Thursday, January 10, 2013

#ROW80 1ST QUARTER POST 2 – WHILE WAITING FOR WINDOWS TO FINISH UPDATING…


While waiting for Windows Vista© to finish downloading the latest in bugpatches and fuckery as we called them at IBM…eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee




**Please Stand By? I thought this was the "Outer Limits" by way of the "X-Files"

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to — The Outer Limits.


Right after I typed the letters, “IBM,” instead of Windows asking me if I wanted to save my work, before it restarted the various bugs ‘n’ shit it had just finished force-feeding to my computer, the whole thing just collapsed, with the force of a white-hot star collapsing in on itself. I’m surprised it didn’t create a gravity-well, or at least blow a hole in the floor. I exaggerate.

As my father used to say, and then invariably, cackle like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard, even though it was the eleventy-billionth time, but was still funny, because his laugh was that contagious, “Mary, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a MILLION times, NEVER exaggerate!”

Okay, so I got like 3 reallyquicksnapshots, telling me to save and then poof! Nothing, except for a green sign that said: Do Not Turn Off Computer While It Shuts Down. M’kay. Yes Indeedy. I got that Windows. Jesus. What are they doing, selling these operating systems to?

Never mind. I know. In my 2nd career, I supported IBM’ers, people who called Verizon and kids who played on Xbox. Yeah, I worked for Xbox and Microshit for a year before I called it quits. Not directly, but through a contractor. Of the 3 groups of clients, the kids were, ahem, the savviest. The worst? A tossup. I have to qualify “worst.” There’s no worst in terms of dumbest or meanest. I truly enjoyed the people I talked to and helped.

I spent over 10 years dealing with people and their computers and system and software problems, while at the same time playing viola and traveling. How? I took a laptop with me when I traveled and if I had to be out of town, for a lengthy period of time. Lots of times I would be in town, and playing on the stages here and had flexible work schedules, as well. I also didn’t play year round; lots of musicians don’t, or can’t because there isn’t enough work.

There were certainly times when I had to drive home from some god-forsaken place like Ft. Myers after playing with someone like Anne Murray, and get up so I could go to an early Management meeting at 8 am. As it happened, I was running late after the concert and got pulled over on I-75 for going 104. The Florida Highway Patrol Officer was kind when I owned up to it. He wrote me up for 78 mph. Phew! I was grateful; I didn’t need points on my license. That’s the only speeding ticket I’ve ever had. I’ve driven over a million miles and I’ve only had 1 accident as well. I had my truck t-boned and totaled by some 17-year old teenager coming out of Walmart parking lot. It was her 2nd accident in less than 18 months and wasn’t my fault. I drove for over 33 years, so I guess I did okay.

So, my next few posts are going to be a bit of my musical life and my computer life and some of the craziness of all of that. Music stories are fun and so was working with the computer crew. Surprisingly, the people I worked with at IBM were pretty cool. When I first started there, I was so intimidated. Everyone was so brainy, and I just felt out of my depth. But, people in the main, were pretty nice to me. I was handed over to a mentor, who worked with me on the call and telephony system. The thing I liked about IBM was that I was given 2 computers and turned loose. That’s how I learn. OS/2 system with a mirrored Windows shell and their own Mainframe 5250/3270  systems; I broke them and fixed them. Then I did it again. Great stuff, just software, though. Mary don’t do hardware! 




As further evidence of Microsoft's incompetence, as of this posting, OH WAIT, I CAN'T ADD PICTURES BECAUSE MICROSOFT'S LIVECAM HAS SOMEHOW EATEN MY ABILITY TO UPLOAD ANY PICTURES FROM MY HARD DRIVE!!

As I was saying, there ain't no pictures in an already shitty post. So, all the funny stuff I had for tomorrow will have to wait, because I have to go and do their fucking job. I've already narrowed it down: it ain't Chrome, ain't FireFox, it ain't FB, it ain't the pictures' sources, it ain't Blogger, it's fucking Microsoft. This means I'm gonna have to un-install LiveCam, then Chrome, reboot. Turn off. Turn on, Re-load LiveCam first, reboot, but NOT turn off. Re-load Chrome, just like the old days. God Al.Mighty.

21:28 Thursday 01/10/2013

IT'S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID IT WAS; SCENARIO PLAYED OUT AS I PICTURED IT. DAMN AM I GOOD!!!!!!! FIXED ON THE FIRST TRY. AFTER BEING UP 35 MINUTES. 11:05 AM. 01/11/2013.

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