Before & After & Inbetween

After the update issue with my computer was resolved I had a total of two (2) days until the machine developed hardware issues, usually after it ran for a couple of hours, but given that most vid confs are in my afternoon that's a problem.

The advantage of all-in-one pcs is that they run "out of the box" and allow for an exceptionally clean environment (read not dust bunnies between cables behind the monitor, under the table next to the tower, etc. pp. - for somebody with my level of allergies that's a BIG PLUS - because I lived years with daily cleaning my desk environment - and the resulting frequent cable and connector issues) - so for someone like me an AIO is a gift. With the downside that you can do truly little if the hardware starts failing. I did what was possible...

...and admitted defeat last Thursday.

Turns out, February 2021 is an inconvenient time to need a new AIO with camera, microphone, and a decent screen in size and resolution (I'm used to 4K since 2015, I am so not going back to those grainy, greyish blobs making decent graphics work impossible; I did that once with a laptop and I oh so regretted it until I had a chance to replace that machine with a better one), because after one year of home office for everyone, all that's left on the market with a delivery time within March this year is scrap or luxury.
The latter will -hopefully- be delivered next week (they say Tuesday, but I have no firm confirmation yet), and washing machine, laundry dryer, microwave, fridge, freezer, and tv better all make it to 2022, because the "household appliances emergency fund" for this year is already empty.

So, another three weeks lost to computer shenanigans - because if it gets delivered in time, then next weekend will be spend setting up and getting to know all the possibilities of the new machine (and given its price tag, I expect it to serve coffee and donuts in bed. At least.)!

My old Sony PRS-505 ereader is dying. For over three weeks I contemplated the available options to replace it:

Sony PRS-T1 or T2? In the 2nd generation users still report crashes and the reader "forgetting" which page you were reading? Something their old brother never did and I'm supposed to pay 180 and some € for that? Out of the question! Besides, I'd like to synch my reading with both - my home computer *and* my Galaxy Note phone.

A Kindle? I have a gazillion epubs (and Calibre, yes!) and the new paperwhite model with the best resolution screen won't be shipped until right before Christmas when ordered now. Besides... 130 € (without 3G)? My Sony is dying now...

...and I still want to synch with my phone. I read phone on my daily commute, I want something bigger for reading in bed. Something bigger...

I ordered myself a Galaxy Tab 2 (7", 16 GB, 1 GHz processor - slow, but more than efficient to serve as home ereader, WLAN only) for 200 €. The Sony option wouldn't have been (much) cheaper (and doesn't allow direct read'n'tweet as I love to do with books I love) and in terms of reading, it can be considered the big brother of my beloved phone, meaning all four installed reading apps (including Amazon's and the one that synchs directly with Calibre) will work there, giving me the same options and screen quality I enjoy on the commute at the size of a paperback (and less weight, at least compared to my usual paperbacks).

Why didn't I think of this four weeks ago?!

At the end of 2010, it was MAN AGAINST MACHINE (in Go)...

[add "Terminator" theme here]

...and machine lost! (4:0)

After over three years, I replaced my trusty Nokia 6131 flip phone (you know, the model that opens with like a ST:TOS communicator at the press of a button) with a shiny new Samsung Wave smartphone. ( Squee! )

current chapter word count: 5254
less again because I decided against the shower (and the fan service) and for the Seishiro-Makoto talk and some Subaru contemplation time
resulting in better characterization and more focus on the plot than the butt.
continuing with Subaru-Michiko (one scene given, since working speed is closer to normal now)
character in for a tough talk: Makoto
character clearing the premises: Subaru
character actually drawing an ofuda: Ameru
character more professionally savvy now: Michiko
quote of the day: His pulse. Not Sado's.

totally unrelated side-note: ( cut over drool tech )

current chapter word count: unchanged (in file), drastically changed (on paper)
because Ameru kind of had it with pretense

entirely related:( rantish happiness )

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope there'll be more FM soon! :)

It feels great...
...to have your data available again.
...to have more desk space than before (because 2 500 GB drives fit l&r under the TFT, whereas the 1TB drive box did not)
...to have two silver 4 USB 2.0 ports on top of each (I'm a physicist - we're suckers for symmetries!)
...to have now enough ports for all of my periphery at once!
...to have the whole system back behind high-grade surge protection (*)
...to have all the black & silver wires neatly bound back again
...to finally be able to focus on writing!

(*) yes, I'm paranoid. You should see my UPS!

If your 1TB drive suddenly pops cluster errors at you, you kind of know that the weekend is busted (as is your wallet, but that's another matter) - especially if you're paranoid regarding data loss!
So instead of working on FM yesterday afternoon and today, I raced around finding two 500 GB drives, a new USB 2.0 hub (because the TB is a firewire drive, which is nice but unfortunately expensive and two additional USB drives need more hubs than I had -- printer, scanner, graphics tablet, portable...) and spent the rest of the time copying material, rescuing data from the TB bad sectors, narrowing down losses (turns out: truly gone are currently 8 kB, but a drive already showing cluster errors cannot be relied on for data storage! Not when you want to sleep sound!) and overall setting up the system with two new drives - I'm going to keep the TB as kind of every day mirror, so that everything on it is also on at least one other drive - and realizing that I need another flash-protected power line. Will get that next week and use next weekend to do the rewiring...

Overall result: two shiny new drives; almost all the data rescued; and geek weight loss of 5 kg or more (at least).

But... I have scribbles for two of the three remaining issues in FM! So yay, for overclocked minds!

I finally got my little black (no, not from Dior; it's a Samsung Q45) laptop three days ago, but I was too busy with work, story posting, review answering, and overall daily life (eek) to give it it's deserved new hardware squee

It's small, black, shiny, powerful and lightweight with an acceptable battery life of 5+ hours!

Now I'll beat the OS into submission and start feeling mobile!


on a totally unrelated sidenote: the new version of Semagic (1.7.0.9) now also supports automatic tags on IJ. :)