And again after I complained on this blog, the issue is fixed. Somebody at Google must read this blog.
In case you’re wondering why I wiped my drive and started over from scratch, I made a couple of BIOS changes (actually it’s now called UEFI), to make sure TPM is enabled. Apparently Windows 11 is coming out, and I wanted to make sure my system will be ready to run it. Good news is that it will. That's a good thing since I can’t afford to build another computer…
Wiped the tower. While reinstalling Open Live Writer, I logged in to Google. And it can no longer download my blog layout. Logged into blogger (via Chrome), and again I couldn’t even edit my layout or my blog’s theme (I got a ‘405’ error). And when I went to the URL of this blog just to view it, I was greeted with a captcha challenge.
I’ve been on blogger for over 15 years. And the games are still being played. Perhaps it’s time I moved my eggs into a different basket…
Had a bet with the now former owner of the Mrs. Fields about the winner of the World Test Championship. If India won, I’d buy the coffee on my next visit. If New Zealand won, he’d buy. New Zealand won. India came in third. But the English weather came in second place (two days were rained out).
So I won a bet. But since I had paid for the coffee on Tuesday, I told him to buy his wife a coffee instead….
I told a couple of friends that the Mrs Fields had closed, and one of them replied that they had an opening. So I put my hat into the ring. And last Friday, I got a phone call. The talk was for a closing position, but he closed at the same time I started my work, but he told me I could change my start time and ride my bike. Not thinking about it, I thought it was cool. And so that ‘night’ (remember I sleep during the day) I got my bike ready. Then I went to bed. Somewhere during the day, I realized the distances involved. 85+ blocks. No go for my bike. A quick look at Google Maps showed that there was a nearby bus stop. And the Metro route that serves it has 24/7 service. But to make the connection to my other job would still involve connecting to Pierce Transit, and they essentially shut down at 10pm. So it’s still a no go. Ultimately it boils down to the logistics aren’t there. And I cant just quit my current job for it, either.
And the final nail in the coffin was that I did talk to management about if I could shift my schedule an hour (just for the sake of due diligence). And I was told that they are unable to change the schedules at this time (basically everyone on the overnight shift needs to have the same schedule).I haven’t said anything about this, as I feel it would be beating a dead horse, and I don’t want to inflame the situation any further…
So an opportunity came up last week. And I had to pass on it…
I think somebody from Google is reading the blog. After I was b*tching in the last post about how something on the backend of Blogger was fuckered up, suddenly Open Live Writer is able to download the theme of this blog, so I can see what my posts look like somewhat before I publish them…
If you see some items missing from my blog, it’s because I’m having issues with it. For some reason, I can’t edit my blog’s theme anymore. I’ve left it unchanged for years (if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it). But now all of the sudden, when I set up Open Live Writer, it won’t download the blog’s theme. And when I log into blogger to see if I can edit it, I get a 405 error, or Google flags me as a robot, and I get captchas ad nauseum. I can’t even load one of the stock templates from Blogger’s own website!
I’ve tried everything I know to troubleshoot it, but it seems there’s something on Google’s end that’s fucked up. I took down some of the elements that were returning 405 errors, but I’m still having issues….
So, for those of who don’t know, I acquired one of the store computers from then the Mrs Fields closed a couple of weeks ago. It was missing a hard drive, and a dvd drive. I had a few spare hard drives floating around, and a dvd drive is dirt cheap. So I ordered one on Spamazon. It arrived, and I realized I needed a bracket to install it, and so I ordered it from eBay. It arrived yesterday. It doesn’t quite fit, but I can make it work (I’m not putting that much effort into this, as it’s a 10+ year old computer). (Edit: I think I just found the right bracket on Spamazon. Ordered used).
So, as it stands, I can install an OS on it and start using it (it still has the sticker on it with the Windows 7 serial number), and I can download the drivers for it from the manufacturer. But I’m just lazy. Besides, I really don’t need to. If I need to run Windows XP, Windows ME, Or even Windows 7, I can run it in VMWare on my current Tower…
Last night, I got up. Shaved. Showered. Got dressed and headed out to the bus stop. When I got there, another woman arrived at the bus stop, and she was drinking. I could smell the alcohol through my mask (I’m fully vaccinated, and a Covid survivor, but Pierce Transit still requires masks as it’s a federal mandate and not really worth the argument). And she was having a heated argument with the voices in head, and losing the same. So the bus arrives, and I think the driver’s going to deny her service (being intoxicated on the bus=not cool with Pierce Transit). And then the driver tells me that he’s full, I need to catch the next bus. And then he slams the door in my face and drives off.
If I caught the next bus I’d be an hour late at work. And that’s if I was able to catch it. My apartment is only 10-15 minutes from the beginning of the bus route and if it’s full by the time it gets to me, then there’s a better than average chance that it’ll be full the next trip. So I called out. I know I’m already treading on thin ice, but I can’t afford the Uber to downtown Tacoma. And it’s not really worth the worry.
But I did send an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) to the Pierce Transit board of commissioners, asking them how am I supposed to get to work if the bus service is unreliable. And why was somebody who was intoxicated (and possibly having an open container) given preferential treatment?
Meanwhile at Mrs. Fields, the store owner has decided to pursue opportunities elsewhere (not to be discussed here at this time. Maybe in a future post). At first he tried to sell the store, but there were no serious takers. I was seriously thinking about buying it myself (confession: back when I was working for him exclusively, my dream was to own my own store). But there were no takers. And so about a month ago, the decision was made to close. And today was the last day….
I have now officially lost my second job. Financially it won’t set me back at all (after all, I still have a full-time primary job). And I’ve already been offered a position at his next opportunity. But owing to the distances involved, I don’t know if I can accept it.
And so Mrs. Fields closed today. I have taken down the store’s Facebook page. Today ends over 26 years of working for Mrs. Fields in some form or another. It started in April of 1995 at The Original Cookie Company in the South Hill Mall. About a year later that company merged with Mrs. Fields. And then they bought a couple of other concepts. I’ve worked in the South Hill Mall, the Tacoma Mall, the Westlake Center, the SeaTac Mall (now the Commons At Federal Way), the Kitsap Mall, and precisely two hours at Southcenter. And with the possible exception of one PretzelMaker at the Kitsap Mall, they’ve all closed. Shopping malls are in a serious decline. For many years, they used to be my livelyhood. But the only constant in this is that it’ll change. And like it or not, you have to move on….
So a pipeline got taken down by a ransomware attack. And people are panic-buying gasoline, which is making things worse than they need to… This is mainly affecting the East coast. I don’t think we’ll be affected here on the west coast.
But as for ransomware attacks, I think I’m pretty safe from that. I hope. I have backups. And they’re physically disconnected from my computer until they’re needed. You can’t hack it if it’s turned off….
So, I did a recent security audit on my Google account. Found out I was still signed into my Google account on my old HTC 10 and HTC One (M8) phones. I could remotely sign out on my HTC 10, but there wasn’t a way to sign out of the other one. But there was another way to delete my account information. I just factory reset both phones. Actually I booted phones into recovery (remember, I had rooted these), and deleted everything. And they’ve gone into The Drawer. I haven’t used one in over 2 years, and the other in over 4 years.
And I just wiped my Samsung Galaxy Note 9, too. And it too has gone into The Drawer…
So, a couple of weeks ago, my computer’s power supply went south, and I had to replace it. And while I was replacing it, I replaced upgraded two of my hard drives. So, now I have 4 hard drives: 1 ssd, and 3 hard drives. My computer now has a total of 25 tb of storage. Anyway, because of the drive replacements, and all the data being moved around, I ended up doing a system wipe. Completely. Meaning I used the ‘clean’ command from the command prompt. Between my Epic Games, Amazon Prime Games, and Steam Games I think I downloaded about 3 terabytes’ worth of crap. Then I had to redownload my GOG, Origin, and Ubisoft games (these I normally keep archived on another drive, but the drive got wiped).
But it’s all done. I just have to keep reminding myself that my hardware is permanently incompatible with Windows 7, and every time I’ve tried it has lasted for 12 hours at the most. And then I’m back to square 1. Although I’m getting better at rebuilding my system. I’m now down to a week and a half. It used to take me just 2 1/2 days to do it. With 2 different versions of Windows even. But then again, I only had 2 30 gb hard drives at the time, too….
It is now Cinco de Mayo. A minor Mexican holiday. Where a battle is commemorated that the Mexicans won (in a war with the French that they eventually lost). The actually Mexican independence day commemorates the Grito de Dolores on September 16. It is celebrated more in the US than in Mexico.
So, most of us here will be eating tacos (most likely the Taco Bell version not the authentic Mexican ones) and drinking Corona (founded by German immigrants, and therefor more closely related to Budweiser than Mexico), not realizing that it’s not really that big of a holiday.It is more known for it’s historical significance in Mexico….
On my Grandpa’s dairy farm, he had a steer named Cinco de Mayo, because he was born on Cinco de Mayo. He was friendly. But my father was in the Army at the time, and he got posted to Germany, and so off to Europe we went. At Cinco de Mayo (the steer) became meatloaf…
Two weeks ago yesterday, I got my second dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine. So I’m now fully vaccinated. But still, wear a mask. Stay 6 feet apart. Wash your hands. We can fully reopen if we all do our part…
I wrote a while back about my computer’s power supply going south. Ordered a new one off of Ebay. And it was shipped from Newegg. Not that I mind. Anyway I got a Rosewill 1000 Watt Gaming Computer Power Supply 80 Plus Bronze PSU Glacier 1000M (an upgrade from my 750 Watt power supply). And since I was going to be pulling open my tower, I decided it was time to retire my 4tb hard drive (I bought 1 in 2015, and the other I bought in 2019, but it was already used). So I replace them with 2 Toshiba X300 HDWR180XZSTA 8 tb hard drives. Which means that my main tower now has a total of 25 tb of storage space. My first computer only had 30 gb and that was a $150 upgrade….
So Rosewill/Newegg shipped the power supply via UPS. I ordered the hard drives in 2 separate orders from Newegg, and they were shipped via OnTrac. They were due to arrive last Wednesday by the end of business. I had to work that night. I left the house at 7:30 pm, and they still hadn’t arrived. Tracking the shipments, I noticed that they were both delivered, one at 9:30pm and 1 at 10:11pm. After my roommate had gone to bed. So 1 package was left out overnight. The other one that was supposed to have been delivered at 10:11 never showed up. OnTrac was of course no help at all (I previously had issues with them on a couple of orders from Spamazon, and they are not the best). Contacted Newegg, and they immediately filed a claim for a lost package, and I thought that was the end of it. After a couple of weeks if I was lucky, I would get my money back. 2 days after I was supposed to receive it, it showed up at my door. Newegg did offer me a discount on a future order for my trouble, and they will be lodging a complaint with OnTrac. Never underestimate Newegg’s customer service.
So, I put everything into my computer this weekend, and I then wiped everything. Which is where I am now. Reinstalling everything. This is going to take a while, but through the magic of symlinks I can now move a lot of stuff off my 1tb ssd…
Hello World. Once again. Sorta…
I make it a point to not comment on pending criminal cases. Even the most vile of criminals deserve to be treated fairly by the law, and I prefer to let the jurors called to serve make the call as to guilt or innocence….
But having said that, Chauvin had his day in court. He had his trial. And he was found guilty in a court of law. I will not glory in the verdict, nor will I gloat over it. George Floyd is still gone, and finding one cop guilty of killing him will not bring him back.
But, this can be a start. A start towards police accountability. A start towards the police viewing everybody they see as citizens with rights, and not as being beneath the protection of the law.
Chauvin guilty. This is only the beginning….
It’s my weekend. Actually the middle of it. Main tower is out of order (see the last few posts in this blog for all the details). So I’m typing this up on my TV (remember my previous tower was repurposed as my Blu-Ray drive/media center, and hooked up to my TV). And because I have a TV tuner hooked up to my second tower, I can watch TV on my TV (yes, I can switch the input to my cable box, but there’s no fun in that).
Anyway, I’m doing my best to stay at home today. I’m having my Target run delivered. I’ve already made my only (hopefully) run to the grocery store.
The past weekend, the sun came out. Really bright and sunny. And since I have a western facing bedroom window, and I have to sleep during the day, this means that the air conditioner is back up and running. I don’t have my main computer, but my room is still cool…
