No computer for a week = most boring week of my life!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This is really mundane and pointless, but I just wanted to vent. The motherboard on my computer died last Saturday. I had to order a new barebones system on Monday. It probably shipped on Friday. I hadn’t really noticed how much I do on a computer that seems important to me, because in the last week, I’ve been going out of my tree with boredom, so I’ve done a bunch of other stuff to combat it.

Our house is just about spotless. All of my records and CDs are put away and organized. Every bit of laundry that could be washed has been washed and put away. The front and back yards look like a post card. I’ve watched more television in the last seven days than I have in years, which reminds me why I stopped watching television. I’ve posted to the Dope several times, but from work, or on my wife’s computer when she wasn’t using it. And I’ve cleared out hundreds of her cookies and spyware and defragged her hard drive. GAWD, I’M BORED!!!

I didn’t used to have a computer before 5 years ago. Since then, I’ve come to enjoy restoring my records that haven’t been issued on CD yet, then making CDs of them, building a database of the collection, designing CD covers, scanning and restoring old family photos, transferring video to digital and making first SVCDs and then DVDs. I miss my Usenet access. I miss all my most frequently visited websites. I can’t remember what I used to do that took up all of my time, but I must have done something for 40 years! Now, it appears I have been totally sucked into the digital culture. But I like it! It’s way more interesting to me than lots of other stuff.

Yeah, I know, you’re saying, “well why don’t you go outside?” I’ll tell you why: it’s 96 degrees with 94 percent humidity and a heat index of 106. Would you hang outside on the porch in that kind of weather? Me neither.

OK, mundane, pointless rant over. I miss my computer! Hurry up, FedEx guy!

2

After a while it can be quite liberating to be without a computer.
To me it’s like alcohol. If it’s available, the temptation to use it is constantly there. But using it eats away at your time and you almost certaintly aren’t doing anything useful on it. But if it’s not available, after a while you feel liberated.
If my computer died and alcohol was banned sure I’d feel despair for a bit, but after a while I’d feel liberated and alive.

3

~Shudder~

You poor thing. I feel for you. I use my computer for everything, my checkbook, writing, research of all sorts (from new frisbee tricks for my dog to good “lite” recipes.

After I return to Anchorage, I won’t have a tv or stereo, so any movies I watch or music I listen to, I’ll have to use my computer. I spent a long time wanting one when they were first starting to be popular for home use, and once I got one, I’ve been really glad I did.

Best technology for home use imho.

4

fishbicycle, I feel your pain.

I’ve had a computer in the house since 1981 (it was a TI 99/4a). Now, the computer isn’t just a toy or a source of entertainment, but thanks to eBay it’s a source of income, too.

Over the years I’ve had hard drive crashes, modem failures, CRTs crap out on me…and every time it happens, I’m like a jonesing junkie until I get the repairs done.

5

I was without a computer for awhile last fall/winter. It is a long boring story, but basically off and on for four months or so. I moderate another board, and that was my main concern, but I had access to my dad’s computer, so I could at least check in once a day. All the other moderators were wonderful and kept an eye on my forum, not that it gets too arduous…it is generally a very civilized board.

Anyway, the first thing that happened is that I got hooked on Court TV and A&E. I seldom watched TV prior to this, usually Cartoon Network and AMC and then only sporadically. But there I was with no computer, so…one night there was nothing worth watching on AMC and no computer to use while I “vetted” what was on CN. I was reading a book, but it wasn’t holding my interest. So I started channel surfing and found Court TV. I had NO IDEA there were so many fascinating and vile people in the world! And so many programs devoted to unveiling how the forensic people CATCH them! WOW!!! I probably should mention that I am a mystery book person and have always enjoyed the occasional “true crime” story. But this…this was like…I don’t know, maybe like the much vaunted “candy coated crack” that this board is likened to? After which, I found that A&E has similar shows…only BETTER!!! [sub]as you can see, I was really on a roll at this point[/sub] Cold Case Files! City Confidential! American Justice! You really should try it.

I also found out that, contrary to popular opinion, there IS such a thing as GOOD TV. No, really, there IS! NYPD is a good show. Crossing Jordan is a good show. Unfortunately, these shows play in syndication on A&E and CT late at night. And even MORE unfortunately, they are done in a serial format. So after watching these shows at 11 or 12PM on Thursday and Friday nights, there is often something I want desperately to follow on Monday night. Late. And I have to be at work at 7AM. Which led to my next discovery, which is that I am too old to stay up late to watch said shows and still be awake at work the next morning. “sigh”

The next thing that happened was that my brother called me up to find out what the Sam Hill dad was doing spending SO MUCH TIME on his computer. See, when dad got his computer, my brother gave dad one of his screen names, knowing that dad wouldn’t be using the computer much. And this had been the case so far. So Rick figured that dad was not signing off, and I needed to get dad to understand that he needed to sign off. I mumbled something about me using it some, apologized and…promised to stop monopolizing the account.

I also found out that you can save a lot of money if you switch your insurance carrier to Geico, that you can sit in your chair and never move and STILL lose three dress sizes in two weeks, and that Christie Brinkley looks to me like she has had her face done…given the fact that I have always thought she was a beautiful woman but now she looks like you could bounce a dime off of her face and her eyes got all squinty. Such a shame. Also, did you know you can buy a metal detector and it will make you A) Lose weight and B) Save your marriage? Well, thats what I got out of it, anyway. And Lindsay Wagner can tell you how to FINALLY get a good night’s sleep.

Oh, and did I mention that you can save a TON of money if you switch your insurance carrier to Geico? My stars, if those people spend a fraction of the amount of money that they spend on commercials… on actually serving their clients, they are ONE AWESOME INSURANCE COMPANY!

So, darling…bless your computer for dying. A whole new world is going to open up for you! No, REALLY…trust me! :smiley:

6

Ick. It’s why I hate AOL so much. Randomly it with make the computer crash, and we will have it here, but it won’t work for a week or so. It teases you. It taunts you. It’s just all around terrible. One particular time it was during the school year, really stormy (meaning no TV stupid sattilite dish mutterings), and I was home sick for about a week. I had NOTHING to do. During the week I read over 10 books, and got extremly good at the card game speed. So, I feel your pain. I say go to a book store and get a good supply.

7

Thanks for the replies, folks.

I did find some interesting programs on the History Channel and Comedy Central, but nothing I would go out of my way to watch if I had something better to do. But you can only watch so much of the Food Network and HGTV before it gets wildly boring and repetitive.

And yeah, what is it with those damned Geico commercials? Nearly every break, all day. Well guess what? We had a policy with them until two weeks ago. We just got a new car, and they were going to put the premiums up to the unaffordable range. So we switched to another company for the same coverage and saved $600 a year on car insurance! Like the man said, don’t believe everything you see on TV!

Why does anybody use AOL as their ISP? You have to get an ISP first before you can sign up with them, and then they filter your internet access and they have all these other inconveniences. My point is, you already have an ISP! And you’d get more content from them than you do with AOL, and your local ISP doesn’t have software that crashes your computer at random.

Well, I’m all antsy waiting for FedEx to show up here at work with my new computer. Hope it’s today! BTW, the new one (P4, 2.4 GHz), which is more powerful than the old one, (P4, 1.7 GHz) cost less. I have 640 MB of SDRAM that I can’t use with it, because now computers use DDR RAM. Otherwise, the thing would have cost me $90 less. And overall, it cost $1200 less than the Sony VAIO PI, 266 MHz POS we bought 5 years ago. Makes ya sick, eh?

8

Ooh ooh, Fish, please fill me in a bit more on this. When I first ‘got on’ years ago, I believe I called AOL (because that’s what the rest of my family used) and they sent me a download CD. Well, one thing led to another with them (ahem) and while it’s cozy for family use–feels like they’re in the next room when they’re showing on my Buddy List, IMs and buddy chats are easy, etc–I’m constantly appalled with some of their other traits, and the cost. You’re saying I already *have * an ISP, etc? Dumb question of the year: How do I find out who that is? :smack:

9

This is why I always keep a spare around. I had to send my laptop in last week, so I’m missing my newest and most-used computer. But I still have my desktop. And were that to go, I’d still have an old PIII 650 that’s currently being a neglected file/web server that would be serviceable.

Redundancy is the answer.

Oh, and MizQuirk, AoL probably is your ISP, if you signed up as you described. However, some people have an independent ISP and also pay for the AoL service for reasons that escape fishbicycle and me. Also, if you’re interested, you can get a free stand-alone version of the instant messenger/buddy list to run with any ISP. If you do that, ditch AoL, and get a local ISP, you could probably save $5 to $10 a month on internet service.

10

Hi! Since I don’t actually know anyone who uses AOL, I’m probably the wrong person to go on about it. I am unaware that AOL is its own ISP. Maybe it is! It sounds like it, if you called them and got a setup CD. But as iamthewalrus(:3= says, some people sign up with a local ISP and then get AOL. I don’t know why, unless they have kids and want to have their internet filtered so the kids don’t see anything on the web that their parents don’t want them to see.

To find out who your ISP is, I can only give you the directions in Netscape 7.1, although you have to have a preferences dialog in whatever browser you’re using. Go to Preferences and click on anything that tells you about Outgoing Server. Mine says smtp.comcast.net. If yours says smtp.aol.com, then AOL is your ISP. If you are dissatisfied with their service quirks, to put it politely, you might look into local ISPs in your town. Ask around, see whose service others are using. You’re sure to find one that costs less than you’re paying AOL. Are you on dialup? There will be any number of ISPs locally. If you’re on cable internet, there will likely be only one cable service provider, and with them, you’ll have no need for AOL.

Sorry if I couldn’t be more help, AOL is one of those things up with which I will not put. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

The last computer I had was a 10-year-old HP, P1, 166 MHz job that just died of old age or something. I took out the drives and power supply and IDE cables and PCI cards, and threw the rest in the garbage a long time ago. We’re not poor or anything, but an extra computer is something that we haven’t been able to afford. I have one now, of course, since my new one arrived two weeks ago. I plan to get the old one outfitted with a new mainboard, but I will have to find one that accepts SDRAM. All the boards I can find now only accept DDR. I’ve got a P4, 1.7 GHz CPU and 640 MB of SDRAM just going to waste over in the corner. My wife would certainly love to be able to move up from our 6-year-old Sony VAIO, P1, 266 MHz box. I just upgraded the power supply and put on Windows 2000, and got her a new video card yesterday. It’s better than it was, but it has very nearly outlived its usefulness.

The computer on which I am typing now, seems to be a quantum leap in processing speed over the previous one. I’m real happy with it! And I haven’t watched 6 hours of TV since it arrived!

Goo goo goo joob.

12

Oh darn, I see that I was unclear about Boxes I Have Known And Loved. The drives from the HP went into a barebones system I ordered, which had the 1.7 G CPU and the SDRAM. That was the one which died on me a few weeks back. I now have a new barebones system with a 2.4 G CPU and DDR (boy, is it fast!)