Friday, April 3, 2009

Uhm ... yeah..... lol!

I say that with the dry "Office Space" boss character's tone... "uhm yeahhhh.. we're going to have to have you come in on Saaaaaaaturday".

It's the sorta tone you hear in the voice of someone speaking to you before they drop a bomb. The kinda tone that makes your shoulders tighten up in preparation for the weight that's about to be dumped on them.

My computer began to slow down badly last month. It had it moments. Notice the past tense term for "had". It's still "alive" but not well. I'm now typing on an expensive new system... expensive b/c ANYhardware & software seems outrageously priced to me... it's all relative. I only had to replace the tower.. but I had to pay a good deal to make sure all my work and sales data was safely transferred.

The irony? It happened on April Fools day. My geek squad geek came over and promptly showed me why it was failing to recognize the things (printer, camera card reader, etc) that were plugged into it. Only sometimes... which had made me hope it was fixable. APRIL FOOLS! (dry tone there again). It was not after all - the hard drive was either damaged or weak out of the box. I'd honestly believe it was weak out of the box. When I installed it before it was lightening fast until I put the programs in it... so something about it was gimpy from the get go. I don't care to learn too much about these things because guess what? (snorts with a smile) It'll all be different in another year. I used to learn and keep up with all this. Now I'm just disgusted with it all.

When I was getting gas yesterday I spied a sign on the credit card swipe on the pump -> it said "mini credit cards not accepted here". Now WHY on earth would you even want a mini credit card? It's thin/small enough? This trend towards too tiny to use & easy to lose is ridiculous.

That's all I have to say about that.

Meanwhile my biggest dilemma now is that my new tower has a Windows Vista OS (can't get older anymore at a store). I buy at stores now because if there are install conflicts out of the box they'll address it. The price difference isn't that much. And I needed new tiny card reader (phone card!) options my last one didn't have. Vista displays on my screen are MURDER on the eyes. I've fiddled some with my screen settings via the funky button game... that actually helped. It's still all got a shadow... tricks my eyes into feeling tired. Totally annoying. Switching to the 1 other display option doesn't improve any of it. I was VERY much ready to buy a Mac but I have old programs that are extremely expensive to replace/upgrade (to me anyhow). Web design stuff I use periodically and photoshop of course which I use near daily. Mac is learning tho so maybe soon they'll have more backwards compatibility. Another reason I hired the Geek Squad guy (it's a gamble who you'll get but I know a lot of techie dudes having been in web design for years and I really lucked out with a guy who knew his stuff)... it wasn't just about the diagnostics, it was about the options for what I need to do with what I have.

Now at least it's easier than ever to port my files (biz and reference stuff) around on a card too. And cheap! So that's good. I bought this external hard drive backup years ago after losing client data for shipping (hard copy print outs cut off some info). I never wanted to go through that again.


HEY! But good news. All systems seems to be going and now I can get back to what I'm really doing over here. It wasn't entirely a day wasted. Imultitasked during my time while uploading/configuring/and before that diagnosing and saving ... my little arab mare sat here beside me and I had a few books with proportions and a few favorite references.. while every proportion told me the head was the right length and width, I wasn't happy. I spent the time sitting there (watching paint dry on my computer screen).. to study & compare. Then a quick slice & removal to the right parts behind the poll and the angle changes giving proportions more pleasing. THAT said, these photos distort it a good deal but I'm not wasting time on doing better pics... I'm just sharing with folks & documenting this for myself right now. I like the angle a lot better, it adds "mare" to her for me somehow. I can't explain. But it also balances up both sides of the neck better imo (in real life anyways). :)




Annnnd a silly sneak peek of what I'm about to go photograph and offer over to my yahoogroup:



Of course I've got a whole photo of him somewhere below but whatever. It's fun to do sneaky pictures too! lol!

Ok! Well I seem to be back in biz here except for the misery of this computer display. Stay tuned for when little arab girl gets more lovin. I'm really starting to "feel" her again. :D

9 comments:

Mirror Bay Model Horse Tack said...

Oh sweetheart I feel you about the computer issues. I just got my laptop back on April Fool's Day from the Geek Squad too! Had to wipe the hard drive clean of all it's issues. Luckily they could do a data backup before it. It wouldn't even boot up in safe mode - all I got was the blue screen of death. Ugh. I tell you, if the MacBook Pro laptops weren't $1500 a piece I would have been tempted... but I paid $200 and got (basically) a new pc with no issues. It's worth it to me - this way maybe I can afford to get your beautiful Arabian mare! Which reminds me...is there a name in the works?

Morgen said...

More.. "uhmmm yeah" to answer that (but this time in a good way.. I'm not sure I'm ready to say?). :D

She has a name. Has from early early on too.

I'm jealous about the price of the PC. I'm lucky though that my recently dead (in Nov) Subaru just sold this week for about the same price so it's not a total wallet sucker punch for me.

Ok, so I'll post this here and see if anyone can guess. It's obscure. I wanted an Egyptian name that began with an "I". This one is a symbol, a striking cobra. Also the name of a queen and part of a goddess legend for how pharaohs got the poised cobra on their headdress. That's all I'm saying fer now.

As I look at the most recent photos I don't know HOW anyone can be excited just yet tho. lol! I've really got some major refinement, almost repair type work to do w/how I've built up some parts to get the anatomy more accurate. Uhmmm.. yeah... (dryly said again now) ;) Should've kept those to myself! lol!

horsienut said...

Morgen, I went from XP to Vista and have not experienced any of those weird font shadowing issues - my Vista display looks exactly the same as my XP computer at work...so it's got to be a setting and not Vista itself. Sorry to not be of more help :(

Morgen said...

horsienut, that is a help.. I have someone coming over this weekend to help me see what I can get back of my emails (in an easy to get at format anyhow if I need to go back to old transactions for any reason).

Soooo this is good to hear. Thank you!

Morgen said...

Oh horsienut! EYE RELIEF!!! I somehow got the control panel display settings back into the old windows format. The guys who imported all the old data for me to this must've had a very differently shaped screen.. WHEW! No distortion. I can stand to be here for more than a minute or two. & somehow while those neat visual effects were fun (semi transparent tool bars), having the old-standby look is better than being pretty but hard-on-the-eyes-blurry! Tx for giving me hope enough to go back to trying it all again. :D

Unknown said...

Hey morgan, you know you could have gotten a mac.. you can run windows on it and it runs fine and just as fast! you need a program to do it and of course the windows os but .. I have had people say they love it more than a actual windows pc! you wont run into as many problems either..I have a mac book pro and I love it! I have had macs since my 1st computer ( a mac 7100.. the 1st power pc!) but my x had a pc.. so we had both and since he is computer illiterate I had to learn windows and mac.. I still dont know windows as well but I knew enough to reformat his hd .... that darn hd to be done many times! he is an idiot really..I told him over and over..dont download stuff.. but he did it anyways.. lol so now Im gone and his computer is dead..lol I even got him a drive wiper so he could do it and he lost it! .*.shakes * head.. so he bought a new computer! .. Im sure he will mess that one up soon too.. anyway.. mac all the way! so next time .. save and get one.. I like the laptop because I can take it anywhere ( wireless internet!) and it take alot less space on my table... but if you want a desk top model you can get them for alot less now! but..I just want to say.. $1500 is worth every cent for the mac book pro! ( I actually paid $2,300.00 for mine!) I never have problems and with a mac.. and I never since 1992 have I had a virus! .. and I don't have to worry about so many problems you pc users do... I did have to get the new photoshop and in design and other programs when they went from os 9 to X. but I have them.. finally .Its actually one reason I waited to get the new os.. then my computer finally just was so out of date I had to! lol but again.. worth it! anyways.. lovein the new mare.. cant wait to see more pics later on!
Rebecca Turner
www.solticeartstudio.blogspot.com

Mirror Bay Model Horse Tack said...

My guess is Iaret, since the name is more obscure. Which I LOVE!!!

Hmmm... now you've got me thinking about ancient egyptian tack for her...

Morgen said...

Hahaha! Well since you guessed right, I have to say so... shhh... it's a "secret" tho. (snort giggles). I dunno. I just am not 100% committed to it. Mostly because this means her nickname would be "Ia"? I guess that's not so bad. I could say 'eeyah' pretty easily enough.

Wonder if that's how it's even said.

What's does ancient egyptian tack look like?

AND HERE is a big question for you I've been cogitating! -> do most arabian costumes lack a browband? Just curious..

Mirror Bay Model Horse Tack said...

I guessed it! Yay! Do I get a prize? ;-)

I believe it is pronounced "eye-are-ette" based on other egyptian names spoken throughout history. Hard t's, fully inflected dipthongs, etc. Very pretty, actually.... I am quite taken with it, :-)

Ancient tack is kind of a mystery, but it is well known that Pharoahs and men of wealth and power considered their Arabian horses to be precious gifts from the gods. I believe that is where we get the metallic charm and jewel encrusted neck collar designs that have recently resurfaced in the stud pictures of Arabian Horse World. The egyptians loved metalwork of any kind. It would stand to reason (based on wall carvings and artwork of the period) that their personal royal horses would bear much in the way of decoration. Heck, just look at the extensive chariot harness headdress they put on their polls!

In terms of a modern "Egyptian Dancing Horse Costume" yes, a browband is present. If you are looking for the wollen Syrian/Jordanian costumes then generally no... but there are, of course, always exceptions. Since there really is not hard and fast "style" in the middle east for how to decorate your horse, really anything goes. I have seen a few halters with a browband thta ties together at the forehead and has a couple tassels danging down. Examples:
http://www.highpointfarmandtack.com/blackgoldbrowband.html
http://www.hallelujahbronze.com/Images/TL2.jpg

Modern Egyptian forehead jewelry:
http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/449/df5/449df595-364a-4676-ad9b-3102151f4a85

Modern beaded neckcollars popular on Egyptian Arabs:
http://www.highpointfarmandtack.com/neckcollarswithbeads.html

Example of the metalwork:
http://www.arabianbreeders.net/Forums/uploads/1191991313/gallery_496_361_124205.jpg

www.arabianfancy.com has exactly the kind of sets I'd like to replicate. Check out their interactive digital catalog... all of it beautiful eye candy! I would like the challenge, and because I don't see a lot of them in the model show ring.

Wow... this went on way longer than I meant it to! Guess you can tell where my passion lies. ;-)