So, what did I do this weekend?

What did I do this weekend? In a nutshell, nothing. I ate. I slept. I spent too much time on the computer. I ordered pizza, which was 2 hours late because somebody underestimated how popular the latest Dominos promotion will be. I got quite a few of my older games to successfully install on my Windows 11 tower. I’m talking the original South Park and MechWarrior 2 old. I installed Linux on my laptop twice. It’ll be the way to go, but it’s still a work in progress.

But, the end is here, and it’s time to get ready for work…..

Not Quite So Dead Yet, Jim….

Well, the laptop is not quite so dead yet. Something got messed up with TPM/Secureboot. If you just to a clean install, you can get a recent version of Windows 10 to work on it (after all, that’s what it came with), but it likes to choke on the recent updates. If you use Rufus to create the flash drive, you can get Windows 11 to install, but it’s slower than molasses, and there’s no compatible display driver, so you just get a black screen, and to roll back the driver with no display is beyond my payroll.

Enter Linux. Specifically OpenSUSE. Everything just works. Especially for what I’m going to use it for. The battery on it is shot to hell, so I’m just treating it as a 17.3” touchscreen all-in-one. Basically when I finally FUBAR the Tower beyond repair, I’ll still be able to order the replacement without having to use my phone….

I guess I still have a laptop. Long Live Linux…..

It’s Dead, Jim….

Gave the laptop another shot last night. This time, I skipped the factory reset option,and just did a fresh install with Windows 10. And promptly got into an automatic repair loop. Which led to a hard drive diagnostic and a failure. Fiddled around with some settings and now I’m getting the Blue Screen Of Death just for trying to boot off a usb.

Conclusion: hardware failure.

It’s Dead, Jim….

And Lo!

Ozzy has gone on to the Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory. I’m not going to link to any news stories (use your Google-Fu, Grasshopper….). Many of us knew of him from his antics on stage, or his music. But I only started following him in earnest when the Osbournes came out on MTV. Yes, he had his issues. But don’t we all. We are each dealt a unique hand in the poker game of life, and we have to play what we’re dealt.

RIP Ozzy. Condolences to your family.

So what all happened last week.

Saturday night. I get up, get ready for work. And realize for reasons not to be discussed in here right now that I’m not going to work. So, I call out. Put in for sick/vacation time to cover my shift, and take the attendance point. Go into the kitchen, I’m standing at the sink, and I reach over to the brand new coffeemaker, and it hit. My right ball suddenly feels like it’s in a vice, and the pain is progressing up my back. Had I nit already called out then, I would’ve called out anyway. My only option is to lie down and sleep it off. Three hours later, and the pain is mainly in my lower back. And I can stand up (with effort and technique) and go to the bathroom. Back to bed, and 4 hours later, I’m almost up and at ‘em. Bck to bed again, and I was able to get up and go to work Sunday night.

I don’t know what caused it, and my employer supplied health insurance isn’t the best, so I’m skipping the doctor it it’s possible. But I have a feeling that I might have a hernia.

But on the bright side to all this (if there is one), I was able to manage this all without even a Tylenol or ibuprofen….

RIP to my laptop….

When we last left our hero, I was trying to get my laptop working again. 3 separate times, I plugged the reset thumbdrive into it, and did a factory reset on it. Which installed Windows 10, 1511. A round of Windoze Update and then I was able to directly install the 22H2 version. And then the very last round of updates would cause it to hang. Even the windows update troubleshooter would work, nor would downloading and installing it directly.

The laptop is officially a lost cause. Just wiped it with GParted. I don’t have the patience anymore to work with windows on it. Maybe later, I’ll put Linux on it….

RIP to my laptop…..

Just because I can….

I wipe my tower too much. Sometimes, it is because I want to try something new with it or (more likely) I tried something and it blew up in my face. But of late, I’ve found a configuration that works, and I still wipe and rebuild just for lack of something to do. And as I was pondering if I should do it again, I realized that I still had a laptop. And after my previous adventures with it, I wiped it with GParted, so it’s completely blank already. So I can work through my urge to wipe a computer completely, and still have a working tower.

So last week was the 4th. Wherein we commemorate George Washington’s victory over Rodan. Had to work that night. I consider myself a patriot, but I’m not going to burn my house down to commemorate freedom.

So, this past Sunday night, I was pulling the garbage from the parking lot. In one of the cans, a member of the resident homeless population had to relieve himself. So he did his business into a plastic bottle, and threw said bottle in to the trash. When he threw it is, the cap came off. Fast forward a few hours later, the bag ripped. Right when I was lifting the garbage bag o ur of the can. So I got hit with it all down my pants. Needless to say, the jeans I wore home were newer than my shift that night….

With the Fourth passing us, we are now officially into summer here. Expect sunny weather and little to no rain until the day before my birthday in August, when it’ll return in time for any celebration I may have planned. Oh, and it’ll rain in the hydroplane races, too. But while it’s here, both AC’s are set up and running….