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Cause or coincidence?
Oct 13, 2011 17:31:48   #
Annabelle
 
Almost 30 years ago, I lost my gall bladder because I had an episode of severe abdominal pain for which no explanation could be found until the discovery of gall stones. "Aha!" the doctors proclaimed and declared the mystery solved as I waited for my sutures to heal.

About two weeks later, home, I had another bout of the same pain. Turns out that while I did have gall stones, that was not the cause of the problem. It was something else altogether. Coincidental, not causative.

In novels, there are no coincidences but in life, there are. Just because two things happen at the same time, doesn't mean that one caused the other or even that the two are related.

Thus with my computer, although I solved the "Unknown Device" problem, I did not solve whatever THE problem is. Dell is actually talking about giving me a new computer. Maybe this one is a lemon. I have to be fair about this: my house is full of Dell computers. Seven currently running, various types, ages, configurations and some of them have been running for 6 or 7 years and are still going strong. All of them have been problem free, which is generally true of Dells.

Not this one, however.

THIS one has been a problem from day one ... mystery problems that come out of nowhere and seem to have no cause. Frozen screens, blue screens, black screens, reboots. And the diagnostic says "NO PROBLEMS FOUND." It is obvious that there IS a problem. I think that maybe it's something soft and something else hard ... but I am out of ideas on the subject and just want to get through my current projects before having to rebuild the system. Also, it would be nice if the 1 TB external drive I ordered would get here so I can back everything up, although all my files are already backed up. Not the system, just the data (photos, documents, important data).

I am tired. I have been beaten by technology. Sometimes you just don't win no matter how hard you try or how clever you are.

Glad I have a laptop too!

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 07:12:15   #
beacher Loc: Butler, PA
 
Momma said there'd be days like this... just didn't tell ya they'd come in bunches like bananas...

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 07:21:47   #
PalePictures Loc: Traveling
 
beacher wrote:
Momma said there'd be days like this... just didn't tell ya they'd come in bunches like bananas...

The infamous operating system degradation of windows

Buy a Mac

"in a world without walls who needs windows and gates"

Reply
 
 
Oct 14, 2011 11:18:52   #
Bob Curtis Loc: Bay City, TX
 
I can sympathize with you after having a four way heart surgery in 2000 and having to cancel a wedding job that I had booked for over a year! I had to call the girls mom and explain my situation and that there way no way that I would be able to do the wedding. I gave her the names of 5 other wedding photographers that I knew and had confidence in which were located in our town or near by. Every thing went well, and now I understand even more my doctors instructions to me to NOT do any more wedding photography as it was simply too stressful. We received phone calls for over five years after my operation for weddings and it really hurt having to say that on my doctor's orders I could not do any more weddings, but gave them some names to contact. Since that time (2000) I have done only two weddings and they were for individuals that I had known since they were born. There have been no more done, and I truly miss it but I trust the judgement of my doctors more than I do my own selfish desires. Hope this helps you.

Bob Curtis

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Oct 14, 2011 11:48:34   #
Annabelle
 
PalePictures wrote:
beacher wrote:
Momma said there'd be days like this... just didn't tell ya they'd come in bunches like bananas...

The infamous operating system degradation of windows

Buy a Mac

"in a world without walls who needs windows and gates"


To quote myself:

Installing the new Mac OS is causing some Macs to fail. Then, unlike a PC, they do NOT reboot. They stay dead until a licensed technician comes and fixes them. Do they have fewer problems than PCs? Maybe, but they have issues too. I ran Macs for 15 years side by side with PCs until I couldn't afford to maintain 2 systems and had to choose. I chose PC.

I now have more than 20 years of files and software for PC and I'm NOT going to change systems. I think Macs are very nice. If I were just starting out, I'd consider one. However PCs offer a superior selection and much more for your money. I have "x" to spend and for that, I can get a super PC or a minimal Mac. It's not a hard choice for me.

I think the I-Pad is adorable and fun, but where's the hard drive? It's got a maximum of 64 gigs and that's for $800 without any accessories. I'd fill that baby up in a week or less. Maybe after a single photo shoot. For that price, I could get a great desktop PC with a real HD and everything else. And the I-Phone? GREAT toy, but it does not have as good audio as my Blackberry. It does everything brilliantly except make phone calls.

Good to have choices. And good to have an iron plated warranty, too.

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 11:54:39   #
Annabelle
 
Bob Curtis wrote:
I can sympathize with you after having a four way heart surgery in 2000 and having to cancel a wedding job that I had booked for over a year! I had to call the girls mom and explain my situation and that there way no way that I would be able to do the wedding. I gave her the names of 5 other wedding photographers that I knew and had confidence in which were located in our town or near by. Every thing went well, and now I understand even more my doctors instructions to me to NOT do any more wedding photography as it was simply too stressful. We received phone calls for over five years after my operation for weddings and it really hurt having to say that on my doctor's orders I could not do any more weddings, but gave them some names to contact. Since that time (2000) I have done only two weddings and they were for individuals that I had known since they were born. There have been no more done, and I truly miss it but I trust the judgement of my doctors more than I do my own selfish desires. Hope this helps you.

Bob Curtis
I can sympathize with you after having a four way ... (show quote)


Yup. Stress is a killer. It may not CAUSE death, but it makes whatever else is on your medical plate worse. We can't avoid all stress, but we can at least avoid situation that we know for a fact in advance are bad for our health ... and shooting weddings are bad.

It gets worse when you have the pictures and the bride decides she hates them because they make her nose look too big (you need a plastic surgeon, not a photographer) or she doesn't like her gown (you bought it, not me). And the endless complaining that it's too expensive. If you didn't want a pro, then fine, have Uncle Joe and his camera there.

I didn't even like planning my OWN. Marriage is great, but the wedding? The guests had a fine time I'm told. I have pictures that show I was there and I was smiling, but that's mostly what I remember. The rest is a blur of throbbing feet and going wherever the photographer and videographer wanted me to be.

I should have eloped.

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 13:35:23   #
steve Loc: Iowa
 
Get a Mac & never look back . fingers crossed :D

Reply
 
 
Oct 14, 2011 13:49:08   #
cj Loc: Emporium, Pa
 
argh,,,,,,,,,,, wedding photography, I am getting stressed just thinking about the last few weddings I shot. The last wedding I refused to shoot, could be they wanted a free job but I dont care, a nightmare is a nightmare............

Mac vs. Pc I think its your own personal opinion in my opinion, each works differently for each person and what apps you use with the system at hand.

Best of luck to ya,
be safe
cj

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 14:14:43   #
Bob Curtis Loc: Bay City, TX
 
Personally, I have only had Mac computers since I first saw one at a demo at Palacios, Texas, at a distract meeting for teachers. Remember this had to be almost or more than 50 years ago, so some things may be a little fuzzy. I remember very well having tried out some early P.C.'s at our school in Bay City, and you had to write in the commands for almost every thing you did. This caused me a tremendous amount of anguish at the time. At Palacios the MACS were simple to operate, no commands, just push a couple of buttons and you were in business. They even had a scroll down menu! You were in hog heaven! I got my first Mac the following week in Houston, and have used nothing else since. I even had a scanner before there was a color printer and the scanner was in B-W. Now you can do almost anything you want to almost using a Mac. After around 15 computers from the very small to the big guys and a few lap tops in between for mainly traveling and giving demonstrations and teaching I guess you could say that I am hooked on Macs and will purchase nothing else. To those of you who love their PC's, I am happy for you, but if you own a Mac I will be ecstatic about it. By the way, the big G-4 that I had used since 2000 finally gave up and I bought a new I-Mac and love it. It's not as big as a G-4, but it will do every thing I need I need it to do!

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 20:56:43   #
Phyllis Loc: NE PA
 
Nothing but Macs for me. No problems, no pop-up menus, no viruses. They are beautiful, easy to use, and reliable. Love 'em!

Reply
Oct 14, 2011 21:23:11   #
Annabelle
 
Annabelle wrote:
Almost 30 years ago, I lost my gall bladder because I had an episode of severe abdominal pain for which no explanation could be found until the discovery of gall stones. "Aha!" the doctors proclaimed and declared the mystery solved as I waited for my sutures to heal.

About two weeks later, home, I had another bout of the same pain. Turns out that while I did have gall stones, that was not the cause of the problem. It was something else altogether. Coincidental, not causative.

In novels, there are no coincidences but in life, there are. Just because two things happen at the same time, doesn't mean that one caused the other or even that the two are related.

Thus with my computer, although I solved the "Unknown Device" problem, I did not solve whatever THE problem is. Dell is actually talking about giving me a new computer. Maybe this one is a lemon. I have to be fair about this: my house is full of Dell computers. Seven currently running, various types, ages, configurations and some of them have been running for 6 or 7 years and are still going strong. All of them have been problem free, which is generally true of Dells.

Not this one, however.

THIS one has been a problem from day one ... mystery problems that come out of nowhere and seem to have no cause. Frozen screens, blue screens, black screens, reboots. And the diagnostic says "NO PROBLEMS FOUND." It is obvious that there IS a problem. I think that maybe it's something soft and something else hard ... but I am out of ideas on the subject and just want to get through my current projects before having to rebuild the system. Also, it would be nice if the 1 TB external drive I ordered would get here so I can back everything up, although all my files are already backed up. Not the system, just the data (photos, documents, important data).

I am tired. I have been beaten by technology. Sometimes you just don't win no matter how hard you try or how clever you are.

Glad I have a laptop too!
Almost 30 years ago, I lost my gall bladder becaus... (show quote)


I believe that I fixed it. I returned the video card and associated video software to its original (and recommended by Dell) drivers and suddenly, all symptoms gone. The fix, once I knew what had to do, took me less than 5 minutes. That's the way it always is ... easy and obvious once you know the answer. It's finding the answer that's hard.

Reply
 
 
Oct 15, 2011 19:49:15   #
snowbear
 
Oooooo a Mac vs. PC fight! Pass the popcorn! :wink:

I've had both. I use a Mac now, and it is not without issues, but I like the idea that underlying OS-X is a flavor of Unix. The OS seems to be more compact that Windows. I also like that there are fewer virus threats to the Mac. That said, it would be nice to run OS-X on a home-build box and not have to buy an actual Mac. The availability of applications is lacking. I like iWork but it is not a real substitute for MS Office. At least I can run Windows apps if I want to.

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Oct 15, 2011 20:33:35   #
Annabelle
 
snowbear wrote:
Oooooo a Mac vs. PC fight! Pass the popcorn! :wink:

I've had both. I use a Mac now, and it is not without issues, but I like the idea that underlying OS-X is a flavor of Unix. The OS seems to be more compact that Windows. I also like that there are fewer virus threats to the Mac. That said, it would be nice to run OS-X on a home-build box and not have to buy an actual Mac. The availability of applications is lacking. I like iWork but it is not a real substitute for MS Office. At least I can run Windows apps if I want to.
Oooooo a Mac vs. PC fight! Pass the popcorn! :wi... (show quote)


Oracle's Open Office is a free download and is a very good substitute for office. Comes ready to roll on all platforms, too.

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Oct 15, 2011 21:33:42   #
snowbear
 
Annabelle wrote:
Oracle's Open Office is a free download and is a very good substitute for office. Comes ready to roll on all platforms, too.


Thanks, I'll look into it. My son and wife both have PCs with a full complement of apps if I really need them. Of course, if Mac had a larger market share, there would be more available. Since I have an IntelMac, I can run windows natively; I just too cheap to buy Win7 at this point in time. I guess if I have a need to do Cartography/GIS at home, then I'll bite the bullet.

Reply
Oct 15, 2011 21:51:12   #
Annabelle
 
snowbear wrote:
Annabelle wrote:
Oracle's Open Office is a free download and is a very good substitute for office. Comes ready to roll on all platforms, too.


Thanks, I'll look into it. My son and wife both have PCs with a full complement of apps if I really need them. Of course, if Mac had a larger market share, there would be more available. Since I have an IntelMac, I can run windows natively; I just too cheap to buy Win7 at this point in time. I guess if I have a need to do Cartography/GIS at home, then I'll bite the bullet.
quote=Annabelle Oracle's Open Office is a free do... (show quote)


You will like Open Office. it's the real deal. Oracle makes some very expensive stuff, but that also make a lot of open source applications and this is a whole suite and it will open and save office documents and virtually any other format. Plus power point. AND excel. And Access. no kidding.

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