Subj : weather was: food option To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sat Jan 04 2020 09:07:00 Hi Nancy! NB>>> Had a bigger gap than expected.... got a little busy, and then had NB>>> a scare with the computer, where it wouldn't boot up properly (I'd NB>>> turned off the computer, realized I'd wanted to do something more on NB>>> it, so turned it back on, only to have it get stuck partway into the NB>>> bootup)... leading me to fear that the hard drive had died on me... NB>>> and all those lost files on it.... BM>> Thought perhaps you had had a wild weekend but not that kind of BM>> wild! Good thing The Wizard was there to help! NB>> Yup... wrong kind of wild, for sure... ;0 BM> And then you were gone again for a few days; figured either more BM> wildness at those Party Houses () or your laptop decided to do a BM> Grinch impersonation. [Correction: main computer.] NB> No, just have had a number of busy days of one sort or another... NB> some days it was long phone calls that took away any messing NB> time, some days it was appointments... and a few days that the NB> mind was just too numb to concentrate on messages.... ;0 Working NB> again at chipping away at the backlog.... ;) Yes - sometimes the not getting anything done is because of waiting for somthing to happen. Can't, or rather don't want to get started with a larger project when expecting to be interrupted by a phone call, company coming, having to leave shortly, etc. Even some of the small projects need their bit of uninterrupted time. ...Oh well, will be there waiting for us! NB>> This was the main desktop that glitched... and his guess is that the NB>> power supply thought it was too warm to turn the computer back on NB>> right away... It sat overnight... actually, I didn't even want to NB>> test it in the morning before he was around to supervise, so didn't NB>> even try it again until Friday evening... and everything has worked NB>> fine since... BM> Yes, if something is wrong and someone else can be available to watch BM> error messages, listen for fans, etc., a good idea to wait. NB> He'd understand the noises and messages better than I anyway... NB> ;) So, when I did turn it on, he was there listening and NB> watching... and everything went smoothly... And I didn't turn it NB> off again until after that massive backup operation.... I don't blame you! Leave things running until the data is copied/backed up to a stable device. And check before powering down. Listening and watching for those 'wrong things' does help with troubleshooting, though as you indicated it does help to know what one is listening and looking for! :) BM> Back to your issue, I've also had fans in the PSU freeze. Or fall off BM> (!). Know a couple of times I've hung a spare fan off the PSU's air BM> port until able to replace. NB> Doesn't seem to be a fan issue... just a glitch, I guess... Glitches do happen: those 'perfect storms'. NB>> We did the backup of the desktop TO the laptop... there's FAR BM> That may be where I misremembered: usually laptops have the smaller BM> storage space. NB> Don't forget, my main machine is an old Proteva Touch... came NB> with WIN95 on it, so bought back then... total hard drive is NB> about a gig... partitioned into 4 drives so that DOS can deal NB> with it... :) The laptop is much newer.... :) I was thinking FAT16 for the file system but then can handle 2G (IIRC). Wouldn't change anything as could create other problems: old-old system here had the BBS on drive G: (or some drive letter), probably backups to a different drive, etc. Went to move it to the new system which didn't have as many drives (physical/logical) -- correcting was a mess! NB>> more room on my new-to-me Dell laptop than on the desktop... at NB>> least twice as much, so there was plenty of room to copy over NB>> everything here to there... We did do an archive into .zip files NB>> to save a little space, one file per drive on the desktop (the NB>> desktop drive is partitioned into four drives for DOS's sake)... NB>> There's actually some overlap between what I normally have on the NB>> laptop and what is on the desktop, but most of my stuff has been NB>> on the desktop.... BM> Backups are good! NB> Yup... :) Ideally to a diffent location or at least stored in another location should something nasty happen. NB>>> It was AIS a massive job... took from Friday evening to early Sunday NB>>> morning continuous.... probably about 36 hours or so... and then NB>>> another maybe 4 hours Sunday evening for another major directory NB>>> we'd not put into the original backup batch file... It's actually NB>>> the first full backup I've ever done of my (part of the) computer... BM>> Sort of reminds me of the Olden Days when it took hours to transfer BM>> data from a 400 KB floppy! (They were standard 5¬" floppies in RX50 BM>> format.) NB>> We were copying through a wired network connection, and there was NB>> probably 3/4 of a gig or so of stuff to transfer, maybe a little NB>> more... BM> Oh, just tiny little files! The MythTV files can be several gig BM> each. My regular 'human' files are more like what you dealt with. NB> Yup, lots of little files... :) Thought so! :) ...Looking at my files: largest file I created was a little over 15 MB -- and that had a lot of pictures (was about the flooded eagles nest site). Most are handfuls of KBs. BM>> Just be certain to do at least a weekly backup! NB>> I don't know if it has to be the whole thing like that each NB>> time... I need to ask the Wizard if there's some way to just add NB>> to the archive, or how it works exactly.... and things have been NB>> busy since, not just at the computer.... ;) BM> You should be able to do an incremental back up, which will just copy BM> the new and altered files, so won't take nearly as long. Then make BM> another full back up as a separate set followed by incrementals. This BM> will give a sort of back up to the back up. On the third (or later) BM> full back up the original set is reused. NB> That will be a job for the Wizard... at least for a while yet... ;) Yes, though probably an easy enough job to learn. You'll become The Apprentice to the Wizard yet! NB>> Yeah... here it is Christmas Eve, and yesterday was in the mid-50s NB>> and sunny... and the remaining snow is very sparse.... mostly from NB>> shoveling or plowing piles or in protected spots... Today's only in NB>> the 30s, but no snow predicted today or tonight, and tomorrow will NB>> be back in the 50s... Guess there's really no chance for a white NB>> Christmas this year... BM> Christmas Day as I write this. 42ø when I got up; today's high BM> predicted for 55ø, about the same as yesterday. Cooling down on the BM> weekend with something like a 40% rain for Saturday and for snow on BM> Sunday. NB> And a week later plus, as I write this.... we finally had a NB> little snow overnight New Years Eve, which is gone again.... but NB> more is supposedly on the way now for tomorrow, with temps back NB> into seasonal 30s... :) New Year's Eve was relatively warm as I recall -- 40's and 50's during the last week of December. Snowed here last night -- started around 6:30. Temperature staed at 33ø all evening and probably overnight as was 32ø when I got up. The stange thing when looking at the snowfall later last night was the ground was covered but the sidewalks and street were clear. Will go out later this morning as the cars need to be cleaned off and some snow did accumulate on the walks. BM>> The time to reshingle this house is coming up. And I don't know what BM>> styles, etc., are available with metal roofing: may not look at all BM>> right with your house nor mine. NB>> I wouldn't think it would look right with ours for sure... What we NB>> got this time are the ones I think are called sculptural.. they look NB>> sort of like a basket weave.... supposed to last longer, I think.... BM> OK, yes -- I had to look it up: sort of knew what you meant but one of BM> the pictures really looked like a basketweave pattern and looked nice. NB> It's the current fashion here... one sees a lot of these roofs NB> around... I like the slightly random look over the straight-cut. BM> Our is more the wooden shingles style: random widths and the bottoms BM> of the rows aren't quite even to give it that more individual pieces BM> look. What's 'funny' is a few people around the greater neighbourhood BM> redid their roofs after we did and they have a similar style. Not BM> saying they copied, but.... NB> The roofers seem to push certain styles at certain times.... The NB> wooden shingles look was probably what they were pushing when you NB> had yours done.... ;) Plus that's what we liked out of the selection. Wonder what's in fashion for roofs this season?! NB>>>> The metal roof for the garage made sense, and is something that he NB>>>> can do himself, bit by bit.... no warranty other than the materials NB>>>> themselves, I'd guess.... :) BM>>> There are two or three roof surfaces an amateur roofer might want to BM>>> do at this house because not too much of an angle, the rest are steep BM>>> and/or too far from the ground. NB>>> That last describes all of our house roof except for the front and NB>>> side porches.... ;) BM>> :) There are some 'gentle slopes' and there are some semi-steep BM>> sections. The roofers don't seem to mind; I wouldn't want to do it! NB>> It's why one hires the roofers to do the job, after all... BM> And here I thought it was just my laziness! ...When the house is BM> reshingled will probably have the shed done too: it's roof was done BM> the same time as the house. (Is an ~8x10' outbuilding for the yard BM> tools and a bit of storage.) I could do it but why? The roofers have BM> the equipment and know-how. Probably would take me as long to shingle BM> the shed as it would for them to do all the house - I don't have the BM> experience. NB> You might as well have them tack that onto the job... probably NB> wouldn't take them much more time at all... :) Right: probably would take them longer to move the ladders over than to reroof! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Odd shows: Fiddler on a Hot Tin Roof --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .