
Not to worry. I'm pretty confident that your hard drive is in the case.
You wouldn't ever actually see it unless you remove the screws and take the sides off of the case.Quote:
My is also written out completely on paper and is where I can get at it. I do all my writing long hand before it gets to the ready for computer stage. I mentioned earlier in the thread after I moved that I thought I lost a couple of notebooks with Firefly stories in them. I found them and all was good. So, yeah my book is okay as is all my other writing.
Oh good. Would be a shame to have to type it up again, but at least it's secure. Hopefully it won't come to that.
Quote:
I do have a USB but it only has pictures on it. My IT friend needed me to get one so I could get the pictures from the laptop I bought off of him to put back on my or Blair's system when he flipped the operating system from Linux back to Windows. I still have it as I want to take some other pictures from this thing and keep them, so I can put them onto either Blair's or if I decide to buy a whole new desktop. That thought has crossed my mind in the last couple of years.
When we do get you up and running again, we'll be sure to put all of your work on there too. Chances are that everything you've ever written is smaller than just a handful of pictures you have on the thumb drive. Wouldn't hurt to buy a few more since they're so cheap so you can just back them up and put them somewhere else and have a few copies. Cheap and easy peace of mind.
Quote:
The plug for the mouse and the keyboards are both round. And yes, pink and green coloured.
Yup. That's what I figured.
Do you have ports on the back (and hopefully front) of your case that look like these two horizontal ones on the right that someone is plugging the wire into?
If you do, how many on the back and how many on the front?
I'm pretty sure you can still probably buy a keyboard and mouse with the green/pink circle connectors, but I wouldn't have even looked for them for 15 years or so so I can't say. I'm hoping that your computer has enough USB ports for both a keyboard and mouse on back, and extras for a thumb drive or two (preferably on the front for easy access).
If you only have two, which is unlikely but still possible with the age of the computer, you would be able to still use a USB stick to back stuff up, but you'd have to temporarily remove the keyboard while doing it and only use the mouse functions to copy stuff to the thumb drive, then take it out and plug the keyboard back in.
Quote:
I think I pretty well understand what you are telling me by my matching up the pictures you've posted with what I see on the case.
Cool. Glad to help.
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Computers were just starting to come in when I was just starting to get out of high school, so you have been around the technology more than I really have. So, I can get a little confused.
No need to explain. Tech got popular on a massive scale really quick. It's kind of like vehicles. Most people use them nowadays, but hardly anybody knows what goes on under the hood.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:"on the 57 fwy just south of the 10 fwy" There's the sw side of the interchange with CalPoly Pomona and the se side with that light industrial development. Then there's a whole bunch of weird slopes within the interchange where I swear CalDOT planted a whole bunch of different experimental plants and just let them go to see what would happen, as a literal test bed, perhaps for future fwy plantings. I don't recall seeing them @ either CalPoly or the development, so do you mean within the interchange?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
KIKI: This is what I might pick out for you:
I've seen stands of red shanks (adenostoma sparsifolium) that are VERY attractive. But they grow in areas that are SO dry ... like, on south and west facing slopes, at elevations where you would NOT expect much extra rain (or any snow) that if you had anything else nearby in your yard that you were watering, you MIGHT kill the red shanks. Places I've seen it: on the 57 fwy just south of the 10 fwy, on the west-facing slope of the eastern side of the 57; and on the west/south-facing lower slopes of the San Jacintos on the road back from Idyllwild.
Chokecherry (prunus virginiana) is upright, like Catalina Island cherry, but much darker green.
California bay laurel (umbellularia californica) has the benefit of killing off understory plants (natural weed control!)
Not a big fan of palo verde or mesquite. Besides, they might not like your area.
If you have space for a large 75' tree, try CA black walnut (juglans californica). It's native to the SG foothills, endangers, and very wildlife friendly.
Of all of them, I would suggest red shanks, if you don't mind keeping that area dry.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
There was a particular type of mesquite at work - prosopis alba - that was very pretty. It made a light uniform shade with its multiple tiny leaflets. It's the only kind I've seen irl that I like. But it seems that anything native or introduced in that family - including albizia (mimosa), et al - seed themselves freely and resprout persistently from the roots, and one ends up having a difficult time getting rid of them. I'm STILL trying to get rid of the last of the mimosas from my across the alley neighbor from over a decade ago. I'm not sure if prosopis alba shares that characteristic, but given my experience, I'd be reluctant to try it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That picture of a hard drive is the shape of what is appears to missing from the case.
Yeah. That's what I thought you meant. It's got to be inside of there, unless you or somebody else opened up the case and took it out. The computer won't boot up without it because it won't have any Operating System data to load after the initial BIOS checks. That would also mean that everything you've ever saved, including all of your work is gone too if it's not in there. (And also means that you were never able to use the computer or even save your work in the first place if nobody has removed it since).
Not to worry. I'm pretty confident that your hard drive is in the case.
Okay. I'll tell you right now I think I am back to confused. *sigh* My poor old brain didn't quite get all of that. I think?
Quote:
My is also written out completely on paper and is where I can get at it. I do all my writing long hand before it gets to the ready for computer stage. I mentioned earlier in the thread after I moved that I thought I lost a couple of notebooks with Firefly stories in them. I found them and all was good. So, yeah my book is okay as is all my other writing.
Quote:
Oh good. Would be a shame to have to type it up again, but at least it's secure. Hopefully it won't come to that.
Yeah, I sort of started writing before I got a computer, so I was doing things long hand then typing them out on an actual typewriter. Which I still have.
Quote:
I do have a USB but it only has pictures on it. My IT friend needed me to get one so I could get the pictures from the laptop I bought off of him to put back on my or Blair's system when he flipped the operating system from Linux back to Windows. I still have it as I want to take some other pictures from this thing and keep them, so I can put them onto either Blair's or if I decide to buy a whole new desktop. That thought has crossed my mind in the last couple of years.
Quote:
When we do get you up and running again, we'll be sure to put all of your work on there too. Chances are that everything you've ever written is smaller than just a handful of pictures you have on the thumb drive. Wouldn't hurt to buy a few more since they're so cheap so you can just back them up and put them somewhere else and have a few copies. Cheap and easy peace of mind.
I'll try and remember that or just double check this thread.
Quote:
The plug for the mouse and the keyboards are both round. And yes, pink and green coloured.
Quote:
Yup. That's what I figured.
Do you have ports on the back (and hopefully front) of your case that look like these two horizontal ones on the right that someone is plugging the wire into?
If you do, how many on the back and how many on the front?
I'm pretty sure you can still probably buy a keyboard and mouse with the green/pink circle connectors, but I wouldn't have even looked for them for 15 years or so so I can't say. I'm hoping that your computer has enough USB ports for both a keyboard and mouse on back, and extras for a thumb drive or two (preferably on the front for easy access).
If you only have two, which is unlikely but still possible with the age of the computer, you would be able to still use a USB stick to back stuff up, but you'd have to temporarily remove the keyboard while doing it and only use the mouse functions to copy stuff to the thumb drive, then take it out and plug the keyboard back in.
It looks to me like there are 2 ports on the back of the case and nothing on the front.
Quote:
I think I pretty well understand what you are telling me by my m
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Call last night from the head of my mah jong group. It is looking like the senior centre I play it will open again the fall.
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Quote:Oh that's so awesome!
Originally posted by Brenda:
Call last night from the head of my mah jong group. It is looking like the senior centre I play it will open again the fall.
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I still need to crack an egg into each bowl and bake them, but the shakshoukah came out wonderfully!
I was very careful this time making it, cooking things separately and combining them at the end, because I didn't know how forgiving it would be. Next time I'll know how to save myself some time by putting everything together in one pot to slow cook, before I portion it out and cook the egg on top.
I was surprised at how sweet it turned out to be. Not unpleasantly so, just unexpected. Between the red bell and baby red sweet peppers, the onions, and the tomatoes, I guess there was enough sugar. So another thing I'm going to do next time is add a lot more garlic and spices. Plus one variation that I didn't do this time is to make it spicy. I like spicy ...
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Quote:Oh that's so awesome!
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Call last night from the head of my mah jong group. It is looking like the senior centre I play it will open again the fall.
It will be.
Kiki, I'm glad you understood that because I just reread what I typed and man, is it a hash.
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Eh --- I got your drift!
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Kiki, I'm glad you did.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That picture of a hard drive is the shape of what is appears to missing from the case.
Yeah. That's what I thought you meant. It's got to be inside of there, unless you or somebody else opened up the case and took it out. The computer won't boot up without it because it won't have any Operating System data to load after the initial BIOS checks. That would also mean that everything you've ever saved, including all of your work is gone too if it's not in there. (And also means that you were never able to use the computer or even save your work in the first place if nobody has removed it since).
Not to worry. I'm pretty confident that your hard drive is in the case.Quote:
Okay. I'll tell you right now I think I am back to confused. *sigh* My poor old brain didn't quite get all of that. I think?
Yeah. Sorry. Too many words. I get that a lot.
THE IMPORTANT PART: Unless you or somebody else physically removed the hard drive from the case before the computer stopped working, it's still in there. It's a necessary part for the computer to run. You can't see it from outside the case, and if you never open computer cases you wouldn't know that it was in there.
LESS IMPORTANT, BUT GOOD TO KNOW: You know those "Thumb Drives" we're talking about to back up your written work on along with your photos? A hard drive is essentially the same thing as those, except they are capable of storing a great deal more data than the thumb drives, but they are also more prone to damage from heat or from being dropped because of all of the mechanical parts inside of them.
Quote:
My is also written out completely on paper and is where I can get at it. I do all my writing long hand before it gets to the ready for computer stage. I mentioned earlier in the thread after I moved that I thought I lost a couple of notebooks with Firefly stories in them. I found them and all was good. So, yeah my book is okay as is all my other writing.
Quote:
Oh good. Would be a shame to have to type it up again, but at least it's secure. Hopefully it won't come to that.
Quote:
Yeah, I sort of started writing before I got a computer, so I was doing things long hand then typing them out on an actual typewriter. Which I still have.
I can't even read my own handwriting half the time. I envy your ability to do so.
Quote:
I do have a USB but it only has pictures on it. My IT friend needed me to get one so I could get the pictures from the laptop I bought off of him to put back on my or Blair's system when he flipped the operating system from Linux back to Windows. I still have it as I want to take some other pictures from this thing and keep them, so I can put them onto either Blair's or if I decide to buy a whole new desktop. That thought has crossed my mind in the last couple of years.
Quote:
When we do get you up and running again, we'll be sure to put all of your work on there too. Chances are that everything you've ever written is smaller than just a handful of pictures you have on the thumb drive. Wouldn't hurt to buy a few more since they're so cheap so you can just back them up and put them somewhere else and have a few copies. Cheap and easy peace of mind.
Quote:
I'll try and remember that or just double check this thread.
Or just ask me. I'm sure I'll be around for a while.
Quote:
The plug for the mouse and the keyboards are both round. And yes, pink and green coloured.
Quote:
Yup. That's what I figured.
Do you have ports on the back (and hopefully front) of your case that look like these two horizontal ones on the right that someon
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Brenda,
Not sure if you have a Best Buy around you, but I looked and I did see this for $100
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-21-5-led-hd-monitor-black/6500088.p?sk
uId=6500088
It has HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs, so you'd be able to re-use it on any desktop or laptop computer that you bought when you upgrade.
Here's a picture of somebody using it with a 2 monitor setup off of their laptop:
I couldn't find a good image of the inputs for that particular model, but they're there. I made this image of another monitor for you though so you can see what the necessary ports look like so you buy a monitor that can both be used on your old PC and whatever new computer you buy to replace it down the road.
(Right click and "View Image" to blow it up large on your screen so you can see in detail what they look like).
The HDMI can be plugged into nearly any TV, and most computer monitors made in the last 5-10 years.
You'd just have to be careful to make sure that it has HDMI and not "DisplayPort". I've never used DisplayPort before, but it is an alternate connection that I found on a few monitors that don't have HDMI inputs at Best Buy. It looks VERY different from HDMI, so you shouldn't be worried about accidentally buying it. Since you'll be buying one in a store, just make sure you let them know you're looking for one with both HDMI and VGA, or the box it comes in and the tags on the shelf showing the specs should say which ones it has.
When you're looking to fix your issues, THIS is where I'd start. If we find that the computer boots up properly with a new monitor but the keyboard is not working, we'll figure it out when we get to that point.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I still need to crack an egg into each bowl and bake them, but the shakshoukah came out wonderfully!
I was very careful this time making it, cooking things separately and combining them at the end, because I didn't know how forgiving it would be. Next time I'll know how to save myself some time by putting everything together in one pot to slow cook, before I portion it out and cook the egg on top.
I was surprised at how sweet it turned out to be. Not unpleasantly so, just unexpected. Between the red bell and baby red sweet peppers, the onions, and the tomatoes, I guess there was enough sugar. So another thing I'm going to do next time is add a lot more garlic and spices. Plus one variation that I didn't do this time is to make it spicy. I like spicy ...
My supper tonight is what is left of my version of a paellea? I'm not sure of the spelling but it is a Spanish dish that has rice and usually seafood as well as chicken and sausage also peas and carrots.
I use chicken and chicken stock along with rice and heaps of broccoli and bay leaf along with salt and pepper which is also in the original dish.
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OMG Brenda, does that sound good!
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
OMG Brenda, does that sound good!
It is good Kiki. Forgot to mention that you also add garlic to it as well.
I love it and make it every so often as a relatively quick all in one pot dish.
It lasts me about 3 to 4 suppers depending on how much I eat of it. Think I posted the recipe in the Recipe thread.
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Wild and woolly day in weather wise in Southern Alberta. Calgary got hit hard with hail stones the size of golf balls and massive amounts of rain. Roads flooded and in some areas it looked like it snowed.
Also a tornado spotted around Lethbridge.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Brenda,
Not sure if you have a Best Buy around you, but I looked and I did see this for $100
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-21-5-led-hd-monitor-black/6500088.p?sk
uId=6500088
It has HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs, so you'd be able to re-use it on any desktop or laptop computer that you bought when you upgrade.
Here's a picture of somebody using it with a 2 monitor setup off of their laptop:
I couldn't find a good image of the inputs for that particular model, but they're there. I made this image of another monitor for you though so you can see what the necessary ports look like so you buy a monitor that can both be used on your old PC and whatever new computer you buy to replace it down the road.
(Right click and "View Image" to blow it up large on your screen so you can see in detail what they look like).
The HDMI can be plugged into nearly any TV, and most computer monitors made in the last 5-10 years.
You'd just have to be careful to make sure that it has HDMI and not "DisplayPort". I've never used DisplayPort before, but it is an alternate connection that I found on a few monitors that don't have HDMI inputs at Best Buy. It looks VERY different from HDMI, so you shouldn't be worried about accidentally buying it. Since you'll be buying one in a store, just make sure you let them know you're looking for one with both HDMI and VGA, or the box it comes in and the tags on the shelf showing the specs should say which ones it has.
When you're looking to fix your issues, THIS is where I'd start. If we find that the computer boots up properly with a new monitor but the keyboard is not working, we'll figure it out when we get to that point.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
There is a Best Buy but not in my city, gotta take a bus to get to it but that is easy enough to do. Was thinking I might do that this week.
The monitor I was looking at in a local store was $129CD and that is without all the taxes.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Okay. I'll tell you right now I think I am back to confused. *sigh* My poor old brain didn't quite get all of that. I think?Quote:
Yeah. Sorry. Too many words. I get that a lot.
THE IMPORTANT PART: Unless you or somebody else physically removed the hard drive from the case before the computer stopped working, it's still in there. It's a necessary part for the computer to run. You can't see it from outside the case, and if you never open computer cases you wouldn't know that it was in there.
LESS IMPORTANT, BUT GOOD TO KNOW: You know those "Thumb Drives" we're talking about to back up your written work on along with your photos? A hard drive is essentially the same thing as those, except they are capable of storing a great deal more data than the thumb drives, but they are also more prone to damage from heat or from being dropped because of all of the mechanical parts inside of them.
Not too many words, I think by the time I got back to the thread and read through what you said I was getting a little tired is all. Not to worry.Quote:
My is also written out completely on paper and is where I can get at it. I do all my writing long hand before it gets to the ready for computer stage. I mentioned earlier in the thread after I moved that I thought I lost a couple of notebooks with Firefly stories in them. I found them and all was good. So, yeah my book is okay as is all my other writing.Quote:
Oh good. Would be a shame to have to type it up again, but at least it's secure. Hopefully it won't come to that.Quote:
Yeah, I sort of started writing before I got a computer, so I was doing things long hand then typing them out on an actual typewriter. Which I still have.Quote:
I can't even read my own handwriting half the time. I envy your ability to do so.
Don't worry Jack. I have that problem too now.Quote:
I do have a USB but it only has pictures on it. My IT friend needed me to get one so I could get the pictures from the laptop I bought off of him to put back on my or Blair's system when he flipped the operating system from Linux back to Windows. I still have it as I want to take some other pictures from this thing and keep them, so I can put them onto either Blair's or if I decide to buy a whole new desktop. That thought has crossed my mind in the last couple of years.Quote:
When we do get you up and running again, we'll be sure to put all of your work on there too. Chances are that everything you've ever written is smaller than just a handful of pictures you have on the thumb drive. Wouldn't hurt to buy a few more since they're so cheap so you can just back them up and put them somewhere else and have a few copies. Cheap and easy peace of mind.Quote:
I'll try and remember that or just double check this thread.Quote:
Or just ask me. I'm sure I'll be around for a while.
I'm sure you will.Quote:
The plug for the mouse and the keyboards are both round. And yes, pink and green coloured.Quote:
Yup. That's what I figured.
Do you have ports on the back (and hopefully front) of your case that look like these two horizontal ones on the right that someone is plugging the wire into?
If you do, how many on the back and how many on the front?
I'm pretty sure you can still probably buy a keyboard and mouse with the green/pink circle connectors, but I wouldn't have even looked for them for 15 years or so so I can't say. I'm hoping that your computer has enough USB ports for both a keyboard and mouse on back, and extras for a thumb drive or two (preferably on the front for easy access).
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
OMG Brenda, does that sound good!
Quote:I went back to the Recipes thread and looked - you did mention it, but no recipe. If you have an interest in sharing it, I'd be happy to find it over there.
Originally posted by Brenda:
It is good Kiki. Forgot to mention that you also add garlic to it as well.
I love it and make it every so often as a relatively quick all in one pot dish.
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Hey Brenda,
Getting hard to reply to these long threads.
It sounds like you might just bite the bullet and buy a new computer and re-type your work. If you change your mind and want to try to buy a monitor to get the old one working first, let me know if you have any questions.
When buying a new PC, just keep in mind that everything you'd want to do with a desktop you can do with a laptop, assuming you buy one with the right outputs.
What I mean to say is that any laptop will give you the ability to plug in your own mouse and keyboard, so you wouldn't have to use the annoying trackpads and often uncomfortable keyboards.
And you would be able to plug it into a flat screen monitor or even two. You could even plug it into your TV and buy a remote keyboard and mouse and do your internet surfing from the couch.
I mention this because having the ability to detach the monitor, mouse and keyboard and take your laptop on the go if you wanted to go outside and get a change of scenery when you do your work is always an option that you wouldn't have if you go the desktop route.
Lots of options available to you with a new rig. And they're cheaper than ever and easier than ever to connect everything.
Any questions, just ask.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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I built a really cool, completely stackable shelving unit for my basement yesterday using one of the four super-high-quality pallets that came once in a blue moon during the K-Mart days. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them because they were perfect for spanning the giant hole in my porch floor before that was fixed. They're so nice to have around.
That being said, I re-purposed the small one (not sure why it was 3 slats shorter), and I was able to use up a good deal of scrap wood I had saved to create an awesome 3-teir shelving unit that is built so good it could also double as 3 nice 4.5 feet benches to sit on.
Built high enough off the ground to mop around in case any water comes in again before I fix the foundation, I was able to organize all of my paint and painting supplies into one place in the basement, and now my tools in my garage and my pantry are perfectly organized and I now know where EVERYTHING is.
Not only do I have 2-3 or more of the most commonly tools, so in most cases I have a set both inside and outside the house for them, but I was able to put together a great set of tools in a large tool bag that is now in my trunk and will go wherever I go.
I then decided to work on my car stereo issue. I changed my mind... My car is driving so nice now that I REALLY want a working radio in there.
I think my hand-me-down multimeter has seen better days though and it's not reliable. I don't imagine it was high-quality in the first place. What I was able to test though leads me to believe that the problem is either in the antenna relay/mechanics, or it's in the old stereo itself. (It was a $300 stereo I bought maybe 18 years ago that has been in 3 cars and hooked up to more than one poorly designed amp/speaker system).
It turns out that not only are there really good (and really cheap) stereos out there online these days, but I can also get one that allows for bluetooth connectability as well as USB and SD card placement that will read whatever MP3 files you store on them, for less than $50.
I should get mine on the weekend.
Worst case scenario, it's a problem with the antenna. If I am able to, I might just bypass the antenna and radio stations altogether though. I'm perfectly fine with having a library of a few thousand songs that I can randomize from an SD card as long as the sound works.
I think I'm going to tackle the power washer today. Fingers crossed.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
OMG Brenda, does that sound good!
Quote:I went back to the Recipes thread and looked - you did mention it, but no recipe. If you have an interest in sharing it, I'd be happy to find it over there.
Originally posted by Brenda:
It is good Kiki. Forgot to mention that you also add garlic to it as well.
I love it and make it every so often as a relatively quick all in one pot dish.
Thought I left the recipe over there. Huh.
Anyways
Cut up chicken breast or chicken thighs both boneless and skinless in a fry pan with some garlic and salt and pepper. Let that start cooking through, then add the rice. You should let the rice get toasted in the oil and pick up the flavour of the chicken but watch as it will stick and could burn. When that looks like it is where you want it is when I add broccoli flowettes(the top part without the stems) Mix that in well with everything and add a bit more salt and pepper. Let that all cook for a bit then add a can of chicken stock as well as a quarter cup of water to make sure there is enough liquid in the pan. Add bay leaf then let cook until the rice is done then serve.
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Yo Brenda! THANKS!
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have not been following the PC/laptop conversation, but going to jump in. Apologies if
In my husband's experience .... and he has built and repaired hundreds of research desktops ... the three most common problems with them are (1) dust, (2) corroded contacts or (3) poor configuration/bad ventilation.
I mention dust first because it can absolutely kill your hard drive or mainboard because dust blocks ventilation which allows heat buildup, and heat eventually kills electronics. IF (BIG IF) your desktop has been plugged in with the fans running and hard drives spinning continuously, even if it hasn't been used, then you MUST clean your PC of dust, because spinning fans will eventually drag dust into your PC. (It's a good idea to clean it anyway.) The best way is a blast of high-pressure air. If you have a vacuum cleaner that you can hook up to "blow" instead of "suck" and it puts out enuf pressure, you can use that. Otherwise, you will be stuck using a soft painters brush on areas that you can reach, and pre-canned pressurized cleaner for places you cant reach.
Take the (one) removable side off the PC. (The other side usually houses the motherboard. so leave that alone.) Clean off the screens covering the fans.
Locate the heat sinks on the motherboard. Sometimes they're just a finned chunk of metal
Sometimes they have a fan on top
Either way, direct a blast of air thru the fan (if there is one. I usually stick a small stick between the blades of the fan to keep it from spinning like crazy when I'm blasting air thru it) and then as much of the heat sink as you can reach. The find the hard drive area, and just generally blast it with air. Oh and BTW, do this outside, otherwise your room/table will get very dusty! (I hope you have a patio.) Cleaning DONE! Hopefully all electronics will come back to life when properly cooled.
If the PC has been turned off most of the time it is unlikely that anything catastrophic has happened to it, but if your previous place was damp-ih then your most likely problem is contact corrosion. Oncea again, take your PC apart. The literally unplug and replug every contact that you can find. That usually scrapes the corrosion off the contact surfaces.
These two actions alone bring back almost any old PC.
Your monitor OTOH is a different problem. "No signal" means the monitor is on but not communicating with the PC. USUALLY fixing it is as simple as disconnecting and reconnecting the signal line at both the monitor and PC end. Not turning on is another issue altogther. Other than unplugging and plugging it back in a few times (maybe trying a different wall outlet) and pushing the on/off button a few times, it sounds like the monitor is toast.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Power washer is fixed. Who knew that a European model would be infinitely easier to take apart and clean out than your standard Chinesium POS?
Got all the info for the machine, so I'm going to see if I can still get replacement nozzles for it, and I'm hoping they have a range of many differnt types since I've only got the one. Hopefully I can buy some sort of adjustable one since the one in there is only designed for one spray type and isn't adjustable. I'm pretty sure I could peel off skin with this thing now if I get a way to pinpoint it instead of fanning it out.
Looks to be a fairly standard piece you need to insert, so I shouldn't have any problems finding an aftermarket one.
I think it's naptime.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:Wow, you've been on an absolute streak lately.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Power washer is fixed. Who knew that a European model would be infinitely easier to take apart and clean out than your standard Chinesium POS?
Got all the info for the machine, so I'm going to see if I can still get replacement nozzles for it, and I'm hoping they have a range of many differnt types since I've only got the one. Hopefully I can buy some sort of adjustable one since the one in there is only designed for one spray type and isn't adjustable. I'm pretty sure I could peel off skin with this thing now if I get a way to pinpoint it instead of fanning it out.
Looks to be a fairly standard piece you need to insert, so I shouldn't have any problems finding an aftermarket one.
I think it's naptime.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I think in some ways we might be a little alike .... aside from the fact that you're younger, stronger, and have FAR more energy than I do!
But if you're like me, you hate putting in work unless you see progress. Maintenance ... routine maintenance ... is soul-sucking. Like dishes, and sweeping, dusting, cooking, and weeding. I know that if I do it one day, I'll just have to do it again in a day, a week, or a month. I'm OK with stuff that doesn't repeat TOO often, but the rest of the stuff is like Groundhog Day.
*****
Anyway, we replaced the last two fluorescent tubes in the house with LEDs, and got the brackets up for the workbench. The lumberyard just called up today to let us know that the baltic birch plywood is ready for pickup (They no longer let people in the yard to pick out wood w/o an appointment because of Covid-19.) so that is what we will be doing tomorrow AM.
In the meantime, I got dd out to help with the yardwork today, to convert the old veggie garden into a pollinator garden. We have (these are all seeds) lemon-yellow marigolds, evening primrose (pink), a couple of varieties of mixed-color cosmos (pink, white, light purple), borage (blue), Colorado mix yarrow (white, gold, red, russet, burgundy, pink), silver aster, bee balm (pink) and dusty-rose sunflower with dark centers. I took out a couple of lima bean towers that had really taken over everything, moved a couple of slabs of concrete and we did a preliminary spading. One more spading a raking with soil rake and it will be ready for planting.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Quote:Which is why - after having a drought-tolerant but high-maintenance wildflower front yard for 3 or 4 years, which WAS very pretty! - I decided to go with large shrubs and trees, mulch, and hardscape for the vast majority of my yard. It's OK to have some very work-intensive areas, if they're easy to access and work on. But a complete yard of that is just too much!
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Maintenance ... routine maintenance ... is soul-sucking. Like dishes, and sweeping, dusting, cooking, and weeding.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
But these aren't going to be plain, bland, masses of green, as I intend for them to be drought tolerant, have flowers, be wildlife friendly, and even be edible.
I do think with your sandy, light soil, your tasks are quite a bit easier.
BTW, I asked but you didn't answer - where exactly are those redshanks? When I'm driving I don't have time to be a lookey-loo so ... do I need to look at the sw corner where CalPoly Pomona is, the se corner where the light-industrial/ commercial development is? or w/in the 10/ 57 interchange itself?
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It's hard for me to describe because I'm not very familiar with the area, but as you drive the 57 north from the 60 there is a long slog of a hill upwards. They are near the crest of the hill to your right (eastward). I don't get much of a chance to look too, so I maye have mis-identified them, but they were kind of feathery looking but still robust enough to make a nice little stand
Kind of like this
in bloom
But perhaps they aren't there anymore because it's been a few years since I've driven that route.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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BTW, my zucchini is ready for harvesting, but my peppers and tomato, despite growing and blossoming freely, aren't producing. I believe they're pollinated by bumblebees. Maybe we don't have any in the area anymore.
Perhaps the pollinator garden will bring in the right pollinators.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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THANKS! for the directions. I'll go looking for those redshanks!
In the meantime, even better than Calscape.org is Calflora.org . (You might have directed me to either or both sites at some point in the past.) It has a generic search function that lists out page after page of plants by type, and it's FAR easier to use than Calscape. So I've been going through a combination of trees and shrubs, looking at the pictures, whether or not it's a native, and if so if it's rare (I don't want to mess up anything rare), distribution in the state, the bloom season, and the general habitat (wetland v dryland). Then I copy the scientific name over into Calscape and get lots more pictures, and things like deciduous v evergreen, size range, soil preference, other cultivation information, AND wildlife value. If I'm still not sure I do duckduck images and the USDA plants database. So I'm putting together a short list of plants to consider.
I was kind of wondering about the plants and seeds you bought. Many are pre-treated with some kind of neo-nic, which is really hard on the various types of bees. 
Is there some place you could buy pollinators? Like maybe here? https://www.planetnatural.com/product/bumble-bees-natupol/
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, you've been on an absolute streak lately.
Well, I was before too, but just wasn't posting much in this thread is all. I almost let my car issue derail everything, but I wasn't going to let it knock me out of doing any work like the teeth thing did back in February. I lost a lot of time that I could have been working indoors before the weather turned nice. I can't afford to waste time like that right now.
Quote:
I think in some ways we might be a little alike .... aside from the fact that you're younger, stronger, and have FAR more energy than I do!
I think maybe in some ways we are.
But slow and steady wins the race. You seem to have that down pat. I think I'm a lot more like my mom who is bi-polar. When I'm manic, look out... But I don't sleep very well when I'm like this either. I'm bound to crash for a while one of these days, but so far I've managed to keep that at bay and do a good job of guilting myself back into doing what needs to be done.
Quote:
But if you're like me, you hate putting in work unless you see progress. Maintenance ... routine maintenance ... is soul-sucking. Like dishes, and sweeping, dusting, cooking, and weeding. I know that if I do it one day, I'll just have to do it again in a day, a week, or a month. I'm OK with stuff that doesn't repeat TOO often, but the rest of the stuff is like Groundhog Day.
In that regard, I'm very much like you. I HATE chores. One habit I've been much more successful at these days though is keeping up with them. Until the virus thing, I was actually having some friends stopping by and even my old man came around to watch a movie. I don't want to live like a pig anymore, regardless of how much REAL work I'm getting done in the mean time. I finally have my house back and got rid of the hoard. I think I can do the dishes at least once every 2 or 3 days and clean up after myself everytime I use the bathroom.
Besides, it's nice to be able to just open the door and let my buddy in if he wants to stop by after work instead of requiring people to call ahead of time. He did that once a few months back when I was down after the teeth thing and I was pretty mortified letting him see the mess I was living in. I know we used to both be the first of our group that had our own apartments back in the day and our places always looked like shit back then (and he said as much), but he's got a REALLY nice house now and his wife doesn't have a job and keeps the place looking great all the time.
I think living like that was a means for me to have just another excuse not to socialize.
I've also been spending far more time on lawn maintenance that I ever have in my life. It looks great, and I don't have any ants or weeds around the perimeter of my house, so that keeps me motivated. I let the lawn grow high enough to continually go to seed for a few months there after putting down the fertilizer and I'd say that I probably just restored 80% of the damage I've done to the lawn over the years I've lived here with bad lawn maintenance habits.
Right before posting this, I finally got around to putting the white duct tape over the foam for the A/C unit. I may have gone a bit overboard, covering things that technically didn't even need to be covered, but now the entire surface of everything on the sides and just above and below the unit is a nice shiny white like my windows and trim. I hope that holds up and looks good down the road. Time will tell.
I wanted to get to that since today was the last cool day and if the weather patterns don't change it looks like I finally got my wish and we're going to have drought conditions for the first time in 6 years. Only one day in the next 5 weeks under 80 degrees, and quite a few over 90. Compared to last year where we had 2 days all summer over 90 degrees and only a hand full of 80 degree days
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Hey Brenda,
Getting hard to reply to these long threads.
It sounds like you might just bite the bullet and buy a new computer and re-type your work. If you change your mind and want to try to buy a monitor to get the old one working first, let me know if you have any questions.
When buying a new PC, just keep in mind that everything you'd want to do with a desktop you can do with a laptop, assuming you buy one with the right outputs.
What I mean to say is that any laptop will give you the ability to plug in your own mouse and keyboard, so you wouldn't have to use the annoying trackpads and often uncomfortable keyboards.
And you would be able to plug it into a flat screen monitor or even two. You could even plug it into your TV and buy a remote keyboard and mouse and do your internet surfing from the couch.
I mention this because having the ability to detach the monitor, mouse and keyboard and take your laptop on the go if you wanted to go outside and get a change of scenery when you do your work is always an option that you wouldn't have if you go the desktop route.
Lots of options available to you with a new rig. And they're cheaper than ever and easier than ever to connect everything.
Any questions, just ask.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I agree especially when I get the quoting right in one then muck up the next.
I am thinking like I did say just because I don't know what damage might have happened at the crappy place to the system and its age.
Yup, got that all in mind.
I am not much on lugging anything around that I don't have to. Need something to stay put.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Yo Brenda! THANKS!
Welcome Kiki.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I agree especially when I get the quoting right in one then muck up the next.
Tell me about it. I end up spending twice as much time editing and re-editing these posts than I do writing them when we start doing that.
Quote:
I am thinking like I did say just because I don't know what damage might have happened at the crappy place to the system and its age.
Yup, got that all in mind.
I am not much on lugging anything around that I don't have to. Need something to stay put.
I hear you. I don't even want a cell phone that has a computer on it. But I'm not a writer myself, so I didn't know if the idea of being able to sit under a tree in the park and type would be appealing to you.
If you go the desktop route, it will be cheaper and/or you can get a better PC for your money.
For your needs, I wouldn't really worry too much about the performance of the PC, since nearly anything you buy will do what you need it to do. In fact, if you could manage to get somebody to order you one, they have refurbished units that they sell on Amazon all the time for a song compared to a new unit in a big box store that should be great for you. Amazon stands behind all of their refurbished goods and you don't have to worry about getting a lemon.
With all that extra money you save you could get a nice 40+" monitor to go along with it if you wanted to.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Soggy, soggy June. BC is over our usual rainfall province wide. And next Saturday is the first day of Summer.
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I bought organic seeds. No point in getting the bees and birds and butterflies poison!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I agree especially when I get the quoting right in one then muck up the next.Quote:
Tell me about it. I end up spending twice as much time editing and re-editing these posts than I do writing them when we start doing that.Quote:
Yup, then as I said mess it up while trying to answer.Quote:
I am thinking like I did say just because I don't know what damage might have happened at the crappy place to the system and its age.
Yup, got that all in mind.
I am not much on lugging anything around that I don't have to. Need something to stay put.Quote:
I hear you. I don't even want a cell phone that has a computer on it. But I'm not a writer myself, so I didn't know if the idea of being able to sit under a tree in the park and type would be appealing to you.
If you go the desktop route, it will be cheaper and/or you can get a better PC for your money.
For your needs, I wouldn't really worry too much about the performance of the PC, since nearly anything you buy will do what you need it to do. In fact, if you could manage to get somebody to order you one, they have refurbished units that they sell on Amazon all the time for a song compared to a new unit in a big box store that should be great for you. Amazon stands behind all of their refurbished goods and you don't have to worry about getting a lemon.
With all that extra money you save you could get a nice 40+" monitor to go along with it if you wanted to.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Do not get me going on cell phones. I got rid of the last one I had because I now have a landline. I will not have one again.
That doesn't really appeal to me as I like music on when I am working on my computer and I know I could do both when out. But I like to not be worrying about the time and stuff if I get caught up in something.
I doubt anyone would do that for me. And I think Best Buy up here does sell some refurbished stuff. Like I said I am going to a store on Wednesday at least that is the plan. Also want to hit up a bookstore in this mall as well.
Kinda kill 2 birds with one stone thing.
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Quote:Awesome! Do you think you might buy some bumblebees anyway?
Originally posted by SignyM:
I bought organic seeds. No point in getting the bees and birds and butterflies poison!
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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You can buy bumble bees?
Anyway, I looked online further tp see what the problem might be, and in addition to peppers and tomatoes being pollinated by bumble bees they're also wind-pollinated because the flowers normally pollinate themselves, or you can hand pollinate them by briefly touching an electric toothbrush to the back of each flower. I kid you not.
The flowers are facing downwards (as you know) and the pollen-producing stamens are higher up, the pollen-catching pistil below, and the flower needs to be shaken (as by wind) or vibrated (as by bumble bee) so that the pollen falls onto the stigma part of the pistil.
Seems we've had enough wind for that!
OTOH, you can get "blosson drop" with excessively high temperatures, so maybe the problme was the latest heat wave, which hit right when the plants really started to blossom.
I know that some people think that heat makes gardens grow faster, and I'm sure that's true, up to a point, but I've noticed - during our roller-coaster weather - that when it gets above 85 and especially above 90 growth stalls out, even with plenty of water.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Getcher' bumblebees here! Bumblebees! Bumblebees!
https://www.planetnatural.com/product/bumble-bees-natupol/
But I think you're right, it was the heat.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Do not get me going on cell phones. I got rid of the last one I had because I now have a landline. I will not have one again.
Good for you.
I don't know what's worse these days, living with a cell phone in your life, or the annoyance other people have for you when they find out that you don't have one, which pops up again any time they want to text something to you and you have to remind them of that fact.
Just kidding. Having a cell phone is worse.
Quote:
That doesn't really appeal to me as I like music on when I am working on my computer and I know I could do both when out. But I like to not be worrying about the time and stuff if I get caught up in something.
I doubt anyone would do that for me. And I think Best Buy up here does sell some refurbished stuff. Like I said I am going to a store on Wednesday at least that is the plan. Also want to hit up a bookstore in this mall as well.
Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I'll be damned...
I've got two Catalytic Converters. The guy I've been watching do YouTube videos either didn't know that, or didn't bother mentioning it because that CAT isn't going to make you fail the test.
At least, I don't think it will... The 2nd one is really far downstream and close to the muffler, way past the 2nd O2 sensor. So I'm not sure how it would be able to even be tested.
But if I'm wrong and that's why the CAT test isn't initiating, I may have to bite the bullet and have somebody give my flex pipe a proper weld. At least 95% of the emissions is making it all the way down-pipe right now, but I know it can't be all of it with my temporary patch job.
The only reason I figured that out is because I was watching another auto guy I like talking about how to clean your cat and he simply threw his in a bucket with dish detergent in it overnight, and I recognized the part from the back of my car. I probably won't be able to reach and remove it with my ramps. Might have to ask around for some good jacks/stands.
I'm downloading (what I believe) is the service manual now. Time to do some real research.
If I get this to work after upping the performance beyond my expectations so far, I might just have to look into figuring out how to fix the A/C. I could probably get another 5 to 10 years out of this car.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Republican congressman Tom Rice reveals he and his family have coronavirus - two weeks after he refused to wear a mask on the House floor
I'll start wearing a mask when I join your brain damaged buddies tearing down Thomas Jefferson monuments and throwing molotov cocktails at police cars. But thanks for the advice.
Oh, BTW... Friends of yours, Ted?
They all had good careers. They just wasted their lives. Hope it was worth it.
Future leaders of the world, I'm sure.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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So are they friends of yours, Ted?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Do not get me going on cell phones. I got rid of the last one I had because I now have a landline. I will not have one again.Quote:Good for you.
I don't know what's worse these days, living with a cell phone in your life, or the annoyance other people have for you when they find out that you don't have one, which pops up again any time they want to text something to you and you have to remind them of that fact.
Just kidding. Having a cell phone is worse.
I hear ya. I've gotten those looks. Heck, even people my age are bad with the things. There are members of my mah jong group that have them and leave them on then in the middle of a game get up to answer them and disrupt everything. When what they should do is tell people they are busy the morning of mah jong and to just leave a message and also TURN THE DAM THINGS OFF!!
Quote:
That doesn't really appeal to me as I like music on when I am working on my computer and I know I could do both when out. But I like to not be worrying about the time and stuff if I get caught up in something.
I doubt anyone would do that for me. And I think Best Buy up here does sell some refurbished stuff. Like I said I am going to a store on Wednesday at least that is the plan. Also want to hit up a bookstore in this mall as well.
Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I will let you know what I find out tomorrow after my little trip.
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The little hamburger place that is in the strip mall near the pharmacy where I get my meds was open today. The lady was so happy to see me as I was to see her and her husband working away. We didn't have much time to talk as they were busy with most places in that mall being open now, so more foot traffic. I got a hot dog and coffee and chatted with her for a couple of minutes. They and their children were all fine through this and she was relieved to see that I was.
So, that was good to see.
Guess they have been reopen for about 10 days or more.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I will let you know what I find out tomorrow after my little trip.
Cool. ;)
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Anybody here ever have any experience using vinyl privacy rolls for windows?
I finally got around to putting mine up and I have to say that as long as they stay up and don't just fall down on me in a few days I'm extremely pleased with the results.
A few caveats, of course...
They're quite expensive. Not bad if you're only looking to do a few windows in one room, but if you wanted to really do them up all over your house or if you had a huge glass shower you wanted to cover you're going to be paying for it.
It's going to be really hard to find a good size for your windows unless you were really lucky.
I opted to go with the ones that were around 17" wide rather than twice that width and I'm really glad that I did. Cutting everything exactly to size was a little tricky as it was, and if I had to do it two different ways to fit a sheet it probably wouldn't have worked out as well. That being said, whatever size I bought was roughly an inch too short and I had to use cutoffs to fill in the missing piece up top.
If you do it right AND you pick the right pattern, it looks great and you can't tell it's not just one piece, but you should plan accordingly.
It's been so long since I ordered it with a few other things that I was extremely disappointed at how little I actually had. At first I thought the seller screwed me, but when I looked at my order I did get what I paid for. I must have decided to just get 1 roll and test it out first before committing to the 2 other rolls I'll need to do all the windows I want to and just forgot that's the decision I made.
So both windows in the master bedroom now have privacy at the bottom, and that's the most important spot since my neighbor's porch is high and basically can look right into the windows. You can't see in during the day of course, but if they're out there at night and I'm in the bedroom with the light on they could look right in before I put them up.
I also had enough to do the necessary cutouts to obfuscate the glass on the front door looking into the house. At one point years ago I got sick of the Jahova's Witnesses constantly knocking on my front door and since I do most of my living in the living room they could peer right in to see if somebody was home. So I had used some thumb screws to put a towel up over the window years back and just forgot about it. Boy, was that dusty.
So that's down now and you can't peer into the front door anymore, but I've also got a ton more natural light coming into the living room and it's not so dreary during the day.
There were a lot of mixed reviews about the product online, but from what I can tell it should work and won't be falling off. I think the people who complained were trying to put it up on extremely dirty windows and didn't prep them before sticking the stuff up there. Installing the big sheets on your own is going to make you wish you had 3 hands, but once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad.
It probably took me around 4 hours to do it though. I took great care to make cuts exactly where I needed them with my exacto blade and the finished product looks pro.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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LOL... Bezos scheming because Bezos.
I've played the free prime trials as often as I could recently and now they won't even offer me the cheap 1 week trial because they're on to me. It's either full price, pay for shipping or a long wait on free shipping.
Or so they'd have you believe...
"Save $x.xx on shipping and sign up for prime" it says...
The $x.xx was the default one checked if I chose to have it on Thursday. Friday shipping was free. So I chose Friday shipping.
Just got notification that it's scheduled to come tomorrow. A day earlier than if paid for the shipping, and the same day it would have shipped if I signed up for prime and paid for it this time.
Dumb, dumb, dumb...
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I will let you know what I find out tomorrow after my little trip.
Cool. ;)
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Anyways got out to Best Buy and started off by talking to someone who works for Microsoft and he told me what someone in London Drugs told me. I explained that I was talking about a desktop and he said to talk to someone from Best Buy.
The young woman who works at Best Buy once I basically explained the problem again said that I need the number for my mother board then I can order a new internet card online. The card has to be an exact fit. Well, as we all know I can't do that and I mean the ordering online, so I went to see what they have in the way of desktops. Most of it is for gaming which I am not doing. Also a tower is too heavy to bring back on the bus for me.
Am thinking at the rate I am going I will have to order a tower through a local store then get a new mouse and keyboard and monitor.
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Well, sad day when I went into the big bookstore in the big mall that I had to go to. Young woman helping me doesn't seem to know the difference between George RR Martin "Game of Thrones" and Star Wars. Had to explain that. Last book for last Star Wars movie is out but bookstore is not taking cash right now, so I will have to wait until Christmas to get a copy of it.
Will look up on their website about "The Winds of Winter" last or almost last book of "A Song of Ice and Fire". I did find 2 other "Game of Throne" books out, related.
Also found 3 Firefly novels out. WAAAHHHH!!!! for the fact that they are not taking cash. Will have to see what I get in the way of gift cards for that book store at Christmas. 
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My corner of BC is getting 3 days of sun then on Saturday THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER, we get rain.
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Hey Brenda. I want to preface this reply by saying PLEASE don't take it like I'm angry or even frustrated with you, or that I'm talking down to you.
I know that both of my grandmothers have been taken advantage of by people in the past, and that makes me FUME when I find out about it after the fact. I feel that this is what happened to you today and I'm glad you weren't pressured into buying anything.
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Anyways got out to Best Buy and started off by talking to someone who works for Microsoft and he told me what someone in London Drugs told me. I explained that I was talking about a desktop and he said to talk to someone from Best Buy.
I'm severely confused by this statement, for several reasons....
1. You're talking to somebody at a drug store about fixing your computer?
2. There are Microsoft employees in Best Buys where you live?
(I have to ask on that second one especially since there are A LOT of people worldwide that pretend to be Microsoft employees and they are in fact scammers. I've just never heard of them operating out of a Best Buy before today).
Quote:
The young woman who works at Best Buy once I basically explained the problem again said that I need the number for my mother board then I can order a new internet card online.
Wrong. That is absolutely wrong. There is zero evidence that there is anything wrong with your internet connectivity at this point. It is always possible that your internet could be a problem as well, but without being able to have a working screen, we can't even be sure you have a keyboard problem yet. Chances are very good your internet is just fine.
If at any point we were able to get the entire computer up and running again with output to the screen and found out at this point that you needed an internet solution, they make cheap USB network adapters that you can get for under $20 to connect to the internet that are universal to all computers and you won't need to know any motherboard information or worry about getting the correct card for your motherboard.
She either has no clue how to do her job, or she's trying to sell you something that you don't need.
Please forget any advice she gave you about anything today.
Quote:
The card has to be an exact fit. Well, as we all know I can't do that and I mean the ordering online, so I went to see what they have in the way of desktops.
Yes. Any cards you get (if you need one) will have to be an exact fit. And because your system is so old, that will be tricky and in some cases even impossible to do now. This is why I haven't even directed you to investigate anything inside of the PC itself.
Not because I don't think you're not capable of doing internal work yourself if directed properly, but because the computer isn't really worth saving if it came to that. Especially since you don't care about anything that is on there currently.
This is why I suggested getting a monitor first. If we find out after you have a working monitor that the computer still doesn't work and isn't worth saving, you can use that same new monitor on a new desktop or laptop you buy afterward.
Any other stuff that Best Buy is trying to sell you might not (and probably won't) be useful if you need to buy a new computer.
Quote:
Most of it is for gaming which I am not doing. Also a tower is too heavy to bring back on the bus for me.
Yes. You don't need anything gaming related. Best Buy HUGELY over-inflates their prices, and I would never recommend that anybody buy a computer there unless there was a huge sale. If you absolutely HAD to buy something there, I would recommend their absolute cheapest system they had to offer. With what you need a computer for, it would be sufficient and you'd even notice an improvement in performance from the old machine you're used to.
Quote:
Am thinking at the rate I am going I will have to order a tower t
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My car is awesome now.
Not only does the new radio work without dropping the sound, but I can put my own library on it and easily update the music whenever I want to on the fly.
I also updated the maps on an old GPS system my folks gave me years ago that seems brand new and hardly ever used. I fixed my D/C power unit and now it charges on the go instead of needing to charge it in the house before I go out.
Now I'm going to pull off any music I didn't have backed up from the CDs I had in a book in the car and get rid of them and be done with CDs forever.
This car is now officially better than it was when I bought it before Obama was President.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Hey Brenda. I want to preface this reply by saying PLEASE don't take it like I'm angry or even frustrated with you, or that I'm talking down to you.
I know that both of my grandmothers have been taken advantage of by people in the past, and that makes me FUME when I find out about it after the fact. I feel that this is what happened to you today and I'm glad you weren't pressured into buying anything.Quote:
No worries. I went into Best Buy to ask questions only. Had no intentions of buying anything without info.Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Anyways got out to Best Buy and started off by talking to someone who works for Microsoft and he told me what someone in London Drugs told me. I explained that I was talking about a desktop and he said to talk to someone from Best Buy.Quote:
I'm severely confused by this statement, for several reasons....
1. You're talking to somebody at a drug store about fixing your computer?
2. There are Microsoft employees in Best Buys where you live?
(I have to ask on that second one especially since there are A LOT of people worldwide that pretend to be Microsoft employees and they are in fact scammers. I've just never heard of them operating out of a Best Buy before today).Quote:
1.Local London Drugs is a big store and they sell tvs, cell phones, cameras, radios, what used to be called "boom boxes" and computers. So that is why I was in there talking to their computer guys.
2. Apparently. After a minute he said, "I work for the Microsoft store, you need to talk to someone who works for Best Buy." I didn't know this before as the last time I was in Best Buy, I just went to their DVD section. He seemed legit, handling other customers and showing them products talking to the "Geek Squad" that works in Best Buy's computer section.Quote:
The young woman who works at Best Buy once I basically explained the problem again said that I need the number for my mother board then I can order a new internet card online.
[quote}Wrong. That is absolutely wrong. There is zero evidence that there is anything wrong with your internet connectivity at this point. It is always possible that your internet could be a problem as well, but without being able to have a working screen, we can't even be sure you have a keyboard problem yet. Chances are very good your internet is just fine.
I get that Jack. But keep saying that there is something missing which is where I plug the internet cable into the back of the case.Quote:
If at any point we were able to get the entire computer up and running again with output to the screen and found out at this point that you needed an internet solution, they make cheap USB network adapters that you can get for under $20 to connect to the internet that are universal to all computers and you won't need to know any motherboard information or worry about getting the correct card for your motherboard.
She either has no clue how to do her job, or she's trying to sell you something that you don't need.
Please forget any advice she gave you about anything today.
Okay. But I am getting a little confused again.Quote:
The card has to be an exact fit. Well, as we all know I can't do that and I mean the ordering online, so I went to see what they have in the way of desktops.Quote:
Yes. Any cards you get (if you need one) will have to be an exact fit. And because your system is so old, that will be tricky and in some cases even impossible to do now. This is why I haven't even directed you to investigate anything inside of the PC itself.
Not because I don't think you're not capable of doing internal work yourself if directed properly, but because the computer isn't really worth saving if it came to that. Especially since you don't care about anything that is on there currently.
I do care but as I
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
1.Local London Drugs is a big store and they sell tvs, cell phones, cameras, radios, what used to be called "boom boxes" and computers. So that is why I was in there talking to their computer guys.
Oh, lol. Our drug stores branch out a little bit from just drugs, but they don't sell computers or have computer guys... at least none of them around me do.
Quote:
2. Apparently. After a minute he said, "I work for the Microsoft store, you need to talk to someone who works for Best Buy." I didn't know this before as the last time I was in Best Buy, I just went to their DVD section. He seemed legit, handling other customers and showing them products talking to the "Geek Squad" that works in Best Buy's computer section.
Hmmm... Maybe they have Microsoft guys at the Best Buy by me now too. I rarely ever shop there anymore unless I spot something on a really good sale or I'm in desperate need of something. I think I've been in a BB maybe twice in the last 10 years. I'm just always wary of anybody claiming that they work for Microsoft. My mom got scammed by people based in India claiming to be Microsoft support.
Quote:
I get that Jack. But keep saying that there is something missing which is where I plug the internet cable into the back of the case.
If your motherboard doesn't have a port for the internet on it and requires a separate card, it's EXTREMELY old. I don't think that's the case.
Does the back of your computer have a port that looks like the one highlighted in the following image?
If it does, you plug your router directly into that and you'll have internet.
Quote:
Okay. But I am getting a little confused again.
Me too, but we'll figure this out.
Quote:
I do care but as I said writing is all done long hand and typewritten. Pictures are on a USB.
I'd like to get all that work back for you too. But we won't know if we will be able to do that until you have a working monitor.
Quote:
I guess then I should think about the monitor first then go from there.
Quote:
Best Buy didn't try to sell me anything else. When I asked about Desk tops all the girl did was point to where they had 1 tower that would be useful to me and I had a look at their monitors which most were for gaming.
Yeah. You don't need any high priced monitor. Just make sure that it has the VGA and HDMI ports on it. The VGA is what you need for your current computer, and the HDMI port will be for when you decide to upgrade or we find out we just can't fix the old one. That way you're not wasting money getting a monitor that you can't use in the future.
Quote:
No, I don't. Most games I play on this thing I am using is a solitaire site and a mah jong site that I like. Nothing fancy in the least.
If your old computer can handle everything you wanted to do before, i can guaranty that the absolute cheapest computer that Best Buy has right now will be able to do anything you want it to do.
Quote:
I wish I could get some help too. But like I said I called my IT guy over a week ago and left a message. So, I am stuck doing things on my own(as per usual) and piece by piece.
I was thinking of going back into the store again tomorrow and grilling them again. I need it explained to me more carefully but sometimes I'm not sure I'm completely understanding.
I think I mentioned this up thread that the one monitor London Drugs have was $129 Canadian so with taxes I am probably looking at $160 Canadian. Though Walmart had a monitor for $88 Canadian and that would be about $100 Canadian with taxes.
No, you don't Jack. You are trying to help me and sometimes I just not sure if my brain is really understanding what you are telling me.
$100 sounds perfect, as long as the monitor is
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Brenda, I'm really confused at this point.
Aside from all the other things that have come up since then, did you ever find out for sure the monitor is a problem? Because it seems to me that before you can even try anything else, if your monitor truly is busted, you need to replace it. (And a new monitor will be handy anyway even if the old computer is defunct.)
The other thing I gather is that, in general, you're trying to assemble all the parts together, which is why the mouse and keyboard topics came up, the USB port, and now the inet connection. I think you got the mouse and keyboard connections figured out (the sea green and lavender ports), so if you have a mouse and a keyboard with those color-and-shape connectors, you're golden! The small rectangular USB memory stick/ flash drive port is a no-fail thing to try, if it's the wrong one it won't fit, and if it's a sort-of wrong one, it won't work; but in either case nothing will get broken. The inet connection looks like a really heavy-duty telephone line connector, with the little clip-lever on the side of it and all. Sort of like this 
I realize the person who originally built your system sounds like kind of a geek, so perhaps there may be some non-standard parts to it.
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There might be one reason that the monitor can't be easily replaced, and that was when PC's were made with that short-lived fad called the VESA local bus (approx 1992). If the PC was built around that time, it may have a non-standard video card. I don't remember what the back of the PC looked like but the VESA connector looks like this. (Looks pretty standard to me, but I can't tell from the picture.)
BRENDA, how old is the PC? Is is back from around 1992-1993?
If not, I agree with SIX and KIKI: Monitor first. You can't find out anything about the PC until you have a monitor. And even if you discover that the PC is dead, you can always use the monitor with a new PC, or even with a laptop
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Well, I had a lovely day! It started out by me waking up at noon, which is unheard-of! But I guess I needed it, and I was blessedly well-rested when I got out of bed.
So since the weather was cool and cloudy, I got to putter around in the old veggie garden, which is a hobby and not really necessary "family-work", and spent a couple of hours taking out another two lima bean towers. I thought I had only one to take out, but once I hacked my way thru the jungle back there I found another one. Apparently I had put up six towers, not four, which is why it was so overgrown and tangled. Also, I had to be pretty careful what I was grabbing onto because they had tangled up with a climbing rose, so the thorns were an issue. But I did leave up one tower so I could get seeds for next year.
Veggie garden is growing well. I harvested the first zucchini yesterday and see a lot growing. The herbs have been a real benefit, as I can run out and snip some parsley or basil or thyme as I need it.
Anyway, tomorrow in back to the grind, but this was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.
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If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Hey SIX, I wanted to say CONGRATS on the car!
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Quote:Oh, lol. Our drug stores branch out a little bit from just drugs, but they don't sell computers or have computer guys... at least none of them around me do.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
1.Local London Drugs is a big store and they sell tvs, cell phones, cameras, radios, what used to be called "boom boxes" and computers. So that is why I was in there talking to their computer guys.
Quote:
I'm going to take your last post to me bit by bit as I will most likely make a hash of it if I answer it straight out.
If I sound grumpy forgive me, I am in a bit of pain today. Over did it when I got home yesterday and right hip is driving me batty. But things to do.
London Drugs is a big chain store up here. You can find them pretty well all across Canada. They are the only drug store that sells stuff like that. The rest of the drug stores stick to magazines, cigarettes, candy, a few toys, some books, bit of food items, cosmetics, non-prescription reading glasses, vitamins, baby stuff and support stuff for walking or fixing your home up if you need help like that. Then they do prescriptions as well.
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Out for a walk to check out the cheap monitor and try and talk to someone else in London Drugs about this again.
Also sunshine.
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Quote:YAY sunshine!
Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for a walk to check out the cheap monitor and try and talk to someone else in London Drugs about this again.
Also sunshine.
In a way, it's too bad that you don't have a smart phone, bc you could take a picture of the back of your PC and find the right connector for your monitor. Do you have a digital camera?
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If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I'm going to take your last post to me bit by bit as I will most likely make a hash of it if I answer it straight out.
If I sound grumpy forgive me, I am in a bit of pain today. Over did it when I got home yesterday and right hip is driving me batty. But things to do.
No worries. Take your time.
I understand how frustrating things like this can be even if you're not in pain. You didn't have to deal with me while I was dealing with the car. You only read a brief day-by-day synopsis of it with most of the frustration filtered out.
Quote:
London Drugs is a big chain store up here. You can find them pretty well all across Canada. They are the only drug store that sells stuff like that. The rest of the drug stores stick to magazines, cigarettes, candy, a few toys, some books, bit of food items, cosmetics, non-prescription reading glasses, vitamins, baby stuff and support stuff for walking or fixing your home up if you need help like that. Then they do prescriptions as well.
Yeah. I get it now. With the other stuff going on in the post I was just thinking to myself that I needed clarification that you weren't talking to a Pharmacist about computer problems.
No offence, but I find that I'm twice as likely to overestimate people's abilities as I am to underestimate them. Glad everything checks out.
I'll just throw a quick list of stuff to tackle on the computer without any explanations involved that you can go back and reference, so we can make the steps clear. Because of your level of computer knowledge, the inability to order stuff online and the potential that your friend won't get back to you in a timely matter, I'm going to avoid suggesting doing anything at this point about troublshooting inside of the case, at least until we have a working monitor.
Since Signy and Kiki are both involved, they may confirm this is a good list.
1. Buy a monitor with both VGA and HDMI outputs.
(Shown in picture below)
2. Verify you have the necessary port on the back of the case for internet. (Highlighted in image below)
IF THE RESULT IS THE COMPUTER NOW BOOTS UP AND YOU CAN SEE IT:
3. See if keyboard and mouse work. If not, we'll replace one or both.
4. Plug in your existing internet cable into the back of the case if you have both the old cable and a place to plug them in. Then we'll get you online.
5. At any point during the process pick up a few USB thumb drives because they're so cheap and you can make multiple backups of all of your work.
IF EITHER THE MONITOR DOESN'T FIX THE PROBLEM, OR YOU DON'T HAVE A WAY TO PLUG IN THE INTERNET:
We'll figure out what to do when we get to that point.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
There might be one reason that the monitor can't be easily replaced, and that was when PC's were made with that short-lived fad called the VESA local bus (approx 1992). If the PC was built around that time, it may have a non-standard video card. I don't remember what the back of the PC looked like but the VESA connector looks like this. (Looks pretty standard to me, but I can't tell from the picture.)
BRENDA, how old is the PC? Is is back from around 1992-1993?
If not, I agree with SIX and KIKI: Monitor first. You can't find out anything about the PC until you have a monitor. And even if you discover that the PC is dead, you can always use the monitor with a new PC, or even with a laptop
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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If we're dealing with a 28 year old computer, it's time to just throw that in the trash.
I'm not even joking about that one.
A computer that old likely has a hard drive that is 1/3 the capacity of a CD Rom, only has around 4MB of memory and wouldn't even be capable of running Windows 95, let alone Windows 10.
The only way the computer that old would have specs much better than that would be if it was an actual server at some point, but it would have had PCI slots and a proper VGA/SVGA port on it. The reason that they did the VESA LB for only a few years is that most home market computers did not have the (at the time) very expensive PCI card slot tech on the mother board and the VESA was a proprietary solution for updating the graphics to the new standards the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) was trying to accomplish around that time.
Although I have yet to find a definitive YES answer to can you plug a standard VGA monitor into a VESA Local Bus slot, I'm almost 100% sure the answer would be yes. Though a different color plastic where the pin holes are, they're both the same shape/size and they both have 15 pins.
It seems to me as though this was a stop-gap solution to bring new tech into the homes of the consumer and still keeping the computers (relatively) affordable until the PCI slots were cheap enough to put on all home computer mother boards. (That being said, it seems there were complaints about things like screen tears and display not working as it should, which should be expected when taking cheap shortcuts).
It wouldn't make any sense for them to go out of their way to do all of that just to pass savings along to the consumer and then require them to buy an expensive monitor that would have to be put on a separate assembly line and manufactured specifically for these PCs.
Honestly, if all of the above is true, it's possible my original computer had a VESA Local Bus and I never even knew it. We got it in 1993, and who knows what warehouse the HSN dug it out of before they screwd my mom on the price.
I don't even know how that one happened as I don't remember my mom ever even watching HSN let alone making impulse buys on it. I do remember her talking about the videos of whales that they were showing on the computer from Encyclopedia Britannica that came with it. Those whales must have mesmerized her while she was channel surfing or something.
And I certainly wasn't going to complain. Finally got that PC I wanted since I was a little kid.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey SIX, I wanted to say CONGRATS on the car!
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Thanks!
I've got to figure out somewhere long to drive to now that isn't just a joyride. I'm pretty sure this thing is legit roadworthy now and I want to test that out. It's so nice on my short trips having a relatively silent car that accelerates and shifts gears properly with a radio that doesn't drop out every 15 seconds and make me panic that all the grounds in the car are bad. Oh, and GPS for the guy who can't navigate his way out of a paper bag.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:Hmmm... Maybe they have Microsoft guys at the Best Buy by me now too. I rarely ever shop there anymore unless I spot something on a really good sale or I'm in desperate need of something. I think I've been in a BB maybe twice in the last 10 years. I'm just always wary of anybody claiming that they work for Microsoft. My mom got scammed by people based in India claiming to be Microsoft support.
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
2. Apparently. After a minute he said, "I work for the Microsoft store, you need to talk to someone who works for Best Buy." I didn't know this before as the last time I was in Best Buy, I just went to their DVD section. He seemed legit, handling other customers and showing them products talking to the "Geek Squad" that works in Best Buy's computer section.
They must do now because as I said the last time I was in this store, I just went to the DVD section looking for something and couldn't find it anyways. And that was end of last year.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:If your motherboard doesn't have a port for the internet on it and requires a separate card, it's EXTREMELY old. I don't think that's the case.
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
I get that Jack. But keep saying that there is something missing which is where I plug the internet cable into the back of the case.
Does the back of your computer have a port that looks like the one highlighted in the following image?
If it does, you plug your router directly into that and you'll have internet.
I looked at the back of the computer last night but I couldn't tell anything. Brain and eyes didn't want to work together. Looked again when I got home today and there is no port like the one outlined in the picture. That I can see now is what is missing.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Okay. But I am getting a little confused again.Quote:
Me too, but we'll figure this out.
Not sure if I am glad that you are confused with me or not. But then your brain isn't over the age of 50 or suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury as the doctors like to classify what happened to me just over 30years ago now.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
I do care but as I said writing is all done long hand and typewritten. Pictures are on a USB.Quote:I'd like to get all that work back for you too. But we won't know if we will be able to do that until you have a working monitor.Quote:
Yeah. You don't need any high priced monitor. Just make sure that it has the VGA and HDMI ports on it. The VGA is what you need for your current computer, and the HDMI port will be for when you decide to upgrade or we find out we just can't fix the old one. That way you're not wasting money getting a monitor that you can't use in the future.
Got that.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
No, I don't. Most games I play on this thing I am using is a solitaire site and a mah jong site that I like. Nothing fancy in the least.Quote:
If your old computer can handle everything you wanted to do before, i can guaranty that the absolute cheapest computer that Best Buy has right now will be able to do anything you want it to do.
It did. I was using it when I found that solitaire site and mah jong site.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Brenda, I'm really confused at this point.
Aside from all the other things that have come up since then, did you ever find out for sure the monitor is a problem? Because it seems to me that before you can even try anything else, if your monitor truly is busted, you need to replace it. (And a new monitor will be handy anyway even if the old computer is defunct.)
The other thing I gather is that, in general, you're trying to assemble all the parts together, which is why the mouse and keyboard topics came up, the USB port, and now the inet connection. I think you got the mouse and keyboard connections figured out (the sea green and lavender ports), so if you have a mouse and a keyboard with those color-and-shape connectors, you're golden! The small rectangular USB memory stick/ flash drive port is a no-fail thing to try, if it's the wrong one it won't fit, and if it's a sort-of wrong one, it won't work; but in either case nothing will get broken. The inet connection looks like a really heavy-duty telephone line connector, with the little clip-lever on the side of it and all. Sort of like this
I realize the person who originally built your system sounds like kind of a geek, so perhaps there may be some non-standard parts to it.
No, I didn't but I have bought a new monitor that I will deal with once all the pain I am in is gone. Hopefully the weekend.
Mouse and keyboard are plugged into the tower but don't appear to be functioning.
Blair had several geek friends and I know they helped him when he had problems.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
$100 sounds perfect, as long as the monitor is big enough for you. $160 is good too. I'll just stress again that any monitor you purchase needs to have VGA and HDMI. Outside of that, the only reason you should put any more money into it is if the more expensive one is larger and you want a larger monitor. Any other "frills" outside of the ports and the monitor size will be meaningless for your purposes.
......
I've been thinking about your "internet" thing. I'm starting to wonder if you had a modem AND a router on your old setup and no longer have the second thing you used to plug stuff into, and maybe that's where the confusion is coming from. It's possible you upgraded at some point and now have a Router/Modem combination unit (which most of them are these days), and you're looking for the 2nd thing that used to be in between and you don't have (or need) it anymore.
Please check the back of the PC and see if you have that port in the picture above. As long as you have that port than any modern modem that you're using for your internet on your laptop will plug directly into it.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I did bite the bullet today and buy the $88 one at Walmart. It came out to $105 and some change Canadian. It does have VGA and HDMI. I will deal with it over the weekend as I am in too much pain to do too much bending. Just getting out of my computer chair is a chore.
Blair just had a modem for it as it was his work computer.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
There might be one reason that the monitor can't be easily replaced, and that was when PC's were made with that short-lived fad called the VESA local bus (approx 1992). If the PC was built around that time, it may have a non-standard video card. I don't remember what the back of the PC looked like but the VESA connector looks like this. (Looks pretty standard to me, but I can't tell from the picture.)
BRENDA, how old is the PC? Is is back from around 1992-1993?
If not, I agree with SIX and KIKI: Monitor first. You can't find out anything about the PC until you have a monitor. And even if you discover that the PC is dead, you can always use the monitor with a new PC, or even with a laptop
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
The PC must be from around 1992 as he was still working then.
Bought new monitor today and will deal with it when I am not in so much pain.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:YAY sunshine!
Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for a walk to check out the cheap monitor and try and talk to someone else in London Drugs about this again.
Also sunshine.
In a way, it's too bad that you don't have a smart phone, bc you could take a picture of the back of your PC and find the right connector for your monitor. Do you have a digital camera?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
Sunshine is great.
SIG, I do not own anything resembling any kind of camera.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I'm going to take your last post to me bit by bit as I will most likely make a hash of it if I answer it straight out.
If I sound grumpy forgive me, I am in a bit of pain today. Over did it when I got home yesterday and right hip is driving me batty. But things to do.Quote:
No worries. Take your time.
I understand how frustrating things like this can be even if you're not in pain. You didn't have to deal with me while I was dealing with the car. You only read a brief day-by-day synopsis of it with most of the frustration filtered out.
Good. It is. Ah yes, sanitizing your posts. I've been cursing under my breath off and on today because of the pain I am in. And if I am cursing then you know I am in some real pain. I have a fairly high tolerance for it.
Quote:
London Drugs is a big chain store up here. You can find them pretty well all across Canada. They are the only drug store that sells stuff like that. The rest of the drug stores stick to magazines, cigarettes, candy, a few toys, some books, bit of food items, cosmetics, non-prescription reading glasses, vitamins, baby stuff and support stuff for walking or fixing your home up if you need help like that. Then they do prescriptions as well.
Quote:
Yeah. I get it now. With the other stuff going on in the post I was just thinking to myself that I needed clarification that you weren't talking to a Pharmacist about computer problems.
No offence, but I find that I'm twice as likely to overestimate people's abilities as I am to underestimate them. Glad everything checks out.Quote:
No worries. You probably don't have a real good idea what some stores look like in Canada or what store chains are Canadian even. And some stores are different depending what part of Canada you are in. Because of the lockdown in Western Canada, we just had a 105 year old business I think it was go under. It was called "Army & Navy".
None taken. I know my brain doesn't always work the way I want it to anymore. I sort of accept that and after whenever I started on this again, I think I am now finally starting to understand it all.
I'll just throw a quick list of stuff to tackle on the computer without any explanations involved that you can go back and reference, so we can make the steps clear. Because of your level of computer knowledge, the inability to order stuff online and the potential that your friend won't get back to you in a timely matter, I'm going to avoid suggesting doing anything at this point about troublshooting inside of the case, at least until we have a working monitor.
Since Signy and Kiki are both involved, they may confirm this is a good list.
1. Buy a monitor with both VGA and HDMI outputs.
(Shown in picture below)
2. Verify you have the necessary port on the back of the case for internet. (Highlighted in image below)
IF THE RESULT IS THE COMPUTER NOW BOOTS UP AND YOU CAN SEE IT:
3. See if keyboard and mouse work. If not, we'll replace one or both.
4. Plug in your existing internet cable into the back of the case if you have both the old cable and a place to plug them in. Then we'll get you online.
5. At any point during the process pick up a few USB thumb drives because they're so cheap and you can make multiple backups of all of your work.
IF EITHER THE MONITOR DOESN'T FIX THE PROBLEM, OR YOU DON'T HAVE A WAY TO PLUG IN THE INTERNET:
We'll figure out what to do when we get to that point.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:I feel your pain! Well, not your pain exactly, but I understand how big a bite pain can take out of your life.
Originally posted by Brenda:
No, I didn't but I have bought a new monitor that I will deal with once all the pain I am in is gone. Hopefully the weekend.
Mouse and keyboard are plugged into the tower but don't appear to be functioning.
Blair had several geek friends and I know they helped him when he had problems.
I hope you feel better soon.
I personally had back pain which had me almost unable to move, and I do mean at all, not even able to move my arms and legs. Since then it's been better, then worse ... again; which is where I am now. But a heating pad seems to keep it from getting so bad I'm completely non-functional. I mention it because perhaps that would work well for you, too. However, one does need to make sure to not get burned, which has happened to people I know! Because it's a low(ish) temperature burn, the problem is you don't feel it, and it can do/ has done a lot of damage, creating deep burns.
Signy recommends those chemical heating packs which release a slow, low temp heat (no burn risk) for a long time, at least 8 hours. But the adhesive might not be completely effective, so Signy recommends medical tape, perhaps like the gentle paper tape, as well as elastic wraps like for sprained joints, to keep it in place and make sure it has good skin contact.
If you're like me, every time something like that happens, it's not just painful. And it doesn't just make every little thing one does in life excruciating and take a long, long time. It's very demotivating. It's like you can't count on being able to manage anything, or do anything, from start to finish. Because it happens over, and over, and you know that at any time, you can get laid up from pain. So I hope your optimism and hopes don't suffer from this.
In the absence of being able to do anything physical, perhaps you could use this time to plan and organize your next efforts, at least in your head! Or if your memory is for sh*t like mine, on paper!
Anyway, I hope you feel better soon, Brenda. In the meantime, take good care of yourself. And please let us know how you're doing.
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Brenda: Pain?
Er... don't try anything complicated when you're in pain! It's as bad as driving drunk, or working dehydrated, or doing anything when sleep-deprived: BAD THINGS HAPPEN.
If there is anything we can do to help, let us know.
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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KIKI: You too? Let me know if I can help!
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:I feel your pain! Well, not your pain exactly, but I understand how big a bite pain can take out of your life.
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
No, I didn't but I have bought a new monitor that I will deal with once all the pain I am in is gone. Hopefully the weekend.
Mouse and keyboard are plugged into the tower but don't appear to be functioning.
Blair had several geek friends and I know they helped him when he had problems.
I hope you feel better soon.
I personally had back pain which had me almost unable to move, and I do mean at all, not even able to move my arms and legs. Since then it's been better, then worse ... again; which is where I am now. But a heating pad seems to keep it from getting so bad I'm completely non-functional. I mention it because perhaps that would work well for you, too. However, one does need to make sure to not get burned, which has happened to people I know! Because it's a low(ish) temperature burn, the problem is you don't feel it, and it can do/ has done a lot of damage, creating deep burns.
Signy recommends those chemical heating packs which release a slow, low temp heat (no burn risk) for a long time, at least 8 hours. But the adhesive might not be completely effective, so Signy recommends medical tape, perhaps like the gentle paper tape, as well as elastic wraps like for sprained joints, to keep it in place and make sure it has good skin contact.
If you're like me, every time something like that happens, it's not just painful. And it doesn't just make every little thing one does in life excruciating and take a long, long time. It's very demotivating. It's like you can't count on being able to manage anything, or do anything, from start to finish. Because it happens over, and over, and you know that at any time, you can get laid up from pain. So I hope your optimism and hopes don't suffer from this.
In the absence of being able to do anything physical, perhaps you could use this time to plan and organize your next efforts, at least in your head! Or if your memory is for sh*t like mine, on paper!
Anyway, I hope you feel better soon, Brenda. In the meantime, take good care of yourself. And please let us know how you're doing.
The pain does take a chunk out of my life. The last time my lower back into my hips felt this bad was a couple of months after I moved into this new place and I decided to move my over 100 year old trunk. The movers had put it under the card table where my laptop is and the lock was facing the wall. It was pretty empty at the time BUT this trunk is solid wood with metal fixtures on it and so even almost completely empty, heavy.
The time before that was in the bad place and I had to change the lightbulbs in the bathroom. I pulled all the muscles on my right side from my neck through my ribs. Getting up and down from my computer chair was miserable for a good couple to several days.
Had a heating pad but it just died and haven't got another one. I do have a hot water bottle that I might use tonight around my right hip.
So, I've been moving pretty slow today and will be tomorrow I would imagine.
Organizing my next move is what I am doing and working on another Firefly story that I started a few days ago. I posted the first part.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Brenda: Pain?
Er... don't try anything complicated when you're in pain! It's as bad as driving drunk, or working dehydrated, or doing anything when sleep-deprived: BAD THINGS HAPPEN.
If there is anything we can do to help, let us know.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
Yes, Sig. Me in pain. I decided yesterday to clean the bathtub and put too much strain on my right leg. The leg itself isn't bad but my hip joint is not happy with me.
Going to try and be careful for the next couple of days.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:If your motherboard doesn't have a port for the internet on it and requires a separate card, it's EXTREMELY old. I don't think that's the case.
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
I get that Jack. But keep saying that there is something missing which is where I plug the internet cable into the back of the case.
Does the back of your computer have a port that looks like the one highlighted in the following image?
If it does, you plug your router directly into that and you'll have internet.
I looked at the back of the computer last night but I couldn't tell anything. Brain and eyes didn't want to work together. Looked again when I got home today and there is no port like the one outlined in the picture. That I can see now is what is missing.
Is there a big gaping hole there or something then?
If a card was removed, there will be a big hole. It doesn't even make sense that somebody would remove that card since there would be absolutely no reason anybody would ever do that.
If you never had a port that looked like that in the first place, you didn't get on the internet with that computer. It's far too old for wi-fi.
You've only got 2 USB ports. I suppose you could have been getting on it wirelessly, but I'm starting to doubt it if you say the computer is possibly from 1992.
(EDIT: Just Googled it. USB wasn't even invented until 1994, so the computer is at least that "new".)
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
The PC must be from around 1992 as he was still working then.
What operating system is it using?
Windows 3.1?
Unless it was an extremly expensive machine from 1992, it can't even run Windows 95, which means that it couldn't run Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10.
I'm trying to figure out what exactly you were even able to do with this thing besides typing in notepad.
Quote:
Bought new monitor today and will deal with it when I am not in so much pain.
Oh good. I really want to get to the bottom of this now. My curiosity is piqued.
Sorry about the pain. I hope you feel better after some rest.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Good. It is. Ah yes, sanitizing your posts. I've been cursing under my breath off and on today because of the pain I am in. And if I am cursing then you know I am in some real pain. I have a fairly high tolerance for it.
I live alone. I'm always cursing out loud about one thing or another.
Quote:
No worries. You probably don't have a real good idea what some stores look like in Canada or what store chains are Canadian even. And some stores are different depending what part of Canada you are in. Because of the lockdown in Western Canada, we just had a 105 year old business I think it was go under. It was called "Army & Navy".
Oh, I'm sure there's some things I take for granted as "normal" around here that would make you laugh. I just never would have thought that a drug store would have computer guys until you told me they do by you.
Quote:
None taken. I know my brain doesn't always work the way I want it to anymore. I sort of accept that and after whenever I started on this again, I think I am now finally starting to understand it all.
No worries. I found myself derailing my own train of thought when talking to my grandma on the phone today and asking her "how did I get on that topic? I had a point..." Then I realized I was asking my 87 year old grandmother that question and chances are if I talked to her about the same thing tomorrow she'd think it was the first time I told her about it.
But hey... you got the monitor. At least we should be able to see if your computer will boot up still and figure out what we need to do next when you're feeling better.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Paperwork and PC file maintenance day for me here.
Finally said my final goodbyes to 3 more hard drives and got the magnets out of them. That *should* be the last of them for the time being. Looking at the huge stack of super strong hard drive magnets I've accumulated and realized that I've cannibalized a ton of those things over the last few years now. I don't even want to know how much money was spent on them.
I was able to get rid of a ton of papwerwork I didn't need too, which leaves me with about half of a smallish plastic tote with all the papwerwork left in the world that has my name on it. Feels good to finally get that done.
Had me a big old burning party and got rid of everything else that had my name on it.
Should only be one more day of file maintenance and transcribing whatever is important from a few notepads to the PC and I'll be all done with that. Another job that was a few years in the making almost done.
Got a lead on a gutter guy. Going to fix the fascia on the front of the house next week and get in contact with him and the gutter company. If I help him out I hopefully can get a good price for his labor.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:If your motherboard doesn't have a port for the internet on it and requires a separate card, it's EXTREMELY old. I don't think that's the case.
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
I get that Jack. But keep saying that there is something missing which is where I plug the internet cable into the back of the case.
Does the back of your computer have a port that looks like the one highlighted in the following image?
If it does, you plug your router directly into that and you'll have internet.
I looked at the back of the computer last night but I couldn't tell anything. Brain and eyes didn't want to work together. Looked again when I got home today and there is no port like the one outlined in the picture. That I can see now is what is missing.
Is there a big gaping hole there or something then?
If a card was removed, there will be a big hole. It doesn't even make sense that somebody would remove that card since there would be absolutely no reason anybody would ever do that.
If you never had a port that looked like that in the first place, you didn't get on the internet with that computer. It's far too old for wi-fi.
You've only got 2 USB ports. I suppose you could have been getting on it wirelessly, but I'm starting to doubt it if you say the computer is possibly from 1992.
(EDIT: Just Googled it. USB wasn't even invented until 1994, so the computer is at least that "new".)
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Okay, where you would plug in an internet cable is covered over and I said that there is a hole in it where an "internet or video card" should be.
He was using a modem with this thing but I doubt he ever used and it does have USB ports on the back of it. He had another large external drive that he used for his work files.
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Quote:What operating system is it using?
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
The PC must be from around 1992 as he was still working then.
Windows 3.1?
Unless it was an extremly expensive machine from 1992, it can't even run Windows 95, which means that it couldn't run Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10.
I'm trying to figure out what exactly you were even able to do with this thing besides typing in notepad.
Quote:
It probably started out Windows but then Blair found Linux and he had it running on that. Linux isn't used much in BC, so I had my IT guy flip the system back to one of the Windows but I don't remember now what he told me. I had him do it over 3years ago now.Quote:
Bought new monitor today and will deal with it when I am not in so much pain.
Oh good. I really want to get to the bottom of this now. My curiosity is piqued.
Sorry about the pain. I hope you feel better after some rest.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I am using a hot water bottle tonight on my hip when I go to bed and hopefully that will help.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Good. It is. Ah yes, sanitizing your posts. I've been cursing under my breath off and on today because of the pain I am in. And if I am cursing then you know I am in some real pain. I have a fairly high tolerance for it.
I live alone. I'm always cursing out loud about one thing or another.Quote:
No worries. You probably don't have a real good idea what some stores look like in Canada or what store chains are Canadian even. And some stores are different depending what part of Canada you are in. Because of the lockdown in Western Canada, we just had a 105 year old business I think it was go under. It was called "Army & Navy".
Oh, I'm sure there's some things I take for granted as "normal" around here that would make you laugh. I just never would have thought that a drug store would have computer guys until you told me they do by you.Quote:
None taken. I know my brain doesn't always work the way I want it to anymore. I sort of accept that and after whenever I started on this again, I think I am now finally starting to understand it all.
No worries. I found myself derailing my own train of thought when talking to my grandma on the phone today and asking her "how did I get on that topic? I had a point..." Then I realized I was asking my 87 year old grandmother that question and chances are if I talked to her about the same thing tomorrow she'd think it was the first time I told her about it.
But hey... you got the monitor. At least we should be able to see if your computer will boot up still and figure out what we need to do next when you're feeling better.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I live alone too and so I am too cursing about things around me as well.
London Drugs isn't your little average drug store like where I go and get my meds. You could fit at least two average sized stores into it and maybe have a little bit of room left over.
It happens as we get older.
Yes, that is next on the agenda but not until I can properly bend over without being in pain.
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Quote:I'm not QUITE at the stage of making lists of lists, but I can definitely imagine it in my future! I do find it kinda' funny as a concept, though. Besides, watcha' gonna' do?
Originally posted by Brenda:
It happens as we get older.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Okay, where you would plug in an internet cable is covered over and I said that there is a hole in it where an "internet or video card" should be.
Well... I'll be damned. It does sound like somebody removed that card. I just can't figure out why. They're not worth anything. Motherboards have had them on the board for two decades now. Most motherboards in the last 5 to 10 years even had wireless internet capabilities built in. I can't even remember how long ago I had to purchase an internet card.
Did you, personally, ever get online with this thing? How long ago was that?
I know that you use your laptop to get on the internet, but I thought you also used this thing for internet too. Now I'm thinking that was a miscommunication on my part and you never did.
Quote:
He was using a modem with this thing but I doubt he ever used and it does have USB ports on the back of it. He had another large external drive that he used for his work files.
Well... if we're going to make this thing work at all for you, we're going to have to make the best possible use of those USB ports. That means that we cannot use those USB ports for your mouse and keyboard.
If we can't find you a keyboard/mouse with the pink/green PS2 connectors at the end, they do make these...
https://www.amazon.com/Oxsubor-PS2-USB-Female-Converter/dp/B01N5MYE72/
ref=pd_lpo_147_t_2/138-7030405-2277526?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01N5MYE72&pd_rd_r=d8baafb1-747b-411a-9244-b90033a6174d&pd_rd_w=pO8hL&pd_rd_wg=t68J6&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=AJFGM840RM28CHPNCE8R&psc=1&refRID=AJFGM840RM28CHPNCE8R
I'm not sure where you'd get them if not online, and I think they'll cost quite a bit more than $6 for the set of them though, I'm afraid.
I think we're going to want to use one USB for a wireless internet stick and one for your regular USB storage thumb drive. But since we're talking about a PC this old, chances are it uses a very, very old version of Windows that wouldn't have the drivers for them and we'd have to make sure they even worked with the PC.
Honestly, I'm hoping that your keyboard and mouse do work now, because I think your best bet is just to get this thing up and running so you can get your information off of it before you buy a new desktop PC where you won't have any of these issues. A new one will have wireless internet built in and have more USB ports than you'd know what to do with.
I hope you feel better. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Gotta go out for my walk and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:I'm not QUITE at the stage of making lists of lists, but I can definitely imagine it in my future! I do find it kinda' funny as a concept, though. Besides, watcha' gonna' do?
Originally posted by Brenda:
It happens as we get older.
With my brain I have to make lists or I will forget something. Learned that years ago.
Okay I am out for my walk.
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