Spending a Rainy Weekend

Time was when the well-to-do took the train, a bus, and a boat to a summer retreat and spent a couple months there.  Most working stiffs cannot afford such luxuries and the indolent lifestyle having servants to keep house made possible.  I count myself lucky to have a job that affords me the extravagance of taking the entire month of September off.  It’s pleasant to have an opportunity to unwind, catch up on my reading, peck away at household chores as the mood strikes me, do some shopping, wander Southern Ontario, watch some movies, and forget what time, indeed what day it is.  Mind you I may have overdone it in the unwinding department as I’m finding it difficult some days to come up with much to write about in my journal.      

 

This morning I was moved to reassemble my first computer that has sat collecting dust for over 4 years and see if I could get it to boot.  At this point the only hardware I’m still using from that original set-up is the speakers.  Not surprising for a system that has sat unused for 4 years it took three attempts to get it to start.  The first time the hard drive didn’t start, the second time produced a system fault, but on the third attempt it actually booted.  Windows Me remains the charming programme it’s always been with its propensity to freeze and lock up the computer.  With the benefit of experience I’ve just spent the last few hours getting rid of useless software and trail ware I’d installed at the time and at present have Windows performing maintenance on the drive.  For example I now know that having two firewalls installed at once can lead to system instability.  I don’t have network access with this computer but I do find it a trip down memory lane to see what I had installed at the time, the way programmes looked 4 years ago and the material I had stored on the drive.  Just what I plan to do with a second computer I haven’t quite decided but for the moment it’s an interesting reminiscence.  At the moment the old system appears to be remarkably stable, mind you I haven’t attempted to run any specific programmes on it yet. 

 

For one who began blogging with some reticence last May I appear to have embraced it with unbridled enthusiasm, branching out from this original blog which is now approaching 90 entries to scribblings in search of a book and today a foray into movie reviews, nothing new really, just a dedicated blog for my opinions.  If I continue to maintain my enthusiasm I expect the next foray will be a book review blog. 

 

The last week has been cool here around Southern Ontario and I’ve had to turn my heat on.  This past weekend I looked out at the scudding clouds and wind-driven rain and decided that although visiting Queen St in Toronto to see Word on the Street might be pleasant, I didn’t want to get caught there in the rain.