reborn as the Heart of Gold

My computer had the same error this morning, and when it came to logging into Marvin, it froze. So I turned it off and went to school.

Chloe and I paced each other for most of the way to school, but she pulled ahead at the Everett stop light. The class size was about half what it usually was. Guess people didn't have their papers to turn in. Unfortunately, I was unable to get to the reading so I was totally lost in class. The trusty MFA's held up the non-Adam Arolla end of the conversation. Those two are real champs.

Oh, turns out Elizabeth, the lady I was going to help screen print on Friday (but she was too sick and had to cancel), was in my class the whole time. Who knew? Well, obviously I didn't know. But that was cool. Her project idea has changed, so I told her my offer still stands as long as she gives me a week notice.

So yeah, couldn't follow the discussion more than usual. But now I have two weeks to devote to the essay, and it is about art! So yay.

Oh, a few days ago I finally got around to replacing my bike seat. It feels so different...sturdy and stiff. Needs to be broken in. Still, did that all by myself. And the seat was really well secured.

After class, Leo and I planned to have our meeting with Adam. The meetings are just one on ones to determine what we are getting and so he can relate. But he never showed, even though we talked to him right as class ended. But I got to talk to Leo, the only illustration major in my class that I don't know that well. So that was cool. Still, sucked that Adam was a no show.

At 1pm, Karen picked me up outside the school. Today was our afternoon out! She swung by the bank and then it was off the the sprawl by the airport. Best Buy and Ikea meatballs awaited. I went to the computer department, made eye contact with a tech guy and before he could talk down to me I said "I need a serial ATA 2.5 inch hard drive with a preferred 7200 RPm". And he was all, "well they are right over here". I had three options: speed with medium size upgrade, huge size up grade but same speed, medium size upgrade with no speed. I opted for speed. My baby will need all it can get if she is to last for at least two more years. The size is actually equal to that of my failing external hard drive. I don't know why it (my hard drive) suddenly took a dive. Sucks, it should be a solid piece of equipment, not some lump that maybe you can get a file off of. Oh well.

So yeah, new hard drive. 7200RPM, 16mb cache, 320GB of space. Western Digital Black Scorpion. Mmm nice.

Over meatballs and cake, Karen and I had a long and great discussion about what we would do if were were teaching illustration, how important it is to have teachers tell you what is working and what just isn't, how great printmaking is, and just general catching up. We haven't had the most one on one time since school started. It was a really great meal. She bought a plant.

After Ikea, we stopped by Artist's Edge. Karen bought some clayboard for art projects. Then back to school. We chilled in her studio. Talked some more. Then it was the parting of ways for I had yoga and she had whatever she had to do.

It was an exceptionally nice day, so it seemed like some of the yoga attendees had vanished. The normally packed class had only 7 people. Still, it is nice to have a smaller group. A lot of twists and bends. Low lunge count, which makes me happy.

Clear ride home. Backed up the last of my music. Started my laundry and then it was computer go time. Removed the battery. Removed the screws. Pulled out the hard drive. Took out more screws. Put the new hard drive into the old hard drive holding thingie. Screwed that in. Turned computer on. Put in re-installation software. And it was smooth sailing. Vista booted up perfectly fine. Got it back on the Internet with some help from Katie. Actually, Katie's help has been huge. The fact that she loaned me space on her computer for my files and helped me painstakingly transfer them USB by USB. Such a great girl.

The only holes right now are some of the drivers and settings. I'll get that sorted out. Also I am missing the Microsoft Office Suite. So I can't open Word. That needs to get resolved pretty quick.

But all in all, I did it! I got new hardware installed with my own two hands, put everything back in order, and it is so insanely fast. Go me!

My two accounts are now Marvin and Arthur Dent. Arthur is the back up admin, which I shouldn't need for years.