Wind and Software/Hardware Issues

I was hoping to tell you how great my breakfast was, but I can’t. And, because I changed two variables, instead of just one like anyone conducting an experiment should do, I can’t tell you why. You see, I bought the low sugar variety (I just saw they carried it yesterday) and I also added the wheat germ. One or the other would have been fine. But, whichever it was, I didn’t really like the taste all that well (the texture and the trail mix was excellent, though). So, I’ll try it without the wheat germ tomorrow and get back to you.

It was overcast, and windy, but warm when I left the house for work Monday morning. It’s supposed to get even warmer and even windier this afternoon (we are under a “Severe Weather” alert for the winds until 8:00 PM tonight).

I had to run out just before lunch to pick up a fan for a broken computer, so I went to lunch afterwards. I headed for Lowe’s and, at the intersection just before it (Warren and Newburgh), there is a fruit and vegetable market with a big nursery called Randazzo’s. I glanced over while waiting for the light to turn and saw that every, EVERY, tree they had out (and they have a lot of all different-sized trees) was blown over and lying down, with the bucket or root ball sticking up.

I darn near blew away when I got out of the car (and my walker did! I had to chase it down!!) I did find the smaller retaining wall blocks I needed (I knew they had to have come from either Home Depot or Lowe’s) and stacked six of them on the walker seat. Now the wind won’t blow it away. I could barely push it, LOL!

I also got a tool I’ll need for the next “No BLT Gardening” project, so I checked out and rolled to the car. Loading the blocks in the car was easy. Figuring out how to fit the tool in wasn’t – it’s 78 inches long.

Then I drove back to work and the afternoon seemed to go by quickly for a change. But, my back was killing me (either from overdoing it on the weekend or lack of morphine, who knows? Who cares? It hurt!)

I did call the landscaping company and Amber, the receptionist (or “sales associate” as she calls herself) checked and found she was wrong. I am not on the Friday schedule; I’m on the Tuesday schedule. Since they had just cut it the Friday before, they didn’t come back last Tuesday (which I can understand and my wallet appreciates). But, now at least I know I’m on a schedule.

Five o’clock came and I almost drove down onto the expressway, but at the last minute, the guy in front of me swerved off the ramp and back on the service drive. Now I could see the expressway and everyone was stopped DEAD! So, I swerved too. I remembered before I got to Farmington Road that anyone who could would be getting off the expressway and the service drive has no light, just a yield sign meaning we'd all be waiting forever. So, I turned onto Stark Road and took that to Plymouth Road, where there is a light. Then I drove home.

I was prepared to see the higher profile vehicles (larger SUVs and trucks) swerving all over their lanes. But I was surprised at how much my own low-profile car was buffeted, even when just stopped at the lights. I got home about 10 minutes later than usual.

I stopped at the mailbox, opened the trunk and put the course of six retaining wall blocks on. They look odd from my yard side as they are a deep red (as were the ones I had when they were new) but now the old ones have faded and are more a reddish brown. And, having the second course on clearly showed that the original row was not even close to being level. When it’s not so windy and I am dressed for outdoor work, I’ll try and fix that.

I spent a LOT of time trying to remember how I got that first photo of my coffee cup at work off the camera and onto my computer. But, I finally figured it out (it was so stupidly simple I’m embarrassed to say) and posted a picture of me in my brace I asked Michelle at work to take for you. I don’t think that many people have seen me in it.

I remembered the trash in time to get it out to the road before dark. I switched out the kitty litter so, while it still was windy, I wasn’t worry about the bag blowing away!

Then, I started installing the My Book (the external drive) which was simple. So simple in fact that they don’t give you an instruction book, just a leaflet with three pictures! Next I installed the Norton Ghost, which was not a simple. First of all, because I only use it once every couple of years, the CD/DVD drive wouldn’t open. I finally had to do it manually with a bent paper clip. Then I installed the program, but didn’t take the disc back out of the drive. So, when I restarted the computer (it asked me to), the restart stalled (I think it was trying to reboot from the CD/DVD drive). I ended up unplugging the computer (it was the only way to shut it off), restarting it and immediately opening the drive and taking out the disk.

It went smoothly after that. I set the Ghost program to back up my whole system (files, programs, everything, at least according to the software information) and 38 minutes later, it was done. I didn’t get around to scheduling routine backups or anything (by that time it was almost 9:30 PM), but I got the computer all backed up once!

One thing I did think I will check later is how much space is now used on the external drive compared to the C:\ drive. If there’s a little more on the external drive (it does come with its own backup software) I’m guessing I should be good to go.

I quit screwing around with computers and ate some warmed up leftover shrimp scampi for my late night dinner. I took my evening pills and went straight to bed.