The End Is Near

Been a busy six weeks, but it's time to get back in the saddle again.

Now I did mention that life will suck up all of your time if you let it and that certainly has been the case with me, the cats had to go in for shots, the cars needed a look over and the chores are never don, at last that's what the Long Sufferin' says.

Then there's the fun stuff, the newish camera which I am still discovering. The thing is a lot smarter than me and if I do everything right it takes amazing pictures. Now have I set the subject index to Fast Moving Objects? Did I remember to turn off the auto focus, cause the little hummers are a lot faster than the mechanics of the lens, and did I remember to adjust the exposure index a coupla stops higher cause they don't like to feed til late in the afternoon when the light gets dicey for fast flying objects. It's a puzzlement.

And of course the Ole Trawler languishes while I do all of this other stuff.

But that can't happen, cause there are things which need to be said and announced and published and so I'm back at the keyboard where I should have been for the last six weeks but I was out doing fun stuff.

So have you prepared for the Xpocalypse?

That's right, I didn't misspell it, the Xpocalypse.

MicroCrummy has decided to abandon all of us who do not FaceSlander or Twat or Linkedup cause we don't need no stinking Windows 8 and they are ending support for good ole trusty XP.

Now there are those, check your pockets for pocket protectors and slide rules, (Anyone still remember what a slide rule was?), who cannot live without the LATEST and GREATEST Whizzbang, tile-shuffling, App-collecting OS and they are welcome to Windows 8, but for most people who just want to do email, and taxes and maybe use SKYPE and of course download pictures, XP was fine. But not for old MicroNeedy. See if they can't force you off of XP they don't make any money. You know why? You've already paid for XP.

Now I would love to return the favor and abandon Windows completely but the Long Sufferin isn't on board with Linux so Windows it is. You probably aren't either. But you have to be. See when support end all of the nasty little buggers with time on their dirty, little hands will have a field day writing nastiness for the naked operating system.

No problem-o, I'll just upgrade to Windows 8 and be done with it. But you can't. You see MicroCrafty has written t5he new system so that most if not all of your programs won;t run on it, worse yet, they hardware inside of your box won;'t run with it. They want you to not only buy a new Windows but they want you to shell out for a new computer too.

So you can't just pay for Windows 8 and be on your merry way. What to do?

You could let MicroRaverger have its way with you and go out and buy a whole new machine...PC sales are down dontcha know, or you could try out foxing the lot of'em.

There are versions of Windows which will run on your beige box, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Yeah, yeah, I've heard, in fact my lawn man, a wonderful guy, just recently engaged and planning his wedding and I hope all of the best for them gravely warned me not to finish installing Vista on the Long Sufferin's computer. He even offered to check around and see if he could find a pal with Window 8 I could install. I graciously declined and thanked him, he was looking out for my best interests, but I went on installing Vista anyway.

Sure it has a horrible reputation this Vista operating system, but I was able to find an upgrade copy which allows the Long Sufferin' to keep all of her settings and email files/folders and not have to re transfer them by portable hard drive. So for her machine it was the best idea.

Now for me, I wanted to go Ubuntu. But there are still too many Windows programs which I depend on, so for me the move to Windows 7 was the right choice. I don't like it, but MicroNasty left me with no other choice.

Yes, I did get the computers updated and working with a glitch or three. The Long Sufferin got to keep her files and settings but the little hummer has all sorts of extra frills and gimcracks we are trying to remove.

Me, well I did have an issue with my scanner and I haven't gotten the RipVinyl program to work yet. I had to buy a new copy and I haven't found the right settings to transfer the rest of my LP's. (Yes, I do still have LP's and a turntable and I'll have you know that they sound better than the CDs and a lot better than the MP3's and besides Mister Charlie's album with all of the pops and crackles was the first record I ever bought with my own money and it was a treasure and sent me off on my long journey into the Wilds of Jazz and I might never have heard the Immortal Ella or thrilled to the incomparable Miss Lana Cantrell and that would have been a horrible shame and even though I bought the Sixth of Lana for the same reason every other sixteen year old boy did, I did finally get around to opening the album and listening to the record and even in the midst of the terrible testosterone poisoning of my teen years the music was soooooooooo much better than the cover picture and fifty-odd years later the cover picture is still hotter than anything Kim Kardashian could do even with all of her clothes lying on the floor and a brass band playing in the background! So I have LP's.)

And there's the fact that the Long Sufferin' is learning a new camera so changing operating systems has been an additional hassle and that makes thing so much more tense but we will get through it all, and then everyone will be happy again and now that we don't have to face the horrors of the Xpocalypse we can relax but what about you?

Have you made the update, bought a new computer or dug out the scrapbooks and gone back to printing everything, but wait if you don't have your computer updated you won;t be able to print out those pictures for the scrapbook so there you are you have to do something before April the 8^th cause that is the last day and the End is Near.

Don't wait, do it now while there is still time so that next week you won't be able to get online and read the ole Trawler!