Guru

So, we have a personal computer guru in the form of a just turned 20 young man at church named Dave.

Dave comes over and works on our computers on occasion.  All of ours, except Bigger Girl's new laptop that was a graduation gift recently and is actually a refurbished but so what, those are great anyway, are older machines that were hand-me-downs, including from Dave's family, as they frequently upgrade things.

His family therefore had a spare computer, only 2 years old with Windows 7 on it, that we were going to swap out with the one in the library, which is so old it is not compatible with wireless equipment and has to be the one wired in to the router.

While he was at it, he got on Bigger Girl's laptop and routinely downloaded MacAffee (or however you spell it), when i had already made sure it had a different protection running.

By later that evening, she couldn't get online.  Probable cause of the error connecting to the DNS was that that two protection systems "saw" each other and locked up.

Since we had had trouble connecting through the wireless before because of AT&T problems, and had even had to rename the network to get everything working, i tried them first.  Nothing, not even able to get the computer to accept "itconfig" commands, which was weird.

On to Dell support.  The first number i tried, we put it in safe mode, we tried a few other things, nada.  The gentleman then told me i would have to pay $150 for a software support package to get it working.  That's when i asked for a different support number, and got it.

The second person told me there was no way they would charge me to fix a new computer, even if it was a refurbished, it was under warranty.   If it got to that point i would be asked to ship it back -- good thing i kept the box! -- but he didn't think that would be required.  He then tried a couple of things with me, and finally we had to simply restore the computer to what it had been when it came out of the box a couple of weeks ago.

Bingo, that solved it.

Dave, meanwhile, bless his heart, does his best, and he has done us a great service, getting our old bookmarks and stuff we would like to save off the old desktop and onto the new one.

He also managed, which has saved his reputation in my mind, to hook up the old printer my brother gave us which has a very out of date, but still functional, small tablet with it!  Granted, it's so old i can't even get it to load the app so i can read the books we had to buy on the Kobo ereaders the kids broke but i still have the account and can read the books on the desktop or my laptop, but i can check email and get around the internet on it, and that will be plenty good enough.

For showing me that the printer, which still won't quite work, but he's going to come back and figure that out, has a small tablet i can play with, i will still call him my computer guru.  Even if i sometimes spend a few hours with tech support to undo a mistake.

*********************************************************************************

RIP Andy Griffith.  We don't just feel like we lost a famous actor/comedian.  We feel like we've lost a friend.

*********************************************************************************

To all who celebrate, Happy Independence Day!


Today is

Apache Maidens' Puberty Rites -- Mescalero Apache Reservation, NM, US

American Independence Day Celebration -- Rebild Park, Aalborg, Denmark (yes, really, every year except during the two World Wars, they have celebrated American Independence Day here; as a way of thanking the country that has accepted over 300,000 Danish immigrants, and to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the countries)

Baal Fire Day -- Whalton, Northumberland, UK (a bonfire, Anglo-Saxon "bael", with traditional morris dancing -- originally a Moorish dance)

Buffalo Bill Day -- he staged his first Wild West show on July 4, 1883

Bullion's Day -- Anglican tradition, the translation of the relics of St. Martin of Bullion; rain today means rain for the next 20 days, according to the legends

Calithumpian Parade -- Biwabik, MN, US (clowns, hilarity and patriotism reign together as the 1,000 citizens of Biwabik put on a show for more than 15,000 guests)

Day of Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Filipino-American Friendship Day -- Philippines; U.S.

Garibaldi Day -- Italy

Independence Day -- US and Territories

Independence from Meat Day -- don't be a slave to tradition! sponsored by Vegetarian Awareness Network

Jumping on the Mattress Night -- Fairy Calendar

Liberation Day -- Rwanda

National Barbecue Spareribs Day

National Country Music Day -- US

Old Midsummer Eve -- by the Julian Calendar
 
Ottawa Blues Fest -- Ottawa, Canada (12 days of fabulous music)

Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri -- Shounan City, Kanagawa Prefecture (one of Japan's largest Tanabata festivals; through the 8th)

Sidewalk Egg Frying Day  -- you can do this anywhere that it's hot enough, but for the real deal, plan to go to the Solar Egg Frying Contest, held annually on July 4 on old Route 66 in Oatman, Arizona, US, where the rule is you must use solar heat only

St. Elizabeth of Portugal's Day (Patron of brides, charitable societies, charity workers, charities, difficult marriages, falsely accused people, peace, queens, tertiaries, victims of adultery, victims of jealousy, victims of unfaithfulness, widows; invoked in time of war; Coimbra, Portugal)

St. Ulrich's Day (Patron of peaceful deaths, pregnant women, weavers; Augsburg, Germany; Creazzo, Italy; against birth complications, dizziness, faintness, fever, frenzy, mice, moles, vertigo)

Stone Skipping Tournament -- Windermere Pointe Beach, Mackinac Island, Michigan, US (open to all, come skip some stones and have a blast!)
 
The North American Tournament -- Spruce Meadows, Calgary, AB, Canada (show jumping tournament, through the 8th)

Tom Sawyer Days -- Hannibal, MO, US (through the 7th; frog jumping, mud volleyball, Tom and Becky Contest; parade, Tomboy Sawyer Contest, fireworks, and more, with the highlight being the National Fence Painting Contest)

White Cloud's Birthday and Tatanka (Bison) Festival -- National Buffalo Museum, Jamestown, ND, US (annual 4 day celebration of bison and their role in American history, on the birthday of White Cloud, the true albino bison born this day in 1996)

World's Greatest Lizard Races -- Chaparral Park, Lovington, NM, US (cheer the lizards and iguanas as they race down a 16 foot ramp, and yes, trophies will be awarded!)


Anniversaries Today

Tuskegee Institute opens, 1881



Birthdays Today

Koko, 1971 (gorilla who speaks sign language)
Geraldo Rivera, 1943
George Steinbrenner, 1930
Gina Lollobrigida, 1927
Neil Simon, 1927
Eva Marie Saint, 1924
Ann Landers, 1918
Abigail Van Buren, 1918
Mitch Miller, 1911
Gloria Stuart, 1910
George Murphy, 1902
Rube Goldberg, 1883
Louis B. Mayer, 1882
George M. Cohan, 1878
Calvin Coolidge, 1872
Stephen Foster, 1826
Hiram Walker, 1816
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804


Today in History

A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri; for several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day, and its remnants form the Crab Nebula, 1054
Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye, 1534
The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (Quebec, Canada), 1634
City of Providence, Rhode Island forms, 1636
The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress, 1776
The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, opens, 1802
The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American public, 1803
Construction of the Erie Canal begins in Rome, New York, 1817
The world's first long-distance railway, the Grand Junction Railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool, 1837
The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end, 1840
Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, 1845
The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published, 1855
Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, 1862*
The Anglo-Zulu war ends, 1879
The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States, 1886
The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia, 1886
Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4, 1892
The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole, 1894
Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a 'motor race', 1903
African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States, 1910
First flight of the Lockheed Vega, 1927
Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball, 1939
After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States, 1946
The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe, 1950
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law, 1966
NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars, 1997
The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1, 2005
The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks, 2009