This is the latest trend for all the kids.
That’s cool and all but as a big Beatles fan, I’m especially excited that the song in the background is apparently called “Black Beatles“! 😉
This is the latest trend for all the kids.
That’s cool and all but as a big Beatles fan, I’m especially excited that the song in the background is apparently called “Black Beatles“! 😉
I love that the local independent radio station wakes me up every morning and I doubly love when a song penetrates my brain as I switch from sleeping to being awake.
Today, this was the song I heard as I dozed between sleep and wake…
“The Whiskey, The Tree and Me” – JJ Voss
I’ve had a few computer crashes over the years of varying degrees of severity.
This year alone, I’ve had two (that’s just my laptop – I’ve probably had panicked moments with my phone for one reason or another too.)
First, my Macbook Pro crashed in June. It turned out that it was a hardware failure that was a known issue with an existing recall but which I’d missed. Luckily, Apple still honoured (via the local licensed dealer, iWorld) the recall even though the warranty on my nearly five year old laptop had expired. So that saved me about $1100.
At the time, I was very fortunate to have just done a backup (I try to do them regularly but don’t always remember. I also used to subscribe to an online backup service but let that go which is probably a mistake.)
Then, this weekend, my laptop froze during an iTunes update and when I tried to boot, it came up with an ominous black screen with a dark Apple logo then it would stick a spinning wheel.
Back to iWorld I go but this time, a bit more nervous as I haven’t done a back-up in awhile. It’s not as big of a deal as probably 98% of my stuff is either unchanging and recoverable from a previous back-up or in the cloud (all photos, most music, etc.).
But I’d just synced over my Voice Memos which had a lot of recent recordings of Sasha talking about Santa and Christmas that I didn’t want to lose. Plus there’s always going to be recent odds and ends that you don’t get back after a crash.
Beyond that, there’s always the general pain-in-the-ass aspect of re-entering passwords and re-configuring any software or bookmarks or whatever that don’t come back perfectly – even from a recent back-up.
Anyhow, initially the tech couldn’t get it to boot either and so we were looking at having him create an external clone, reformat the hard drive then copy everything back which would’ve likely worked and ensured I was (basically) back to where I was before the crash (but not guaranteed.)
Luckily, I got a call today that he left it overnight then tried some startup repair trick and that *did* manage to fix everything so it was as if nothing had happened.
Not sure why he didn’t do this at first but at any rate, I’ve got my computer back and guess what I’ll be doing overnight that I haven’t done in awhile?
Backup!!!
Plus maybe get off my lazy butt and try to start being a bit more diligent about my backup processes. Most techies recommend the 3-2-1 method – 3 copies of anything you care about in 2 different formats plus at least 1 off-site backup. (I’m sorta there but not really – I have multiple copies of most of my files in various places but not everything in two different formats and not everything in an off-site backup – just most of my “core” stuff – photos and music mostly.)
Though I never watched the show, I saw a trailer for Season One and thought it was hilarious.
The trailer for Season Two is equally good…
After many years without any significant new developments, Regina Public Library has opened three new (or newly renovated) branches in a few short years with one more on the way by next year (and maybe more to come?)
While working at our Central branch, I was able to pop over at lunch one day in September 2011 to check out opening day at the relocated Prince of Wales branch. This was the first new branch RPL had opened in nearly two decades.
Then, in August 2012, I was able to pop by the new Regent Place branch on its opening day while on my way home from work. Regent had been my home branch before I ever went to library school so this one was of particular interest to me and, of course, I ended up becoming the Branch Head at this location a year later in September 2013.
Regent has proudly carried the mantle of “newest branch in the system” for the past three years but yesterday, we gave it up as a newly renovated, greatly expanded George Bothwell opened in the Southland Mall!
The good folks at GB won’t get to hold the “new branch” mantle quite as long as we did – the new Albert Branch library which will be part of the shared-use Mâmawêyatitân Centre in North-Central Regina will be opening sometime next year.
With all the new branches opening, renovations happening at existing branches and the possibility of a new Central Branch under discussion, these are very exciting times for library lovers in Regina indeed!
We had one brief hit a few weeks ago that went away but otherwise, November 29 is a pretty good day for posting this traditional blog post to commemorate the first snow of the year (the first that looks like it’s going to stick around anyhow)…
Still a couple days until it’s officially December but what the hey – time for some Christmas music!
“Merry Christmas from the Family” – Robert Earl Keene
This is a great article from the Wall Street Journal which is extra relevant in the post-factual world of Donald Trump (who, just today, is now claiming he not only won the electoral college but also won the popular vote and Hillary only won due to millions of people voting illegally. This is insanely incorrect and therefore, roughly 48% of Americans will probably completely believe it by tomorrow. Wow, can I get a time machine to jump four years into the future, please?)
Anyhew, I especially liked this quote…
Books remain one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny—but only as long as people are free to read all different kinds of books, and only as long as they actually do so. The right to read whatever you want whenever you want is one of the fundamental rights that helps preserve all the other rights. It’s a right we need to guard with unwavering diligence. But it’s also a right we can guard with pleasure. Reading isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control and domination: It’s one of the world’s great joys.