Scattered Thoughts . . .

I haven't written in a while so I'm long overdue for an update.  I was going to write about a few different things in this blog entry that have kept me away from typing here and I actually started typing but I quickly realized that the first thing I was typing about really should have a blog entry of its own so I'm going to stick with this morning's topic...  my latest computer upgrades.  I'll write about other topics in separate blog entries sometime later.  My primary desktop computer that I use every single day is now about five years old.  It is still a powerful computer even by today's standards but it needed some preventative maintenance as well as a few upgrades.  Five years of daily use is a long time.   The primary issue that needed to be resolved is that my C: drive was almost full.  It was so full that just browsing the internet for a few days would collect enough temporary files that my C: drive would move into the red warning area (less than 10gb&

O ne of the things on my very long to-do list is to build a small observatory shed next to my outdoor telescope pier and then fence the entire area to keep out bears, bobcats and skunks.  I have sketched all sorts of plans but, between continuing health issues followed by the pandemic and lack of available lumber, I have made absolutely no progress in actually building this shed/observatory area.  Well...  I did build the telescope pier and the foundation for the shed but that is all that has been accomplished thus far.  My plan was to use an old Hewlett-Packard desktop computer for controlling my astronomy gear and it would be housed in this astronomy shed.  This old computer is in the eight to ten year old range and hasn't been used at all over the past two years.  When I purchased a new computer two years ago, I saved this old computer specifically for the purpose of using it in my new observatory.  I recently started loading astronomy programs onto this old computer to get it r

My five year old desktop computer was constantly crashing earlier this month. This old HP computer would suddenly go black... then the HP splash screen would appear... followed by a Windows reboot. This would happen whether I was simply typing email, or working in Photoshop, or working on a video, or even when no programs were opened. I knew that some component was failing.  At around five years old, this computer was already beyond its average life expectancy for a computer workstation. If there is any good news in this story it is that I was already shopping around for a new computer long before this one started to fail. Whenever Sheila and I would window shop, we were always impressed by the Lenovo computers whether they be desktop computers or laptop computers. Actually, Sheila has been drooling over their top-of-the-line Yoga laptop but we decided it would be overkill for reading books, reading magazines and accessing social media. Since her cellphone is a Samsung, we opted

Microsoft Surface 3 with keyboard and mouse... I've had a couple of days to play with my new Microsoft Surface computer. This laptop/tablet combo is really nice! I've loaded most of the software I will be using on this computer including Adobe Photoshop. I tried it out... not only is this Surface far better than my two year old HP laptop which had better specs but it is, without a doubt, the best laptop I have ever used. I'm quite impressed! Sheila played with it for a bit last night while I was cooking dinner... she loved it as well and was left feeling as though her Kindle Fire tablet is feeling a bit old and clunky by comparison. To be honest, I don't think my Kindle Fire tablet feels old and clunky (I have the same Kindle Fire tablet as Sheila) ... the Fire is just as light and nimble as my new Surface 3. Sheila may feel this way simply because she has a crappy screen protector (and it is scuffed up a bit too) on her Kindle Fire which cuts down on clarity.

Unfortunately, the consequences of the work I accomplished on our wildflower gardens and landscaping over the weekend has caught up with me.  Saturday was a productive few hours for some much needed yardwork. I felt pretty good on Sunday... only relatively minor spinal pain... but, apparently, the inflammation in my spine was slowly building over the course of a few days because by Monday I could hardly walk and the pain was stingingly brutal. I spent Monday and Tuesday doing whatever I could to alleviate the pain and inflammation. This mean occasional stretching but mostly staying off my feet. It meant extra anti-inflammatory medications. It meant extra water intake. It meant occasional icing of my spine... and I truly hate using ice at this point! After almost two decades of struggling with spinal injuries, there are some things which really get to me and ice is one of them. It just bothers me to even think about applying ice to my spine. That being said, when the pain gets to

I had just finished adding a new additional 8gb memory card to my desktop computer and now it was time to swap out the RAM on my laptop computer for a new 8gb memory card. I use this little laptop whenever we are on the road or at the lake house for music, editing photos, updating my blog, and any other internet activities. Because I use this laptop for editing photos, I needed more RAM than the stock 4gb's.  Wow... this 'little' task which was a piece of cake on my desktop computer was significantly more complicated on this little laptop!  I had to dismantle the entire laptop to gain access to the RAM card. To say this made me nervous is a gross understatement. First off... just figuring out how to open the case was a pain in the butt! There are about 17 tiny screws holding this thing together... most plainly visible but some were hidden under rubber feet and flush covers. Next... everything on this little laptop is miniscule and I have big hands and rather poor eyes

I bought a new desktop computer almost a year ago after an unknown component in my old computer stopped functioning rendering the computer useless. I couldn't figure out which component went bad and didn't want to start buying parts and swapping out parts hoping to get lucky so I just bought a new computer.  That new computer came with 8gb's of RAM installed which is more than enough for most people. I, however, use my desktop computer for editing photos, creating video, and various other graphics intensive programs so I knew that I would want to install more RAM before long. Fortunately, installing RAM in a desktop computer is a piece of cake...  Open the big side panel by sliding it off...  Push open the two clips in the next empty RAM card slot... Then insert the new RAM until the clips lock in place.   Slide the side panel of the desktop tower back into place... Boot up the computer... Done!   So, I added another 8gb's of RAM last night.  Piece of

New HP Envy desktop computer with Beats Audio... Excellent audio for a home computer! I had mentioned in a previous blog post a few weeks ago that my computer had stopped working and that finding a new one proved to be a difficult, time-consuming task. Within a week or so, I had a new HP Envy desktop computer delivered to my door. Money is always an issue for us considering the medical bills for both Sheila and me with our respective illnesses so this was a costly problem we did not welcome. We've certainly had more serious and costly 'emergency' problems but this was a problem we needed to address as soon as possible in today's electronic world. This computer issue sort of bumped a few more projects around the house. My health hasn't been cooperating for home renovations anyway so that slows down renovations which helps with the budget issues. Buying a new computer always involves extra costs though. There is software to replace which can total more than

When Windows 8 was first released two years ago, I must admit that I found the user interface a bit flat-looking and difficult to navigate. I would try it out at our local stores and always left feeling frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to move around within this new operating system. Well, about two weeks ago, my main desktop computer croaked suddenly. This computer was my main workhorse for graphics, art and photography so it takes much more of a beating than most people's computers. The computer was suddenly non-responsive. It didn't even sound right to me. To make a long story short, I needed a new computer and I needed it as quickly as possible. Two weeks later, I finally have a new desktop computer up and running and configured for my own needs.  I had the option of buying another computer with Windows 7 or I could opt for the newer Windows 8. It really seemed silly to be buying a new computer with a considerably older operating system so I did some