Hardware Upgrade

I’ve been postponing it for ages but while I was working on the template design of my new business blog the application started to fail on me. It kept crashing with one 3Gig file: I realised I had to install the whole package again. So while I was at it I thought I might as well put in the new gear: a 500Gb HD and 2x2Gb of RAM. What I thought would take me an hour in the end almost took me two days. It wasn’t the hardware causing me problems, that all went quite smooth, it was the software and I decided to do a clean system install.

Of course after the installation I found out that files were missing, mostly printer descriptions and prefs and although I did make some backups it was no point trying to sort out what was missing and where it was supposed to be on the system. I deleted all the Creative Suite applications and installed them again and although I still have to sort out stuff on my HDs and take care of archiving, my machine runs fine without any problems. I now have an extra HD to backup all the client files in case one of my LaCie Porsches fails.

It’s been a busy two days but I’m quite content with the results and I know I will be grateful for doing this if I was to experience a serious crash in the future… I’m so happy with my beast… *sigh*

:)

See the dirt? *EEEEW*

More dirt *YUK*

New HD with special ‘drive guides’ that were stored next to the HD bays [RAM modules top left]

New HD in its bay, haven’t connected power cable yet, just the data cable

New RAM modules installed, 8 slots all full *hehe*

Mental Detour

The weather has been pants for a few days now: I’ve had thunderstorms and vertical rain. I don’t really mind because I don’t have to go anywhere and have been extremely busy sorting out chores that have been on the to-do-list for ages already. I finally started to mend some dresses and skirts and I finally finished my chocolate satin dress. I don’t know what happened but last week one thing led to another and all of a sudden I was sick and tired of the mess that has been lying around for some time now waiting for me to fix it or finish it. Oh… I remember what caused it: be prepared to dive into my warped mind…

Last Friday I received a wonderful surprise in the post all the way from New York, the package from Ismoyo that I’d won a while ago. Thank you, it’s totally sweet! So I wanted to take some pictures, I always take pictures of everything and that’s what it all started: me wanting to take pictures. I have a small desk near the window where my sewing machine sits and it’s the best spot to take pictures since the light conditions are always perfect. But the desk was piled up with dresses that needed fixing. So basically I ended up cleaning up the mess. Halfway I decided to sort out my CD collection too, all the archive CDs that is.

And before I knew it I was throwing out stacks of old CDs that my Mac refused to read and burning Gigs to DVD, reorganising years of archiving. Then I got all hyper and realised that I only have two LaCie Porsches that I really needed to sort out because I don’t have the extra backup space anymore. Well I do basically but it needs a lot of reorganising. So while working on websites for clients I suddenly realised that if one of those Porsches would crash I would have a serious problem: I don’t have the extra backup available, the second Porsche became home to my music collection instead.

What happened next is that I started my online research for internal and external HDs to see if I could afford one. I asked Christiaan for advice since I had a slight idea what I wanted but wasn’t sure if that was the best option but he confirmed my feeling *thank you!*. So I decided to buy an extra 500Gig internal HD since that is the cheapest way for now and I do need to invest in this if I don’t want to get myself into trouble. Over the weekend I ended up wasting time waiting for others to help me so I lost a few hours there but have been catching up these last few days.

Why the detour you wonder? Because I need to get rid of clutter: all the clutter around me on desks, the clutter on my Mac which used to be organised but most of all the clutter in my head. I’m probably over-criticising myself again because some from the past told me I was the most organised person they’d ever met and I guess I can see why. But you see, I can’t design new projects if I don’t have a neat place to work: neat place clean of clutter means no clutter but room in my head… So I decided to throw out and declutter starting with the pile of clothes waiting to be mended.

And since I finally have a clean window desk I finally took some pictures. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get back to decluttering so I can start some web design soon!

I’ve finished my chocolate satin dress, more mending to be done…

Lovely surprise in the post all the way from NY

Cute Japanese generosity I received from Ismoyo, thank you so much! :)