11/05/04 FRI:
---Here today from John Benson:
NOT ONE OF US #32, (‘04), John Benson, (Dislocation issue), new 4.50

---Once again having trouble with the downstairs (business) computer (a Mac G3). It does not sound its starting-up intonation but does emit little popping noises that I have learned signify no good. It will seem to start up okay but before long will freeze. This morning I got it to work long enough to copy all my data onto a zip disk again, before the computer went down, and got everything onto the upstairs (family) computer, using the old balky external zip drive. This computer (an eMac) does not have a built in zip-drive.
---So now I am working on the upstairs computer. Trouble with that is I will have to do a lot of running up and down for things, and changes I make on files up here I might not be able to use down there--if I can get that computer to behave itself again. It has done lots good work over the years, so it might be high time to replace it--if I could afford to. A few months ago it started to mess up like this too. Then I tried to get thecase open so I could squirt it with dust spray, thinking maybe something was causing a microcircuit to short out or something. Maybe a dust spray blow would be the fix. I was not able to get the lid off, but I did manage to break something in there and get it halfway off. After that I couldn’t get it to close up all the way again, but it did go back to working okay.
---Now, after several months, it has gone back to that popping and freezing, same as before. I have unplugged the cords and brought it upstairs for a little voodoo maintenance. Maybe just moving it around a bit and replugging the cords (which I made sure weren’t loose to begin with) will get it back to working again. It would be fun having a new computer, but a hassle getting it to do the work and learning how to use it. For what I use it for down there, I do not need a lot of fancy features. This eMac does do some cool things--more than I know how--but mainly they just cause me to waste time.
---Anyway, I’ll try to do a little work up here. Maybe if we have to buy a new computer this one will go down to the basment anyway. Always something!