2002-08-20 - 11:25 p.m. An update on my laptop....because I know you are all dying to know. Amazingly, all my data will be saved....yay!....but it will cost $200.....hmmmm. And my computer will be fine....the actual repair is covered by warranty.....but they will have to reload the operating system....no problem, right?! But, here's the kicker....they need the original discs that came with the computer to reload the OS......hmmmm. All my discs are in Astoria....and I am in Los Angeles...1500 miles away! This means I won't have my laptop until I can get up to Astoria to get the discs....and I only have a month to get them and bring them back.....or I will void the warranty. Hmmmm. In other news...the day after tomorrow, we leave for Las Vegas!!! So hopefully I will have more interesting stuff to talk about besides my dead computer. So stay tuned...it's got to get better!............. comments??? (0 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002-08-19 - 10:45 p.m. Experience my life: comments??? (2 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002-08-18 - 10:06 p.m. Just a short note tonight as I can't think of anything interesting to say...and I'm still working on a borrowed computer. Both my camera and laptop are in the shop (unrelated problems). Fortunately, it seems that the camera will be covered by it's warranty....yay!....I got a note from Nikon stating as much. The laptop will also be covered by warranty....but that doesn't help much if I've lost all my data. Yes....I know....back up, back up, back up. Ironically, I recently got a CD burner...just for this purpose....but, you guessed it! My middle name is "procrastination"!! Think good thoughts for my data. Stay tuned..... comments??? (0 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002-08-16 - 9:56 p.m. My computer is dead. Unable to load operating system. I did everything I could think of to fix it. I called my man~who~knows~computers...but he could offer no help (he did offer to let me use his computer....which is how I'm typing this right now). I finally had to resort to calling tech support. You know it's bad when you have to call tech support. We tried all sorts of things....but in the end they couldn't help. Unable to load operating system. So tomorrow I must take it in....and hope. Hope that some of my hard drive can be recovered. Hope that I haven't lost everything. Ugh! comments??? (2 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002-08-15 - 10:44 p.m. I live about 20 minutes from Nikon Inc. This may not seem important to you...however, most all the extremely fabulous pictures you see on this blog...are taken with a Nikon digital camera......a camera that now has a lens that sounds more like a pepper grinder than a lens should (not good). Yes, I know, now you're thinking, "how convenient that she lives 20 minutes away from Nikon!" But no! You don't understand! There are only two places in the entire country that can service my camera....and I happen to live 20 minutes from one of them!!! How cool is that?!?! The next problem, though, is going to be the warranty. It is still under warranty, but the woman~with~no~sense~of~humor who took my camera, listed in a monotone voice an endless list of things that would surely void my warranty......one of which was sand. Hmmmm.....I live at the beach, OK?! Sand....... comments??? (1 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002-08-14 - 10:07 p.m. Today we went to The Huntington Botanical Gardens. This is the first time I've been there...and I would tell you that it was absolutely amazing (as I seem to do with everything else)....but it was about 12,000,000 degrees out there....and even though I refuse to complain about how hot it was...it was really hot! (Being from Oregon...I'll take all the heat I can get....but just like alcohol...sometimes too much...is just too much!) Even so...it was really quite amazing (yes, I know I really over use that word...so??) These gardens are sooo vast...it's hard to believe that at one time this was someone's personal residence. As incredible as the buildings at Hearst Castle are...so is this botanical garden. If it had been just a tiny bit cooler, we might have seen the whole thing....but after the Rose, Palm, Japanese, Jungle, Herb,and Desert gardens...I was just a limp noodle, and it was time to go home. And unfortunately, the real piece de resistance,was not on display! I was really hoping to see the " Corpse Flower ." This is supposedly the worlds largest blooming plant...and when it blooms, it is also the most foul smelling plant....thus it's name, "Corpse Flower"! It last bloomed in 1999, and they don't know if it will ever bloom again....but they are hoping. It's a very rare plant...and there have only been 11 blooms in the US since 1937. (check the website...it's actually quite interesting) If you get a chance to go...you should go...even if it is too hot! And I recommend making reservations for their Rose Garden Tea Room...it looked pretty good...and I regretted not having made a reservation! Oh well...next time! comments??? (1 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ previous - next Of course, you know, all of this is copy right protected. None of this information may be reproduced without my permission.