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Monday, September 15, 2014

It's a Whole New Week

What do Internet Explorer 6, Windows 98 SE, and 2014 internet have in common?

You guessed it. Not too damn much.

Last week was the week my computer died.
My seven year old computer with pictures I had not yet moved to the portable hard drive.
My seven year old computer with my finished Yummy stuff book and the start of a second.

A big bolt of lightning hit and came in through the phone line frying the modem and the computer.
It wouldn't come on.
I still have to see if the hard drive is recoverable.
Cross fingers.

Luckily, we had another modem since we were doing an upgrade in service and had to get a new one.
That meant my daughter could use her laptop.
Once I was able to activate the new modem/service/ whatever.
Which has to be done by computer~not laptop.

Enter year 2000 computer.
I got that hooked up and online.
The tech had to help me because apparently computers can be too old to do much of anything.

But, I got connected.
That is about as far as it went.
Every site- You are using an unsupported browser or windows version. You need to update.
Like it is that easy.

That version of windows was not made for newer versions of IE or Firefox.
I didn't bother checking on Chrome.

The amount of storage or RAM needed for a new version of windows was not happening on that thing.

But, I got this great idea for a blog post and thought, " I can write it on Blogger-it's text".
So, I get up and turn on my decrepit old computer and wouldn't you know it?
The monitor wouldn't turn on.
The on/off button decided it was done.

I had been having trouble with it for a while.
Apparently, I was the only one.
Everyone else seemed to have no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned it was getting hard to get on and off.

So, I guess my computer with floppy disk slots and just two USB ports is not worth using as a backup.
IE didn't even come with tabs. Internet browsers without the ability to upgrade and open new tabs.
How did we manage?

We went the week without.
Saturday we went and got a laptop.
Kiddo was impressed by the beats audio.

Down the road we will get another desktop and a power strip that will protect phone lines as well.

In other news, Kiddo is now officially a non-kiddo..
Yep, I am the mother of an adult.
My baby is now 18.
Where does the time go?

16 comments:

  1. 90s was a terrible place for keeping up with the tech standard. Things could double or triple in speed/memory ever year. It wasn't that long ago when a 1GB HD was considered a lot of memory.

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    Replies
    1. Luckily my computer was from 2000, not the 90s. ;)

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  2. I think my computer is on life support or at least that is who I ask for when I call for support. I used to think that computers came with an internal clock that ticked backwards until dooms day or at least until it died that way you have to go back and get a new one. I agree on the comment above. My computer is having a terrible time with buffering videos and I think it's because everything now is up to like 6G's. :/

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    Replies
    1. My new one has 12 G of RAM and that seems so unreal compared to 10 years ago. My other computer was on it's last legs. Prone to overheating, so we kept the door of the desk open for the tower. I'd never get another desk with a closed space for the tower.

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  3. Happy Birthday Kiddo.

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  4. Oh Ruth, that really sucks. I didn't even know it's possible for lightning to strike a computer modem thru the phone line...? Crappy.

    I'm glad you got a new laptop for kiddo, who is now adult-o.

    Take care, my friend.

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    Replies
    1. Robyn, we used to unplug the phone, but nothing ever happened so we got out of the habit of doing it.
      Have a good weekend.

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  5. Happy Birthday to your little one! All grown up.
    That sucks about your computer. I use Chrome at home, thank goodness - it's wonderful. We still use IE at work, though. Don't ask me why.
    I hope your hard drive can be recovered! As someone who has her manuscript stored on her hard drive, I can relate! I have it backed up in Google Drive and on a thumb drive, though, so there's that. Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. Dawn, my husband still uses IE. He hates change.

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  6. Isn't it AMAZING how technology has changed us? I remember being in a panic last week when I didn't have my cel phone!
    I have copies of my book on everything I can think of and whenever I hear about a thunderstorm approaching, I unplug all our computers.
    Good grief...remember when telephones had cords? And party lines?

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    Replies
    1. Al, I still have a phone with a cord. I plug it in when the power is out and I can't use the cordless. Have to call the power company to tell them we have no power.
      I never had a party line. I think they did away with them about the time I was born. But, Honeyman remembers having one and he is only 2 years older than me.

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    2. I figured you were too young as I can barely remember us having one. Kind of annoying, but pretty cool if you were inclined to eavesdrop (not that I ever did, mind you).

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    3. Yes, I am sure that you would never do such a thing.

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  7. Lightning can really kill a computer? And here I thought only viruses and bad judgment could do that...

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    Replies
    1. ABFTS, Sadly, it is not just an urban legend.

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Thanks for commenting.