Straw Felt Yow

Oh no, who’s that knocking at the door at this time of night? Manuel? MANUEL! Completely useless. I don’t know why I bother. MANUEL!! Oh wait a minute – he’s had to go back to Barcelona to register for this stupid Census. Thank you very much Augustus Caesar! Polly’s day off, Sybil’s out at some friend’s again... I’ll have to go myself. Yes, hang on, I’m coming. Honestly, people treat this place like a hotel! Where’s my dressing gown?



Hello? Yes? Oh, you want a room? Was there perhaps something about the sign in the window you didn’t understand? You thought you’d ask anyway as it’s late and you’re desperate. Oh, it’s late is it? I hadn’t realised - I thought there was a solar eclipse. I normally wear pyjamas during the day. Let me explain. The sign says ‘Full’. F-U-L-L. That means WE-HAVE-NO-ROOM. Yes, I can see she’s pregnant. I think that is somewhat obvious. But we do not have any accommodation just at the moment, thank you and good night. .... Oh, hello Sybil. Decided to come back and do some work to recover from a hard night’s gossiping, have you? It’s all right dear, I’m dealing with it. No, I didn’t make her cry. Look, it’s not my fault they didn’t book ahead, is it? Listen, I said I’m dealing with... OW! ......

Harrumph. Maybe now I can get some sleep - if my throbbing head will let me. It’ll serve Sybil right if the Hotel Inspector comes tomorrow. Imagine putting them in the animal shed round the back! ... Oh no, now what? I don’t believe it. There’s only a dirty great CHOIR outside now! Where’s the noise abatement society when you want them? And there’s someone else at the door! Sybil? Where is she? Probably out with those two in the shed. I’ll have to go myself again...

Shepherds. Now I’ve seen everything. What do you want? Yes, yes, round the back. Well, at least wipe your feet first! What have you been treading in? Don’t mind me, I only own the place.

Would somebody please tell me what is going on? Anyone would think that baby was Someone Special.

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X for...?

When I was at school, sometime after I'd become a committed Christian, I wrote an essay in which I argued that there were actually two festive seasons - Christmas, that lasted for 3 days (this was before I was aware of things like Advent), and Xmas that lasted all year. I then proceeded to demonstrate by listing things like when the first holly and tinsel adorned items appeared in the shops, and themed adverts on TV, through buying next year's cards at half-price in the January sales, the pudding that lasted until April, a present arriving from New Zealand in July, and other things I can't remember. I finished by saying maybe Christians should move their festival to June and disentangle it from the other one. The teacher loved it and gave me a commendation (gold star, OBE, extra quill - whatever it was in those days).

If I was updating it I think I'd have to add our neighbour's light show. She has always loved this time of year and really gets into all the trimmings - though more Xmas than Christmas. For years she has been amassing an amazing collection of singing Santas, dancing snowmen, animated trees, you name it, so the inside of her house when they're all switched on (we go for the tour every year) is like a cross between Santa's Grotto and a bizarre mechanised singing competition where all the entrants are singing at once in different keys and tempos! A unique experience, with her long-suffering husband somewhere in the middle trying to watch the football on Sky. Last year she added an outdoor lights display for the first time, and went for it big time! You could read a newspaper at midnight outside her window (the photo was taken with not all of them on!). We've just had the Big Switch On for this year.



Actually, if I was updating my essay, I think about dropping the bit about moving Christmas. Yes Xmas is commercial and tacky, but there's also a lot of it that's just plain good fun - like Sheila's lights (setting aside carbon size 17's just for a bit). Add in a real reason for celebration, a birth that can change everything for ever for anyone who wants it, and, with a bit of judicious navigation, you've got a pretty unbeatable combination.

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Mr Angry

Does anyone remember Mr Angry from the Steve Wright Show years ago? He used to phone in and get really worked up about something every day ("It makes me so angry I'm going to throw the phone down!"). No? Anyone old enough? Oh well, it made me laugh.

Anyway, I can identify with him at the moment. Today my mum began her series of 25 appointments for radio-therapy. She's 77, a bit forgetful, and only two years on from losing her husband and moving house at the same time. And she has breast cancer. To get to the hospital where she lives in Belfast the Northern Ireland NHS Transport Department (what happened to 'Ambulance'?) have asked her to be ready for collection at 12.30pm. Her appointments are at 4pm. The hospital is only a few miles across the city, even in bad traffic half an hour at the most. But maybe they have to pick up lots of other people.

Us family members began to think... if they're insisting she's ready 3.5 hours before her appointment - the treatment lasts about 30 minutes - how long will she be waiting afterwards? What time could she be getting home? We remembered the fiasco three years ago getting my dad to, and back from, his Parkinson's consultation... surely it can't still be that bad? Maybe between my uncles and sister who live there family could take her in some days. I phoned the hospital yesterday to ask about sharing mum's appointments... it seems the 'Transport People' might decide that if she can get in by alternate means on one day, she can do it every day, and will therefore summarily cancel the whole arrangement. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time. I got the distinct impression the rest of the NHS lives in fear of causing the transport people offence, and tiptoes around them, arranging everything to suit them. I know from 3 years ago just managing to contact them is an achievement deserving of an OBE. So, given the general nervousness, we decided to wait and watch how it went on the first few days.

Day one - today. The minibus arrived at around 1pm. It picked up one other person and mum was at the hospital by 2pm for a long wait. She had her treatment and went back down to reception to be picked up. No-one came. She asked at reception, a phone call was made... the minibus had gone without her! If it hadn't been for a worker in the hospital who happened to overhear and offered to give her a lift home (at some risk apparently - workers are not supposed to do this), she might still be there now. She got home around 6 hours after she left; the getting there and back has caused her far more distress than the treatment... about which she seemed to be quite blasé on the phone just now!

We're getting our rota of family members sorted out and I will be doing my best Mr Angry impersonation first thing in the morning. Yes, resources are tight, yes, pressure on staff, but this was simple incompetence by a service that sounds more and more like the spoiled brat of the NHS in Northern Ireland. Next week I'm going over to Belfast for a few days. If any more cock-ups by 'transport' have happened between now and then... well, watch out!

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The Return of TTYYY...

...Whew - it's a bit dusty in here. First visit since April. It's all coming back to me now... a few weeks before my sabbatical started I began experimenting with the whole 'blogging' thing and used this Scribefire Firefox add-on to learn how to do it and my dispute with Apple at the time as something to write about. Mentioning to Apple tech support that I was blogging my on-going problems with them might have helped persuade them to sort it out - which they did very well once they had admitted fault - but if they knew how many people had been reading they might not have moved so fast..!

Anyway, I'm back from my sabbatical, have made a final entry on my Sabblog, and it's back here for more intermittent ramblings.

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Freeezelog... conclusion and happy ending.

Just to finish off the sago of my sick laptop...







Having convinced Apple there was a hardware fault, I took it in for repair and got the same Tech bloke who'd fixed it last September. When I told him my tale and how it was now exhibiting ALL the faults it had previously, he told me he remembered the previous repair as he had not had the correct sized heat pads to set the logic board on, and had been told to cut some others to size. He reckoned the board had not seated properly, hence etc etc. I wish I'd seen him when I'd taken it in in January. The logic board is the heart of a computer - hence all the wonkiness.



Anyway, it came back working fine, and I wrote to Apple to point out that given the same faults had been re-occurring since October (and I had been pointing this out), a bit of research or extra due care by one of the previous people I'd spoken to, instead of the repeated "it's software" response would have saved me a lot of time and effort re-installing over 4 months.



Happy ending... A phone call from Apple last week. An apology, and I have £100 credit at the Apple Store. Result!

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New dedicated Sabbatical blog

I've decided to set up a separate blog for my sabbatical and make it invitation only. Not that I'm coming up with anything that threatens national security or prophetically gives away the winner of 'Any Dream Will Do', just for focus and to encourage response and comment.



This one will continue in fairly random ramblings mode which, of course could dry up at any time as I have never managed to sustain a dairy past about January 15.

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Sabblog - week one

Sabbatical/Study Leave week one...



A few weeks ago a sabbatical veteran gave me some advice... "If you're spending most of your sabbatical 'on site', as soon as possible after it starts go completely away just for a few days. It makes a break with your previous pace of life and gets other people used to your not being available."



So... c/o some generous friends, I've just got back from spending a few days in their cottage in a little village called Ravenstonedale, about where the Yorkshire Dales blur into the Lake District. No internet connection, no mobile signal. Nice to have 48 hours with no phone calls, emails or callers to get me started into what is intended to be a different pattern for the next six months. Quite a contrast coming just after PeaceWeek etc. Not that I'm shutting myself off entirely, by the way, but space has to be made for the other stuff lined up for this S/SL, including of course some rest.



While away I walked (through wind, rain and MUD!!) to an amazing Victorian Railway viaduct, now disused but restored about 15 years ago by the Northern Viaduct Trust.







While wandering around an unbidden thought popped into my head. (I've known this to be God speaking in the past - though this time it could be a blip from a mind affected by damp and 90 minutes walking). Just like the viaduct links two sides of a valley, so I have been placed between two cultures or groups - local community and local church. And, like the viaduct, mostly disused(!), However, it is important to stay there as a potential crossing point. Does that make any sense??!! The comparison should not be pushed any further thankyou (jokes about age and restoration etc..!)

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HBT me

Cusp #2 is reached. Such a landmark when one reaches the changeover of the 10's digit in age. Apparently. Not surprisingly I feel no different from yesterday. Nice to indulge in some PRESENTS however!!



Also sabbatical day 3, which I have decreed a day off. It's my birthday, I'm allowed.

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Sabblog, part 1

OK. Today is Sabbatical/Study Leave (S/SL) Day One. I made it. These last few weeks, taking in preparation for PeaceWeek*, PW itself, and a whole stack of loose end-tying and "could you just before you go" jobs, have left me somewhat exhausted. I don't know if it's linked but I also have developed a red (though thankfully non-itchy and non-contagious) rash over most of my upper body in the last 10 days. Anyone know what it is? My GP doesn't! He gave me some cream to rub on it which I think could be re-packaged toothpaste for all the difference it's making so far.



(*interrupted by preparation at 48 hours notice for a visit to these parts from Rt Hon Tony Blair involving two meetings which Street Pastors and Carisma were asked to facilitate. As I'm involved in both...)



The websites I've linked to just there have more about PeaceWeek and the PM's visit. Both went well.



I'm told that the first while of the S/SL will be detoxing... winding down, clearing up a few more loose-ends, but most importantly Making The Break in terms of daily pattern, don't expect too much too soon. So, on some advice from a Sabbatical Veteran I've booked a few days away next week. And a few more the week after. And a few more the week after that, this time with Judith.



More about the plans for the next few months anon. My plan is to use this space for some random thoughts, prayer requests (a big hello to members of my Monthly Email Prayer News which this will be replacing for a while) and to log stuff I want to remember from what I'll be reading. Responses very welcome.



Now for Cusp #2...

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more Freeezelog

5/3/07: I've just timed Firefox at 2 minutes to open a web page - admittedly with a lot of graphics on it. Photoshop and InDesign also running, plus a few smaller progs like iCal and Address Book. I'm sure there is a memory issue - as time goes on opening and closing applications it just gets more and more sluggish. Restarting.



7/3/07: Working in Cubase - several other progs on like InDesign. Clicked an OK box and... freeze. Everything stopped except the mouse pointer. Force Restart.



...and the same again about half an hour later. Force re-start and now running Cubase straight from restart with no other big progs running. No problems so far.



8/3/07: More weirdness. Firefox won't load. Address Book will load but can't be accessed - i.e. click on a field and nothing happens. Everything very sluggish to respond. Restart.



9/3/07: Spinning beachball in the right hand side of the menubar is back, time frozen at 07:34 - i.e. when I 'woke up' the Powerbook this morning (i.e. woke the screen. I still have sleep setting at Never due to 17/2 problem). One of the effects of this problem is I can't print. Restarting Yet Again.



Now PeaceWeek is behind me and the website updating is done, this sick laptop is definitely going in for repair Monday or Tuesday.

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A time of Cusps

This all started as a bit of foothering with Firefox add-ons and a need to give vent to my frustrations with some persistent faults with the laptop I'm typing this on. Well, actually I'm typing on an external keyboard and reading off a monitor plugged into it, but you get the idea. Said monitor is the only reason the laptop is still here and not off getting fixed as one of the faults is a randomly flickering screen. That will change once I get through this busy period, also known as PeaceWeek 2007 which I'm somewhat involved in, and the "could you just sort this before you go" period before I go on sabbatical/study leave on March 10 (one week today!).

Anyway... I'm just wondering if there is anything else I can do with this online diary thing. Being on the cusp of a sabbatical, and on the cusp of a SIGNIFICANT birthday, maybe I can record some stuff as said events work through.

Something I realised the other day... I have sort of been blogging for years in that I write a monthly news email for a select bunch of people who support the work I do and pray for me. Maybe I should roll that into this, or tell them about this.

Is anyone reading this I wonder? (taps screen) Anyone who is will be well-confused as I have said very little about myself. You know I have a sick laptop which I have to limp on with for a while longer as I need it for something called PeaceWeek. You know I used to play in a band and I have people praying for me. Hmm. I'll keep you in suspense a while longer (he said imagining a world hanging on with breath bated) as it's time for tea.

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Freeezelog part the next

Already a long gap between entries... It's been a busy week. Again this backdates to just after the previous post.

24/2/07: Photoshop - trying to open a jpg..."Could not complete your request because of a program error".

Just re-opened to add... after adding previous entry and saving, quit TextEdit... 12 seconds of Spinning Beachball.

26/2/07: More flashing display. Cannot do without laptop this week as it's PeaceWeek (www.carisma.me.uk) and I'm updating the website at least once a day.

27/2/07: Meeting in London. Normally I'd take the laptop and get several hours work done on the train. But due to the randomly flashing display... I can't.

2/3/07: Just re-started after incredibly sluggish session with several progs open. Spinning Beachball everywhere. Next week also busy - maybe get it in for repair week after.

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Freeezelog continued

The continuing saga of my sick laptop. Tech Support asked me to keep a log of the odd occurences, crashes etc, so I have been doing so... since last October. It had a repair in September, but the problems have gradually come back, and they have fobbed me off with "it's a software issue that is a chargeable repair" ...as in Very Chargeable. So they've had me wiping and/or re-installing either everything or just (just!) the Operating System. Three times. They have now conceded it needs another repair (I was hoping they would replace it after all this hassle), but I am still weeks away from when I'd have a long enough gap to be without it for several days. So, limping on. Here are today's adventures (so far - it's only 16.30).

23/2/07: More flashing display. Spinning beachball in the right hand side of the menubar is back, time frozen at 13.28 - i.e. when I got in and 'woke up' the Powerbook (i.e. woke the screen. I still have sleep setting at Never due to 17/2 problem) As I type it is also present in Mail which seems to have locked up again. Yep. Resisting force quits. Looks like another restart or force shutdown and restart. But first... Got Mail to Force Quit via Activity Monitor (though still showing as active in Dock). Noticed in AM something called 'SystemUIServer' in red with 'not responding'. Force Quit via AM and RHS of Menubar disappeared



23/2/07: Back after another Force Shutdown and Restart. First Textedit froze while I was typing the previous entry. Then the Finder froze (spinning beachball). Tried Force restart via Cmd-Opt-Power - beachball stopped spinning. So, another Force Shutdown.



23/2/07: Mail has added a priority menu next to the signature menu in the Message window ALL BY ITSELF. I did not select this in Prefs (I didn't even know it was an option) Who is in charge here?

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Hmm part 3

No. Straight back to the big one. Not very WYSIWYG. Can I change it mid-blog?



I just clicked on 'Decrease Font Size' in the editor. Let's click 'Publish' and have a look. But first... I like the layout I've chosen except for in the title the third Yum is orphaned. Can that be edited? What happens if I click on 'Decrease Font Size' again...



This does. The Small Print. How many blogs give this riveting insight into the behind-the-scenes workings? Eh? Clicking 'Publish' now...

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Hmm continued

OK. Now we've gone a bit too small with the old type-size there. How's this?

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Hmm

Interesting. That last one had a bigger type size. I preferred the previous one - can I edit it once published? Will this one be back to the type size I want? Why were no church leaders invited to the community meeting with Tony Blair in Moss Side yesterday (more on that anon)? Can I think of another question to put in here?



No.



It also cut my long sentence joined with hyphens. The missing bit was "...and let the world read it". (leaving the hyphens off this time)

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Back to Front

I'm new to this keeping-a-diary-on-a-screen-rather-than-on-paper-and-letting-the-world-read-it thing. Previous attempts at the paper version way back in my childhood during the previous millennium proved short-lived, so may this. What got me started was fiddling about with Firefox additions and spotting a blog editor that can live in the browser... I'd just written a new bit in my Freeze log (see my previous and first blog) so, just messing about you understand, I published that. Anyone else have a love/hate thing with technology? Uh huh. Thought so. I should have done this one first, but hey, isn't that like life? Things rarely happen in the right order. Boom x2.



A word about the title of the blog. I played in a band years ago and to keep it interesting we developed a number of routines for soundchecks, one of them this variation on "Testing, Testing 1,2,3". I thought it might hint at a deeper meaning here... Can you spot it? If you do can you let me know?

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The Freeeze Blog

Is it OK to publish retrospectively? This is a log I've kept on my desktop since my Mac Powerbook G4 began exhibiting, at first some then all, of the same faults that it had been sent in to get repaired, beginning a few weeks after the repair. I love Macs, especially the operating system and general lack of hassle that I see Windows users struggle with. And usually they're pretty reliable. But not this one, which is itself a replacement for a previous Powerbook (first time purchase from PC World... mistake?) which died 3 times in the first few months. Maybe they're both from the same bad batch.

Anyway... (resisting the temptation to type 'Anyhoo') I thought I'd put this continuing sago out there and see if it registers anywhere. Big cut + paste...
Freezes...
Summer 06: Random... spinning beachball when cursor put in RHS menubar, Random freezes. Screen flashing and going off.
Sept 06: Repair ID: R9246218
MenuBar RHS spinning beachball
3/10/06 - 21.51
6/10/06 - 00.57
6/10/06 - 03.11. Discovered spinning beachball next morning. This was when clock stopped
10/10/06 - 23.28
+ 3 - times not noted
Seems to be when several progs running
17/10/06 - refused to wake from sleep. Again, lots of progs had been running the night before, though several were quit before putting machine to sleep.
26/10/06 - didn't go to sleep when lid closed - hard drive whirring, then stopped, but sleep light didn't come on. Had to do Force shutdown re-start.
27/10/06 - 30 seconds to fire up Word and load a small doc. Not a lot else running (Finder, Mail, Safari, Dashboard, Suitcase).
28/10/06 - 20 seconds to fire up TextEdit and load a ReadMe.txt
1/11/06 - 01.14. Put to sleep, woke up next morning, but had frozen at point of going to sleep. Had quite a few progs running. Force shutdown re-start.
2/11/06 - 00.26. Launched Classic. OS9 progs wouldn't run; force-quit Classic; then spinning beachball in Save dialog. Had to do Force shutdown re-start.
3/11/06 - 23.32 As 1/11/06 (Put to sleep, woke up next morning, but had frozen at point of going to sleep. Had quite a few progs running.)
9/11/06 - 14.50. Would not awake from sleep. Force shutdown re-start.
9/11/06 - Reported to Apple. Suggested taking out one DIMM at a time.
13/11/06 - Made in US DIMM removed (from upper slot)
15/11/06 - 15.40. Froze waking up from sleep. Force shutdown re-start.
15/11/06 - 23.55. Made in US DIMM put back in (lower slot) Singapore DIMM removed
16/11/06 - 10.00. Problem putting to sleep? Unsure if my fault for rushing it.
19-20/11/06 - Seems sluggish e.g. when moving icons on desktop, even with very few progs running and CPU monitor not showing huge activity. Is the problem with video memory or card? i.e. the display isn't coming on when waking from sleep, but everything else is.
24/11/06 - Singapore DIMM put back to get full memory for DTP jobs.
25/11/06 - 15.00. Spinning Beachball. Photoshop InDesign running.
28/11/06 - 19.15. Froze waking up from sleep. Force shutdown re-start.
29/11/06 - 17.00. Your computer needs to restart screen
1/12/06 - 09.20. Froze waking up from sleep. Force shutdown re-start.
17/12/06 - 19.00. Froze waking up from sleep. Force shutdown re-start.
21/12/06 - Mail froze and would not force-quit. Tried restart, but whole computer froze. Force shutdown re-start. As before 10 minute start-up. Lots of time on first screen with spinning wheel.
25/12/06: Spinning beachball - top right side of menubar. Clock stopped at 23.44 25th. Restart needed. Re-set Power Manager.
27/12/06: OS re-installed.
28/12/06: Spinning beachball - top right side of menubar. Started when plugging in external monitor. Finder lock-up when attempting to re-start.
30/12/06: iTunes frozen. Forcequit. But would not re-open. Needed a force shutdown to fix. Restart took ages.
3/1/07: Photoshop CS2 putting up error message ("The license configuration data for Adobe Photoshop is no longer usable") - has to be forcequit. Cannot reinstall!!
5/1/07: Problems with iMovie - camera recognised but no import. But had been OK earlier in the day. Tried restart - stuck - had to force restart. Same result - tried another restart - stuck again - had to force shutdown. Reset PRAM.
5/1/07: iMovie importing OK. Decided to use FinalCut Express instead. Would not launch from App. Icon. Tried via previous project file - spinning beachball - had to force shutdown. Reinstalled FCE OK.
Lots of firewire errors generally... external HD not appearing on desktop, or 'Device not removed properly' warning after awaking from sleep. External HD refusing to unmount...
Also... Bluetooth randomly unavailable. “EyeTV won’t work with USB 1” messages.
8/1/07: Phoned Apple - referred to AppleStore Trafford Genius Bar. She seemed to think problem was software and therefore bill-able (!!!). Recommended an Erase and Re-install.
PART TWO...
9/1/07: Backed up HD to external HD. Did erase and re-install of 10.4. Not sure what to do at 'do you have another Mac?' screen during set-up - phoned Apple. While discussing PB went to sleep. Tried to awaken it. Sleep light went off but PB would not wake - force re-start. Went through set-up again - twice got spinning beachball (2 mins on select Keyboard screen and 45 secs on a later screen) Apple Tech "95% certain" I have a hardware issue, but to make sure he asked me to run Hardware Test and then via Disk Utility do a Format and then Re-install (different apparently) of my original system disc (10.3). Hardware Test passed. PB now has 10.3 on. Can also boot into old system etc from clone on external HD - so it's see what happens time.
9/1/07: Format HD, reinstalled 10.3.7 from original system disc. Reinstalled iLife 5, iWork 5. Later in evening upgraded to 10.4 from Tiger install disc.
10/1/07: Transferred Mail data. Ran software update (10.4.8 etc). Transferred Address Book and iCal data.
11/1/07: iTunes Library copied; Movies copied; Pictures and iPhoto library copied. MSOffice Reinstalled. Safari prefs, bookmarks etc transferred. HP1510 printer software installed. AppleWorks installed. Toast 7.1 installed. Adobe Photoshop, GoLive, Illustrator, Acrobat, InDesign installed. Popcorn installed.
12/1/07: Documents copied back. SuitcaseX1 installed. Palm desktop installed. EyeTV installed.
13/1/07: Finder freeze when trying to access External HD on firewire. Solved by switching drive off/on (Device Removal message)
13/1/07: VirtualPC installed. [NB: All installs either from original discs with latest patches from web, or fresh installs from web]
14/1/07: Taking PB out: properly ejected external devices, put lid down to put to sleep, removed cables. PB HD started up again, sleep light went off. No time to investigate, put in case. When I got there took PB out, sleep light on. Opened lid, sleep light went off, but PB REFUSED TO WAKE UP. Needed force shutdown!!
15/1/07: Lexmark C522 printer software installed. FileMaker Pro 6 installed
16/1/07: Still got EyeTV USB1 problem
17/1/07: Everything getting sluggish - lots of spinning beachball (e.g. ejecting iPod, two minutes to change channel on EyeTV, Stuffit taking 60 secs to start up). Running GoLive, was running Photoshop. Plus usual Address Book, iCal etc...
19/1/07: DocumentsToGo, FruitMenu, Windowshade X, Typinator, MailSteward installed.
19/01/07: Finder freeze on logout. Had to force shutdown.
20/1/07: EyeTV taking 5 minutes to load and get a picture. 30 mins later still got spinning beachball as channel splashscreen fades. Computer has been on for a while, scanner software and Photoshop running earlier. Is there an issue with accessing memory? Restart. and reinstalled EyeTV. Still running incredibly slowly. After further restart EyeTV running OK.
21/1/07: Default Folder installed
29/1/07: Tried to wake up PB from sleep... Frozen at 27/1/07: 13.42. Unplugged firewire cable and it came on - along with Device Removal warning.
31/1/07: InDesign suddenly put up 'Out of Memory'. I tried to quit, but an 'unexpectedly quit' message came up.
On pressing Save after writing previous sentence, 10 secs of Spinning Beachball. And again after typing that sentence...
6/2/07: Shortly after wake-up from sleep. In Mail, imported attachment, clicked on 'view as icon'... spinning beachball. Defied ForceQuit. Quit other progs and tried Restart. Defied that. Had to do Force Shutdown.
8/2/07: Alt-Cmd-D to show/Hide the Dock only works while the keys are held down...
10/2/07: Cubase 4, TascamUS428 and Hercules FW16/12 drivers installed
14/2/07: Froze waking up from sleep. Sleep light went out, but nothing else happened (on previous occasions screen has come on with clock still at time of going to sleep, HD spins up). Tried unplugging firewire cable to see 29/1 solution would work. No joy. Force shutdown.
Conclusion: Not as many freezes etc, but it's still happening. I've lost a LOT of time not just in re-installing everything from scratch, but in re-creating loads and loads of preferences, settings, font sets, printers etc etc (I'd been told problem could be a corrupted Library). In normal use there seems to be an excessive amount of the 'spinning beachball' This is the busiest time of my year...
Now the display is flashing again... repeat of last summer and the initial repair?
15/2/07: Take laptop to Sheffield - display flashes and goes off - exactly the same problem as last summer. As then, no pattern, just random flashing and blank. Impossible to work. This is the busiest time of my year...!!
16/2/07: 1515: Phoned Apple... Tech Support - Customer Service - Apple Sales - Tech Support. Total: a few seconds short of 50 minutes. Line kept breaking up. TS called back: Case no. 74938330. Switched to Customer Relations - line went dead. Called back... TS, Ian - Quentin, CR, Cork. Replacement refused... has to go in for repair again. 20mins [Applecare - May 17 2007] I can get by at home with external monitor, but finding a slot when I can do without PB for several days just now will be a challenge. Still very busy. May have to wait until March.
16/2/07: Copying file - Finder locks up. Force shutdown needed.
17/2/07: Copying file - Finder locks up. Force shutdown needed. Left machine to do this - came back, in sleep mode (though light not flashing). Force shutdown again.
17/2/07: Later in day. Machine again seemingly in sleep mode (though light not flashing). Force shutdown again. Did PRAM reset and fsck on re-start.
17/2/07: And the same again. Have put Energy Saver sleep setting at Never.
19/2/07: Photoshop asked for my password... Why?
22/2/07: Lots of spinning beachball e.g. when switching back to a program. Up to 75 seconds - GoLive and Photoshop. Quit Safari - 40 secs beachball. Highlighted a few words of text in a Save dialog and pressed delete... 8 seconds beachball. This has been going on all evening.
End of Cut + Paste.
To be continued...

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