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Bad computer, no biscuit!
Over the past hour or so, I have had to deal with my computer misbehaving. First when I added a reference to chapter three of my thesis in EndNote, then clicked the button to format the bibliography, and, for no apparent reason, the reference vanished. Tried adding it several more times, and each time it vanished. Then I realized that *all* of the references in the document had vanished. This is really weird, and has never happened before. So I restarted the computer, opened Word, created a new document, put in a bunch of references in EndNote and turned on and off the "format bibliography" feature several times, to see that it was functioning normally. Then re-opened my document (which, alas, had been saved before I'd noticed how wide-spread the damage was) and then opened an older version of the document so I could find all of the places wherein I'd cited sources, and added them all back in. This didn't take very long, there not being many places in this chapter where I'd needed to cite the literature (since this is a chapter reporting my data, it is mostly crediting the other people who collected the samples I've been studying). I was quite pleased with myself, I managed to keep calm throughout the process, and while annoyed to be spending time fixing random computer issues rather than working, I dealt with it quickly and easily. Then I returned to editing the chapter and fixing the list of figures, whcih, large chunks of this chapter having been moved to an appendix, now contains a bunch of figure captions whcih are no longer needed. In the process I noticed that the style heading for the chapter titles really needed a bit more space under it--the underlying paragraph was snuggled up too closely to look good, so I paused in my work for the few seconds it took to update the formatting for that style, and continued with my work, saving the document again. Then I went to add a caption for a new figure, and was most surprised when it was going to assign it a number of 1-3, rather than 3-3 as I expected it to. So I clicked "update fields" on the other figure numbers, and they all changed from being in the format of 3-1 to "Error! No text of specified style in document.-1". Sigh. Clearly it isn't happy with me for doing the changes to the format for chapter headings. Unfortunately, now I can't get it to work. I can turn off the chapter number part of the figure numbers, and it is fine. I tried setting bullets and numbering to "none", and then turning them back on again. Alas, now they show "chapter 1" for the first level, but don't show any of the numbers for the other levels any more. Eventually the process of trying to solve the problem triggered my temper. Unfortunately, yelling at the computer does not help. Nor does it make my throat feel good. Note to self: when losing one's temper at a machine, project from the diaphragm, it hurts less. Improved note to self: It is better to stay calm--tempers don't help.
Today I managed only five hours of uni work. I'd intended to do far more--I was happily settled in to the computer making good progress. Had just thought to myself, gee, I should call![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clovis_t and have him get a ride half way home from fighter practice with my apprentice--she has to pass uni on her way home--if I met them there when he's done I'd be away from the computer for far less time. Just then he called, saying that he'd like me to come get him soon. I told him my cunning plan, and he said no, he had too much stuff to impose upon anyone else, and I should take a break and come be sociable at fighter practice. I pointed out that I was happily working and didn't feel like I needed a break, and he pointed out that he's had to put down work (and computer games) to come get me in the past. Sigh. So I went and got him. Did enjoy a pleasant few minutes chatting with people at practice before coming home, and once we were home got his help tidying up the kitchen a bit. Total time elapsed between putting the computer down to go get him and sitting back down to it: 2.5 hours. *If* I'd have picked uni work back up then, that is all I would have lost. Alas, I've a bad habit of wanting to go "splat" for a bit to recover from arduous tasks like heading into town, so first I read a bit of e-mail and live journal whilst eating. Then I decided to write up my 25 things, even though I'd told corva that it might be some time before I could afford the time to do so. Once that was done and posted the family were sitting down to their evening meal, so I went and visited with them a bit before *finally* returning to work--total time elapsed between putting the computer down to go get him, and starting uni work: 5 hours, 54 minutes! No wonder I lost my temper with the computer, I was already feeling guilty for how much work I'd not done--no wonder that when it presented complications I snapped. I wonder if understanding that will help me not snap next time?
Over the past hour or so, I have had to deal with my computer misbehaving. First when I added a reference to chapter three of my thesis in EndNote, then clicked the button to format the bibliography, and, for no apparent reason, the reference vanished. Tried adding it several more times, and each time it vanished. Then I realized that *all* of the references in the document had vanished. This is really weird, and has never happened before. So I restarted the computer, opened Word, created a new document, put in a bunch of references in EndNote and turned on and off the "format bibliography" feature several times, to see that it was functioning normally. Then re-opened my document (which, alas, had been saved before I'd noticed how wide-spread the damage was) and then opened an older version of the document so I could find all of the places wherein I'd cited sources, and added them all back in. This didn't take very long, there not being many places in this chapter where I'd needed to cite the literature (since this is a chapter reporting my data, it is mostly crediting the other people who collected the samples I've been studying). I was quite pleased with myself, I managed to keep calm throughout the process, and while annoyed to be spending time fixing random computer issues rather than working, I dealt with it quickly and easily. Then I returned to editing the chapter and fixing the list of figures, whcih, large chunks of this chapter having been moved to an appendix, now contains a bunch of figure captions whcih are no longer needed. In the process I noticed that the style heading for the chapter titles really needed a bit more space under it--the underlying paragraph was snuggled up too closely to look good, so I paused in my work for the few seconds it took to update the formatting for that style, and continued with my work, saving the document again. Then I went to add a caption for a new figure, and was most surprised when it was going to assign it a number of 1-3, rather than 3-3 as I expected it to. So I clicked "update fields" on the other figure numbers, and they all changed from being in the format of 3-1 to "Error! No text of specified style in document.-1". Sigh. Clearly it isn't happy with me for doing the changes to the format for chapter headings. Unfortunately, now I can't get it to work. I can turn off the chapter number part of the figure numbers, and it is fine. I tried setting bullets and numbering to "none", and then turning them back on again. Alas, now they show "chapter 1" for the first level, but don't show any of the numbers for the other levels any more. Eventually the process of trying to solve the problem triggered my temper. Unfortunately, yelling at the computer does not help. Nor does it make my throat feel good. Note to self: when losing one's temper at a machine, project from the diaphragm, it hurts less. Improved note to self: It is better to stay calm--tempers don't help.
Today I managed only five hours of uni work. I'd intended to do far more--I was happily settled in to the computer making good progress. Had just thought to myself, gee, I should call
clovis_t and have him get a ride half way home from fighter practice with my apprentice--she has to pass uni on her way home--if I met them there when he's done I'd be away from the computer for far less time. Just then he called, saying that he'd like me to come get him soon. I told him my cunning plan, and he said no, he had too much stuff to impose upon anyone else, and I should take a break and come be sociable at fighter practice. I pointed out that I was happily working and didn't feel like I needed a break, and he pointed out that he's had to put down work (and computer games) to come get me in the past. Sigh. So I went and got him. Did enjoy a pleasant few minutes chatting with people at practice before coming home, and once we were home got his help tidying up the kitchen a bit. Total time elapsed between putting the computer down to go get him and sitting back down to it: 2.5 hours. *If* I'd have picked uni work back up then, that is all I would have lost. Alas, I've a bad habit of wanting to go "splat" for a bit to recover from arduous tasks like heading into town, so first I read a bit of e-mail and live journal whilst eating. Then I decided to write up my 25 things, even though I'd told corva that it might be some time before I could afford the time to do so. Once that was done and posted the family were sitting down to their evening meal, so I went and visited with them a bit before *finally* returning to work--total time elapsed between putting the computer down to go get him, and starting uni work: 5 hours, 54 minutes! No wonder I lost my temper with the computer, I was already feeling guilty for how much work I'd not done--no wonder that when it presented complications I snapped. I wonder if understanding that will help me not snap next time?
