April 18, 1996
Dear Everyone:
Query:
What do you call someone who sits in front of a computer all day?
Answer:
A mouse potato.
Last weekend
involved a lot of installing.
“Jeannie” had decided that it was time to replace the drapes in
her living room and dining room, since the cats had succeeded in
thoroughly shredding them (the drapes, not the rooms; well, not as
much). So, weekend before
last, we went to one of those hardware warehouses and picked out
horizontal blinds for the living room window and vertical blinds for the
patio door in the dining room.
The blinds being plastic (vinyl), we figured the cats wouldn’t be
able to damage them as easily as cloth drapes.
So, last weekend, we
installed the blinds. This
was surprisingly easier than I had expected.
It might have gone a little more smoothly if I’d remembered to
bring a few things to “Jeannie’s” place.
I remembered the two drills (one cordless, one not) and the drill
bits, and a handful of screwdrivers.
And my 6’ ladder has been in “Jeannie’s” garage almost since the
day she moved in. But I
completely forgot that we’d need a tape measure and a level.
Of course, I keep a little 6’ tape in my purse, suitable for
hastily checking to see if an antique bureau will fit in the back of my
car. But the 12’
Stanley would
have worked better.
And, contrary to
popular belief, I do not keep
a level in my purse. We
borrowed one from “Jeannie’s” neighbor.
You could see he used it often.
It was still in the box.
With these simple
tools in hand, “Jeannie” tore down the old drapes and rods while I
deciphered the instructions for the blinds.
The horizontal blinds weren’t at all difficult.
Now the cat can sit on the window sill without climbing up
through the drapes.
The vertical blinds
were a little more difficult, possibly because we hadn’t drilled the
holes deeply enough for the first brace.
That one took a lot of elbow grease.
And my elbow hurt enough the next day to testify to it.
But once we had the braces up and the watchamacallit in place,
the vertical vanes just snapped into place.
That left the
valance that “Jeannie” wanted to put over the kitchen window.
In some ways, this little thing was the trickiest of all.
I couldn’t use the ladder because of the kitchen counters and
sink. In fact, I had to
(gingerly) stand on the countertop, something I’m sure it wasn’t
designed for. And I’ve never
known my feet to stick to a
countertop quite that much.
That took care of
“Jeannie’s” project, which took about 3-4 hours.
On Sunday, I started on my
project: Installing a
sound card in my
PC, Oberon. I started around
9:00 in the morning. And, by
6:00 PM, I had that thing working like a charm.
The actual installation wasn’t hard, although it’s a good idea to
take a look at the illustration in the booklet if you want to be sure
you’ve connected the cable to the right jack in the card.
Once I had the card
inside Oberon, I started him up and...nothing happened.
Oh, the PC came on fine, but Oberon wasn’t saying anything.
After that, it became rather like one of those computer games,
trying to figure out what wasn’t working right.
I will say, the Help Feature in
Windows 95 really
is useful. In fact, by the
end of the day “Hardware Conflict Troubleshooting” and I were on a first
name basis.
A word to the wise:
If you’re buying new, have the sound card installed at the
factory. If you’re adding a
sound card, take that “Plug
and Play” notice with a very large grain of salt.
Chances are, you’re going to have to change the interrupts to get
it to work. What are
interrupts? Who cares as
long as they don’t get in your way.
(The dining room still
has installation diskettes and computer books all over the place.)
All in all, a
productive, if tiring weekend.
I’ve played
Myst twice this week
and it’s just as baffling as figuring out how to change interrupts.
But it has better music.
I’m taking next week
off from work in order to paint my condo.
What seems like a fairly small and cozy place suddenly looms
large when contemplating painting seven rooms plus the hallway and
laundry area. Nevertheless,
it’s been nine years since I’ve moved in here and the marks on the walls
are beginning to show.
I’ve picked spring
so the weather will be neither too cold or too warm for leaving the
windows open all the time.
And I’m rather looking forward to a project that lets me sleep past
sunrise; that has a definite beginning, middle and end; and that won’t
have to be repeated for another nine years.
Back in two weeks.
Love, as always,
Pete
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