jarandhel

Made out pretty good computer-wise for the holidays. I got Dusk's old 30 gig 3rd generation iPod for Christmas, since he got a new video iPod from his parents. Tried being a real geek and loading Linux on it (no I'm not joking) but wasn't real impressed with the iPod linux project. By default, the menus were too dim to even read and I couldn't adjust the contrast without access to the menus to find the right option. So I cleared that back out and reinstalled the standard iPod software. Having lots of fun with it, I currently have it hooked up to a set of spare speakers my parents brought with all their surplus computer stuff. And there's a lot of real gems hidden in here. I've been going through it all.

For one thing, there's a cable that I'm 100% positive came from INSIDE a computer. Don't even know how it ended up on the outside here let alone in with the other spare parts. My parents would certainly never take apart a computer, and I don't recall ever removing a cable. Maybe it was an extra. I'm not entirely certain what type of cable it is, it's one of those obscure little ones that goes to some header or another on the motherboard, and I'm not up to puzzling over it at the moment. I'm sure a quick look through my textbook will help me sort it out. Later.

There's also some stuff in here that really isn't "computer" hardware, though it can certainly be used in conjunction with computer stuff. Phone cords, microphones, even a device that can be hooked up to a phone line and a recording device to either record anything said over the line or to play back over the line. I'm pretty sure that last one is from my mother's writing career when I was younger, for use during phone interviews. Not sure how the hell it ended up being lumped in with the computer stuff, but I'm not really complaining. ;-)

The computers themselves are a mixed lot. One of them looks in rather decent condition, my main concern with it is that it has no fan other than the power supply fan in its rather cramped and wire-filled case. I'm thinking I may have to reposition the hard drive in the case to open up some room, and install a fan inside, before I'd risk using it. Too easy to fry the cpu. And considering it has a history of random errors and blue screens of death, I'm thinking that may be the exact reason: it's been overheating all this time. (Either that or it's just the fact that it uses Windows. ;-))

The other one is, quite simply, awful. It's so dirty I can hardly believe it. It has dust *bunnies* inside it. It's going to require a lot more than a simple can of compressed air to clean it out, I think. Best case scenario is I complete disassemble it and clean off each piece individually. Worst case scenario is I scavenge it for individual parts that I need and clean them off one by one as I transfer them into different boxes. Not sure which of those approaches I'm going to take just yet, still considering my options.

Also got a rather nice printer, fax machine (though we don't actually have a land-line or even VOIP to use it with, and it has no capacity to connect to a computer or network), monitor, two keyboards, something like four sets of spare speakers, a usb external modem, a usb bus, and a serial external modem. And a scanner, but as I've mentioned before I think the scanner's dead and I'm not really sure it's in my power to fix it. All in all, quite a nice little haul.

Oh, and mice. Must not forget the mice. :)

And THERE'S a usb to ps2 adapter! I knew they made those!! *was just looking for one of those the other week*

I will so be getting my geek on...

This morning I woke up after a very quiet night to my father telling me that I had better hurry and mow the lawn since my mother had finished her weekly paperwork for her job and she and my father were going out at half past noon. I was back to doing the lawn today because my mother was home and my father doesn't want her to know about him mowing the lawn. Don't you love these little family intrigues? He swears that he told me last night that I would have to mow the lawn today, but I don't remember him saying any such thing, and I do remember everything we talked about last night. I think this morning was actually the first time it was said, despite what he may have meant to tell me.

So, I mowed the lawn in the morning, and from 12:30 on, I watched my grandmother. Doesn't sound like a lot of hard work, does it, just babysitting an elderly woman? But it's not that easy. She was having lunch when they left, and the minute that she finished eating, she started asking two questions... is it time to get undressed and go to bed, and is it time for dinner... you have to understand, she has about a two second span of memory, so even though I answered her many times, she just couldn't remember what I said. So every few seconds she would ask again, and I would tell her. This continued from the time she finished her lunch until 8 PM, when she went to sleep. It's kind of like Chinese water torture, the same two questions over and over again, every few seconds, steadily, for hours after hours... it gets to you. But yelling doesn't do any good. Nothing does. There's just no way to snap her out of the cycle.

And my parents didn't get home until 10. They had lunch out, stopped by my mother's job briefly to drop off some things that her employees needed, went bird watching for several hours, went shopping, went to church, and had dinner out. When they got home, I was told that I could have the computer "for the night." My mother is staying with my father tonight. I should explain, we have two houses... one is my grandmothers, and the other is ours. Our computer is in the one house, and myself and my father have been staying at my grandmother's house because she needs 24-hour care, and our own house is not set up in a way that would allow us to care for her... not even room for her to sleep over here, even if she could maneuver a walker through the doorways. So I'm over here on the computer, and she's staying over there with him. I have the computer all right, for as long as I can remain awake. And no rest for the weary, either, as soon as I'm off the computer in the morning (7 AM) I'll be back on-call with my grandmother at her house.

And people wonder why I need a vacation so badly when I'm unemployed.

I did bring up to my mother that I have a problem with having to stay up for 24 hours or more in a row just to have a little time to myself. I asked her why I don't get any downtime. Her response... well, see the subject line for tonight's post. That was her reply, word for word.

Well, by now I'm sure everyone is sick of my whining, I know I am, so I'm going to sign off for now... don't know if there will be any more posts tonight, I'm not sure how long I'll be staying awake, but I do intend to try to make the most of my first lengthy amount of time online for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll manage to salvage my sanity.

-Jarin

Just wanted to explain a point in my last entry... I said that almost all of my time is taken up by my father and grandmother's appointments, even before she broke her hip. That probably sounds like I'm exaggerating, but you must understand... my father is diabetic, and had his toe amputated due to infection, and has severe eye trouble, AND suffered from chronic heart failure in either July or August of 1999, which is when all of his health problems date back to. Because of this, it's a rare week that doesn't have several appointments for him, plus any appointments for my grandmother (which have increased since her accident), plus the regular things of food shopping, and any other errands that need to be run that my mother can't do because of her work schedule. These are things that, before my father's health declined, he could have done himself, but now my mother and I are the only people in the family capable of driving, so that which she can't do falls to me.

I just thought I should explain that.

-Jarin