Davin’s blog Occassional posts on Web design, technology, my faith, family, and so on

27May/050

Rewrote the main page code and css of this blog

Just a note, this evening I rewrote the markup and css for this blog. I basically just deleted both and started over. This page is now more lean and the css is much less bulky.

I also ditched the monthly archive link list and the calendar. Instead, there is now a longer list of recent entries, and I posted in some articles I wrote for my business site--mostly just to get some visibility on them.

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27May/051

The ‘puter is dead

Another Windows computer bites the dust
So, that computer problem I mentioned back on the 22nd…the computer is finished.

I can't even get an OS to install. Sometimes, it doesn't even bring up the BIOS.

I figure there is one component or another that is fried, thus messing up the whole system. It isn't the hard drive. I don't think it is the RAM. It might be the power supply. It might be the CD-ROM drive. It might be the system board. I do not know. I do not care.

My Mac works, so it isn't all that urgent.

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22May/050

Okay, now I’m pretty irate.

I'm not sure what the problem with the Windows system is, but it seems pretty big. I can't even boot up in Safe Mode. It freezes after listing a bunch of system files. I suspect the hard drive is corrupt.

The problem is, there are files on that drive that I hadn't yet made copies of on this sytem. Which is to say, those files are now in jeopardy. This is a problem because they represent quite a few hours of work for a client whose project I need to finish before taking on a new job. At least that was the intention.

Oh, drat. Drat. Drat. Why is it always the computers with Microsoft Windows that cause me problems? MS is such a big, easy target. It could very well be a problem with the hard drive itself, having nothing to do with Windows. Really. Now, the trick will be putting in a different hard drive, trying to install Windows on it, and seeing if I can salvage the files from the corrupt drive.

Why am I so dreading installing all the software again? Is it because they will refuse to install because they say they are already installed with that license key? What if I just intall Linux on the other drive and get to the files covertly?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I have the disk images for Red Hat Linux, v9 just stitting in a directory on my Mac. Now I just need a fresh hard drive.

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22May/050

Oh, good news on the job search

I got some hopeful news from MSU LCTTP on Friday. I'll know for sure probably in about a week, but it sounds likely they'll make a solid job offer.

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22May/050

MS Win XP buggin out again

Well, my other computer is back in the corner spinning it's little Microsoft Windows XP startup routine. It's been trying to start up for about half an hour now. I got it to get past this little cycle, but then the monitor went to black and never came back.

When I left it five hours ago, it was fine. I just came down and it the screen was black. I thought it was just snoozing, but it didn't respond. Eventually I forced a restart and I realize now it is fritzed.

It was bound to happen. It could be at a worse time, like when I was actually in the middle of using it....Trying to look on the bright side.

Of course, my Mac is still working fine. Slow, but it was built back in 1999, so I give it some slack. At times like this, I'm really glad to be a Mac user.

17May/050

Duck!

Apparently, word is getting out about our little water problem we have in the backyard.

Apparently, word is getting out about our little water problem we have in the backyard.

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13May/050

More job apps

Well, today I applied to three more companies:

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12May/050

Presentation plan and class handout

LCTTP handout for a short usability workshop. Click to view larger.

LCTTP handout for a short usability workshop. Click to view larger.

Here's the quick plan I came up with last night for the presentation I gave today at LCTTP. It's might come off as jumbled as I wrote it in the middle of the night, but I thought I'd post it for archival sake.
LCTTP interview lesson plan [PDF]

Likewise, here's the handout that I used to provide the context of where we do user testing.
LCTTP interview handout [PDF]

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