Saturday, February 15, 2014

Marion - many congratulations to you and DH on your 50th!  So sorry to hear that it was tinged with worry about your best man's wife.  Did you keep any of the tree wood for firewood?

Rosey, I hope your problems with Windows will eventually work out.  Paying for a young woman to come out and go through things with you sounds a good idea.  Our main computer now is an Apple, but I've kept the 'old' one running with an earlier version of Windows and will do as long as possible.    I try not to get upgrades of programs until I absolutely have to.  "When it ain't(?) broken......"  Maybe the designers think they are making them 'better' but when suddenly an essential button disappears and it takes two more presses of the mouse to find it again from then on I get very, very annoyed.  I used one particular publishing program, when I was in the school library, almost daily.  Its last 'upgrade' was a complete re-write, almost turned into a children's version, and in the end I couldn't use the original because the newer Windows wouldn't accommodate it.

Those poor people in southern England and Wales are getting a real hiding from the storms and gales, and so much of North America is getting snow and ice.  Here we've had the longest string of hot days for nearly 140 years, a bushfire burning for 30 days straight across the gulf from us, followed by the highest February rainfall in 45 years!  My cousinx7 in the Swiss Alps is snowed in with the highest level of snow in 60 years.  Mother Nature really seems to be on the warpath.

Take care, everyone.
Fran

oooops...

I don't know what happened there..!!! I was simply going to comment on the fact that there was an ad on the top of the"post" page, for a free WIndows 7 download, or something of the kind !  We are being watched !

DH and I had our 50th Wedding anniversary yesterday (I was a child bride..)  A quiet day for us as we have a very seriously ill friend, wife of our Best Man.  However, it was a good day. We took the dog for a long walk in the morning, had friends around in the afternoon and were invited to a spectacular meal by our neighbours at night, just the four of us and not far to travel,so it suited us well.  We were supposed to be in Auckland with our family but cancelled, because of the situation here.

The problem of the fallen trees has at last been settled. We had men here all last week , chain sawing and stripping branches, dealling wth the debris and making a lit of noise and dust.  We parted with a very large sum of money to have this done, insurances didn't want to know about it,  it has left us feeling very poor !  Good that we did the trip to Europe last year, If it had been planned for this year I think we would have cancelled !

Another sunny day here today.  Photos of Scotland, where DD#1 is at the moment, show snow fall and grey skies.  England is being lashed with rain and winds and the situation in America and Canada is very serious.

I hope you are all warm and cosy in your homes and that the weather will ease up soon.

Marion.

"They" are watching us again !!!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Technology ... can't live with it and can't live without it. Argh!

Rosey,  Hang in there with Win7.    I am grateful that I missed the Windows Vista generation of OS and knew enough about Win8 to avoid it, especially on a desktop system.   My rotator cuff would complain, loudly, if I had to reach across the desk to touch a screen all the time instead of a mouse.

I have a Gateway laptop that is probably twelve years old.  DH used it for several years and I forget why he stopped using it.  It probably couldn't keep up with what he needed for work.   Back in 2007,  I loaded my ME (machine embroidery) software on it and use the laptop in all the ME software classes at my Bernina dealer since then.

Last summer,   I got a Martha Pullen monograms software program for ME.  Loaded fine on my desktop and I got it activated via internet connection and manufacturer.  This poor  12 y/o Gateway laptop, however, no longer wants to be connected to the internet.   It simply refused and couldn't even keep Internet Explorer going.    Okay.  Old age and related disorders.  I totally get that. LOL or may I should say ... Waaahhhhh!

Software installation program told me (on my laptop screen)  there is a way to activate it without internet connection, though. I call the manufacturer and get some sort of "code."   So I called them and it took them two days to figure out where to find the code to give me.    Because, really, who does not have a computer anymore that has no internet access?!?   They were very nice and helpful, and I had to be patient with them since who actually owns and uses a 12+ y/o
 computer that can no longer access the internet?!?   LOL  

Anyway, we got it all sorted out and it worked beautifully in class.    I can not believe this little laptop is still going after 12 or more years.   Everything else we have owned always bit the dust, sooner or later.

Bad ice storm hitting Atlanta, GA right now.  Some of the storm is going to hit middle Tennessee so schools went ahead and canceled for the day, to avoid anticipated traffic problems.  We have dodged a lot of bullets with snow and ice, this winter.     I keep reminding myself that SPRING, or at worst, SUMMER  WILL COME   and this will all be nothing but a bad memory in 90 days.

Rosey

All the points you make are very good and the very same arguments I have. Another suggestion I might make is to ask at the local Middle or High School if their is a young lady that might tutor you in learning Windows 7. I find that girls that age somehow seem to understand me better than the young men who are way more into the technical jargon and inner workings rather than what you would like it to do. Just tell her what you liked about the old program. There is a group from our school that come by the library once a week to help adults trying to understand the technology. I think it is part of their service learning. What a great idea.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

I've lived too long for the electronic age

This is not my usual state in my studio but it's close to it.  A major clean-up is on tap for this room, which does not have greenery outside the windows at this time of year...white with green fir trees, bare branches of deciduous trees is the order of the day at this time of year.

And my computer, which is on my desk, now has Windows 7 in it.  I have learned how to take all the wires off the back of the tower and I've managed to get all back in the right places.  I took my computer back into the shop today, two hours later, the tech said, 'don't bring this thing back to me, you can come back to visit'...it was driving him nuts too.  I've learned how to enlarge my screen resolution as the print was so small (the recommended size apparently) that even with my new glasses I was squinting.  Why can't computer people just leave things along when they have a simple programme or product?  I guess we 'oldies' don't outnumber the younger folks and are not a targeted market but if you can save your Windows XP, believe me, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles on it but it's much easier to operate.  Why I need so many fancy things on my inbox which allows me to do things I don't know how to do, baffles me.  Oh well, thanks for the encouragement.  I've almost been in tears trying to learn how to use this programme and I think if I need a 'tune-up' I'll have to pay someone to come to my house and give me an hour's lesson.  I can't waste the tech's time in the shop.

As long as I can get my emails, get onto the several blogs I like to read, research through Google, use Word which doesn't exist on Window's 7 but some other fancy thing that you have to go into and can't print from until you stand on your head and rub your tummy apparently.

I am not entirely impressed with modern electronic technology.
Rosey

Monday, February 10, 2014

Good to hear from so many people

Finally sat down for 10 min. to check WWQP. Good to hear from so many people, sorry about the terrible weather in Canada, Iowa, etc. Where my DD and DSIL are (the nearest city) it is -2 right now, with a high of 0 today. For North Fla. we have had terrible, cold weather for about 2 weeks before yesterday. Yesterday the Sun actually came out and most of the rain and gloom are gone for at least 4 or so days. When all the snow, etc hit Atlanta 10 or so days ago they were expecting sleet on the bridges here. (This city is around a river, you can't get from one part of town to another without going over at least 1 bridge) Thankfully the low was only 35 that night, and the sleet just missed us. I had a Dr. appt. with my wonderful family Dr.downtown that morning at 8:30, and made it OK. My BP wasnt even high. The bad weathr in Canada and the Northern US. is why the people who flee to South Fla. are called "Snow Birds". I certainly don't blame them. Just got my new Toyota Rav-4 a few days ago and trying to learn all the techie things just like Rosey and all with the computers. It has a GPS, etc, etc. In a few weeks I will master it,, but not stressing about it right now. Finding I can't drive after dark, which is about 6pm here. The eye surgery -- or maybe being 65 is limiting that. Am getting a ride to church tonight for the "retirement" dinner of our wonderful Minister and his wife. I can see fine to drive there at 5:15, but comming home would be a problem. Thankfully DH can drive me home! No quilting here lately. Sara in Fla. (72 and sunny here right this min.)

Rosey

I can so identify with your feelings about the weather. It is just as lousy here in Iowa except we do not have the base of ice under the snow this year. I look for the smallest things to tell myself about this miserable winter. Just think January is history and we will be half way through February this Friday. I am just holding my breath that the next season is more normal.

I find communicating with the techies my drawback because I don't know the proper terms and if I were told them I would probably soon forget them anyway. I agree with Jean that you should be able to work with Windows 7 easily. Just keep talking with your tech support until they understand what you want. I was very annoyed that they seemed to think they need to make everything look different when I was just handling what I had for the first 10 years. I'm hooked enough with all that the internet brings me that I will continue to plod along. I know you can do it. Take a deep breath and think happy thoughts.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

@*)^&%)&)@$)*@()*)@

UTTER CHAOS, UTTER CONFUSION. As mentioned somewhere here, my Windows XP up and died and I had to have a new tower (computer)...Suggested Windows 7 has brought nothing but woes into my otherwise peaceful relationship with my computer. The tower is going back in to the shop to figure out why it's not working properly...I can't print off anything and the darned programme has more things on it that only serve to annoy me than facilitate me. Why don't they have programmes that work fast (windows 7...oh, it's so fast you'll not believe it, I was told...it does but it is so complicated that I could throw the darned thing out the studio window)....but are uncomplicated for luddites like me. Windows 8 I was warned against, believe me, Windows 7 is a pain in the pittooey. This winter, as Heather will attest to, has been a challenging one...an old fashioned winter complicated by a Dec. 22nd ice storm which has left sheets of thick ice beneath whatever snow has accumulated since. Therefore, snow blowers won't work in blowing snow out from areas that need blowing out. We paid $180 to have our long laneway freed of ice ruts after that storm but trying to get back and forth next door, a fair distance, is impossible. We resort to snow shoes now getting around on the snow. Having a case of cabin fever is a matter of mind over matter. Today, I will Force myself to clean up the floor space in my studio. Force is the right word because I have no idea where I'll put baskets of stuff...I feel that we are locked into a frozen wasteland and that winter is no longer beautiful. I was trying to have a good attitude towards it but it's failing me now. Rosey in southern Ontario, Canada