Dancing through life...

Today I learned that I shouldn't post before I've properly finished my coffee whilst I'm trying to accomplish twelve different things.

I also learned that jedi_007 is very good at translating what the hell I'm talking about when I'm being unclear.

The short version of what I *actually* meant:

My old HD is hooked up via USB to my mom's old laptop, both with the same OS. The laptop doesn't want to boot to the USB drive. It tries, it really does, but then it gives me the Blue Screen of Death and says that the HD is borked.

I stuck my Windows disk in the drive, went into the boot menu, and told it to repair my old drive. It sat at a DOS prompt and looked at me funny.

The reason I was trying to boot directly to my old HD was because the information I found on Mozilla's website told me that I should have exported my bookmarks if I wanted to access them elsewhere.

jedi_007 interpreted my mess of a post, and pointed me in the right direction.

I now have my seven-ish years of bookmarks back! ::cuddles them::

OH MY GOD THERE IS A DANCING CONDOM ON THE TV!

::ahem::

Now, I am going to go download the bookmark back-up tool that Bryan recommended. Then, I'm either going to put stuff in boxes, or pound out the rest of my stitching project of the moment.

The End.

OPTION 1:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual-Core processor E6500 [2.93GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB]
3GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
320GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4350 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, No wireless LAN
6-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, headphone port
Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports
HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
SAVE $50! Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student Edition 2007
No additional security software
CLEARANCE! Adobe(R) PhotoShop(R) Elements 7
CLEARANCE! Quicken Deluxe 2009 (Save $29)

$723.99

OPTION 2:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
AMD Athlon(TM) II 250 dual-core processor [3.0GHz, 2MB L2, up to 4000MT/s bus]
2GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [1 DIMM]
320GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4350 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, No wireless LAN
6-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, headphone port
Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports
HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
SAVE $50! Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student Edition 2007
No additional security software
Adobe(R) PhotoShop(R) Elements 8
CLEARANCE! Quicken Deluxe 2009 (Save $29)

$697.99

OPTION 3:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual-Core processor E5400 [2.7GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB]
3GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
320GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4350 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, No wireless LAN
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, audio
Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports
HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
SAVE $50! Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student Edition 2007
No additional security software
Adobe(R) PhotoShop(R) Elements 8
CLEARANCE! Quicken Deluxe 2009 (Save $29)

$696.99

OPTION 4:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
AMD Athlon™ II X2 250 (3.0GHz, 2MB)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
No Keyboard
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Adobe® Photoshop® Elements
Quicken Home and Business 2010

$712.00

OPTION 5:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E8400 (6MB L2, 3GHz, 1333FSB)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
No Keyboard
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Adobe® Photoshop® Elements


$727.00

OPTION 6:
Win 7 Premium 64 b
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q8300 (4MB L2, 2.5GHz, 1333FSB)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
Integrated 16-in-1 Media Card Reader
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard and Laser Mouse
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Adobe® Photoshop® Elements
Quicken Home and Business 2010

$802.00


Please tell me which YOU would buy, and why.

(Note: I intend on upgrading to 4GB of RAM after purchase, since it's easy to do and I can get memory sticks super-cheap on sale somewhere.)

I have internet at home again.

Oh, yes.

It only took four hours, but jedi007 done fixed it but GOOD.

We still don't know exactly WHY it stopped working, but I don't really care.

::hugs teh internets::

Last night I worked on fixing my computer.

Cleared the cache & cookies. No workie.

Re-started in safe mode. Lo! I have internets! This is good.

Ran Ad-Award in safe mode. It found something malicious; I don't remember exactly what. Removed that & re-started in regular mode.

Opened Firefox & got the same message about the connection to the network being reset or whatever. (I should really write that down.)

Re-started in safe mode, again. Ran Trend Micro 2009 virus scan AND House Call.

They found...nothing.

Now, I'm stumped. The fact that I only have internet in safe mode indicates a virus, right?

At least I know it's not a hardware issue. Didn't want to have to go out and buy a new network card.

Any thoughts? Anyone know of an online scan similar to House Call I could try?

I'm typing this from home on a computer I'm going to call Frankenstein.

Apparently, my motherboard is shot to hell. We hooked up the shiny new power supply, and...nothing. The LED on the motherboard that says it's getting power lights up, but nothing else happens. Boo.

Fortunately, My Totally Awesome Little Brother (TM) had a Dell Desktop collecting dust in my old room at our parents' house. Rich and I got permission to steal it, and popped my hard drives into the thing.

Thanks to My Totally Awesome Boyfriend (TM), we once again have a functioning computer in the house.

Fun times.

Once I get a new job, I have to decide what I want to do about my computer situation. Do I want to buy a new desktop? A new laptop with a docking station? Do I want to wait for Windows 7?

Thankfully, I'll be able to borrow this machine until further notice. Also, my hard drives are fine. Yay.

Saturday night.

Got home from party.

O&R truck in front of the house.

Young men tell us everything's fine, the electric's just out and they're working on it.

Go inside.

Light candles. Pee by the light of a "Fresh Sheets" scented jar.

Get the rest of the candles going.

Lights come back on.

Modem doesn't. At all. Ever.

Rich calls Cablevision.

Have to wait 'til Monday for new modem.

This morning.

Get up, go to West Nyack, acquire new modem. Have bagels for breakfast.

Go home.

Hook up modem.

Router is talking to computers, internet is talking to modem, modem is not talking to router.

Figure out that router done got fried, too.

Go to mall, acquire new router and surge protector.

Go home.

Hook shit up.

Laptop works! X-Box works!

Push button on my desktop.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Nothing.

God damn power supply (I hope I hope I hope!) done shat itself.

In spite of uber-surge protector.

God dammit.

I really don't need this shit right now.

Thank god for Bailey's, yo.

but loves my mother.

I get home, it's logged in to Rich's desktop. I log out, and try to switch into mine. It tells me no. Twice. I restart.

Now I have no network.

Do that little "repair" thing.

No work.

Call Mom.

Mom does the "repair" thing.

It works!

I sit down.

No internet.

Mom comes back.

Internet works!

I sit down.

No internet!

Mom sits down.

Internet works!

HOLY SHIT.

I PAID FOR YOU, YOU STUPID MACHINE. I AM YOUR LORD AND MASTER. YOU WILL OBEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem of how to move my computer into my room has been solved by my wonderful, handsome, sexy, intelligent, boyfriend Rich.

Previously, my room was arranged as follows:
Small wooden desk next to the door - Closet door - CORNER - hamper - bookshelf - nightstand - bed - dresser.
Rich suggested replacing the wooden desk with an L desk, using half of it for the 'puter, and half of it for whatever was on the wooden desk. Then we loft the bed, put the bookshelf under it, move the bed down into the corner, put the dresser where the wooden desk was, and put the L-desk at the end of the bed.

I now have this desk and this chair, both courtesy of Mom, who loved the idea. Steven (my kid brother) is going to make the risers for my bed (soon, I hope). Until then the bookshelf is pretty much where it was.

A few stuffed animals are laying piled on top of one another, but they'll get new homes once I get the bookshelf out of the way. Also, I'm getting cable in my room. :)

Many thanks to my wonderful, handsome, sexy, intelligent, boyfriend Rich for coming up with everything and helping me put it all together. Yay!

As I write this, I am sitting at my brandy new Dell! She's very pretty, and has this lovely new computer smell. I have dubbed her Luthien. (If you get the reference, you win a cookie.)

Time to install more fun stuff!

I have ordered a new desktop from Dell! My laptop, although I love it very much, has been frustrating me lately. It's running ME, and I can't install XP without more memory, which is impossible to find.

The new comp will have a 3.06GhZ Pentium IV processor, an 80GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, a USB memory key instead of a floppy drive, a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-RW drive, Soundblaster Live! soundcard, and various other computer-y things. I'm buying a 256MB video card separately, because it's less expensive than the 128's Dell offered.

It's set to ship on Wendesday, and should be here by Friday. :) Yay!