No Blue Screen

     I just got my computer back from the nerd. Yea! Right. Here's the story 'cause I need to vent.
     A couple of weeks ago my computer started to need me to hit F1 to light it up every time I turned it on. The message was something like this. "You're screwed pal. Your hard drive is crashing and there's nothing you can do about it."
     Well, I've had many computers head south over the years, and I was happy to have advance warning that it was packing it's bags. Being right on the ball, I headed for the local computer toy shop and picked up an external HD with twice the space of my PC's existing one. Oh yeah. Hot stuff!
     I then dutifully moved all of my files from the PC to the external drive. I'm on a roll, man! After that was done, I called my favorite geek and made an appointment to get the repairs done. He told me, "order the 1TB HD in the url I'm sending you. When it comes in, call me and I'll have you bring the machine up."
     Glory! Things are really moving now. It's all good, and I'm well on my way back to computer paradise. Well...maybe not so much.
     The new HD arrives. I text my friendly geek and get an appointment.
     This may be a good time to mention that I'd been using my crappy laptop PC for about a week by then. I'd been unable to record my weekly hour-long show for about three weeks, and struggling to do the daily half-hour show on the damn laptop. The 30 minute shows are mostly done on the broadcast program, not on my computer, so not so bad. Did I say my fat fingers don't do well on a laptop's smaller, flat keyboard? I keep scraping the totally useless touch pad. Oh yeah. Frequently, when I complete a long paragraph my hand grazes the touch pad and all is lost. That's about seven out of ten times. The longer the paragraph, the more likely I'm going to lose it.
     Long story short, the computer whiz gets my PC, new HD, data laden external drive, and all. A few hours later he calls me with fantastic news. "Don, your old HD is so bad I can't get an image of your content or operating system. I know you have Win 10 on there, but I can only install Win 7 because you have the Win 10 that they gave everyone free when they did the big changeover. I don't have the code numbers for it, buddy."
     Another day passes. No computer yet. Then, there's more good news. "Hey, Don. I was able to get Win 10 on your new HD, but none of the data. I can show you how to load that when you pick your machine up."
     "You can't do it there?" I inquire.
     "Well, yes. But, it takes hours, and I'd have to charge you a lot more."
     "Yeah, show me when I come get it."
     Another long story shortened considerably. He told me all about how to do the file transfer starting with taking a fresh "image" of my Operating System (Win10). By the time I left, I knew I was on my own. Seriously, I was up shit creek without a paddle, in a leaky canoe.
     I don't know how, but I got enough stuff loaded into this PC so that I'm using it to write this blog entry. I still have to install all of my programs, one by one. The best news for now is that all of my archived programs, pics, logos, interviews, music, and information is available on my external hard drive.
     I'm hoping to one day get smart enough to put all of that stuff on the internal HD of this machine where it'll be a lot more convenient to access.
     The moral of this tale is when the slightest problem arises on your computer, call the nerd immediately. Don't wait a minute. Take that damn computer and drop it in the geek's lap. You'll be glad you did.
     So long for now, and happy computing. Maybe I'll go clean up my old typewriter.

Answers Needed (to obvious questions)

     Sunday, November 5, 2017. Another mass murder in the US. This time in Sutherland, Texas, and 26 are killed at their Baptist church. Eight members of one family are no longer with us, and roughly a score of wounded are recovering in area medical centers. Some of them may not survive.
Like Charlotte, Las Vegas, and in Connecticut a gun was used to do the slaughter. Again, it was a man with an ax to grind and the stupidity or insanity to grind it with mass mayhem.
     I don't have the answers to stopping, or even slowing down this horrible spate of human destruction, but I'm hoping that wiser heads will.
     I believe that feeling sorrow for the victims and families effected by the killings, and praying doesn't hurt. It may serve to comfort them. I agree that we need to sympathize and do everything we can to help those who are torn apart by these terrorist acts to recover as best they can. Our humanity binds us to do whatever we can to make their suffering less painful, if that's even possible.
     Hand wringing and praying will not solve the problem. Saying "we stand with the victims and their families" offers no real assistance. Blaming these tragic outcomes on the possible mental illness of the perpetrator is useless small talk.
     We must call upon the political leaders of our states and The United States, to find solutions. It's an epidemic. If it were a disease, nothing would be spared to find a cure. Let's cajole, beseech, beg, and even bully them to get a grip on gun violence in OUR America, and find the cure.