FAST - QUICK - Post

 

I said "FAST"....I said "QUICK" .... and I meant it!   Our new computers are so sweet!!!  If Marcia told me once she told me a hundred times just how fast her computer is reacting.

First, our old computers...  We purchased them in December 2015 (for Marcia) and August 2016 (for me).  They were both ASUS, but Marcia's was a 32 bit while mine was a 64 bit.  They had the same size hard drive, same amount of ram memory.  At the time, we really loved them.  Six years later...not so much love, a lot of "putting up with". 

Our new laptops are 15.6" display (like our old ones), the keyboard is pretty much the same with just subtle differences (I use a portable keyboard so this does not affect me at all). The hard drive is twice as large (1 terabyte...my first computer back in1987 had a 40 mb hard drive and I was told I would never need anything larger!).  They have 20 gb ram memory (which is equal to 20,000 mb...compared to the 40 mb hard drive on my first computer this is just mind boggling!)  When you consider the processor speed, the modem speed, the numbers becoming numbing, and I am sure some reading this are already facing mind numbing with what I have said.  So lets put it in 'time' measurements.  When we turned on our old computers, it could take a couple of minutes for it to be ready to type on.  With these ones, it takes about 10-15 seconds.  On the old computers when we loaded a 'game' to play, it could take a minute before it is ready to play.  With these new ones, it takes perhaps up to 10 seconds.  Loading a news website is nearly instantaneous.  The same with email.  So far, there just is nothing to complain about.

 

We have a 100 mg Internet Connection here at home.  With our old computers, due to the modem, we were lucky to get around 40 mg on a speed test.  Above you can see that we now get the full 100 mgs.  We 'could' have got the 100 mgs 'IF' we did a hard wire connection to the router...which does not make sense having all these wires to step over and get tangled up in.  My Kindle got the full 100 mgs, so I knew what the higher modem speed would do for us.

Finally, we need a 12 volt power connection for when we are in the motorhome.  The power supply for my old computer is just like the one for the new computer...but Marcia's is not.  So I have another 12 volt power supply coming for her.  As I said in my last blog, I need to purchase a newer connection of Photoshop, which I have not done yet.

Since my last blog post 10 days ago, Marcia and I had dinner with her brother Mike and his wife Sandy.  Mike takes care of our mail and checks up on the Condo when we are gone.  A few days later Mike called to inform us that Marcia's cousin Mary, who also lived in Holiday, had passed away...she was around 93 years old.  

Per doctor's order, I was setup to do a Cologuard test in place of doing a camera up the ... err... a colonoscopy, which is never fun.  Well, this wasn't fun either, and it was even less fun when they responded back on Monday that my test needs to be redone with "not as much volume"  (I have heard people say that I am full of ....).  Well, ok then, looking forward to a redo of the dodo.  What is it that Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."  Or, in this case, "what you are going to give...."

My Final Blog Post ...

 

WHAT you talking about Dave?  Your FINAL Blog????

 

 

Ok, here is the Story ...

It is my last Blog, but only my last Blog with this older computer.  We bit the bullet and ordered two new laptops, Windows 11, 15.6 display, 1 Terabyte hard drive, 20 Gig Memory, 4 USB slots (2 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C), WifI 5, etc., etc., etc.

They actually came in on Tuesday, by Wednesday I had most of my pictures copied over, by Wednesday night I was loading my 10 year old Photoshop, AND ... that's when my troubles started.  Loading it under the Windows 8 compatibility method FAILED something bad.  Did a restart, and could not get beyond the ASUS logo.  Spent some of Wednesday night, and nearly all of Thursday being the 'Techie' that I am to try and fix it, just to FAIL Miserably.  

You heard the story of how GUYS will keep driving when they are lost and NEVER stop to ask for help???  Well, Techies can be the same way.  The "Driver" will look at a map, the "Techie" will search the web.  By Friday around noon (because ASUS Tech Support does not open until 9 am Pacific Time) I called Amazon.  The nice lady tried to help, then she called ASUS.  The nice guy tried to help, believed me every time I said "Tried that already..." but we tried it again for 'him', and finally agreed that it was not going to be fixed by him over the phone, or by me sitting in front of it.  So I asked about a replacement, instead of sending it into a shop, and he said, "Ask Amazon".  The nice lady was going to call me back, and about a half hour after the two Techies gave up (ASUS guy and me), she did call back.  Told her what he said, and I asked if it was possible to just replace it.  She checked with her boss, came back on the line within 5 minutes and said YES!  Sent me a link for UPS shipping label, sent another link for the replacement computer shipping link so I can follow its path to our door.  Within an hour I dropped the old one off at UPS, and when I checked, the new one was already shipped, coming out of Indiana, will be here Tuesday.

In the meantime...I have been licking my wounds...

There goes my EGO down the drain...

SO, WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN GOING ON THIS PAST MONTH???

We both had our yearly physicals, I mean, "WELLNESS" checkups.  (It is a medicare thing...you don't have physicals, you have wellness checkups.)  We both did pretty good, but my Glucose numbers are crawling slowly higher.  Due to family history, I asked, and she agreed, to let me take the lowest dosage of Metformin.  I also suggested that I monitor my blood as I did with Skruffy.  After February passes, I will send a six week report in to her which shows the tests results, along with a record of what I eat each day and the relationship of when I ate to when I took the test.  Marcia also saw her Urologist, and only has her Neurologist. 

A few weeks ago my cousin Cassie called.  She and Rick were down to visit their son Dr. Aaron Scott (Pediatric Surgeon) and his wife Emily (Senior Vice President with Baycare Health Care System).  Emily has lived in Florida for well over a year now, but Aaron just finished up his resident training at Baylor in Houston and moved here near the end of last year.  We all met (their paternal twins too) at a restaurant located between the two households and had a nice lunch.  Sorry, no pictures.  Hope we do it again when they are down visiting, assuming we are not out RVing.

Finally (I know there is other stuff, but this broken 'techie' can't remember everything anymore), my brother Jim sent me a very short but interesting link of a video of dad's mother and father at the 1951 Rose Bowl.  It might not be interesting to everyone, but to the "Burdicks", this is a gem.

Grandma is the lady in the middle, and Grandpa is following her.  The first lady in front of Grandma is Rose Ida Honeychurch, wife of Ives who took the clip.  This was taken just a few years before I was born, but it is exactly how I remember them.  Grandma passed in 1963, Grandpa in 1967.  I only wish the clip was longer...but having these 15-20 seconds are very precious to me.