Trials & Tribulations

I’d thought of several witty aphorisms with which to begin this blog but this morning I just don’t seem to feel witty so let’s begin with an explanation for nearly three weeks of silence.  In a word hard disc failure, not just once but three hard drives in one week and this on a brand new computer.  There’s a reason I don’t gamble; I also do regular backups to an exterior hard drive.  Restoring data is not how I’d planned to spend a two-week vacation but that’s how it turned out.  This leads to my next rant:

 

MONOPOLIES IN THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY    There are two companies who make hard drives; Western Digital and Seagate.  Memory?  A single plant accounts for 90% of the world’s production—forget brand names.  Processors?  Intel.  Operating Systems?  Microsoft’s Windows; everyone else is a very distant second—there’s a reason Bill Gates can afford to buy most small countries lock, stock, and barrel.  Browsers?  Internet Explorer.  Search Engines?  Google owns 50% of the market.  The equivalent in Automobile supply terms would be GM having a monopoly on the production of the world’s supply of motor vehicles; owning all the internal combustion engine plants; the tire plants; and the petrochemical industry.

My printer, (Canon i560) went wonky about the same time.  I don’t do that much printing but you miss something when you don’t have it.  I was going to use my shopping list software to print my grocery shopping list until I remembered that wasn’t possible.

 

On to another rant.  Why is it that the first thing people ask you when you tell them you’re on vacation is when are you going back to work?  Is there something about working that validates one’s existence?  What will they say in a year’s time when I tell them I’m retired?  I’ve taken May holidays for years to avoid the worst of the tree pollen season.  It’s so bad this year I’m virtually under house arrest.  Just went out to pick up the weekly flyers and a gust of wind released a veritable yellow cloud of pine tree pollen. 

 

WHAT I DID ON MY SPRING HOLIDAYS

 

 

Housecleaning.  Given another year and I might make a respectable dent in the ocean of papers I’ve saved over the years.  Thank goodness electronic clippings don’t occupy closet space.  I need library space for my CD’s, Books, DVD’s, and VHS tapes though.  Listening to music:  on CD, podcasts, and online.  DVD’s:  I’ve posted a few reviews.  Browsing and reading E-mail.  I’ve even made a bit of progress on my books.  Finally got out and did a bit of shopping.  And I did my laundry.  Doesn’t sound very romantic.  More like I caught up on necessary tasks and spent some time feeling lazy.