The Clone Wars

After several days of behaving normally, the hard drive in my primary computer once again refused to boot. This time, instead of just presenting a blank screen with a blinking cursor, it announced "Drive Read Error." Once again, if I swapped the drive to the other Inspiron, it still would not boot.

( Hard Driving me Crazy )

I really wish the balky computer would fail a diagnostic test so I would have a better case when I call Dell tech support. OTOH, Dell may not give me the time of day, either; although when I look up my system's extended warranty status, it says I have over 200 days remaining, when I tried to actually initiate a service call, their system responded, "Your service contract has expired." I will have to telephone them and argue with them over the phone, assuming I can even get that far.

This state of affairs is intolerable. I'm planning on swapping a working clone (of the prime/A/B set) into the other computer and using the other computer as my main machine for a while. If the problem really is hardware related -- faulty motherboard/controller -- then the backup computer shouldn't have such difficulties.

Meanwhile, I think I'm also going to see about going through my files and flat-out archviving -- as opposed to backing up -- a good chunk of My Documents. Having these constant scrapes with disaster is not good for my peace of mind.

Travels With Kuma

When Lisa stopped by yesterday afternoon for a few hours, she gave me photos of Kuma Bear in his little car seat. I did not have time or facilities for uploading them until today.

( Well-Cared For Bear )

After we picked up a replacement hose for her pickup and a roll of tape Lisa needed, we convoyed down to BASFA. After the meeting, Lisa picked up a tube of posters for Anticipation and the SJ2011 Westercon bid that she agreed to carry with her in the cramped confines of her little pickup's camper-shell, and continued on her way south, rather than spending the night here. She really wasn't feeling like sleeping and wanted to make more distance instead, traveling when it was relatively cool -- an important issue with her un-air-conditioned pickup truck.

Those Darn Daleks Part 2 Posted

I've posted Part 2 of Those Darn Daleks, the second of the two amateur Doctor Who movies I helped make in the late 1980s while in Chico.

Tooth Telling

This morning, I awoke with a start at 5:45 AM. That's because I'd meant to be up at 5 AM so I'd have time for my morning e-mail and such before going to my 7:30 AM dentist appointment in Redwood Shores. By dint of skipping checking most messages and charging through breakfast and a shower, I managed to get there with ten minutes to spare. It doesn't hurt that traffic wasn't heavy.

( Messy dental details )

The crown itself feels pretty good. Once it completely settles in, I think it will be a very welcome replacment for the original tooth, which had two fillings and starting to crack. I'll be happy when I can start chewing on both sides of my mouth again without worrying about putting pressure on that tooth. Don't know how well it will handle cold foods, though.