Returning to work

 Too busy catching up at work after Friday and Monday off to do much else, so here's a picture taken yesterday outside Dr. Braadt's office.  COVID-19 element:  I had to wait in the car while she received treatment inside.  But from the car I saw that one lone pink flower amid all that greenery.  

Heavy rain outside now.  Earlier, the big ol' creampuff faced off against the gray visitor cat.  I got a little bit of video in which nothing much happened.  The gray cat remained motionless while Puffy crept closer, growling.  I tapped on the window and the gray cat ran off.

Used xplorer2 to remove a few GB of duplicate photos.  About time I did that.

Wandering about the yard

 Truthfully, it was either this, or do some chores, or fall asleep in the chair.  But even though a macro lens would have worked better, I'm still OK with this picture. 

Day of rest

 Didn't leave the yard all day.  Gray, not conducive to ambition.  The wild purple asters down the road will have to wait.

Did some reading, the Sunday Times, and the New Yorker, as well as setting aside articles for later.  But what if there are more things that happen later?  Then today's set-asides will join other unread set-aside articles, saved with the best of intentions.  The New Yorker did a story on sugar in 2006, and I was so impressed I saved "The Search for Sweet."  Fourteen years later, there's another long-form story on the continuing search (and re-search) for something to take the place of sugar.    

So then, what did I do today?

• Used the 20-year-old Hitachi bread maker to prepare some dough for cinnamon buns
• Used the same bread maker to prepare some pizza dough for future Friday suppers
• Used the 20-year-old Kitchen-Aid food processor to prepare seven half-cup servings of pizza sauce
• Helped Pat win this weekend's tourney in WordScapes (filled in for maybe 20 minutes while she made a pit stop)
• Used the renewed Weber grill for a ribeye steak while Pat sliced and baked potatoes

Dot Dot Dot

 My day:  Nelson woke me at 8:30 or so by jumping on the bed and making noise.  Of course I loved on him right away.  Then before getting out of bed, I had looked at Facebook and donated to a fund-raiser for No Kill Lehigh Valley.  There are too few good guys around, and the Lehigh Valley and NKLV lost one recently...

I read a story in today's Times and immediately imagined how Paul Harvey would have done it -- A medal ceremony for service in Cambodia... clearing land mines... there were an estimated five *million* mines laid during the civil strife in the Eighties and Nineties, and many, a great many, of them still in the ground... thousands of injuries, including some 25,000 requiring amputations, have been recorded recent years.  But Magawa has worked diligently to help clear a million and a half square feet of land over the past four years, and for his service he was awarded a gold medal... And Magawa... is only five years old.  A five-year-old -- African giant pouched rat.  

These are good days.  Pat and I are healthy, although she's having pain in her sacroiliac that her chiropractor is treating, but there's been no recurrence of cancer, or kidney stones, or vertigo, or high blood pressure.  We also have enough money to get by, and on days off from work like today, we have time to get out and enjoy it, although not quite as much as if there were no pandemic.  

Pat & I picked up a few things at Giant, enough to trigger the $10-off-$50 coupon received in the mail, and at home I first baked some pecan chocolate chip cookies, then a pizza for supper.  Nestle was making what they called Artisan brand chips along with their Toll House morsels, and I liked them as much or more than the 60% cacao brand from Ghirardelli.  But as soon as they came out, Ghirardelli dropped their prices, and whether it was that, or people not willing to switch, or a combination of things, the Nestle chips were discontinued at Giant, and then at Wal-Mart.  So the good news was that I picked up several bags at a discount, but the bad news is that they're the last ones I'll be able to buy...

Still getting the downstairs laptop back to where it was before I re-installed Windows on the new SSD.  After trying numerous programs for photo management, I've gone back to 2010's Windows Photo Gallery.  It hasn't been supported for years, and isn't even on the Microsoft website for download anymore, but I couldn't find another program that helps prepare photos with the usual crop and touch-up prior to opening them in a full-featured editing program, while also letting me tag photos.  FastStone, I'm learning, is very good at much of what I want, (tonight I learned how to use the drop shadow feature shown on the photo posted earlier today) but tagging is not available. More than once, someone from Tabby's Place has asked for a copy of one of my cat photos, so the tags are invaluable for making that search simple.  Other programs had too much learning curve, not enough intuitive.  

So it's back to Photo Gallery, the one I know, with its simple Control-T tagger.  When Microsoft replaced it with Photos, they kept much of Photo Gallery's features, except that copies of the photo being edited could no longer be saved in lossless TIFF format.  I had it down to a system; open up the original photo, use Crop on it and save a copy as a TIFF.  Then open the TIFF and tinker with color and light as needed, and re-save that as another TIFF.  Then open in GIMP for the heavy-duty Photoshopping, save that TIFF, re-size it to web dimensions and open that one in Paint.Net.  Why one more tool?  Because Paint.Net lets you see how large the file is going to be when you save it as a JPEG, while the other two programs don't.  

End of summer

  
 The front and south side of our house are landscaped,  and the back yard has an area that used to be. But over the past several years, it's reverted to nature, and some unexpected (and nice) growth has appeared.  This butterfly bush is part of the original landscaping, though, and still serves its purpose.  Not many butterflies or moths visit our yard, but when they do, this is the most likely place to find them.

American Shorthair Beauty

 

The big ol' creampuff, from a safe distance

Taken with the zoom all the way out.  If I'd approached the feral to get a closer shot, he would have run for cover. 

A rose of autumn

 

What is it?

 This fell to the floor of the deck as I was taking apart the Weber grill.  The exploded view didn't show a part like this, but then where did it come from?  Well, I'm uploading a picture and then using Google Images.

(A minute later)

Google Images doesn't help, either.  It takes a wild guess that it's some kind of "memorial."

Would this work?  (EDIT 9/23: Yes.  The Ace hardware store down the road has these 1/4" plastic rivets for 29 cents apiece, and the Weber took 3 of them.)

And *that's* done

 ADATA SSD arrived about 5:00, and now it's 6:30 and the installation went as smoothly as it does on the YouTube instructional videos.  Now to re-install some software.

To-do list, Weber Genesis 1000 version

1-Remove cooking grates and flavorizer bars

2-Remove control knobs and panel

3-Remove manifold assembly

4-Remove burner assembly and igniter

5-Install burner tubes and igniter kit

6-Reinstall manifold and valve assembly, panel and control knobs

7-Turn on gas and check for leaks

8-Reinstall flavorizer bars and cooking grates

Note: The burner kit and igniter kit include installation instructions.

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And that's what I did today. After that, I did this:

Placeholder for photo of pork chops on the freshly-updated Weber grill.  Pictures taken before, during and after are still on the phone and I'm unable to download them yet.  Probably has something to do with what I'm doing with the new Dell upstairs.  Well, tomorrow I'll attempt changing out the HDD on this laptop for an ADATA that's due to arrive during the day.  Then we'll see about getting the photo download working again.

Say what?

 Just heard an NPR story introduced about a group that provides children-free meals.  OK, maybe the hyphen doesn't belong between those two words, but it creates a more intriguing mental picture.

What a difference a day makes, amirite?

 Last night, I was frustrated, fussing with a computer. Tonight, I'm just enjoying it.

The Crucial drive can't be used for cloning the laptop hard drive?  So just use the included adapter and install it in the new Dell.  And that ADATA Swordfish HDD that wasn't recognized yesterday?  Why, I did the same thing today and got a different result.  Go figure!  Well, actually, there were some differences; I removed the stick from the PCIe adapter, looked at it, blew on it, waved it around in the air while muttering vague oaths, then re-inserted it and re-booted.  And there it was:  Disk Management showed a Disc 0, a Disc 1, a Disc 2, *and* a Disc 3.

Disc 3 is the boot disk, Hyrix 250 GB (C:)

Disc 2 is the 1 TB ADATA Swordfish (S:)

Disc 1 is the 1 TB Crucial MX500  (F:)

Disc 0 is a 3.5" 1 TB Seagate Barracuda (D:) that came with the new Dell.

Having no crises to deal with, I watched another episode of Dix Pour Cent, mostly in version originale, wearing the new Sennheisers.  Pretty soon I'll start concerning myself with moving Dropbox and Onedrive off the Hyrix and onto one of the big drives.

And this weekend?  Spruce up the Weber with the tubes and the new starter.  

Six or seven hours later

 After hours of reading and trying and failing and learning, I can say that while it's true that insanity consists of doing the same thing and expecting different results, it's also true that trying different things and getting the same results again and again (and again) isn't much better for one's mental health.

The new SSD is still empty.  The Acronis for Crucial has been uninstalled after yet another result of "you don't have a Crucial drive installed" and Macrium has been uninstalled after yet another result of "Error 9" while trying to clone the HDD to the SSD.  

To be completely honest, Macrium worked one time over those hours.  That was when I was cloning everything but the part of the HD that contains Windows boot information, and with that I learned that I am never going to be able to accomplish what I set out to do originally; that is, clone the old hard drive before it craps out and replace it with a bright new SSD as the new boot drive.  Cloning doesn't work when the source isn't 100% free of bad sectors.  

Oh well, I can still find another use for the Crucial drive.  Because I'm going to have to.

Back to work

 Same job as ever.  At least the workload is manageable now.

First Pat introduced me to Wordscapes, and we both now play the Spelling Bee puzzle in the Times.  It's a good feeling to come up with a high-scoring word, like "illogical" or "ratatat."  

Book in progress:  Guadalcanal Diary, a couple of pages at a time.  Can't concentrate on reading the way I used to.  Doesn't stop me from buying them, though.

The new Dell is working properly so far.  After a day or two of wrestling with the sound, I deleted the Creative Sound Blaster Z software and went with Microsoft's generic High Definition Audio Device drivers.  I also stopped trying to feed the sound through the Bose, which I think was too much to ask without an amp.  The TaoTronics sound bar from Amazon sounded terrible when I first got it, but now with different drivers, it's perfectly good.

Amazon's going to think I received another windfall $1,200 from the president.  I've ordered a set of Sennheiser headphones for upstairs, a 1 TB Adata SSD and a PCIe adapter for the new Dell, and 1 TB 2.5" Crucial SATA SSD for the Dell laptop downstairs.  

That last purchase wasn't planned, but after two boots in the past week or so that produced "hard drive not found" errors, and one more from over the weekend that resulted in what resembled a CHKDSK with error repairs that took several minutes, I read the writing on the wall and went back to Amazon once more.  The Crucial drive arrives tomorrow, and I'll put it in the enclosure and clone what's left of the original hard drive with the included Acronis software.  Then, swap out the old for the new.

Glorious

 A volunteer has appeared on the island.  The morning glories on the side of the house (destroyed during the landscaping project) were white.  No way of knowing where these lovely blue ones came from.

Vacation Day #4 of 4

 Wednesday, they said it'd be here Thursday.  

Thursday, they said it'd be here Saturday.

Today, here it is.

Upon further review

 (1) I didn't read the messages from FedEx correctly.  The shipment from Weber won't be here 9/10.

(2) After waiting and waiting, and all the while periodically checking the FedEx tracking link, a minute ago I saw that the delivery date for the Dell has been changed to Saturday 9/12. 

Maybe just as well.  There's new technology and new terms to learn, such as "M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter (Support M.2 PCIe 2280, 2260, 2242)"  Bozhe Moi!  My understanding is that SSD is better than a hard drive with spinning discs, and that using SSD with PCIe is better than SSD-SATA,  The new Dell only has one place for an SSD stick, and that's already spoken for as the boot drive.  

Day #2 of 4

 Tomorrow, both the Weber grill parts and the new Dell are scheduled to arrive.  A good way to spend a rainy day.

Today, we went to the Shoprite in Bethlehem and picked up some fresh almond extract and ground cloves so I could bake zucchini muffins.

On the way home, we stopped at the Sunoco on Airport Road that sells gasoline without ethanol, which goes in both our mower and our snowblower.  While the man pumped the gas into the can, I saw at least a half-dozen spotted lanternflies near the pump.

Rabbit count:  one, in Lori's back yard.

Almost

 The sedum flowers are turning pink and attracting insects, as yesterday's photo shows.  Today I counted at least six different types on the plant in our back yard.  One, a large bumblebee, bumbled into a spider web, from where the resident spider took dead aim on it.  The bee struggled free and flew away, and the spider retreated back beneath sedum leaves.

Genuine Vacation Day: #1 of 4

 The days off from the long weekend are past, and now come the four days that are really days off from work.

I phoned Waste Management today because they service our neighborhood, and they have another service for picking up hazardous materials.  Since we have more than two dozen paint cans in the basement, this sounds ideal.  The web site claimed we are eligible, but the customer service rep said they only pick up in Lower Macungie township, and not where we live in Upper Macungie.  Do I want to fight this to the Supreme Court?  Nah.  

I also called Overhead Door because on one of the new openers, one of the two light sockets isn't working.  The woman on the other end of the line actually asked whether I'd put a working bulb in the socket.  After I reassured her, she said she'd put in a ticket.

But that doesn't affect the operation of the opener itself, and yesterday with Pat's help I programmed both cars using Homelink, so we can use their built-in remote buttons instead of the separate remotes.  

The big task this week, after the usual chores, is refreshing the Weber Genesis 1000 grill we bought in 1998.  Some parts are rusted, and the flame isn't coming up like it did for the past 21 years, so it was time to head to Google and YouTube.  Voices of experience say it can be done, and at much less cost than buying a new one.  I ordered some parts, and cleaned up some others.

Soap and water on some pieces, WD-40 and oven cleaner on others.  Scrub with steel wool, a wire brush, or both, and rinse with clear water.  That's good enough for me, although some men go farther...

Besides that, Pat cleaned up the house for the little black pooshka and got it all set for the coming cold weather.  Yesterday, we got some plastic drainpipe and just need to install it.  It's good to have a big chunk of time to accomplish all these jobs.  Retirement sounds tempting under those conditions, but what do I do in six months when the basement is cleaned out and all the photos are tagged?  (Plus, the pay isn't nearly as good as what I'm making now.)

Seen on sedum

 

Friday night pizza

 

Latency Latency Latency BuzzBuzzBuzz

 In 2011, we sprang for a high-powered PC, a Dell XPS.  I was still cat blogging and processing lots of photos and video for Tabby's Place, and I used that to justify the top-of-the-line Intel CPU and the extra RAM.  

In addition, I ordered twin hard drives with one of those what-you-call RAID setups so there would always be a backup.  I recall that came in handy after a year or so, when one of the hard drives conked out, and all I had to do was buy another HD and re-RAID it.  

Let's skip over the next five or six years.  Somewhere in there Windows 10 came out and I installed it.  I got a job and had less time to do photos and video.  Pat's games in 2011 worked great, but by 2019 the newer games weren't as nice on it.  So we got her a 2019 Dell, one with fewer bells and whistles, but was plenty good enough for her games.  

The XPS went into retirement for awhile, until the COVID quarantine and I dusted it off to keep me company in the home Cigna office.  There was streaming entertainment, whether it was pop music, atmospheric music, or classical music, coming from all over the world and in several languages.  A patch cord fed the sounds through our 2010 Bose Wave, putting some more old technology back to work.

Then (and there's always one of those, isn't there?) after yet another Windows 10 upgrade, a sporadic buzzing began to appear in the audio.  Streaming music was impossible to listen to, and the spoken word not much better.  

That led, of course, to Googling and reading and testing theories, along with switching out hardware and upgrading software.  The result, several days later, is ... no change.  Streaming music buzzes, music on the hard drive buzzes, it buzzes with the Sound Blaster Z, it buzzes with the Sound Blaster 880, it buzzes after refreshing the thermal paste on the CPU, it just won't stop buzzing.  

I've learned a few things, of course, you don't learn much when everything goes right.  There's a piece of free software that told me the problem is in storport.sys, and several bookmarked articles that advised how to fix it, of which none worked.  

Change the name of the file to storport.old and let Windows re-load it?  Windows won't let me rename the file and won't tell me how to get the permission to do so.  

No, what you need to do is disable some setting in the BIOS that throttles the CPU!  Oh really?  The CPU throttle kicks in when heat is building up to a level unsafe for its health.  You really don't want to disable CPU throttling.  And on it goes.

Maybe it's time to haul out the 2002 Sony portable CD player in the drawer under the night table and see whether it still works...

Peeking Schwirley

 

A third guest at supper

 Off to the right, the little black pooshka watched the raccoon from the safety of a chair.  Beneath her was her scruffy big ol' creampuff boyfriend.