As I headed out for a walk this evening I was treated to the sight of paintings in the sky. There were wisps of dark clouds close to the horizon, blue skies above painted with white. In the middle, there were small puffs of clouds that were backlit by the setting sun. Pure beauty...
Microsoft's new Security Essentials jumped onto my baby computer today, and it will be protecting my new laptop too (once it arrives).
It's a new free virus protection program that was just released. One of my colleagues told me about it during the very short and quickly closed beta program, and I planned on grabbing a copy as soon as it was available. It's a much lighter weight solution than the commercially available programs yet it has the protection that I need. Free is always good! And yes, it does include updates. The catch? You need to be running a legal copy of Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.
My Mini is happy with its gift.
...a longer list of "must visit" places!
I watched the first episode of The National Parks: America's Best Idea this afternoon, a very good rainy day activity. I'm afraid that watching the full series is going to leave me with a list of even more places that I absolutely must see. The first episode started with a splash of images from a number of parks, and then concentrated on the designation of Yosemite as a California state park (later expanded as federal land) and the creation of the first national park, Yellowstone.
I've been to both parks, and while both still call to me it's Yellowstone that holds a real fascination. I was there one winter in the late 1970s, cross-country skiing. And then my across the country by bicycle voyage in 2002 gave me the gift of spending a night at Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn, allowing me to wander the geyser basin in the quieter evening and early morning hours. I think - no, I know - that I need some more time there.
I wonder how many years of travel plans will come out of watching this program.
When I was at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge last weekend, one of the staffers there mentioned the upcoming Ken Burns special on Public Broadcasting. It's not often that I plan to watch television, but this special is calling out to me. It's 12 hours in total, starting tomorrow. I think I need to watch.
Looking for information? Take a look at...
An article on Boston.com - Ken Burns gives exhaustive treatment to parks
A PBS page describing the film by Ken Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea
One more week and I'll be moving to a new office, a new building in a different city, new surroundings...
No, not a new job, just a new office space, and yes, it's a cubicle!I decided that I needed to adorn my new space with a few of my photos. I have some small images on my desk now, images from many years ago. It's time for something new.
The autumnal equinox has arrived with cooler temperatures, a noticeable change in daylight, and the beginnings of pops of color in the trees.
It's still dark in the morning when my alarm nudges me to start my day. The light is disappearing fast enough in the evenings that I think it's almost time to break out my bright blinking lights for my after-work wanders.
Changing seasons, changing fruit...
Ah, it's time for good local apples. I know, I know, it's possible to get apples year-round now, but I much prefer the local fruit. Cortlands and Honey Crisp jumped out at me this week. I'm still waiting for the short-season Macouns.
Crisp, tart, sweet, a true sign of the changing season.
The piping plovers have returned the beach at Parker River to a sharing with people status once again. Actually, I believe the beach was probably re-opened in early August, but somehow I didn't make it back there until now.
It was a cool, sunny day, a good day for a walk. I started on the Plum Island Sound side of the refuge, watching the wind push the water and the grasses in the marsh. Then it was time to walk along the ocean.
At this time of year surf fishing is permitted, and a number of trucks are allowed on the beach. The trucks were all parked in a line away from the water, and there was a sea of fishing lines set up. I stopped to chat with one of the fisherman. He said that he had caught some skate the night before, and that he saw one person with a bluefish. He was planning on spending the night, hoping for more productive fishing.
I walked (long) stretches of almost empty beach, watching and listening to the waves, seeing the sun highlight the tall grass and dunes as it dropped lower in the sky.
It was a good afternoon for a walk by the water.
As noted in my post two days ago, my home computer shocked me Thursday evening by being very very sick, absolutely non-working. It turns out the problem does not have an easy and inexpensive solution, yikes!
After the initial shock and realization that I needed a new computer, I started looking. I threw together some initial configurations at the Dell website last night. I hit Staples this morning to see what was in stock there. I suspected that I'd probably go with my own configuration rather than buying in a retail store, but I thought it might be smart to see what would be available on a "buy today" mode as opposed to a "wait for computer to be built" mode. Nope, that's not going to work.
Home again, still thinking, questioning, exploring options...
It was time to talk with a human instead of a computer. A telephone call way, I explained my computer needs, explored options, and yes, ordered a new laptop. A Dell Studio 15 will be jumping into my world. Now all I need to do is wait for it to be manufactured and shipped. I don't have an exact delivery date yet, but it appears that my new toy (OK, OK, I guess I should really call it a tool!) will join me in about two weeks.
Did you see that Denise got a new baby computer? Oh! it has such a nice screen, and the keyboard is just my size. Since I help to write her travel journals, I thought I'd better try it out.
--- Rover
It was a good computer day, and it was a bad computer day. How can that be?
I think I'll start with the good. I'm posting this blog entry with my new baby traveling computer, a Dell Mini 10. Oh, you're right, my old baby PC was still in excellent shape. Sometimes computer envy rears its head though, and the thought of a 10" screen instead of the 7" screen on my old eee reached out and captured me. My new toy is slightly larger in size; if I remember correctly the difference was only 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch, not much. The bigger screen is wonderful, and the keys seem to be a bit more comfortable. The old computer is already traveling with a new owner, currently heading for a wander in Scandinavia.
It was a bad computer day too. I got home from work and powered my laptop on. The screen looked a bit odd as it was reloading its memory, and then, yikes! It spit out a nasty error... nmi parity check, memory parity error, hardware malfunction. Needless to say that doesn't make me happy. I did some searching for the error, and I've seen reports of both a hard drive problem and a memory problem.
Luckily, I have all of my files, photos and more, on an external drive plus backed up on the web. So I'm calm. I'm not happy to need to be dealing with this now, quickly, but I know that I won't lose anything. Calm...
I've been wandering through my photo galleries from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. A few favorites have jumped into a new gallery.
It was a relaxing day, rainy, quiet...
I headed out to walk in the mid-afternoon, and it appears that I made a lucky choice in walking times. The rain was constant, light, a reasonable amount of water for walking. Soon after I returned home it started absolutely pouring.
The water is still coming down in torrents. Listen...
My photos have jumped from my camera and are now available for viewing. You can start with the top level gallery, To Newfoundland! August 2009, or you can click on the photos below to enter a specific gallery.
A swath of Newfoundland:
It was a good day for a walk in the woods. Crisp air and clear blue skies pulled me outside. I headed to Ward Reservation for a bit of a mystery walk.
The trails on the property are only partially marked. Rather than risking a walk much longer than planned, I had an out-and-back wander, looping to Boston Hill and back again.
