27 39.51 N 080 22.27 W
We received all the packages we were waiting for. All we want to do now is to finish my work editing the next issue of the Westsail newsletter, then get on our way to Marathon. Obstacles keep getting thrown in our path.
I wrote yesterday about how Radio Shack screwed me by reneging on an order for a laptop, and that I cancelled the order and went out an bought a different computer. Guess what? After posting that blog, I stopped in the marina office. There sat a package for me with the laptop from Radio Shack! Oh no, what now? I called Radio Shack again. Their computer files still showed my order as "pending" status. Oh well, they agreed to refund all my money if I send it back.
The new computer: Yesterday I had it working just fine. I dumped IE10 and installed the Google Chrome brower. It worked just fine on WIFI and via a USB tether on the Droid phone. I was very pleased. The last thing I did was to run windows update.
The update was a disaster. It downloaded and installed 33 updates. Then it asked me to reboot. I tried. It said, "CONFIGURING WINDOWS UPDATES DO NOT RESTART YOUR COMPUTER" I waited a long time. Finally it said, "UPDATES FAILED REVERTING" I waited a long time. Finally it gave up and rebooted anyhow, but failed to boot. It went through 3 cycles of CONFIGURING/REVERTING/REBOOTING before it booted sucessfully. But now, I have a seriously damaged Windows. It can't find RUN32DLL.EXE, it can't sucessfully run System Restore or any other system utlity because of missing environment values. I'm in a quandry about what to do next.
Arrrgh. I seem to have a black cloud hanging over my head this week.
Posts
is it any wonder some old hands still keep a sextant and tables laying about, rather than rely SOLEY on electronic navigation for offshore passages?
ReplyDeleteIs it any wonder there's still a pilot up front, rather than a computer directed airplane?
I rest my case (and plan to buy Apple!)
R
my comment didn't seem to incite any rebutals, so....
ReplyDeleteas a pilot, a hiker, and a sailor (among other vices) I have been dismayed at the utter reliance some place on their electronics - be they navigation or flight management or communication. While the new is certainly easy, and frequently more effective, it can leave one completely and utterly defeated when it fails. "you ain't been lost until you been GPS lost".
A running track on a paper map with a L.O.P. off the binaccle compass at least gives you a fighting chance of navigating out of the storm. A megaphone (yes, even like the old cheerleader kind) or whistle can communicate over a longer distance than a dead cell phone or VHF.
And who doesn't like the occasional snail mail?
Merry Christmass to all!
(Keep your powder dry, and your electronics as well!)