Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Just Rime

Well never mind, maybe. Unless it snows a foot tonight the winter storm was a no show. Maybe there has just been an atmospheric delay. That worked out fine for today's firewood splitting, hauling and stacking. Real snow did began to fall late this afternoon. The predicted two inches for last night and today was just the hovering frozen cloud, the rime.



This has been a time of a thousand little irritations. Multiple systems have not been operating smoothly. I fought with the water system since it froze around the first of the year. I fought with the furnace for a month from the time the power was out for four days in mid-December. I have fought two long snow covered driveways through every iteration of snow that can fall. With one of them I was forced to concede defeat to the snow.

I always fight with the sluggish Hughes satellite internet. The computer has been more of a battle ground ever since I quit procrastinating about renewing the McAfee anti virus program. Hughes won't download that even during their safe download times. I was forced to buy a CD. Now one would think a CD has the program on it. Not so. I still had to download the program from the internet with the CD and discovered that after exceeding my limit on Hughes.

After six weeks and numerous chats with Sam in India the McAfee is finally installed and running. Now the Internet Explorer browser and Picasa's blog function have crashed. Did one lead to the other? They both have full permission in the firewall settings. A thousand little inquiries and fixes may be needed for that.



Fortunately I have the Firefox browser on my computer and Scarlet, the Hughes representative in India led me to find that Hughes was not at fault, Internet Explorer was the problem when I called for help in exasperation. There was no online solution. There was no online until I starting using the Firefox.



It takes five minutes of struggle to get the zipper on my heavy winter coat zipped. I have been fighting with that zipper for a month now. It really does need to be fully zipped for the coat to operate properly out there in all that rime.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

GAAHHHH! Time to head for Maui!
ps We have always used Firefox and prefer it to IE. That Hughes outfit sounds like a real pain in the arse.

bev

lh said...

Hang in there, Christopher. You always inspire me with your persistence. I hope, hope, hope everything will go better soon. Some time in Maui may help? The calendar says Spring begins in 24 days.

Best wishes from Lois the lurker.

Siria said...

Christopher, I think you desperately need a vacation!!! Thank goodness you had one planned. I truly admire you for your persistence, patience and positive outlook! I'm glad the snow held off so you could get some last minute things finished up before the Resident Gardener's arrive.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I hope you don't have soo much trouble packing for Maui. You need some time there. I hope you return to your mountain. The cozy cabin will be lonesome if you don't.

Christopher C. NC said...

Bev I think IE is a thing of the past from now on. When I am in a better computer operating mood I'll personalize the Firefox. IE was forever getting stuck on things.

Hi Lois thanks for the encouragement. I did ask myself, why haven't you snapped? There must be something wrong with me. Or always another chore that needs doing.

Siria it was fate that made me plan this trip for the perfect time. Tomorrow my least favorite chore, house cleaning. It is kind of fuzzy in here with two cooped up cats all winter.

Lisa packing will be easy, a couple pair of shorts, light shirts and camera stuff. There better be no trouble with the flights to get outta here. I'll be back. I have to finish that cabin if it kills me.

Randy Emmitt said...

Christopher,
My heavy winter coat does the same thing with the zipper.

Hughes can be replaced with Wildblue, we use Wildblue and it is not so great sometimes I think dial up is nearly as good, right now we have 3 laptops that use it, so it is better for that reason alone.

I gave up IE years ago. foxfire is the way to go.

Wondering Woman said...

I'm on Hughes, use Firefox, and had McAfee also. Computer started getting very strange, even went so far as shutting itself off when it felt like it. Turns out that McAfee had let in all kinds of creepy viruses and malware, had to pay them additional $90 to get it off (which they did only half-assed). Two weeks ago switched to new anti-virus company, Vipre, and they got my computer completely cleaned up for the price of a years subscription ($30)AND they're completely USA based. Just thought I'd let you know in case you keep having problems.

Christopher C. NC said...

Randy I think my heavy winter coat has been out in the cold so much the zipper is warped. I checked out Wildblue and it just seemed like it would be trading names for the same satellite ISP problems, so why bother.

OMG Wondering Woman. That is horrible to read. I guess at the second sign of trouble I may need to ditch the McAfee. The first may have already occurred with the IE and Picasa. In all my aggravation with Hughes I did find out that this house is on their cheapest plan. When I set up the cabin I will pay the bit extra for more accesss.

Siria said...

UGH...house cleaning is my least favorite chore too. I have 2 dogs and they shed, so I can relate to the "fuzz"! I have found if you just tackle it, it isn't so bad, but if you put if off it is always haunting you. So, get up early, have a big cup of coffee and get to it! It will be done before you know it and then you can move on to more fun stuff ~ like packing for your trip and walking around the mountain and taking pictures.

Lola said...

We use Firefox. No problems. Don't know about security but it works. Young'un installed it.
The cleaning will go fast. The packing will be faster. Your dream vacation coming true.
Take care, relax & have fun.
The mtn would not be the same without you.

Pam said...

Out of habit (and possibly a bad one), I am still an IE user - although I have firefox and need to just start using it. Don't know why I don't.

Hang in there. You do need a vacation. Hell, I need a vacation!