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kareinaI tend to be one of those people who keep using the same computer for at least 8 years. The last one I bought new was a Vaio notebook computer I got soon after moving to Italy, when I was visiting Crian in Edinburgh. That computer worked for years, but it eventually started having issues. Those issues included symptoms of taking really much, much too long to turn on or off, and, eventually, David took some spare computer parts he had lying around and set me up with the first desktop I have ever used, figuring that since I tend to take my work computer with me when I travel it will be fine if the home one isn't portable. That was... a while ago. A year? Two? I honestly don't remember. Probably closer to one year than two. He didn't intend that to be a permanent solution, and some months later he got around to running some diagnostics on the old Vaio notebook, determined which components he thought were the problem, and, some time later, replaced them. I think I may even have paid for the component parts, but what they were didn't make long term memory.
He finally had it ready to go and a operating system installed on it and gave it back to me not long after I returned from my trip to Seattle for mom's death. It shouldn't surprise anyone that I didn't have the energy at that point to even turn it on to see if it worked, and which programs I needed to install, let alone transferring my data back to it if it seemed like it was going to behave. Around the time my energy levels started getting back to normal after losing mom I had my surgery, and as I was starting to recover from that I found out that my job may be in danger due to budget issues, and then I found that dream job to apply for, and I have been in a holding pattern waiting for progress on that front ever since.
For the first I don't remember how many months the combination of the work computer and home computer worked great. We had OwnCloud (kind of like Dropbox, but for one's personal server, not the net) set up so that I could use Scrivener on either computer and it would be current, so long as I remembered to close it on the one before going to the other (which I did). Eventually though I had some issues with Scrivener backups, and around the same time something went weird with OwnCloud, and I started just bringing the work computer back and forth and only working on it. I would put it on the same desk as the home computer, and plug it into one of the two monitors there, then have the home computer also on, and, thanks to Mouse Without Borders, I could use it like a third monitor, opening web browsers, or things we have on dropbox (so I can open them on either computer--whatever caused the problem with OwnCloud didn't effect dropbox), or things that only exist on the home computer, and I could copy-paste from one to the other. This worked for some weeks (months?), but, eventually, the home computer started having issues (slow reaction times), and I gradually used it less and less often, only for those things that exist only on that computer (like Quicken, which, since it is for personal finances, I have never put on the work computer).
Today was my first day back in the office after 4 weeks at home (or at an SCA event, which is also "home"), and I decided that I would leave the work computer in the office (and set it to do backups to the department H drive when I left), and use the time this evening to actually turn on the Vaio notebook and see what it needs, and also see if I can get OwnCloud working on the home computer again. Of course, this plan was not to be. When David set up the Vaio he gave it a user name of "riia", and attached a password. If he ever told me there was a password I have long since forgotten. So I called him (he is out in the Luelå archipelago helping a friend level her summerhouse today and tomorrow), and he doesn't remember setting up a password at all, and thinks there shouldn't be one. We tried the obvious totally not safe passwords like just hitting enter, or "riia", "Riia", "1234" etc. but none of them work. He will be able to go back in and remove the password, of course, but he can't do that from the island while the computer is here.
So I decided to try dealing with OwnCloud, and looked up the password (it has been asking at computer startup for a password for ages), and entered it, and it says "not valid". It also says something about "account disabled". Again something that he will be able to solve when he gets home, but that won't be till tomorrow, at which point he may or may not have time/energy. However, his not being available gave me time to type up this, for your entertainment.
Since I am here I may as well include an update of the past few days, too. When last I posted it was Wednesday of last week, and I had no plans as of yet. How quickly our days fill up.
Thursday I did my workout in the morning, biked to the office to water my plant in the afternoon (this time my key opened the door no problem, unlike the time I tried a week or two before), went straight back home, curled up with a e-book and audio book in Norwegian for a few hours, helped David re-arrange stuff in the shed so that we can fix the back wall next, and enjoyed hanging out with him a bit afterwards.
Friday I helped out my friend Louise and her mom, both of whom needed to go grocery shopping, but neither of whom has a driver's licence. Normally her dad takes them, but he is out of town, so she asked me if I would. She also said we could use their car, so I biked over there, we drove out to the big grocery store, and each got our own cart and agreed to meet at the bench by the door when done. They warned me that they would take a while, so I wandered slowly through the store and picked up the few things I needed, and stopped to chat with my friend Siv, whom I ran into in the dairy section. Eventually I paid for my things and went and sat on the bench with my e-book and audio book for a little while till her mom joined me. I had just enough time to eat the croissant and pear I had bought specifically to eat while I waited before she arrived (she was convinced that she would be the last one to the bench, but she beat Louise by about a minute and a half).
After that I had dinner and then helped David with some yard work, did some things around the house, and got in a couple hours reading in prep for my interview. That night I enjoyed visiting with a friend on line, and it was really good to catch up and connect like that. Sleep is clearly optional.
Saturday during the day I was productive, with some uni work, some harvesting red currants, some cooking, a workout, etc. In the evening I got in three hours of soapstone carving, and decided that the outside is now done enough to start on the inside.
Sunday morning I baked a yummy carrot-red currant crumble (with an oat and almond topping). During the day we went to "Grundet", the island on the Luleå river where the local SCA now has its home (and storage of stuff). There were about 30 of us from Frostheim there, some doing archery, some (including me) sitting in the shade with sewing project or just talking or playing with the baby, some in the smithy making stuff, etc. We were there some hours, and then I came home and relaxed for about an hour before some of my friends from Phire came over. We did some music, some acryoga, ate some of that crumble, and played games (cards and Quirkle). After they went home I did my yoga, then got some cuddles from a friend who dropped by for a bit. He went home at 23:30, and I expected to go straight to sleep, but another friend was feeling down, so instead I spent a couple hours chatting with him (and doing duolingo lessons in between typing), and finally got to sleep at 00:55.
today (Monday)Much to my surprise I woke up full of energy at 05:15, so I got up, packed my computer and some food, and biked in to the office, arriving well before 07:00. I worked till 08:30, and then I biked to town to take my dance shoes to the shoe repair shop, which has just re-opened after their summer holidays. I got there just after 09:00, and showed him where I have worn through the outer sole of the shoe, and explained that I am heading to Norway at 05:00 on Thursday for another folk music/dance festival, and asked if it would be possible to have them fixed before then, or if I should keep them and bring them to him after the trip? Luckily, he said he can have them done by Wednesday afternoon, so I left them there and enjoyed a pretty ride back to the office, where I worked for another couple of hours, then went and took a nap in the massage chair in the next corridor while it ran the "recover" program, and then, when it stopped 20 minutes later (and woke me), I pressed the "refresh" button and sat through another 8 minutes of that massage before I was ready to return to the office for another two hours of work. Not a bad first day back after holidays!
He finally had it ready to go and a operating system installed on it and gave it back to me not long after I returned from my trip to Seattle for mom's death. It shouldn't surprise anyone that I didn't have the energy at that point to even turn it on to see if it worked, and which programs I needed to install, let alone transferring my data back to it if it seemed like it was going to behave. Around the time my energy levels started getting back to normal after losing mom I had my surgery, and as I was starting to recover from that I found out that my job may be in danger due to budget issues, and then I found that dream job to apply for, and I have been in a holding pattern waiting for progress on that front ever since.
For the first I don't remember how many months the combination of the work computer and home computer worked great. We had OwnCloud (kind of like Dropbox, but for one's personal server, not the net) set up so that I could use Scrivener on either computer and it would be current, so long as I remembered to close it on the one before going to the other (which I did). Eventually though I had some issues with Scrivener backups, and around the same time something went weird with OwnCloud, and I started just bringing the work computer back and forth and only working on it. I would put it on the same desk as the home computer, and plug it into one of the two monitors there, then have the home computer also on, and, thanks to Mouse Without Borders, I could use it like a third monitor, opening web browsers, or things we have on dropbox (so I can open them on either computer--whatever caused the problem with OwnCloud didn't effect dropbox), or things that only exist on the home computer, and I could copy-paste from one to the other. This worked for some weeks (months?), but, eventually, the home computer started having issues (slow reaction times), and I gradually used it less and less often, only for those things that exist only on that computer (like Quicken, which, since it is for personal finances, I have never put on the work computer).
Today was my first day back in the office after 4 weeks at home (or at an SCA event, which is also "home"), and I decided that I would leave the work computer in the office (and set it to do backups to the department H drive when I left), and use the time this evening to actually turn on the Vaio notebook and see what it needs, and also see if I can get OwnCloud working on the home computer again. Of course, this plan was not to be. When David set up the Vaio he gave it a user name of "riia", and attached a password. If he ever told me there was a password I have long since forgotten. So I called him (he is out in the Luelå archipelago helping a friend level her summerhouse today and tomorrow), and he doesn't remember setting up a password at all, and thinks there shouldn't be one. We tried the obvious totally not safe passwords like just hitting enter, or "riia", "Riia", "1234" etc. but none of them work. He will be able to go back in and remove the password, of course, but he can't do that from the island while the computer is here.
So I decided to try dealing with OwnCloud, and looked up the password (it has been asking at computer startup for a password for ages), and entered it, and it says "not valid". It also says something about "account disabled". Again something that he will be able to solve when he gets home, but that won't be till tomorrow, at which point he may or may not have time/energy. However, his not being available gave me time to type up this, for your entertainment.
Since I am here I may as well include an update of the past few days, too. When last I posted it was Wednesday of last week, and I had no plans as of yet. How quickly our days fill up.
Thursday I did my workout in the morning, biked to the office to water my plant in the afternoon (this time my key opened the door no problem, unlike the time I tried a week or two before), went straight back home, curled up with a e-book and audio book in Norwegian for a few hours, helped David re-arrange stuff in the shed so that we can fix the back wall next, and enjoyed hanging out with him a bit afterwards.
Friday I helped out my friend Louise and her mom, both of whom needed to go grocery shopping, but neither of whom has a driver's licence. Normally her dad takes them, but he is out of town, so she asked me if I would. She also said we could use their car, so I biked over there, we drove out to the big grocery store, and each got our own cart and agreed to meet at the bench by the door when done. They warned me that they would take a while, so I wandered slowly through the store and picked up the few things I needed, and stopped to chat with my friend Siv, whom I ran into in the dairy section. Eventually I paid for my things and went and sat on the bench with my e-book and audio book for a little while till her mom joined me. I had just enough time to eat the croissant and pear I had bought specifically to eat while I waited before she arrived (she was convinced that she would be the last one to the bench, but she beat Louise by about a minute and a half).
After that I had dinner and then helped David with some yard work, did some things around the house, and got in a couple hours reading in prep for my interview. That night I enjoyed visiting with a friend on line, and it was really good to catch up and connect like that. Sleep is clearly optional.
Saturday during the day I was productive, with some uni work, some harvesting red currants, some cooking, a workout, etc. In the evening I got in three hours of soapstone carving, and decided that the outside is now done enough to start on the inside.
Sunday morning I baked a yummy carrot-red currant crumble (with an oat and almond topping). During the day we went to "Grundet", the island on the Luleå river where the local SCA now has its home (and storage of stuff). There were about 30 of us from Frostheim there, some doing archery, some (including me) sitting in the shade with sewing project or just talking or playing with the baby, some in the smithy making stuff, etc. We were there some hours, and then I came home and relaxed for about an hour before some of my friends from Phire came over. We did some music, some acryoga, ate some of that crumble, and played games (cards and Quirkle). After they went home I did my yoga, then got some cuddles from a friend who dropped by for a bit. He went home at 23:30, and I expected to go straight to sleep, but another friend was feeling down, so instead I spent a couple hours chatting with him (and doing duolingo lessons in between typing), and finally got to sleep at 00:55.
today (Monday)Much to my surprise I woke up full of energy at 05:15, so I got up, packed my computer and some food, and biked in to the office, arriving well before 07:00. I worked till 08:30, and then I biked to town to take my dance shoes to the shoe repair shop, which has just re-opened after their summer holidays. I got there just after 09:00, and showed him where I have worn through the outer sole of the shoe, and explained that I am heading to Norway at 05:00 on Thursday for another folk music/dance festival, and asked if it would be possible to have them fixed before then, or if I should keep them and bring them to him after the trip? Luckily, he said he can have them done by Wednesday afternoon, so I left them there and enjoyed a pretty ride back to the office, where I worked for another couple of hours, then went and took a nap in the massage chair in the next corridor while it ran the "recover" program, and then, when it stopped 20 minutes later (and woke me), I pressed the "refresh" button and sat through another 8 minutes of that massage before I was ready to return to the office for another two hours of work. Not a bad first day back after holidays!