Ree’s musings

The last few nights, the South Dakota sky has been breathtaking. Every single star shines crisp and clear.

I have a new honey. Ain't she shiny? More than I meant to spend, but she should last me longer for it.

It took me a day and a half just to get her online. >.< My computers to date have had male or gender-neutral names, but for giving me so much trouble so soon, I have to concede that this one's female. Her name is Helen, after the legendary Helen of Troy[1], and after Helen Narbon (any Helen Narbon, take your pick). All those Helens are pretty, vexing, and quite possibly evil incarnate, though each in different proportions.

I'm still glowing from getting her wireless connection running. Windows settings didn't work because another program wanted to control wireless connections, but it didn't do it well so I had to disable that. This all happened after I ruled out too many other possible causes of network trauma. But we're good now. I didn't even have to call tech support. Go me!

[1]Tangential Erisian reference for the win!

Anke surprised me with character art. She's so cute!

Lately I've found myself fascinated by the depressing tale of Diary-X. The site crashed almost a year ago. No diaries could be retrieved -- the most recent backup had been done in 2004 (!) and turned out to be damaged besides. There was much sorrow over this. The site had offered a backup function for awhile, but few members took advantage of this.

What would break your heart if it couldn't be retrieved? Threads on a discussion board? Old email? Your latest journal layout? Browser bookmarks? Save it.

Use whatever functions you have. Check any FAQ your blog or website host has to see what backup/export option(s) they offer. Use File -> Save As in your browser menu to painstakingly save one webpage at a time if you have to. Search message boards for all posts by you so you can save each one. If you run a site that uses a proper database like MySQL, that's the first thing you should backup (here's a walkthrough). Whenever possible, send backups to your web-based email (like Gmail or Hotmail) -- that way, even if your websites AND your computer implode, you can still reach your data! -- and never rely on your webhost's backup. Usually they just save over the last backup, so if something gets corrupted between host backups, there's no way to get the working version back.

Backup now -- don't put it off. Do it because you don't need to. By the time you realise you need a backup, it's usually too late.

My brother Squirt and I spent an hour on the phone today, discussing everything from how much broken computers suck to who Marvel Comics could kill off that would actually make an impact anymore -- everything we could think to share. We love this stuff, but maybe we're odd ducks.

Happy seventh, Red. See you soon.

I was just listening to Catnip Radio (as usual) and heard something wonderfully crazy. Googled it afterward and found this.

I know somebody out there didn't follow the YouTube link. You're not getting off that easy!

(This is resolved, but you can read it anyway.)

(Strange dream last night.)