The fix on the laptop applies to the desktop PC too. All good. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot.

I found the repair for my Ubuntu/WinXP dual boot problem. Yippeeeeeeeee. It works on the laptop, now to try the desktop. Fingers crossed.

I have finally found the problem(s) with Ubuntu 9.10 not playing DVD's on the laptop or on the desktop. Ubuntu.com Documentation site had the answers--once I understood what was missing it wasn't so bad to fix.

Still have the problem, since upgrading to 9.10 with the boot menu not including the Win XP option that is supposed to be there and was there in the previous version of Ubuntu. The Win XP files are still in the hd and the space on the hd is devoted to a system I can't boot. Rat Poop.

Either I find a way to include Win XP on the boot selection page or I need a way to eliminate Win XP to recover the disc space. My search parameters--to date--haven't uncovered any clues I can use/understand. Both the laptop and the desktop are experiencing the same problem. It is hell to be a technician from the age of vacuum tubes.

My wife's DVD/CD RW device became invisible to Vista yesterday. Buggy opsys. On the other hand, Msft has an online automatic troubleshooting and repair site that seems to have fixed the problem. Not that I learned about the T/S site from Msft, Dell Support revealed it to me.

Now Dell wants me to buy an extended warranty for $120 to "protect" me for one more year. Seems excessive. I think I will turn them down and the next time the opsys causes a problem, try to convince her to make it a dual boot system with Ubuntu. $120. Nah.

Revised subject line: "No DSL woes"

The fix is in. Centurylink delivers! No drops in 4 days 20 hours 44 minutes and 23 seconds. Ahhhhh. I like it.

Today Centurylink made a serious effort to help correct my problem. An internet tech. specialist is sending a new router after trying unsuccessfully to update the programming on the current one and two repairmen came by after switching us to another port on the local server. In house tweaking and checking may have helped, but the main thing is: the company is responsive, concerned, and persistent in working to make their customers happy.

Am I happy yet? Yeah, a lot better than last week. Thanks to Joey and Fred and Kelsey's attention to business. Shoot, I may even buy some more Centurylink stock for my portfolio--through computershare's (the transfer agent)Direct Stock Purchase Program--no commission, low min. purchase requirements, nice dividend yield and a company that has proven they care.

Thank you Centurylink.

We had a lovely visit with one of our daughters this weekend. Delayed T-day dinner and conversation and a walk and---well, mainly just having her around for a day. Very enjoyable.

Wow! I'm impressed. Centurylink has a customer outreach service. After I posted my DSL problem in my LJ, Joey H. contacted me via LJ and offered his help--this hasn't fixed my problem, of course, but knowing they have a system to resolve difficult technical problems is rather reassuring.

This morning--after making a trouble call--the darn DSL couldn't be broken with a hammer. Frustrating thing!

The blasted thing has dropped and reconnected 154 times this afternoon. Unbelievable if I was not experiencing it. Centurylink has to do more than change their name to keep customers.

This evening's dog walk included a short stretch of woods (1/2 mile or so)--mid-way through the wooded section, Lucky flushed two bucks from deep cover. The smaller buck ran down hill with Yoda in hot pursuit and the larger deer, with Lucky right behind it, ran across the hill--right at me. It was an 8 point with flecks of foam on its muzzle when it flashed by me. 6 feet away was just barely enough to keep me from diving for cover. The buck was at full throttle and Lucky was stretched out behind him--if he had been equipped with a tachometer I'm sure my brown dog would have been running over the red line.

A thrill for me and for the dogs--for the deer, not so much--an exciting walk and some beautiful animals--up close!

Alltel merged with Verizon and we just received our first bill after the switch. Trepidation and angst. How badly would they stick it to us? $2.31 cheaper for the same service. The on line bill detail is more complete and intuitive--the site is faster and cleaner--who knew?

Well done Verizon--I didn't think you could do it.

Now for a road trip to see if their coverage is better too.

On an MTB--front wheel--thorn from a wild rose. I counted the patches on the tube and stopped at 14 without getting back to the valve stem--trashed it.

The replacement tube has only 6 patches--one of which is a "glueless" patch from 4 years ago. 3M made a great patch, still as sound as the pieces of old bicycle tube I normally use for repairing holes.

A quick check of Nashbar shows the price for glueless patches has gone DOWN? Say what!

A sense of relief is oozing into my frazzled brain after talking with my doctor. He called to tell me what I wanted so much to hear last week: "That reading is so low I wouldn't worry about it even if I believed it was accurate, if it will make you feel better, I have no problem with you getting tested again in a few months."

Sorry if I alarmed anyone reading these journal notes-----this was worse than any scary incident in the service--including the expectation of abandoning ship at night in the Straits of Malacca.

Sometimes panic gives way to resigned despair.

A good day to churn your way through a long list of chores. I started by repairing the studio toilet --new Fluid-master fill valve--and lowering the chicken roost to accommodate our one ancient hen--she's 5 or 6 years old. Then the wheels came off my ambition and I went for a two hour bicycle ride.

Lovely day. Nice folks on the road with their stink buggies, they didn't crowd or throw things at the bicycle rider.

Completely forgot about the possible problem with my PSA test results, for awhile. My doctor should have an answer for me Monday. Should have had one Friday, but surgeons are a different breed--or something.

Swiss chard in the garden is sweet and colorful. Orange, pink, red, white--luscious stalks. My plan is to make a shrimp curry to put over Amish buckwheat noodles using onion greens,  the chard, garlic, and the last of the ripe peppers--maybe a carrot from the commissary.

Oak Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay ---decisions decisions.

Another FLP event. PSA reading came back from CMH at 0.1--a considerable increase from less than 0.023. Now I'm doing my crazy act while awaiting my doctor's evaluation and recommendations.

Unable to ascertain what the CMH lab min. sensitivity is for this test. The normal range for most labs is 0.02 to 0.3 and that means I might be fine------------or not; hence the angst.

Lovely day here--if you are capable of switching from FLP to appreciate it.

(FLP= Full Linear Panic)

Ubuntu 9.10 is worth the time to load and install.

Definite improvement. Like most of Ubuntu software, they made it easy and intuitive.

Well done to the Ubuntu development team.

here we go  again
( Read more... ). Oh is it going to work?

Too much reading on the web and watching talking heads have convinced me the definition of radical needs to be amended--not a person with an extreme position at odds with mainstream thought--oh no--let's make that a person who's brain has been gone into "hibernation", like a computer that hasn't performed any logical action for a long time.