Big Weekend - iMac and a new cat

Sorry about being m.i.a recently.  I spent a week house-sitting for my mother as she went on a week long cruise to the Barrier Reef with my aunt.  They had a great time, even if my mum couldn't find her land legs for a few days after, but it poured rain for most of the time.  In 72 hours my neighbours had 8+ inches in their rain gauge!

So, as I was saying, I was house sitting and on my second last day there I fired up the laptop and decided to defrag it as it was getting a tad sluggish.  Everything went as always, until I got home on Easter Sunday.  I fired up the laptop and ended up with a black screen that keep looping back to a start-up repair menu.  OMG!!!  No internet access at my mother's house - their phone lines aren't set up for cable, and wi-fi isn't an option either due to reception difficulties.  So I've been without internet for 2 weeks and had to fork out for a new computer!  Luckily I found a great special that JB Hi-Fi was having - a MASSIVE 10% off ALL Apple computers and accessories.  Being the budget conscious gal I am I quickly rang the local shops to see if they'd price match (NO), and then called my mum to see if she could pick it up for me before she was due to come out here on Friday.  Yes, she could - and so on Friday morning I took possession of my first ever Apple computer.  So exciting ;-D

Now I was so eager to get back online, but being a good daughter I waited until after my mum's visit. With the internet not an option, I ended up going to the local shopping centre with her yesterday and since it is the school holidays the RSPCA have had a collection of cute kittens there all week.  Yesterday though, they brought in some older cats {over 6 mths I think} and all of them looked similar to my Evie Nyxx.  I fell for the smallest of the three, and she is soooo cute.  I really didn't need another cat in the house, but my Titchy is getting very old and raggedy and I don't want Evie Nyxx to pine for her when I loose her.  Call me crazy for introducing Phryne (also known as Phrynekinns), but looking into that gorgeous face I couldn't say no.

As you can see she is the spitting image of Evie Nyxx... just a lighter colour I think.

It's now 24 hours later and after a sleepless night - sleeping with one eye open so as to avoid WWIII - I have a purring Phryne on the bed and a still not impressed Evie Nyxx on my lap as I try to type over her ;-D  I'm still trying to get used to the mac way of things and missing my older version of Photoshop CS4 as I'm now without a photo editor program.  I really didn't think this through did I?

Keep your fingers crossed for me that the furry family settles down over the next few days - and that I start to get my head wrapped around this new way of doing things with my iMac.

So until next time my lovelies,

Temporary hiatus

Had a terrible month with laptop and phone acting up, but today my laptop finally succumbed to the black screen of death. 

I'll be updating Instagram from phone, but will be unable to update Goodreads until I get a new computer.

So until then, wish me luck.  I'm seriously considering an Apple desktop, but they're sooo expensive here.

Until next time,
Happy Reading!

BSOD freak out

Not a capture of my BSOD {Google Images}, but this is the exact message I got - well, the codes may be different

Had a really bad start to the morning.  I crawled out of bed {have sore throat and possibly the beginnings of a head cold} and thought I'd go online and check things out, do a bit of recreational Photoshop-ping for some Kate/Curran wallpapers I've been doodling, and what do I get - the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)!  Talk about freaking out.  I've never been so panicked about any of my other computer crashes in the 14 years I've owned a PC/laptop.  All I could think of was "OMG... did it wipe out the external drive?!!?"

After trying to restart in Safe Mode 3 times I thought my laptop had gone to silicone heaven.  I jumped on my smart phone and did a quick search and after reading a few good guides I decided to try again - after pulling out the battery (giving it a quick wipe down just in case) and putting it back in again.  This seems to have done the trick and I could now get through the start up screens and onto the desktop.   So while my diagnosis program runs in the background I thought I'd post this just in case.  Not the best way to start a Sunday morning.

Oh, and the external drive was a-ok ;-D

Problem sorta kinda fixed

Got timed out at McDonalds on Saturday and luckily a draft of my entry was saved. . .

Okay, I'm at McDonalds again and I still couldn't view my blog.  'Operation Aborted' is not what you want to see everytime you go online.  So after finding a possible problem to my solution on google's blogger site I tried removing all my javascript code and voila! - it worked.  So now I am back to my plain old design until I can work out what the hell went wrong.
This means getting back my tower... again.  I picked it up yesterday after being assured that the modem was finally reinstalled and working only to turn the computer on this morning in anticipation of a day catching up on emails and other stuff (including my blog) only to find that it had dropped out again!  So I spent the morning on the phone to them and took it back in.  The tech I spoke to on the phone said it sounded like a faulty modem so hopefully I won't have to pay for any of the parts or labour.  I'd better not have to anyway.
Apart from that, I spent the week pouring over the books that arrived via snail mail.  It was great!  I don't start my new TAFE units until Monday, and thankfully I did really well on the last 2 units so I don't have to resubmit assignments - yippee!
I'll add my views on the titles when I get up and running again.  Fingers crossed for me.  You really don't realise how much you use the internet, or a blog, until you can't.

Still Waiting...

.

and waiting.  It's now been over a week since I admitted my desktop for repairs.  This laptop is now officially driving me nuts!  I can't view my blog so you'll have to forgive me if the posts look crappy.  I'm still unsure as to why I can view some blogs on my laptop, but not others.  It's a mystery?

On a good note, on Tuesday I received 'River Marked' in the mail.  I'll review it once I get my desktop back and can actually preview what I'm doing.  As well as that, our local K-Mart and Big W have been selling discount books so I've been able to buy a handful of now OOP (out of print) Berkley Prime Crime books (or Cosy Mysteries if you prefer to call them that) that even our library - or Book Depository - have available... lucky me!

So fingers crossed that I get my faithful and trustworthy (when it feels like it) computer back today.  I'd really like to do some studying {I know, I know what you're thinking... but really, the sky isn't falling chicken little!}
.

Don't Adjust Your Screen...

Well, it's finally happened.  The one thing that I have been absolutely terrified would happen one day.  My hard drive crashed.  It is DOA, DNR and OMG!.  Luckily for me I had backed up my Documents/Pictures/Music/Downloads, etc., but I didn't get time to back up nearly 3 years worth of emails!  {bugger!}  Just what I didn't want to happen.

So I will be taking a little while to reorganize my digital self, and will only return once I'm up and running.

Until then, I'll concentrate on other my studies {oh God!  All my emails from my advisor... s*!t} and figure out a way to get all those email addresses again.

See ya soon.

Silicon Heaven to Strangers in Death

OK... that's it! My computer has finally beeped its last ungrateful beep and gone to silicon heaven. I'm now left scrambling to get a nice, new, fast model, but in the meantime I'll be using both my work computer and visiting my local library.

I've read quite a few new authors lately. My favourite ones have been Jennifer Rardin and her heroine Jaz Parker, the cute 50ft gold dragon in Allyson James' Dragon Heat and I've also picked up Kat Richardson's Greywalker and Poltergeist (now in the to read pile).

Work has left me with little time to read and report back, but now that theChristmas, New Years, Australia Day rush are over there is now only Valentines Day to worry about - until Easter and then Mother's Day... it's a neverending viscious cycle.

I've put my orders into Bookworld. I should be expecting a delivery soon, and I will finally be able to get my hands on Iron Kissed, Swimming without a Net and about 6 other books. Yippee!

My local library has been a disappointment lately. Every decent book has been out over the Christmas period, and they allow 30 items to be borrowed for a period of 5 or 6 weeks. So it'll be a few more weeks until the good stuff goes back into circulation.

The latest JD Robb book has hit the stands. 'Strangers in Death' is number 26 in the series. I don't know how much longer Nora Roberts can keep the series going, but I'd love her to end it with Eve telling Roarke that she's pregant... with twins! and hopefully she'd finally have the last word. Aah well, I can dream can't I....