Computer problems

Well, that was an annoying two weeks. On October 23rd, the fan in my computer died. It's done it before, the design must be fairly weak. So, I took it to Staples, which had replaced it in 2015. They gave me all kinds of attitude about never having done that work- and got even more sarcastic when I pointed out that the sticker from when they fixed it last time was still on the lid. So, there was no way I was leaving it there.

Found a local shop that was highly recommended, and took it there on the 25th of October. He replaced the fan, and I got it back Sunday, the 28th. Only, it would not connect to the internet. As I'm trying everything to work on the connection problem, I tried to restart it. Only, it wouldn't come on! I hadn't saved the scanning I did that day, which was not good. My brother, who knows more about computers than I do, thought to hook a different monitor up to it and using that I was able to get my scans and some Excel work I had done onto my remote hard drive. The computer went back to the shop the very next morning, one week ago today. Then I didn't hear anything. On Friday, we called the shop to get an update and he said that he replaced the hard drive. He said it would be ready the next day.

Now, I'm starting to panic because even though I got the most important stuff off it, I would lose some programs if I lost everything, most notably Excel and Word, and PhotoScape. I use Excel and PhotoScape every single day of the year. Literally. Word, not so much, but I do use it to track my comic collection so I do need it.

After not hearing anything on Saturday, or Sunday, we called Sunday afternoon and said we were coming to pick it up on Monday, even if it's not working. After all, they had it for 12 days. Miraculously, it was done this morning. I finally got it back. The guy who does the work does appear to know what he's doing, but is WAY overextended. It's working just fine now, although I'm still not sure how much I'm willing to trust it. I feel like I did with the Jeep, where it worked...but I didn't really trust it.

For now, though, it works, and I'm trying to catch up on what I wasn't able to do without Excel for a week.

I didn't lose anything, thankfully!

It wasn't totally lost time, though. I still had my Tablet, which means I could still check the Database. A while back I had begun writing my paper listing for the NHL, but I had to set it aside and go back to it later because all that writing was making my hand hurt. Well, that Later was Now. During the down time I finished writing out all the NHL base cards and parallels that are in my collection. From now on, when I add new cards to a set already present in my collection, I won't have to stop to create a listing-it'll already exist. (with the exception of a couple I need to have in hand because I'm not sure which version I have).

I previously had the entirety of my collection ONLY on the Database. If my internet went out, or my computer died, I would have no way to know what cards are new or not. That's unacceptable, so I fixed it. Now, I will always know what's new or not, at least for hockey. Baseball*, Football and other sports still are documented only on the Database but I don't add to them very often...it's not that big a concern. I could always push off checking until I got the internet back, it's never been down for more than a few hours. 

I also took notes on the sets that were NOT in my collection, and will be getting a post out of that in the not too distant future, I hope. (I've already added a few from the last box Shane of Shoebox Legends sent me, which I have not fully gone through yet...but did some of while I was without my computer.) It's more than I would have guessed, and the breakdown on the years was somewhat surprising to me. I'll talk more about that in the dedicated post.

I made paper listings for the NBA Panini Stickers of 2014-15 and 2015-16, which I previously didn't have, as I didn't consider them part of my collection until after they were already gone from store shelves.

*Finally, I made my first ever baseball paper listing. 1990 Topps, I love that design. The one everybody hates, I love. I've got about 70 of them now, and I know I have more in my unopened stash. One of them was Card of the Day this week.

Although I have been without my computer, the Card of the Day Project has gone on...now that I have my computer back, and can scan again, I will be getting the October Card of the Day post up as soon as I can, but it will probably be a few more days still. I have a LOT to catch up on!

While I was able to publish my last two posts via the tablet, it's really not conducive to typing out a post, and with no way to scan, I have not written a post for two weeks, to the day. I exhausted my "ready to go" posts in the queue with those two, so if I want to keep my "not-spoken but kind of a thing" thing where I publish at least ten posts a month this year, I need to get busy writing! 

Finally, on a good note, the first thing I saw when I got my computer set back up and running, was the announcement of this year's Blogger Secret Santa, now being run by Jon of A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts since Matt of Bob Walk the Plank has retired. I took part the past two years, and it was a LOT of fun. Both years also introduced me to new blogs...all 4 blogs- both that I sent to and both that sent to me- were blogs I had never seen before, and all are now on my regular reading list. (Baseball Every Day, The Collector, Scribbled Ink and John's Big League Baseball are the four that I learned about via this program, in case anyone wonders. That's to me and sent by me for both years in order. Ahh, without my computer and Excel I have not been able to exercise my OCD!) If you aren't reading Jon's posts yet, make sure to give him a follow. He posts some interesting stuff, and collects most every topic so there's always something interesting to read there. The link in this paragraph takes you right to the Secret Santa post.