Taming the Computer Beast

Meet my computer... and the messy desk where all the blogish magic takes place. I'm sure you'll have questions about all that JUNK in the picture, so I'll go ahead and point out some areas of interest:

1. Yes, that is Mrs. PacMan on the screen. I'm her biggest fan.

2. Yes, that is the solar system on my mouse-pad. It is a 3-D mouse pad also... but really isn't all that great at serving its purpose. I like to look at it, however, so I have let it live there.

3. Jason's Deli Cup (iced sweet tea, most likely) and Jarritos bottle (used to be tamarind soda)... what can I say? I have a drinking problem.

4. Look closely behind my keyboard. Those are ROCKS. Not the drug kind. Quartz crystals, milky quartz veins, granite etc. A hand-ful of business cards and receipts waiting for entry into the checkbook are there in front of them.

5. Yes, that is a picture of my husband and I mugging out on the right there. I couldn't help it. He was a hottie (and only 21 in that photo).


My computer has been an awful beast lately... so I have decided to tame it once and for all (or at least bring it under submission for the next six months). I am not sure where all the little viruses and worms come from out there, but I have to clean my PC up at least once a year, if not twice. I have not done a complete overhaul since we moved here last October. It is past time for the 'clean sweep'.

I bought a tape backup recently because I was getting cold sweats every time it thundered outside (and I unplugged the whole thing each time I saw lightning outside). I have at least three, if not four or five years worth of digital photos stored on one of my two hard-drives in this computer. I have not gone to print them all yet, so it would be devastating if something were to happen to them. They say that the safest way to store digital pictures is a tape backup. It took over ten hours to back up my drive last night. It is slow going and very noisy. I feel much relief this morning, however... and that is worth being kept up all night with the "airplane" noises. Now I have two copies of my photos (tape back-up and extra storage drive).

The kids are swimming at the gym right now with Dad while I clean house... and when Kev gets home we are going to instigate 'death by lethal injection' on the beast (inject Windows CD and click the 'reformat C:' button). In the mean time, I'm going to type up my 2004-5 spreadsheet. Maybe you'll actually get to see the long-promised year 3 (1st/2nd Grade) sooner than you thought!? Don't hold your breath, though...

See you on the other side of my re-boot!


Other Quick Links:FastStone Image Viewer (digital imaging software)
Burned CDs May Not Last


Buzz Words: technical difficulties, system, Windows, photos, storage, backup, technology, photographs, data, computer, tape backup, pc, maintenance, reformat, software, virus, hardware, techie