Computers - Love 'em / Hate 'em

I love my computer.  Well, most of the time.  But sometimes it has a mind of its own (pun intended) and really ticks me off with some of the things it does for no apparent reason other than to tick me off.

I finally had a bait of it and took it in to the Geek Squad before my extended service plan ran out.  My main complaint was that it would suddenly lose the wireless connection to my router.  I knew it was the computer and not the router because none of the other computers were affected. 

The nice young man first tried to solve the problem on the spot and thought he had but as I pointed out to him, I had also 'solved' the problem that same way at least a hundred times.  So he concluded that it must be more than just a 'settings' issue and it needed to go to the repair center.  Fine, I just wanted it fixed.

A few days later he called to say it was ready.  Wow!  That didn't take long.  So I went back to Best Buy to pick it up.  He said they had to install a new hard drive, and while they were at it they installed a new wireless adapter.  The motherboard was okay.  He said he checked it and it should work fine for me.

I brought it home, plugged it in, turned it on and got a message saying to "boot" something or other.  It was all "Geek" to me, so I called him.  He said, "Oh mannnn!"  He went on to explain that I will need to bring it back to him to see if they can do something or other.  I went, he tried, didn't work.  But by chance did I have the recovery disks?  I said I would go home to check but I thought not.  I did, had them, brought them back to him, didn't work.  So he said he had to return it to the repair center.

I got it back in a few days and brought it home.  It works!  And it works really well, only now I have to re-install everything.  In other words I've got a new computer.

I had everything backed up on my external hard drive so it would just be a matter of hitting the restore button or something that automatically reloaded everything.  Well, not so fast with my assumptions.  Turns out that I can see some files I moved to the external hard drive individually but my computer no longer recognizes the backed up files.  I'll work on it but I'm now thinking I just may take my time and install from my disks.  Then wipe the external hard drive clean and start again.  In doing so I can eliminate the multitude of duplicate photos, videos, music and folders that have somehow cluttered up my computer and my external hard drive.  I'm still thinking on it though.

Yes, I had my address book backed up to the external hard drive so it's somewhere 'out there' right now.  No problem, I can always import the addresses and email info from Judy's computer or the iPad or the iPhone or the laptop.  I'm sure it's here some place. 

But at least I have my computer back.

It's Official - I'm Healthy

I visited with my primary care doctor yesterday and, as expected, I'm good.  Blood pressure was excellent.  My blood work numbers were all excellent with only a slight rise in glucose.  Just cut back on calories, carbs and sugars, exercise and keep doing what I'm doing, but lose a few pounds.

He was pleased to hear that I purchased a Total Gym and that I'm actually using it.  Well, I stopped exercising for that period when I caught that awful cold from Judy that lasted three weeks and really sapped me out.  He said I should be over a cold in a week.  If not, I should have called for an appointment.  It was probably more than a cold.  Next time I will.

So, I'll be going into my 72nd birthday in good health.  What more could I ask for?

My Ticker Just Keeps On Ticking

Visited my heart doctor yesterday.  Routine visit.  I'm fine.  My heart is healthy and strong, but I could do with a few less calories.  Of course, "a few" probably means 600 to my doctor, while meaning 300 to me.  I'll see what I can do.

My knee replacement and back surgery is history now.  No problems or restrictions that require caution, medication or therapy, and in a few more months I'll even forget it happened.

Meanwhile, I've re-started my exercise program after being off it for many weeks due to a lingering cold that sapped the strength out of me, not to mention the motivation it took to do the exercises in the first place.

I did the Total Gym yesterday.  Twenty minutes of very specific strength and muscle toning exercises.  It felt good.  And today I'll do twenty minutes on the treadmill.  Then back on the Total Gym tomorrow.  If I can keep this schedule up I should easily burn most of the calories he wants me to get rid of.  I can always increase the time on the Total Gym and treadmill to get rid of more calories, although they claim 20 minutes a day should be enough.  It  should work well with my "Ounce A Day Diet."  http://ounceaday.blogspot.com//

Anyway, it just feels good to get an 'official' stamp on my current medical condition.

Next week I see my Primary Care doctor.  The blood work is already completed and should be within all the numbers.  I'll be surprised if it isn't.

At least I'll be going into my 72nd birthday in pretty good health.  As Martha would say, "That's a good thing."