Tag Archives: DVD

Unexpected Reboot

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Just when you think you’re right on schedule and perhaps even ahead of things something ugly happens… I had a first today and hopefully a last too. My LaCie Porsche drive started to act up again and I couldn’t make backups, it would freak out after copying about 2Mb and give me a -36 error. I checked the external HD using Disk Utility and had to repair it twice. After the second time I tried to copy some folders and all of a sudden my screen went dark from top to bottom showing me a message that I instantly needed to reboot my Mac. I had no other choice then a reboot, risking losing all the files that were still in use by applications…

I never had this kind of system freeze before and normally a Mac doesn’t need a reboot like this unless something serious is going on. I should learn to listen to my gut feeling because something similar happened a while ago when I was testing a web cam. It freaked out my Porsches back then and it did again today. I have no clue what’s wrong with the cam but something must cause this FiWi problem. Sorry Christiaan, I know you’ll read this. Jim told me something about the fact that this particular cam doesn’t like other FiWi devices plugged in at the same time, I would have to read into that. It could also be the cable, but I’m just not sure and since I don’t want to take any risks now I’m not gonna try until I have a proper backup of all my work which is on that one HD that was acting up today.

I have all my freelance work stored on that Porsche along with seven years of photography and several other important files, only about 210Gb altogether and that’s just one Porsche, I have two… I wonder now if it would be good to have it all on DVD as well. I wonder how other designers manage this. How long do you keep your files on backups? For ever? Or can you delete it after some time and what happens if you get a crash and a client needs more prints of something that is no longer there? I think I’m getting slightly paranoid *hehe*. Nah, just curious… It does make me think about worse case scenarios though and I guess I should be prepared so I do need to look for an alternative. For now I’m fine, I didn’t lose any data but it made me realise that I would have a serious problem if I would have.

Funny thing is that I did get an email in today from a client who asked me to order more business cards because they almost ran out. They have a B&B in Scotland, one of the most interesting B&Bs I’ve ever stayed at. They’ve built the whole place themselves, water was heated through geothermal energy, electricity was provided through solar panels, a wooden house with double-glazing and inside it had several levels: most of it was open-plan but each ‘room’ was on a different level so there were stairs everywhere… I had fresh baked Scottish soda bread in the morning straight from the Aga cooker [I so want one!] which also heated the house and yes a warm shower… He was a shepherd and had really cool stories to tell. It was a pleasure to design their business card. Amazing place and very nice people!

Anyway… my Saturday [and probably Sunday and Monday as well] will be a day of copying 210Gig from one Porsche to another and back, burning DVDs, while dreaming about fresh oven baked bread…

Meeting Of Minds

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It’s been a bit quiet on here lately: I haven’t written anything since last Thursday when I found out about the recent infestation of Dutch caterpillars in London… I haven’t written much since then because I’m a bit busy getting ready for my visit to the Lowlands. There’s stuff that I need to buy or collect, there’s clothes to be washed, a suitcase waiting to be packed, DVDs to be burnt, lists to be made and thoughts to be considered…

Here’s where I left off:

Friday June 15: Received an email from Kris, I met him a few weeks ago, who invited me for a drink some day next week. Been on the phone with my aunt for about two hours and probably racked up the phone bill big time… Have been chatting with MvdM. for a while. Worked on my dress and sent out some emails that I forgot to reply to.

Saturday June 16: I’ve been to Lakeside and found myself some cool shoes for the wedding, exactly the right color and only for £6,- so I won’t feel guilty for chucking them out, after the wedding. I bought a gift for DvD. as well; an English football shirt, he will love it. In the evening I went over to MvdM., had dinner with him and W. and got totally pissed drinking a box of wine… *yes I’m bad!* I think me and MvdM. had just over a litre each [there’s 3 litres in a box]. I also got my first Dior item, a really beautiful top… It was a gift from W., he works for Dior, sweet isn’t it?!! I took a cab home at 03.30 in the morning; had a wonderful time.

Sunday June 17: Was a day of rest and hangovers, although it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, it was fine actually… Does that mean I’m getting adjusted to English customs???? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Monday June 18: Called KB. and agreed to meet up on Tuesday. I’ve finally finished the dress which is a bit of a relief to be honest, didn’t think I would ever finish it… It’s ironed and waiting to be packed. Started another one, I took an old dress apart since it was already slowly starting to deteriorate. Turned it into patterns using newspapers [I couldn’t find tissue paper anywhere], placed it on the fabric and went to bed because it was almost 02.00 in the morning.

Tuesday June 19: Went into town to meet up with Kris at lunchtime, had a coffee at the Lounge bar [High Holborn] and lunch around the corner at Pret a Manger. Picked each other’s brain for quite a while: about an hour and a half. Had fun talking shop! I lend him my Actionscripting book. Back home at 16.00, cut the fabric and started to sew things together. Updated my CV and looked for typos, there were a few still so it’s good to put it aside for a while and have another look at it later [as I did].

Wednesday June 20: CH. called me in the morning to make sure about my flight number. They’ll be picking me up from the airport which is cool, it saves me a journey on the train to the other end of town. I’ll have to go to the storage unit to collect my bicycle and see if it’s still fine, might have flat tyres… We’ve been on the phone for nearly an hour. Again send off some emails I forgot about, I seem to be a bit scatterbrained lately. Received a phone call from my best friend IvS. who was a bit bored and wanted to talk to a friend. She was in Edinburgh on her own, children and husband at home [which is about two hours further down the road], and she had a very bad day so needed to vent. We ended up as usual, wetting our pants with laughter.

Thursday June 21: Burnt some DVDs with a variety of content for a variety of people, some I met recently, others I’ve known for years. Just a tiny contribution to spreading the vibe and hype. I will meet up with Amit after my visit to the Lowlands and receive the last bit of content that I still need… So a little bit of give and take, although I end up offering A. lunch and a drink instead… because I have nothing of his liking I believe, well I asked him but he never responded… Finished my CV; I changed some sentences and sent it off to a few people for proof reading. Worked on the dress for a bit.

So today is Friday: and I still have a large to-do-list [eg sending off snail mail, collecting stuff at the pharmacy, reply to emails, leave some comments on some blogs, pack my case, sort out the laundry etc. etc.] so if you will excuse me, I would like to have it all finished by the end of the day, so I’ll have a relaxed day tomorrow!

Oh and I also need to think and decide about taking my Powerbook or not thanks to Stu who sent me an email [that I still have to reply to] asking me:

“How will you survive with out your Power Book? I thought you eat, drink and sleep CPU (in your own words). You’re not going to go cold turkey during your trip are you?”

Yes I told him, I eat, drink and sleep CPU, which made me realise that I actually AM going cold turkey… the instant effect of that was that I have doubts now whether I should take it along or not and whether I should thank Stu for making me have doubts again, or…

I’m off to the pharmacy…

Later alligator!