Yesterday evening, my husband (and in-house tech support) successfully connected my laptop computer to the television which aided recovery in two ways: First, it proved the problem was only with the video card or computer screen which meant that, second, my files could be transferred to my back-up external drive. Once the files were safe he turned the computer off and performed a final attempt of resuscitation by physically disconnecting then reconnecting whatever connects the screen to the computer. He then put it back together, turned it on, and voila! The screen works!
This computer is pretty old in the laptop world, about five years, and its age shows – some keys are crooked, the touch mouse is wearing through, the wireless internet card doesn't work and it takes about 15 minutes to boot when powering up. But it works, for the most part, and I don't want to replace it unless absolutely necessary. This tech scare was a clear warning that perhaps we should begin watching the sales for a great bargain on a good laptop so we don't have to wait until it crashes for good and spend more money than necessary replacing it. Once we receive our household goods shipment though I will have my nice desktop computer back which will make the laptop's demise less painful (as long as I continue to back up the files).
Second in line after my laptop is my Kindle Fire, that I love so much, which replaces my laptop while traveling. More than just an e-reader, it uses wi-fi for internet connection, which is available when I visit family and at almost every hotel, allowing me to check my email and web-surf freely. Also, I can use it as an mp3 player for music purchased through Amazon, which is where I get most of my music recently. This leads to my creative endeavor of the day.
Since we were under a weight restriction for the household goods we could bring here we have access to furniture we can use until our own arrives, or longer if needed. Knowing this in advance we opted to leave some of ours in storage back in the states. Fortunately the borrowed items are in good shape and are in a darker wood. I like to line drawers to protect my clothing from snags, splinters and whatever else the wood holds. I usually use brown paper bags and cut them to fit but I have not accumulated any yet, therefore I found a sales circular and a couple magazines that had smear-proof ink, pulled out the binding staples and flattened the sheets. The pages fit quite well so I just stuck them together with little pieces of tape to prevent them from shifting. Then, finally, I emptied my suitcases, put my clothes away and stored the luggage in one of the many closets we have.
While working on this project, I propped my Kindle up and used it to play music. The speaker quality isn't the greatest for projecting but with tile floors and bare walls the sound bounced around sufficiently enough. I do miss my awesome iPod dock though which should be arriving soon with our small express shipment of belongings. Fingers crossed.
(These photos were taken with an iPhone and are by no means intended to be "real" photos, just snapshots of where I was and what I saw.)
No comments:
Post a Comment