Riverside’s Mission Inn presents a “Festival of Lights” each December. We attended on Wednesday night. The lights were spectacular and while many people were there, the crowds weren’t too bad. Dave’s “parking angel” helped us to find a great parking spot very close to the festivities.
BUT, all of my pictures were lost when my laptop’s hard drive crashed on Friday afternoon, just after I had published my previous blog. We had no way to replace the hard drive and reload my computer, so Dave and I headed to Best Buy to buy me a new laptop.
All the new laptops come with Windows 8 and touch screens. Dave had recently gone through the learning curve with Windows 8 on his new laptop, so I figured that he could help me with the adjustment from Windows 7 to Windows 8.
I decided to buy a HP Pavilion x2, which is a small laptop which also serves as a tablet because the screen can be separated from the keyboard. Pretty nifty!
LUCKILY, we travel with a BounceBack back-up device, so my in-house computer expert, Dave, was able to get my new computer loaded with all of my saved files, bookmarks, etc. I lost everything which had not been backed up, which was everything since we headed south on 12-11-13.
To complicate matters, the RV park’s internet connection, Tengo, got hit by lightning during a thunderstorm on Thursday. It was finally repaired this afternoon, Monday. We can use our Verizon MIFI connection, and LUCKILY, we upped our gigabytes to 10gb, so we’ve been connecting using that. The content of almost all of my programs needed to be loaded via the internet.
We used the WIFI at the public library on Saturday for a couple of hours, and at another library this afternoon, so between that and the Verizon MIFI, Dave has pretty much gotten my computer running again. Now I just have to learn all the changes that came along with Windows 8. Almost all of the programs that I use, like Windows Live Writer, Adobe Digital Editions, etc. have been “improved” which pretty much means that I have to learn the programs all over again.
Last night we took a break from all the computer problems and met up with friends who live in Riverside, Roger and Peggy Luebs. When we lived in Riverside we went to church with them and became friends and had children of similar ages. We met up with them at Romano’s, an Italian restaurant. We had a great time catching up with each other’s lives!
Roger and Peggy
On the way back to the motorhome after dinner, we stopped at the Mission Inn’s Festival of Lights again so that I could take a few replacement pictures for the pictures that were wiped out when my hard drive crashed. This time, the crowds were horrendous, but I managed to get a few pictures and then we got out of there as fast as we could.
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So, now I’ll attempt to publish this post and hopefully it will work!
The light festival looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteSo very glad you had a back-up external hard drive. I just went through the long-drawn-out task of purchasing a new computer. I, too, went to the library to download numerous programs. I don't mind Windows 8 at all. When I don't want to fuss with the tiles, I just go to desktop and look at the same set up I had in 7. Good luck with your upgrades.
looks very festive! nice to catch up with some old friends!! now don't go forgetting about your 'new ones' though!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you both!
It's always frustrating when these computers give up the ghost.
ReplyDeleteI hated having to get a new computer this year. But I've gotten comfortable with all the things I want to do with it. But it's still not fun. Those pictures of the lights are so beautiful. I do love Christmas lights. Have a very Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteOh phooey! It's never a good time to lose a hard drive but I would hate to lose my Christmas pictures. Good thing you have a resident computer expert!! I am really dragging my feet about going to Windows 8. I know what you mean about all the "new and improved" programs that come with a change like that. I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, LOL!!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of all your technical troubles, Carol. Glad you're taking a break from all that to enjoy Christmas. Merry Christmas to you and Dave and all your family. Enjoy the sunshine. It's cold here, so we will most likely have a North Pole Christmas, hopefully without the snow.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to come up with a better version of the home computer! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete...And work, itt did! Your post is as interesting and as vibrant as ever! The pictures are wonderful, and your information is tantalizing, reminding us all to backup our computers often. Good to hear about a laptop that can become a tablet. How convenient in several settings I can think of, such as for bedtime and Kindle time. No, you won't need a Nook anymore. So glad you're seeing old friends in Riverside. What fun!
ReplyDeleteJackie B.
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