Month: July 2010

Back In The Saddle Again

We went out geocaching this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks. I had a map with about a dozen caches picked out, but we only managed 4. No we didn’t DNF the other 8, but merely never got to them. There were two new ones along the Boyd Pond Bike Trail south of town. We had done the four caches around the pond last September and we swore we would come back and walk the trail again soon, but never did. Now was our opportunity. Went the more direct route to the cache and opted for the “scenic”, windy way out and ended up walking 4.2 miles total. and quite a 4.2 miles it was.

Turned on the computer this morning and the relatively recent Samsung SyncMaster 2233SW Monitor flashed its display for a second and then went black. Rebooted and it did the same thing while loading the bios, so it wasn’t Windows 7. The updated Bios from the other day? Doubtful. Had to be either video card or monitor. I let the PC boot up and I could make the display come on for a second by turning the monitor off and then back on. Trying to work like that would be very time consuming and annoying after a very short time. To be sure it was the monitor’s fault and not the video card I plugged a VGA cable into the laptop and tried to used the monitor as a second display, but got a the same problem, a brief glimpse of a desktop and then black.

Checked the internet for possible quick fixes, but found none. I did find the the monitor carried a 1 year parts and labor warranty. We bought it on June 14th last year which made it 1.13 years old. to Quote Agent 86, “Missed it by that much Chief.” After lunch we went to Staples to buy a replacement. In our price range there was a Dell and 2 different Samsungs. We picked the Dell, after all the Dell monitor that originally came with the PC lasted 6 years and the Samsung only did a little over a year. The Dell comes with a one year warranty and on the way out the salesman tried to sell us a one year extended warranty for $25. Donna was sorely tempted, but I talked her out of it. I did make a deal with with her, if this Dell only makes it just over the one year mark before crapping out, I would opt for every extended warranty ever offered me.

Finished up Season 2 Disc 6 of Law & Order this after noon. We love seeing the folks who were cutting their acting chops on the show way back in the early 90 and the ones who make one show guest starring plots. The final two episodes on the disc treated us to each of George Costanza’s parents Jerry Stiller on one show and Estelle Harris on the other. We also got Sam Rockwell in only his 10th credited role. We also got a very young Sabrina Llyod, AKA Natalie from Sports Night. The second to last show was the first ever appearance of Leslie Hendrix as the coroner, Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers, who I bet is very thankful for Dick Wolf as she has had pretty steady work since then playing that role. She has done 142 episodes of the original Law and Order, along with 104 episodes of Law and Order Criminal Intent, 9 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and even one appearance on the short lived Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 761

Ten Thousand Years

If you have been following the countdowns on the right-hand sidebar here LOB you will have noticed two changes in the last week. The first was last Sunday when Season 4 of Mad Men premiered and its counter dropped off the page. The second just happened tonight when the counter for the New Miata jumped from 123 to 484.

Miata #1, the 1990 Mariner Blue A Package, lasted 6 years before being traded in. Number two, a 1995 Laguna Blue B Package, stuck around for 8 years before being traded in. Miata #3, our current 2003 Garnet Red LS, was assumed to stay with us the average of the lengths of service of the first 2 cars, seven years, and be traded in on a 2010 model this November. That is now not going to happen, The Emperor will be with us for at least another year.

The main reason for this, we like to say publicly, is the car is not available in a suitable shade of blue. The first two Miatas were blue, and while we have grown to like the current red/maroon shade, we have our hearts set on blue car this time. The current Miatas do come in blue, something called Stormy Blue, but it is too dark, almost Navy Blue and not to our liking.

But the main reason is neither one of us like the new and “improved” third generation of the car. It is only a couple inches longer or wider, but appears relatively huge in comparison. I heard the style of the car in the first couple of years of the 3rd generation compared to an angry bar of soap and I had to agree. They tweaked the looks of front end last year and now it reminds me of a bar of soap with a Mr Potato Head mouth stuck on it. And it is not just the exterior, we both don’t care for the inside either. The doors are taller, so that leaning your arm on the window sill leaves your elbow pointing up. That, along with the taller seats placed lower in the car gives you the feeling of riding in a bathtub. As a “bonus” the new engine routed the exhaust header in such a manner that it intrudes on the passenger foot well and steals precious space for the navigator’s usual complement of tools.

The current rumors on the Miata.net forums call for the forth generation of the car, which is supposed to be smaller and lighter, to appear as 2012 model which means it might come to market in late 2011, so we wait. If worse comes to worse and a new model doesn’t appear next fall, maybe they will add a nice bright blue to the Miata’s paint palette on the last of the 3rd gen cars. Or maybe by then the oft rumored Volkswagen BlueSport will actually exist and it will be a worthy competitor to the Miata.

The post title alludes to an oriental saying that is a loosely translated English phrase used in several oriental countries as an expression used to wish long life to the Emperor.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down still again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 760

You Can Never Be Too Rich or Have Too Much RAM

After the Windows 7 install the PC seemed just a touch more sluggish doing certain things than it had under XP. I thought it odd because I had 2GB of RAM which was double the minimum requirement. So I downloaded a memory test program and ran it to see if I had a bad stick of RAM or something. When it started up it reported I had 1024M of RAM. Yikes! One stick is not working. On further investigation, it turns out that 3 years ago I upgraded the RAM with a kit that consisted of two 512M sticks and that Dell says that is the maximum amount this PC can handle.

A little bit of internet sleuthing comes up with the fact that the motherboard in my Dimension can indeed handle 2GB and a page that gives me a list of memory manufacturers with part numbers that folks have been successful using to break the one gig barrier, so I ordered 2 sticks of WINTEC 1GB 184-Pin DDR 400 SDRAM from NewEgg. it was suggested that I upgrade my BIOS and that went off without a hitch. Now I just need to go wait by my mailbox…

The title of this post is a quote from computer book author, Janice Rice Howd, from her book, Exchange System Administration (1999). It is based on the quote, “You can never be too rich or too thin.? which is attributed to Wallis Simpson who was obviously thin enough to ensnare three rich men with the objective to test the first part of that statement, the third of which even abdicated the British crown for her.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, down still again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 756

Daper Draper

Last night was the premier episode of Season 4 of TDTVS2 and we here at the Bogardus household spent the weekend prepping for the event. On Saturday we watched episodes 1 & 3 of season three and then on Sunday we watched episodes 6, 9 & 13.

At the appointed hour of the premier, 10:00 EDT, we went to bed.

Got up this morning, started downloading the torrent and left for work. Came home from work and had dinner in front of the TV.

At the end of last year they were running their new agency, created from the ashes of Sterling Cooper, out of a hotel room. this season starts several months later and they now have a floor in the Time/Life building (and telling clients they have two) with a conference room full of mismatched office chairs in a circle around a non existent table.

The episode seemed jumbled and out of sorts and just maybe that was an intentional tone set by the producer because it perfectly represented Don Draper’s life, both personally and professionally.

Now after an hour of digesting the show I’m beginning to appreciate it. It started out with Don being interviewed by an advertising magazine which he does it reluctantly and it shows in the published piece. They want him to do another interview, this time with the Wall Street Journal, but he is uncomfortable and begs off. For the next 30 minutes negative things happen all around him, and to him, until he blows his top at a client and is so mad he boots them out the door. This flips a switch making him realize that he needs to turn his act around, so he agrees to the WSJ interview. The last scene of the show is him talking to the Journal reporter and he is the charming, engaging Don Draper we all love and want to be.

Can’t wait until next week.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 751

How Was Your Day?

It got crowded in heaven, so, for one day it was decided only to accept people who had really had a bad day on the day they died. St. Peter was standing at the pearly gates and said to the first man, “Tell me about the day you died.”

The man said, “Oh, it was awful. I was sure my wife was having an affair, so I came home early to catch her with him. I searched all over the apartment but couldn’t find him anywhere. So I went out onto the balcony, we live on the 25th floor, and found this man hanging over the edge by his fingertips. I went inside, got a hammer, and started hitting his hands. He fell, but landed in some bushes. So, I got the refrigerator and pushed it over the balcony and it crushed him. The strain of the act gave me a heart attack, and I died.”

St. Peter couldn’t deny that this was a pretty bad day, and since it was a crime of passion, he let the man in.

He then asked the next man in line about the day he died. “Well, sir, it was awful,” said the second man. “I was doing aerobics on the balcony of my 26th floor apartment when I twisted my ankle and slipped over the edge. I managed to grab the balcony of the apartment below, but some maniac came out and started pounding on my fingers with a hammer. Luckily I landed in some bushes. But, then the guy dropped a refrigerator on me!”

St. Peter chuckled, let him into heaven and decided he could really start to enjoy this job.

“Tell me about the day you died?”, he said to the third man in line.

“OK, picture this; I’m naked, hiding inside a refrigerator…”

Your Breakfast Is Ready Sir

We got up early again today to go for a bike ride before it got too hot. We headed cross town to DD, so I could get some of their fabulous coffee. I headed inside while Donna walked next door to get the Sunday paper. For her I ordered one plain bagel toasted with butter on the side and a water to drink. I got a small coffee and a coffee cake muffin. By the time I had completed the transaction there was a person standing there handing me small bag with the toasted bagel. I sat at the table with Donna and we split up the paper and waited for the rest of the meal. And waited. After waiting a bit more, I went up to see what was taking so long to pour a coffee and take a muffin off the shelf. As I stood up and headed to the counter I heard Donna call my name. There was a tray sitting at the end of the counter with a water, a coffee and a muffin.

How long had it been there? Couldn’t have someone said, “Your breakfast is ready sir.”? We were the only people waiting for food…

The Emperor hasn’t moved all day.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 750

OE is Dead, Long Live Thunderbird

The new laptop has Windows 7 and I like it pretty well and decided that it was time to try it on the desktop computer as I stumbled into a $50 legal copy of the program. I only had two real problems with the install, one there is no Outlook Express for Win7 (or its predecessor Vista), so I needed a different desktop email client.

I have been using Outlook Express for email at home for about as long as I have been using a computer. It has only been around since 1996, but it just seems like forever. I can’t remember what I used for email prior to OE, maybe Pegasus Mail (which according to Wikipedia has been around since 1990 and is still in use today), but it didn’t come up in my web search for a replacement. Thunderbird seemed to be the top pick, but folks complained of issues importing email from OE. To test it out, I downloaded, installed it and tried it out. Everything went smooth for me, so I learned how to export the new email data and how to restore it for after the the 7 install.

The second issue came about after I had installed Windows 7. My old sound card was no longer being supported and the last official drivers for it were for XP. There was a small speaker icon in the task tray with a bright red X through it. That would never do. Google searched turned up traces of possible drivers, but I had no luck locating them. Looks like I might have to buy a new sound card (like I did 7 years ago when I first got this PC.) I was sort of surprised by that development because I had downloaded Micrsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser software and it didn’t flag that as an issue.

It did flag a couple other things, so I decided to try and get some drivers for those items to see if I needed anymore new hardware, because if it did I might just revert back to XP. Somehow, don’t ask because I don’t remember how, but while getting those drivers a box popped up with a list of attempted driver updates. The sound card was listed and and lo and behold it found a driver. I have sound.

Now comes the task of reloading all the programs I normally use, but I should be all finished by tomorrow.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 750