The Black Screen of Death
Now this laptop, it's due dire death, overdue, nigh-on-useless, so - unfolding it at the café I'm not surprised to get the black screen of death. Not the blue screen, merely a black screen that doesn't tell me if it's on or off or what the fuck is up...
I'm ok with the computer dying, only I have a lot of documents on it. Text files. Writing. Projects. And so I need to find someway get it to work, if only to back it up...
So, troubleshooting possible problems with the internet on my phone (an infinitely more useful computer, if only it had a proper keypad...), googling "Black Screen HP Stream" and I get a few troubleshooting guides - hard reboot, (tried 5 times, no luck), unplug (tried), various other methods, all to no avail. And then the methods become preposterous - "Control-Alt-Delete", and you try it, but the screen is still blank and so I can't resort to the task-manager which would supposedly help me to cure the black screen if only I could see the task manager.
These articles, they're mostly written by tech-shamans, just propose anything and eventually if it works they can take the credit...like "hold it under running water" or "take it to an expert"...the same tech-support strategies practiced by Shaw Cable, absolute bullshit. The situation is growing desperate...
I undertake the tap, bang, nudge and shake philosophy, to no effect. The screen is still black. Increase the violence. Turn off and on again. No luck. I'm beginning to suspect a hardware failure.
Eventually I find the solution - hold down on the Windows+B key and perform a hard reboot.
This solves it. An actual tech article written by somebody who's solved the issue. This is about as rare as finding a fact on Facebook. Now to back-up my computer...
- Details
- Category: Blog
The Restaurant, Now Open
Saturday, up early to catch the bus. Go for a coffee, enjoy it because the next few days I'll be couch surfing out in Balfour, and nothing makes you appreciate town like a few days in the country.
Only I've read the bus schedule wrong, missed it by perhaps 10 minutes, and am stuck for an hour and a quarter beside the highway hitchhiking for a ride.
This is a new record.
Eventually, Wayne from ********* picks me up, heading with his kids to Ainsworth to pass the day - local, it's always the locals, if you see an Alberta plate don't even bother putting out your thumb.
Wayne proves an interesting fellow, with a temperament that reminds me somewhat of Wayne from "Wayne's World".
Customers, a few regulars - R****, an older guy, maybe in his 70's, a certain fame or notoriety depending on who you speak to, hopping in on one leg (he carries his prosthetic under his arm or over his shoulder and has been noted on occasion to even wear it), he sits at the bar, JR. serves.
Other customers have told me tales about him, about how when he was younger he would hide in the trees to drop upon the logging trucks, he's one of the local activists. A proper sort of Kootenay Character, the kind that are too regular lost to grasping landlords and gentrification.
+++++
Dag's in, she's found a ride, "my neighbor, he's stoned 24/7; a real pothead..." she tells me. "Soulmate, perhaps?" I enquire. She laughs.
+++++
The Menu, revised to reflect the increases in costs, restaurants, they're a dying breed. Ours has seen increases in the round of 20% over the year before. Last year they revised the menu again and prices went up 20%. We were always expensive, now we're prohibitive.
+++++
The owners, they're showing it to potential buyers. They're older, they look to be retired, and I'm wondering what could induce people with the kind of money needed to buy this place to consider sacrificing a peaceful retirement for the "investment" opportunity afforded by this restaurant. After they've left the the owner is explaining to me that the wife is "healing" via "Quantum...." and she can't remember the word. I know what she's talking about. "Quantum Jumping" I say.
Sr. is shaking his head. I explain, because I get these video "recommendations" all of the time on YouTube, and have succumbed to most of the rabbit holes.
"Imagine that there existed somewhere in the infinite multiverse an intelligent, good looking, successful version of yourself...now, imagine harder and pray and maybe you can become that person....", he's baffled, his wife is laughing, I clarify to her later: "Yeah, I visited all the multiverses, there was no multiverse where he was both good looking and intelligent, you have to choose...".
In absence of our trusty scapegoat I've assigned our chef - S*** - the role of Ken, and have begun ascribing Ken's backstory to S*** with all the new employees. I don't think S***'s impressed, but - this restaurant needs a Ken like every trashcan needs an "Oscar the Grouch" and until I find another he's it.
+++++
The weekend passes. One young couple, up from Idaho, chatty, here for the hot springs, they're having a great time, loving it, going to make it a yearly thing. So I make my recommendations as to the sights in the area, and, now back in the restaurant they're breathlessly telling me that they got engaged. And she shows me her diamond ring, very pretty, diamonds all round the band and they're both over the moon and more than a little tipsy. Their Facebook is blowing up, and they're soon busy answering all their messages.
Even at our prices there are still customers, although a lot of them are getting in the habit of splitting burgers and appetizers, I can't blame them, we've gotten too bloody expensive.
+++++
In town, checking town prices, The Main St. Diner, good food, similarly vast menu, 35% cheaper. With the 25% tipping "option", which I find annoying, but at our prices we're in no position to be slinging mud.
- Details
- Category: Blog
The Trier Gold Hoard
Over 2500 Gold Coins with a combined weight of almost 20 KG found during construction in Germany, 1993.
Note the paltry payoff given to the man who recovered the bulk of the treasure - a mere 20, 000 DM. No wonder the vast majority of ancient treasures get melted down - the law actively discourages the finding of treasure.
This was the largest Roman Era gold hoard ever discovered.
Regardless of the gold value, the historical value is priceless, and this is precisely what is lost when things go onto the black market.
Link: Wikipedia on Trier Gold Hoard
- Details
- Category: Found
The Members Gallery Show
And - restaurant opening deferred until tomorrow, so this evening it's the member's show at the museum.
I bought/renewed my membership for this. It should be good.
I was right, it didn't disappoint. A very mixed bag of art - watercolor, acrylic, oil, encaustic, mixed, some "flowers" done in the acrylic pouring style that inspired me - these were what the technique was designed for, and they're realized perfectly. All of the art shows talent, perfection of technique, but there are only a few pieces that grab me. A few, simply the execution - not the subject (landscapes, local architecture, mountain scenes). There's a fine picture of Gimli peak, very moody, but unfortunately printed onto canvas - I hate this. Photography is an art form that shouldn't be printed on canvas - it's an attempt to make it - well, something it's not. It doesn't improve it.
Some sculptural pieces, I need to learn to weld. Actually, I don't really, I need to find a place to work. This lack of studio/think space is killing me.
And on and on, the gallery - small, crowded, they're selling wine and have canapes out, and there's a few people from the community I recognize and a lot more that I don't.
I find M***'s piece, M*** from the thrift shop, and it's good, mixed media on canvas, abstracted to the point you wouldn't recognize it as a person - merely textures and colors, but that was his point. He arrived to much greater effect at what he was trying to do as I would attempting to do a figurative self-portrait spending hours looking into the mirror.
...I'm impressed, it's good, will probably sell, it's decorative, pretty, people like this. And I'm a little closer to understanding him, "his art" - always hinting - never giving anything away, but that's his charm...
Visit, but the gallery is crowded, only the smaller half of the gallery is open and it's a milling ground for people to chat and catch up, "Society" as it were, and had I dressed a little better, or taken the time to get a piece into the show (how? I need a place to work...) I might have - should have - taken the leisure to socialize, grab a glass of wine and "hob-nob", but it was a bit crowded...
But - again - 5 Stars, local talent overflows and there's abundant inspiration and something to work towards next year...I'm curious how much of this sells, prices vary from a few hundred to close to ten grand, very curious indeed...
- Details
- Category: People
Page 77 of 997