I have space in my room again….

For those of you keeping score at home, my really big office chair broke a couple of weeks ago. Last week while I was on vacation, I ordered the replacement. This time, I didn’t go for the really big, high-backed boss’s chair. I just went for a plain, desk chair. It arrived Friday, and today I dismantled the old, broken chair and assembled the new one. It’s much smaller. But, on the bright side, I now have space in my room again. Which means I can watch TV from my easy chair now. While using my now recommissioned laptop.

Oh, and I upgraded my processor. This time I went with a Ryzen 7 5700X. I was looking at the Ryzen 9 5950X, but the price is an issue. The 5700X was on sale at Newegg, and I figured save a few bucks. When I installed it, I also switched coolers, going back to the Wraith Prism, just because of the ease of installation. The TDP of this processor is 65w, vs. 105w of the 3800X/2700X that I was running before (and I still have, just as a backup…), so I should see cooler temps…

Having said that, I think that this will be the last upgrade I make to this computer. If something breaks, I’ll probably replace it, but I also need to remind myself that what I have is perfectly good, and this isn’t cheap….

Another first this fall….

Can’t sleep today. One of my UPS deliveries is signature required so I have to stay up for it. Which means I slept for most of last night. And as I woke up, the heat was on…..

For the first time this fall, it got sold cold it tripped the thermostat…

The turning of the seasons….

I can tell the seasons are turning. While I was able to take down the AC in my room earlier than normal, my window stayed open 24/7, and that was sufficient to keep my room comfortable. But now it’s down into the ‘30s at night. And this is the second night in a row that I’ve had to close my window. I may have to turn on the heat soo, but not yet.

It’s getting colder…

The Last Day….

Tonight is the last day of my vacation. Agenda tonight is: nothing. Except for the part about getting ready for the return to work. And another cricket match tonight (I should always take vacation during the World Cup).

Ordered a couple of items from Newegg this week, too. The UPS man should be delivering them tomorrow.

And all those posts about working on my laptop this week? This post was written on it. Hello World…

I’m awake! I’m awake!

Tonight would normally be a work night, but I’m still on vacation here. So I went to bed this morning, and somehow my alarm was still set as if I had to work. Side note: it was irrelevant since I got up before it went off.

So I’m up, showered, and I have a night off before me. Agenda: nothing….

Vacation Day 4 Status....

 I think this attempt to rebuild the laptop took. It just takes a lot of patience. Now I'm copying files over to it. In the Cricket World Cup, tonight's match is Australia vs. Netherlands. Hooray the Dutch. Though I'm probably going to take nap through it (I'm trying to keep my circadian rhythm constant as I work overnights).

So, onward with doing nothing...

Ok, so I did write it off as dead…

Ok, so I wrote the laptop off as dead. But by the same token, I now have nothing to lose. And I have three days left on my vacation, and I want something constructive to do. I can still work on it while keeping with my established goal of doing absolutely nothing, aside from watching the Cricket World Cup. Besides with the order I placed this morning with Newegg, I might need a backup system at least momentarily…

Vacation Day 3 Report/Update….

I slept all ‘day’ (I work overnights, so my ciradian rhythm is artificially maintained the opposite). Yesterday, I tried pushing my limit and staying up to the point that I could watch Monday Night Football. And I lasted only through the first quarter. So I pretty slept all night. First time in over 5 years.

Now I’m up for a few hours at least. And now I have to take a break from vacationing for a quick session of adulting. Namely the laundry. And possibly a trip to the grocery store. Than back to doing as little as possible for the next 3 days…

Success!

Success! or a Vacation: Day 3 Update…

Like I posted this morning, I had my target run delivered. And then for lack of anything else to do went back to screwing around on my laptop. Another session of Windows/Microsoft Update that lasted 3+ hours when the same updates on my Tower took only 3 minutes at the most. But I stuck with it being as it’s a 17.3” with a touchscreen.

But it finally happened. I succeeded in rendering it completely unbootable. Yes, I still have a restore flash drive, or I can just use a recent Windows 10 thumb drive to start over again, but what’s the point. It’s over 6 years old. Even more than that because I got it refurbished. It’s slow. I can’t just throw it out since I have my personal info on the hard drive, and it’s gonna be a (four letter word) to take it out. So, I think it will go into the equivalent of The Drawer.

I may end up rebuilding it again if I end up fucking up my tower.

Now to watch what I can of the Monday Night Football game…

Vacation Day 2 Update

Pretty much did nothing today. Needed a Target done, so I'm having it delivered. Decided to pull out the laptop and work on it some more. Currently watching Afghanistan and Pakistan go at it in the Cricket World Cup....

Tonight's agenda: nothing.... 

Vacation Day 1 Update

Currently watching India and New Zealand go at in the World Cup. It took a second wiping of the laptop to make it work. But it is patched and up to date. It is slow, and I’ve realized that I’m never going to use for anything productive (just a backup in case I fuck  up the tower). So I think I’m done with it for now. I’ve copied enough stuff over to it, so that if I ever have to use (God Forbid)….

And I think I saw a cricket match almost get called for fog….

End of update back to Vacation…

Vacation: Day 1 Agenda….

So the laptop still had issues, especially with hangups and freezes. Suspected a hard drive failure. Not that big of a deal (especially since the last time I turned on the laptop was over two years ago, when I rebuilt the tower). So this is just an exercise in the craft, more than actually using it for something productive…

Anyway, I decided to wipe it. First attempt was a system reset with the HP issued recovery partition. And it failed. Second attempt (successful, BTW) was with a Windows 10 22H2 flash drive. Also on the plus side: No HP bloatware that I have to uninstall…

Anyway, Day 1 agenda: work on the laptop, watch the Seattle Kraken on TV, India vs New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup, and the Rugby World Cup.

Failing that, the agenda will be doing as little as possible. After all, I am on vacation….

Vacation: Commence!

First of all: the laptop still works! It’s 6+ years old, and it’s a bit slow, but it still can turn on and surf the web. Proof: this post is being written on it.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I had three days’ vacation accrued, and thought it would be appropriate to use it. Booked it, and it was approved. Then, when the schedule was posted, I got an extra surprise: a bonus day off. I'm getting paid for it, but I’ll deal with that. So for the next 6 days, I’ off work.

Vacation: Commence!

14 Hours Later….

For those of us keeping score at home, I pulled my laptop out. Again. Literally the last time I turned it on was over 2 years ago. It took over 14 hours to patch and update it to the point of usability. There are still some thing I need to patch on it, but Windows 10 is up to date, and the current version of Firefox and Thunderbird are installed as well. I may actually be something productive with this….

It's been a couple of years.....

It's been a couple of years since I turned on the laptop. It's been so long that my brother put in storage....

A week ago I was at my computer, sitting in my big office chair. Nap attack hit. So I just lean back and rage a half hour snooze (it was my day off anyway, and that's what days is are for). And then I heard a pop, Ave my chair started leaning back even further. I broke it. Well, not exactly broken, but I can't lean back in it anymore. So, I cleared off my easy chair tonight. And remembered I still have a laptop. That I made Phil pull out of storage. 

It'll be a couple of hours before it's updated fully, but it still works. Battery is shot to shit, but that's par for the a 6 year old laptop.... 

Troubling Times Are Upon Us….

Troubling times are upon us, and I just have to say:

• Israel has a right to exist.
• The Palestinians have a right to exist.
• Hamas is a terrorist group.
• What happened Saturday night/Sunday morning was reprehensible.
• Targeting civilians deliberately is wrong. Period. This applies to both sides.
• What faith you practice is irrelevant. What your political leanings are is irrelevant. A war crime is a war crime. This applies to both Hamas and Israel.

What happened this past weekend was deplorable. And so is the ensuing retaliation. No matter who wins, it will be the innocent civilians who will lose. Make no doubt about it, this is a tragedy all around, and without peace, there will be no winners.