In the Doghouse Again

I think these are the dog days of summer and we can feel it. The low tonight is only 73 and the dew point is 77. That means it is very humid out. I don't recall what the temperature was here in Iowa today, but it had to be something over 90 again.

This afternoon Sandy decided that she'd like to go to the library in town and down load some files with their high speed internet connection. Since the last time she tried it and failed, I decided to go along, taking three of our other computers. (If one doesn't succeed, try try again.)

We went into the library and the librarian told us right away that they had a new router. So we were expecting great things. But alas, Sandy could not get her machine (Vista) to link up with their unsecured wifi. Of course, my XP was linked in no time, so after she tried 2 or 3 times, I suggested that she download her stuff onto my machine and let me see if I could resolve her problem (Vista).

I really don't know anything about Vista, don't like Vista and really can't stand Vista, but we went through the routine 2 or 3 times and presto, my magic fingers had her machine linked up. Doing that might give one the impresson that I'd be the "hero for the day", but it was not to be. When I gave the machine back to her, she asked what did I do? My answer that I didn't know didn't go over well at all. So I guess you can win the battle, but you still loose the war!

So with that success (or failure) in the bag, I left the library and visited the local TV shop on the square. I'm looking for a used digital TV Converter unit. As expected, they didn't have any and suggested that I need to search the local garage sales. She claimed that she's seen them often for 10 bucks. At that price, I'll take two (identical ones). She didn't understand why I wanted one since our TV has a built in digital tuner. So we explained to her that all new TVs do not have a built in channel strength readout and it is a very desireable feature when traveling in an RV. (RV users, note this. You need an old digital converter unit to help you point your RV antenna.)

So back to the library and Sandy was finished. It doesn't take long to download anything on a 1.5 megabit DSL line. Open office had given her some fits, but she finally got the newest version installed and when it opened, it told her what version it was.

As we left the library, the librarian asked how it worked? I indicated that Sandy did have a problem, but we had resolved it. She then said, "Oh yes, it has a problem with Vista. Just ignore it and it will work!"

All is quiet tonight on the weather front, but the prediction is that we get more showers late tonight. However, a quick look at the weather map shows "NO showers" anywhere in Iowa. Maybe we can get a full nights sleep (minus the nature call interruptions.)

Tomorrow is another day.

Gene