Litwit Lounge discussion

Just quick hello to everybody! My computer is finally getting the long-needed overhaul, and so I will be without a few days. Starting school this semester made it impossible to go on any longer. To be sure, the only thing I was able to do on it anymore was surf the internet and use Notepad. Rather limiting, huh?

Anyway, I can't wait to have Microsoft Office back, Photoshop and a working soundcard! Oh, how I have missed the latter!

Temps are really warming up here, not sure what they were today but a sweater was too warm in midafternoon.

Anybody watch the Grammy's? Anybody tape record the Grammy's? I was sorry to have missed it but had to work last night.

I surfed past the Grammys a couple of times but kept going because what was going on didn't interest me. Most of the music up for awards this year wasn't anything I'm into. It's gotten to where, unless U2 or Coldplay or something similar is nominated, I feel too old for the whole thing.
Glad you'll have a fully-capable computer soon, Reggia!

I didn't watch. My son was interested ~ but only because he wanted to see if Taylor Swift won. My husband happened to go down to check the mail right when her award was announced on the radio. lol

I'm glad your computer will be fixed soon. We rely so much on those machines. My hard drives are failing. :o( I have a new computer on the way. My computer is 6 years old. I've replaced the motherboard twice, had the hard drives fixed once... It seems like more but I can't remember. As much as I'm excited about a new computer, I'm attached to this one. Plus I've yet to figure out a way to save email addresses in Outlook Express (or the emails). So I'll lose a lot of information I've saved.

Reggia, good luck with school. I went back for two years as an "older" student and most of the kids were great. Always coming to me for answers. lol
Lee, I have the luxury of having a computer whiz for a son. He helped me buy my new set up on IBuyPower.com, asked me what I wanted and then suggested what I should get and then transferred all of my stuff for me. I'll try to ask him for tips for you if you like.
We got our half inch of snow while the rest of the state shut down. State Police pulled over 60 vehicles out of ditches and accidents and begged people to stay home.
But then I got an email from a friend showing 44" (on top of the 3 or 4 feet they already had in the Upper Peninsula of MI) and thought glad I'm not there any more. However, they all pitch in and clear it out. One pictures showed banks of snow at least as tall as a two-story house. Unbelievable.

Syra, I'd welcome any tips he has to offer. I bought a transfer cable, and I know how to get the main things, but those emails... I know it sounds silly but I'm on writing and homeschool loops and they send me tons of info. all the time. I save the "good" ones for reference in folders. I have a lot of them. lol I like Outlook Express better than Outlook, but I can't even find a way to save my addresses (other than print them out).

That's a lot of snow! We had a lot of snow here a while back, but the worst of it was the drifts. Some of them went to all the way to the roof of the buildings. I remember news footage of a school that was blocked by snow because it was the entire front was covered in snow. You couldn't even tell there was a school. It has been a crazy winter.

My mother's father told the story of a bad blizzard in Long Island, NY in the late 1800s where they climbed out the 2nd story windows to get out and carved tunnels to the small barn to feed animals. I guess you really can't mess with Mother Nature.

I'll check on the email problem and get back to you.

My teenage son had to shovel tunnels of a sort in our back yard so our dogs could go out. Thankfully the snow since then has been much lighter, though we have had more than in past years.

Thanks for checking on the email problem for me. That's nice. I hate switching computers. Something always messes up and doesn't work right. Now I'm going from XP to Windows 7 too... I'm sure it's going to take a while to get used to.

I am SO glad I don't have to dig a snow tunnel or climb out a window to get out of my house. I'm such a wimp when it comes to snow!

Lee: Here is what I got in an email from my son:
Below are some instruction on finding and backup up the email store in Outlook Express. The process should be the same when trying to move everything to another computer. Have her try this:


Click on the TOOLS Menu and select Options.
Click the Maintenance Tab and then click on Store Folder.
You now see the location of your Email Folder.
Highlite the Folder Location and press CTRL+C to copy the location.
Click Cancel and then Cancel again to close all boxes.
Click the Windows Start button and the click Run. In the open box press CTRL+V to paste the mail location, then click OK.
You now have a window containing you e-mail database *.dbx files.
From the top Menu click Edit click Select All.
On the top Menu again click Copy. Now close the window.
Open Windows Explorer, click File / New and then Folder.
Type a name for the folder and hit ENTER.
Double click the Folder you just created to open it. From the Edit Menu select Paste. Close the window
Hope it helps.

No drifts of snow up to the second floors of houses here (yet :-)), but we are having blizzard conditions. It snowed through much of the night, and is still coming down. The college library where I work is closed (the whole campus is) because of the weather, so I get to stay home. I hope to get more reading done today than usual!

A snow day to read! Yay!

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try it. :o)

Hope all of you with lots of snow stay warm & safe.

The amount of snow back east is just incredible! I do hope all of you are safe and warm. Some of my friends are without heat, so unable to stay in their home right now. Others are not able to visit us as planned because of airport closures/delays.

A big warm welcome to Lee (who has been my close online friend for many years now and is working on a book) -- so good to have you with us!

Thank you Reggia, you are the best. :o)

I also want to add my warm wishes to those dealing with the cold weather. My mom & siblings live in that area and so I follow the weather pretty closely. Stay safe.

Welcome, Lee!

Hi there! I'm Leah....just looking for a relaxed book group and the name of this one caught my eye--that and it seems pretty easy-going.

A couple of my favorite-ever books are The Poisonwood Bible and 100 Years of Solitude (among many others).

Happy February (and almost Valentine's, I suppose).

Hi Leah, and welcome! Good to have you join us!

The two favorites you mentioned are on my to-read list. Please feel free to start new threads if there is a particular book you'd like to discuss.

This might be a good time to mention a Goodreads html feature to all of the group that may aid in bringing people here for more discussion on your favorite reads. If you look above the comment box, you will see the (some html is ok) link. Click on that and scroll down to link to book. If you copy that tag and insert the title of your book, it will provide a link to this page that can be followed from anyone who has looked up the book.

Hope that made sense.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Welcome Leah. I think I've had the 100 Years on my shelf for a hundred years waiting to read!!! The Poisonwood Bible sounds familiar but can't remember if I've read it. Have to check it out.
Reading Jill Churchhill series lightens my day. Right now I'm on The Merchant of Menace which takes place at Christmas and a nasty tv reporter is killed by falling off the snowy roof of a gaudyily (?word) decorated house on to a reindeer of the reindeer and sleigh below and is speared by iron rod holding up the reindeer and antlers. How is that for not your routine murder weapon? And this all happens at a caroling and dinner after party. I love all the questions it raises.

Thank you for the welcome, Callista. :o)

Welcome, Leah!

Good Saturday morning, everyone!

Beautiful weather here today, well, all this week actually. This is the time of year we glory in it, (lol, and we'd better because we know what's coming in a few months).

Anyway, I'm off this morning and there's so much to do: polish my paper due Monday, take an invigorating walk at the acreage behind the library, prepare for next month's move... The old me thinks I can do it all, the new me thinks I'd better pick something and just do it!

Good thinking, Reggia. We haven't moved in 27 years and can't imagine what a chore it will be. Maybe I'll just stay here until I'm dead and let my kids deal with it. Hah. But before that I moved about 12 times. Good luck to you.
anyone watching the Olympics? I refuse to watch NBC - too many commercials and Bob Costas - but curling (love watching that) and hockey are on the other channels. Saw some ski jumps, slolams, ice dancing. What incredible people. Also heard of the death of a luge contender but can't remember where he was from. All his countries other athletes were wearing black arm bads to honor him. I liked that.

I don't have cable and my internet isn't fast enough to make watching TV all that thrilling, so I've just sampled bits of NBC's Olympic Coverage. I thought the Opening Ceremonies were lovely. I'm not much of a sports person, so I tend to get bored with the events after a while, but at first some things are morbidly fascinating.

The athlete that died was from Georgia. I didn't catch the opening ceremonies, but we have been watching most of the coverage. We usually record it and then fast forward through all those commercials. There have been so many fascinating back stories. I posted a blog about how inspirational I've found the Olympics this year - but maybe I'm just a big softie. :o)

I'm sorry to have missed every bit of it this year -- busy schedule and no recording capabilities. Can anyone tell me: is all the ice skating and/or dancing over?

I think ice dancing finishes up tonight (Monday). The ladies' events are yet to come, but I'm not sure which nights.

Ladies are tonight on NBC. Canada won gold, US silver and Russia bronze in ice dancing.

Well, it turns out that I don't get NBC. :( Hard to believe, I know, but I no longer have satellite or cable and there's just no reception for that channel. Hoping that maybe a friend will let me watch it there...

I thought the ice dancing was so close. They all did a beautiful job. I did think it was a little... "hinky" how the Russian team used their costume to help them do their tricks. I can't see how that wasn't against the rules. They are very talented - but that seemed on the border if not cheating.

I'm looking forward to the ladies competition. Like I said, it's recorded, so I'm a little behind. :o)

Enjoyed a couple hours of the Olympics last night, hope I get to see more on Thursday.

Yesterday was the day for crashes: Lindsey Vonn on Slalom; made Mancuso stop and do it again; and two double women bobsleds crashed and slid upside down. Luckily Vonn only one with broken finger but Mancuso crying after 2nd run because she was so tired and fell to 18th place from 6th. They sky again today because snow too heavy and fog and couldn't see.
Sure enjoyed the Canada v. Russia hockey game. I never saw such fast work. Canada won 7 to 3.

Yay, Canada!
Have they increased the difficulty of some of these sports--like Slalom and Bobsled--or are people just having rotten luck? Sure seems as if there have been more wipeouts during this Olympics than in previous ones.

I think Canada had snow problems. They were trucking in snow from other hills to fill in. Also I think they are driving these kids to distraction trying to out do each other. Faster, faster, more dangerous, etc.

Glad you know you're not in the flood zone. I hope it stays that way!

It looked so sad to see the pics of those beautiful homes in RI starting to flood. Glad you are ok Charly. We've had wind almost 24/7 for the last 2 days. Now I know why the pioneer women of the plains went crazy listening to it for 2 weeks.

The wind gets on my nerves, too--especially when it blows at night.