Running With Watkins & Shepard

Mike gave me a blue tooth ear piece when we saw each other and ran together for a day or two. As he said, it's not the "greatest" but it works and will get me by until I can get a Blue Parrot which I'm told by many is the best.

So, with the Palm Pre, that blue tooth and the new everything plan, I should be good to go for a while. However the cell phone salesman lied to me about getting my phone overnight. I was pretty tight about it but with any luck, I'll have it before I ship out. Even if it means tracking it to the nearest UPS warehouse and going there to get it. Not exactly what I planned but hey, it'll make a nice bike ride I'm sure....LOL

As for the laptop, I did some research last night, found a forum that describes the situation to a TEE and a fix for it. It'll require a bit of soldering but I can handle that once I get to it....LOL

I have it part way gutted now but it seems I'll have to go in through the back of it to get at the CPU socket. If I can't get it working in time I'll just have to do without until I can, or get it replaced.

The good news is, the hard drive seems fine so all my "stuff" should be OK. The bad news is, in order to use it, I'll have to buy a new laptop that it will work in. The closest I found to mine is about 800 bucks. But I haven't finished that research yet either...LOL

All in all, I'm sure I'll make it all work out.

 

I can atest to this as Mike has one and he comes through crystal clear with absolutely NO background noise at all.

 

I can't and won't speak for anyone else out there but in my life I've seen plenty of evidance both with people I know and many I don't, that few people are lucky enough to have parents like mine.

SO MANY times over the years you have come forward to "pull my butt out of the fire" and this "time off" I was supposed to have is no different.

You all know about my laptop situation. Well as of late yesterday afternoon I had it completely gutted which by the way, is no small task for a guy who's never had one apart.... I'm a wiz with desktops and have built and repaired them for years and I can do it blinfolded...lol But this was my first laptop and the first problem it ever had in the almost 3 years I've had it. It took HOURS and HOURS to do and if I had a dollar for every small screw, I'd retire...LOL

Well, about 3:00pm or so yesterday I concluded there wasn't anything I could do to fix it. If I could have "found" the chip in question that broke from the soilder I could have fixed it. I've done this many times on desktop systems I've built and fixed over the years. So it was pretty obvious that I'd be heading out without one and that I've now lost a huge chunk of my life to this event.

I walked upstairs to update my folks about it and my father hands me his credit card and told me,... "look son, you need to have it out there so you can stay on top of things. Go shopping and get a new one". I resisted for so many obvious reasons but the biggest one was because in order to "save" that chunk of my life, I'd need to get one very similar to mine so I could take my hard drive and put it in the new one. My laptop was a fully loaded HP dv9818 17" and no cheap unit. My folks wouldn't hear of it and insisted I go get one.

I did a lot of research including asking my brother (who's a wiz with laptops) as to the compatibility of the hard drives between units. From what I found out, the plan should have worked. So I went to Wal Mart and nope, they didn't have one even close. I went to staples and they had ONE HP Pavilion dv7-4171us left in stock. With the time constraints I'm facing with "all this time off", I figured I'd better jump on it so I did.

So I get this very expensive unit home and find out that....NOPE...my hard drive has a different connector and won't simply plug in as planned. Now most of the "critical" things I'll need are also on my desktop so I spent the entire night without one wink of sleep transfering software installation files, data, all my passwords, email folders and addresses etc. etc to get me to the point of being able to write this post from the new unit. The last step I just completed this morning was to get the long awaited upgrade to my TND 500.

So although my "home time" has turned into a non stop rush to get things done, I'm greatful for the outcome at this point. And my new phone? is now in Parrsipany NJ so even if they don't deliver on Columbus day (I wasn't even aware that it was), I can run down there and get it if need be.

So, Mom and Dad, although I'm pretty good with words, I find myself at a complete loss in finding ones that would even come close to expressing my appreciation and greatfulness for all you've done and continue to do to help me over the hurdles I've faced in life. I love you both with all my heart and thank God everyday I was lucky enough to be born to you! Your relentless dedication and love to do the very best for all us kids IS A MODEL for the rest of the parenting world to follow!!

You have once again taking a situation I persieved as near impossible to get out of in time and opened the door for me to keep moving foward. God bless you both and I pray my future efforts, will justfy all of yours!!

Your Loving Son.

Chris

 

Thank you sweetie and I'm SO SORRY that this "time off" has turned out to be anything but and thus prevented us from getting together for that bike ride yet. I'm totally exhausted and haven't even come close to getting the bike out of the barn and cleaned up.

But I DO want to and come hell or high water, we WILL! I only have a million or so things left to do including digging out my winter clothes I need in the truck as I'm sure the snow will fly before I get back again.

My phone battery died at some point through the night so it's charging now and I'll call you soon. I "should" try to get a couple hours sleep but I fear that won't happen today....LOL

I have no idea what the status of the truck is at the dealer until I can call them tomorrow morning. I have to admit because of the way things have gone, I'm torn between wanting to get back out there earning, and hoping it'll be a few more days until it's ready to roll.

So whether it's today, Monday or Tuesday, we WILL RIDE! I even have the camera batteries charging now so I can get some pictures of two beautiful ladies. YOU and my two wheeled girl...LOL

Talk to you soon!