Easy Like Lori Sunday

TBT:   I finally sorted and organized all of Lor'i First Week pics.  At least, I THINK I have!  I had them by name, by number, by date, in 2 special "Lori" folders and in regular "Cat" folders.  I copied them all into a single "LoriFirstWeek" folder then went searching through it for duplicates and deleting those (and some REALLY poor ones *I* took).

Then I printed a list of all the pics file names.  Which confused the computer because it kept trying to give me the actual pics.  I finally had to use screenshot and "selection" to isolate the file name list.  But the list was too long for the display screen, so now I have LoriFirstWeek (1 through 4) and copied each of THOSE to my Notes app and printed each separately.  

But I still didn't know which I had used, so I went to the blog starting at Day 1 and checked each used file name off 1 by 1.  THAT worked!

So I was left with about 3 dozen unused pics which I will show over the next few days just to make the record complete.  I hope there aren't many duplicates...

That Darned Computer

We have been nice to TBT.  We eat our food.  We cover our litter.  We sleep near him in the bed.  But we leave him alone when he is at the computer.  

He has been werkin real hard.  Sometimes he cheers, but most times he says &%@*! stuff.   The good news is that he seems happier most recently, so maybe that is progress.  

We DO know he has gotten our pictures to a new place and he likes that.  We saw ourselfs all over the screen!

But he is more detailed on his own blog HERE!  We dont unnerstand or care about that stuff.

Offline, Rebuild

 

We are going to be generally offline for a few days or a week.  The computer is falling apart, programs are failing.  I can't fix it within the current Mac/OS, and that means upgrading the Mac/OS version to the point where other programs will fail.

 

I went through hoops trying to keep familiar programs running a year ago.  I basically succeded, but it was temporary. 

 

I've been living with Mac High Sierra.  But too many apps are no longer supported with that.  Feedly is driving me nuts not sending comments, for example.  And it is important to me to visit my friends.

 

So it is time to rebuild.  I think I will have to migrate to The Cloud.  I think I will have to pay to upgrade programs.  I think I will have to learn changes in familiar programs. I may have been hacked.

 

I'm not looking forward to any of that.  I'm not even sure I can.  Everything seems stranger with each generation of OS.  Well, at least I know what that MEANS, LOL!

 

I'll get through this change, but it won't be fast or easy.

 

But maybe I'll be good for another few years.

 

I may try to hook up the Windows 10 computer.  The organization of it baffles me (I'm used to total control over file organization and Win 10 fights me).  But I did "grow up" with Windows.  It sure has changed.  Maybe I can make sense of it again.

 

But I want Mac back. 

 

But be assured I will be back.  I'm just going to have a hard week or 2...

Werdy Wensday

We should mention that we have been having some real problems with Feedly the past 2 weeks.   On Firefox, it just shows us a blank page and we can't make it open our list.  On Safari, it shows us our list but makes us jump through hoops to visit our friends and get it to realize we have.  We can edit it individually each time, but it is driving us up a tree... 

TBT is trying to figure out what the problem is but hes pretty stoopid sometimes and it takes him a while ta solve stuff.  

New Blogger is also driving us nutsie.  It is so much less great than before.  Part is so counter-intuitive (like only one return key hit for a paragraph) which will eventually ruin his (already poor typing) in The Rest Of The Universe.  And New Blogger always makes our first pic left-indended and forces the text in "wrong places", makes it harder to adjust size, and makes it harder to move pics around if they get out of order, and wants to make text "links" and stuff like that.

Don't even ASK about "labels".  Apparently, you don't click where you think you should. 

He is looking at other blog sites, but doesn't want to leave Blogger. 

If anyone has solved these problems, let us know.  Meanwhile, TBT will thrash around wildly...

And if that 2-run paragraph spacing doesn't stop, he will utterly lose his mind.  Well, so he says.  We think it is gone anyway.

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SOLVED FIREFOX!  We left it.  Being stuck in unending beta versions (which we couldn't get out of) was like butt-scootching on harsh sandpaper, ya know?  TBT finally got bookmarks into Safari and it is working great.  And we (somehow) even got some old lost bookmarks back.  Firefox will be deleted.  (bye-bye)...  New Blogger is STILL driving us nutsie though.

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On the other paw, what is a post without pictures of US?  

We are relaxing.

Laz is probably down in the basement hunting for skinks.

Unthankful Thursday

We are having computer problems...  Be back when we can!

ARGGGH!

Our Mac crashed again!  We cant go on like this.  Pictures randonly disappear from iPhotos or won't open.  TBT does have a Windows 10 PC, so he is gonna set it up and see if it seems more stable.  He isnt thrilled, but he is gonna give Windows another attempt after 10 years.  *SIGH*!

The computer room is looking like a wired mess these days with all the correction attempts.


The Mac Migration Assistant says it can transfer files from and to both Macs and Windows, so he is giving it a try.  If we are offline a few days, we apologize, but this continuing Mac problem just HAS to end!

We'll be back as soon as we can...

We Are Still Here

Ayla is happy with her clean teeth and does miss the removed ones.  Marley got is teeth cleaned and didn't lose any.  Iza had hers cleaned last year and was fine. 

We didnt get the puter fixed as we hoped and TBT has ordered a 5TB Seagate external HD that should hold EVERYTHING and solve most problems.  But it will be Friday before it gets here so we are old-laptopped until then with no pics.

But we will get back...

Updates

Written piecemeal over 2 days using my laptop.  No pictures or anything (it isn't actually networked to my desktop).  

I successfully migrated my files from my external backup drive ("My Passport") using "Time Machine", but all I got was the current version.  I thought I was migrating my Oct 2019 files.    Happened a 2nd time too.  It was weird too.  The Migration Assistant app said it would take 192 hours at one point.  Fortunately, it only took 24 hours.  But that wasn't what I needed. 

So, I'm erasing my desktop HD.  That's scary.  But it won't LET me erase the HD.  The Mac Help instructions fail at one step.  So I searched for other ways.  I found one and it seems to be processing now.  Think it worked.

Now I will try the Migration Assistant again and see if I erred in identifying the backed up OCT 2019 source.

If THAT doesn't work, I will have to conclude that the renewed Mac Mini (a 2011 model, I've realized) just isn't going to work.  And if so, I will give up wasting money trying to be cheap and buy an up-to-date model.  Which I fear will force me to accept new programs and learn new stuff, which I was trying to avoid.

AHAH!  I just realized why I keep getting the current computer files (which I don't want) on the new Mac.  I'm not specifying the older version from the Time Machine.  It seems to automatically choose the newest one.  I need to find a way to choose Oct 2019 backup!  I don't know if I can.

OK, I can't seem to.  But I have another idea.  Apparently, doing a direct migration using Time Machine, it can only recognize the newest backup.  But if I do a Restore to an older computer it was backed up from, it allows me to choose the specific backup to Restore.   And I have an old one that works  (fan is dying and makes noise).  So I'm going to set it up, see if I can Restore it with the Time Machine backup from Oct 2019, and then migrate THAT to the new Mac.

But not tonight.  It is late.

BTW, don't blame Macs for all this.  I really messed things up myself (or it wouldn't be so dreadfully complicated to fix).  I've migrated old macs to new before and it worked great!  Time Machine is a really great backup system.  And Apple really makes it easy.  Unless someone like me really screws things up royally!

THe other thig is that I am too impatient.  When some app isn't working fast enough, I decide it isn't working at ALL and move ahead when I shouldn't.  I am learning "patience",  and it is helping.  Some apps go slow, so I just have to let them do their thing and walk away for hours sometimes.  A tip on a website helped with that.  It gave some instructions and said "BE PATIENT some serious changes can take hours".

OK, set the migration apps to start and walk away.  Even better, go to bed...  I will be doing that shortly!

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Ayla had her teeth cleaned yesterday.  And that wasn't all.  She needed 3 teeth extracted because of serious decay.  She wasn't happy eating recently and that may be why.  The vet said she might not want to eat much for a day.  But she did!  She was pretty upset at a new visit, but she seemed a lot happier when she returned.  Marley goes in for the same tomorrow, but the vet said she didn't see any decay, so it should be just cleaning. 

Flashback Monday

AYLA:  TBT has discovered that iPhotos on Mac is not Photos on Mac, and all our pictures are on iPhoto and Mac stopped supporting that in 2015.  So he is importing the iPhotos Library to Photos in surrender.  Which is going slower than a snail in Winter...

So rather than letting him subject you to another whiny mewly post on his own blog, I am taking control and posting some relatively recent (2018) pictures of ME.  I (modestly) title them "Ayla On Bloo".

So, in lieu of the many new pictures we have but cannot edit, please enjoy these...

We will surely get back to "normal" someday...  But depending on how things go, I may have to let Iza and Marley take their turns this week.

Computer Problems And Fixes

TBT here:  While I am waiting for a possible repair appointment on Tuesday, I am trying to make my OLDEST Mac Mini basically functional.  So far, I have managed to upgrade the Operating System to "High Sierra" from some 2014 version.  That allows some programs that I restored from my external backup drive to operate. 

I can't get at my email, though.  New messages are sitting on an AOL server somewhere.  I just can't download them.  If you get an "undeliverable" message, just wait.  When the power port is repaired (I can't believe it, but it may take several weeks), I SHOULD be able to get at them then.

I made the mistake of upgrading the CURRENT Mac Mini to the Mac  "Catalina " OS in December and that made almost all my programs obsolete.  And trying to fix THAT is what led to all my current problems.

Thinking I needed a newer Mac Mini, I ordered one, and attempted to migrate my CURRENT one to it.  The NEW one doesn't have the storage memory of the Current one (apparently Apple expected me to move to iCloud, so desktop storage would not be as important).  350 GB will not fit on a 128 GB drive...

Swapping computers around, I managed to drop the CURRENT Mac Mini and the power port stopped working.  So the NEW one wouldn't hold the CURRENT one and the CURRENT one won't start.

Which is why  I'm S L O W L Y finding ways to get the OLDEST Mac Mini functioning.  I have some good news.  With the High Sierra OS downloaded to the OLDEST Mac Mini, my iPhotos app works, Firefox works, my antivirus program works, and MS Word and Excel work.

I can get by on that for a while.  Not having email is driving me crazy, though.  I get up in the morning and want to check it.  I use it for reading new blog comments.  I have SOME friends I only know through email; I can't even call them to tell them I am having problems.

Meanwhile, the local Geek Squad says to expect several weeks before I get the CURRENT one repaired and returned.  They have to send it to an Apple repair center.  They do software fixes but aren't allowed to do hardware repair. 

The nearest Apple repair store is a 60 mile roundtrip and they won't promise to fix it (I smoke, so they say "it depends").  So I have to drive 60 miles just to let them decide.  A local PC computer repair store says they will sometimes to simple hardware work on Macs, but I have to talk to the owner Monday.

Just wanted to keep everyone advised...

BTW, I do have some pre-scheduled cat posts saved.  They will be a couple of weeks old, but we aren't a "today right now" blog, and something is better than nothing. 

We'll be back to normal eventually...