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dennette@wiz-worx.com
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Dennette
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Wherein your humble host and narrator replaces his DOS palmtop with a 386/25 laptop running Windows™, and prepares for a trip to an IGES meeting in Newport Beach, CA, where he will also get ripped off by a customer.
This is the first entry using my new HP OmniBook 300. I'm sitting at the kitchen table, thinking about the vibrant sunset and the flights of migrating geese that passed over the house as they landed for the night.
When I got my mail the weekend before last, there was a catalog advertising this sub-notebook PC for $599, with a PCMCIA FAX/modem for $19.95. Since last month's catalog was $200 higher, and this month's said "Limited Quantities", I used my cellular phone and placed my order while sitting in the Friendly's in Concord. When I got home, I called Pop and suggested that they get one for the house. (Pop had been making noises for the last few months about getting a computer for Vincent to use when he starts classes at Howard University in the Fall.) The next day I called Sam Falk, and he decided to get one, too. With 4Mb of RAM, it's more powerful than his current desktop machine.
Pop called me on Friday to tell me that both the PC and the Diconix inkjet printer I sent for it (the one that I bought for the Amstrad, but has been sitting unused in the closet for the last 3 years) had both arrived. When mine still hadn't arrived yesterday, I called J&R customer service with my invoice number. They said that it was shipped on Friday (the day Pop's arrived, even though I placed my order first!), and should arrive today.
Today got off to a bad start. I overslept and missed a chance to see the new Star Trek movie ("Generations") at the 11:30 showing in Nashua. When I finally got my act together and left to do my errands, I discovered that the garage door opener was broken. It took me half an hour to prop open the door far enough for me to crawl underneath and free the mechanism. Fortunately, the Sears 24-hour emergency service center told me that someone would be out to fix it tomorrow.
It's a good thing I was stuck here waiting for a call-back from Sears, instead of out buying more Polaroid film and cans of spray paint, because the FedEx driver who delivered the computer required a signature. There were specific instructions on the box note to leave it unattended, even if there was a signature on file.
I opened the box, plugged it in, and was using Windows without opening any of the manuals. It was a real No Brainer. Then I called Pop to tell him that mine had arrived and to call me back tomorrow morning, after Vincent left for school, and I would talk him through the setup. All he wants to do is make sure that it was not D.O.A. before the 30 day period expires, then he's going to put everything back in the box and wrap it for Christmas.
When I came into the kitchen to clear the table so I could add the 2 megabyte RAM expansion, I noticed the reds and purples of a remarkably beautiful sunset mirrored on an unusually calm lake. That reminded me that I needed to bring the bicycle into the house from the garage before it was too dark. I put on cap and vest (about 50 degrees today), and just as I stepped outside, a "V" formation of honking geese flew overhead at treetop level and glided onto the lake just a few dozen yards from the shore. As the first group touched the water, a second wave passed overhead, and I turned around to watch the third group approach, pass directly overhead, and land. In all, the must have been two dozen of them.
10:44 PM - I tracked down Shelia Wilson yesterday. The last address I had for her was the Baptist church in Detroit. From there, she went to DC, then back to Rochester for graduate work at Colgate Divinity. A few months ago, she got assigned to Cleveland, so she's living at home with her mother, in the bedroom where she grew up. I left a message on her machine, and she called me back a few hours later from Atlanta - she's a Lieutenant in the Air Force reserve (chaplain), and is down there for a few weeks to attend a training program.
The man came from Sears and fixed the garage today. I was well after sundown when he arrived, so I took another electric light out to help him. I decided to brave the snow to get some batteries at Radio Shack for my PCMCIA RAM cards (and more paint for the models). The roads were very clear, although the snow was sticking like crazy to the grass, trees, and parked cars. The parking lots and the stores were empty.
When I got home, there was a message from Stu Rubin on my machine, so I called him back. His daughter got married last week, and he has a PBX in his house with 4 lines (the FAX has it's own line).
Pop called today, and we smoke tested his PC by phone. Trying to teach mouse skills to a novice by telephone is a real trip!! They're going to need some of those "How To" videos, and I should make a copy of the Windows tutorial for them. The mouse is kind of tricky to use, and Pop can barely read the screen, although it should be fine for Vincent. I'll set up larger default fonts when I go down to DC in January.
First time at the Sezchuan Garden with the new PC. Did a few errands this afternoon, including picking up snapshots and dropping another roll off for processing.. I replaced the lithium battery in the camera ($9.50 plus tax) and bought 4 AA size lithium batteries for the PC ($14.00). I still have not come up with a name for this thing yet.
The lake has started to freeze. I was awakened at 10:30 this morning by a call from Esther Walker, and when I wandered into the kitchen to make some coffee, I noticed that the middle of the lake was frozen, but there is still water for at least a dozen yards off-shore.
I also stopped by Master An's Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts Academy to inquire about prices for classes. I met the Master himself, and when I explained about the stroke, he offered me a trial membership of 3 lessons a week (45 min each) for one month for $100.00, including uniform.
The lake is frozen!! I'm not sure how thick the ice is, but the temperature outside is in the low 20s, and there's ice from shore to shore.
I went to my first Tae Kwon Do class yesterday. The first exercise was jumping rope, something I have not attempted since the stroke. I managed to do three in a row as my best. Tomorrow's class will also be individual, and I probably won't join the group until next week.
Talked to Teresa by phone over the weekend. She'd sent me a picture of her and Ian a few weeks ago, so I got out the other pictures she'd sent over the years and redigitized them in color. (I'd had Jan do the earlier ones, so they were two-color "screened half-tone" images that could not be rescaled without creating a morea pattern.
Sam Falk sent me some computer shopper magazines, so I called to see if his OmniBook had arrived. Turns out he had not ordered it after all because of his current financial situation. I'd sent him a shareware copy of DOOM on floppies, but he doesn't have enough memory to run it. He also liked the 1:144 P-51D Mustang kit I sent him (a duplicate).
Shaka, when the walls fell! I thought I had everything for the last piece of work on the MIL-D-28000 update when I went out the door, but the most important part must be buried on my desk. I came to the Dunkin' Donuts to do some work and catch a smoke, but No Such Luck.
I called Jan on Saturday to see how she was doing and to check Brian's ETA, and he answered the phone!! He's been back for a few weeks but laying low, getting caught up on chores. We made plans to get together later today, while Jan is at her office, but she'll probably meet us for lunch.
Got a call from Del Desouky at NCM in Newport Beach last night. He sez he's been out of the country, and "just got around to me". He wants to fly me out there to work on the stuff, and sez he'll send me a check on Thursday. I'll let him fly me out the week before the IGES meeting and kill two birds with one stone.
There's an IGES Version 5.3 review in Gaithersburg January 11-13, so I plan to fly down and spend Friday and Saturday night with the folks before flying back. The IPO meeting starts the following weekend, with the US TAG meeting on Saturday and Sunday. Instead of staying home for the week, I'll just turn around the next day and fly out so I can start work on Tuesday ... he wants me to fix the NURBS and add trimmed surfaces, which should only take a few days as long as I have someone at my elbow.
I've just about got this OmniBook configured the way I want it, with PLUG-IN and 4DOS, etc. The memory upgrade I ordered was backordered, and when I read the notice, I realized that they were trying to sell me a FLASH card rather than a memory upgrade, so I canceled the order. Hey, so I won't be able to run DOOM ... the 386/20 would probably make it painfully slow anyway.
Been having trouble getting my act together for the Tae Kwon Do classes ... 10:15 is just too early for me, and I've skipped two of the last four, so I'm not doing very well. I think that if I go with a later class, I'll do better.
Since the Postal Service is raising the rates after the first of the year, I decided to get my Ramadan letter out early. It's all done, a two-sider with 5 color pictures, but even using the spooler it takes a long time to print them, and the second side is a bitch because it keeps jamming I'm hoping that letting them sit for an hour after the first side is printed will eliminate the problem. I've printed 105 labels, and bought stamped envelopes, but it will still take a while to fold, stuff, and seal them all. I'll have to print even more, because some of the addresses are not in my data base ... maybe I'll add them.
Venus was very high in the sky and the full moon was setting when I left. There's a bright glow on the horizon, and it reminds me of the morning in Rochester (while I was still living in the apartment next to Kodak Park) when I tried to find that comet, the one that was such a disappointment. There are red streaks in the sky from jet trails, but it's not nearly as pretty as the sunrise I photographed over the lake a few weeks ago. The folks got the package I finally sent last week, and Mom was particularly effervescent over the print I sent. One of the things I should do while I still have money is go through the negatives for the past year and send them off to Best Labs to have Photo CDs made.
Waiting out the rush hour after my big meal of the day at the Sezchuan Garden. Today was beautiful, and I have been in t-shirt and vest, but now that the sun has set, it is getting Very Chilly.
Mark from across the lake came roller-blading by today, pushing his two sons in a stroller. They played on the dock while we talked and took pictures of each other. The hard-cover collection of early MAD Magazines arrived today, so I re-wrapped it and shipped it off to Phynque, along with returning a model kit that was in the wrong scale - sheesh!! $5.50 to return an $8.00 kit, but I already have one in the wrong scale, partially assembled.
Mark confirmed that Wendy still works for ADRA, and that they have in fact moved over to the Wang Towers, but he thinks that Adam Finger has left their employ.
Sitting at Friendly's after having completed half of my chores. I got to the Post Office and realized that I had forgotten one of the packages I wanted to mail. It's too late to got to Nashua now, with Xmas the day after tomorrow.
The 1993 U.K. proof set that Andrew Harnor got for me arrived, and I've send Pop one of the D-Day commemorative 50p coins that he also got for me. Lynn&Paul invited me for Xmas supper, then Lynn called today to say that Ann Majeske would also be there. <sigh!> I sent her a nasty-gram after the Alter Ego party because how she seemed to go out of her way to ignore me.
The draft of IGES Version 5.3 arrived by FedEx today, and I'm responsible for reviewing Chapter 3 (only 24 pages) and all of the figures.
Christmas supper with Lynn&Paul was nice enough - Ann hugged everyone except me, and I wasn't about to impose myself. Paul left after supper to get Eddie at the airport, and they'll probably drop by while he's here to see my model collection and visit the hobby store.
Paid $250 for an appraisal on the house today - the results will be dropped off next week, and I can discuss it with Pop when I'm in DC next month.
Got a check for $1,209.00 from Del@NCM on Saturday - they're supposed to be arranging tickets for me to fly out there the day after I get back from DC to work on their stuff the week before the IPO meeting.
USAir flies into John Wayne/Orange County Airport, so I should be able to upgrade to First Class with my Frequent Flyer miles. I called USAir and asked for express processing on the vouchers, so the trip to DC will be free, and even if they screw me at NCM, I'll be able to fly First Class for free with the remaining miles. I had 57K miles hanging around since 1992, and only had to xfer 3K from my American Express program to make 60K - 20K for the DC trip and either 10K or 40K for the trip to LA.
Last update: 26-Oct-95 by
dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this Dennette
person?>