the promise of Spring

 This photo is from Sunday~ a walk around MY park, Precita Park. Even though it is raining today I am way more cheerful because Luis came over yesterday to fix this damn computer and to clean out all the crap that somehow filled all sorts of nooks and crannies. He installed Malware Bites to prevent future problems and he lectured me again on organizing and locking away passwords and so that is a project I am working on today. Luis is a godsend with tons of patience. 

a mess o' wires

My wireless router refused to function this morning and I had to
hit Best Buy for a new one. We've all come a long way here ~
first, me. I don't panic anymore and I know that somehow I can
do whatever needs to be done to feed my computer addiction.
Next, them. The instructions are easy to read and the many wires
now come in different colors. When something doesn't work I
actually go back and read the instructions again. The Blogmaid
often reminds me that women have conquered technology and
once again she is right. Now let's all double-click on a few icons
and celebrate this monumental achievement!

our mutual loss

Almost everyone I know is an Apple fan. When my stepson
arrived yesterday he came into our kitchen and plunked down
his iPad, iMac and iPhone. My MsBook and iPhone were in
the living room. When someone buys anything other than an
Apple product, I know that they will eventually replace it with
the best, and that's because of this man who died waaaaay too
young yesterday.

I'd like to join my friends who work and thrive at Apple today ~
the Infinite Loop seems finite, doesn't it? I send virtual
flowers and my heartfelt sympathy for your extreme loss.

Thank you, Steve, for expanding my life these past 20 years.
I have grown, changed, started writing, made friends, made
enemies, tore out my hair, laughed uproariously, cried buckets
of tears and learned to look inward and outward and all over
the world because of your great and innovative mind.

RIP. You did good.

backing up in style

Cute as a button, no? It's my new OWC Mercury thingie and
The Total Mac man already installed it and backed up all the
very, very important stuff here on my newish computer.
I have never used the Time Machine feature, but he showed
me how and, of course, like everything Apple, it is easy as
pie. This looks big and imposing, but it's actually much smaller
than a 2-slice toaster and I'm greatly relieved that I have it.
I appreciate notthat's gentle nudge and Mistress Jane recently
wrote about how it saved her life when her computer crashed.
This hard drive cost $150.00, by the way, and I'm feeling smug.

Andrew also cleaned up msMacBook and the problem seemed
to be some silly thing that I downloaded that I do NOT need.
Things are copacetic technology-wise here at Casa Verde.

saturday's round robin write

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

I only woke up once and worried about msBook last night. She froze about
8pm while I was downloading some dumb program that I don't need and
will never use. But really, I just wanted to restart her. So off I will go to
The Total Mac, out on Geary. Since I'm working at the Legion of Honor
I can go there on my lunch hour. We all pray that Andrew will be open.

Currently I'm typing away on my iBook G4 (msBook #1) that I thought was
dead and gone. I have not plugged it in for almost one year, and yet,
here she is. I know I'm on limited life support here, so I feel pressured
to finish this piece and send it to Marnee and Mistress Jane.

And here I was going to get back to Ellen and have her run the red
No Left Turn sign. First I'd have to go back and find out what she's
driving, I think it's a red Smart Car like my friend Susan in
Sacramento drives. This is no way to write a mystery novel. I
should have stacks of files and then I need to get a huge bulletin
board and fill it with the main plot and many interesting sub plots.
I need to build a few characters other than Ellen and her orange
cat, Salmon. Daunting.

Even thinking about writing fiction makes me appreciate the
people who actually do it. My God, it's difficult. I could, of
course, buy yet another book on How To Write Fictioin. That'll do the trick.

do you know joan?

We had an all-store meeting at the de Young yesterday morning
and the new kids had to stand up, introduce ourselves and mention
a favorite artist. I am a huge fan of Joan Brown and have loved
her work since we went to some exhibit or other over at the
Oakland Museum. She lived in the Bay Area until her too-early death.

Today I'm all about msBook and writing and answering emails.
Such a pleasure to wake up, pour a cup of very strong black coffee,
head for the living room sofa and lose myself in words. (Yours
and sometimes mine.)

out of sick bay

OK, msBook is home and all cleaned up now. I'm still going to
get a msBook2 because I can't go through this ever again.
Andrew at The Total Mac is wonderful and I know he is v.
tired of my phone calls and temper tantrums. He is also
$378 richer, but it is so worth it!

Thank you again for your many nice (and funny) comments
and now to read my emails. Not a great start for my Round
Robin class, but I'll catch up.

computer dependency

Thanks for all your good thoughts. I have rented a computer
here on Mission Street because I can't stand to be away from
all of you whether on email, blogland or Facebook. Scary,
isn't it?

MsBook should be ready tomorrow and yes, I have decided
to purchase a back-up because we all know that once these
little occurrences begin, it's a slippery slope. She is almost 5.5
years and has her own (ahem) personality. This problem seems
to be in the frame and blah, blah. I will pick her up tomorrow
out on Geary Street at The Total Mac. Forever thanks to
Mistress J for suggesting this fix-it place many years ago.

Working at the Legion was great fun and I did have lunch
outside overlooking the ocean and GG Bridge on my right.
May all our computer problems be small ones!