Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ah, technology.

First, thank you to everyone who offered their condolences on my lost words. Now that I'm a bit calmer about the whole thing (read here: have rewritten those words and moved forward in the WiP), I can happily report that this was not operator error (for the third time). Unhappily, then, the common denominator is a crappy PC, and one with a monitor that's been on the fritz for awhile now.

Me to HP support guy: My screen flickers and goes entirely black while I'm working.
HP support guy: That's a serious problem.
Me: Ya think?

Yeah, he thinks. He also thinks it'll cost about the same to fix it as it will to buy an entire new PC.
My response to all this?

Hello, Mac.

Actually, I was extremely proud of myself for not immediately throwing my PC through the window and dumping an iBook on my iCard to be paid at some future date from via an iCheck from my iPublisher. (See, Mom! Impulse control!)

Mind, I'm a bit wary about switching operating systems in the midst of scrambling to meet two deadlines in four months, but I'm more wary about losing time and work on lemon computers. But all the Mac users I know say it's a fairly intuitive switch, though they are, admitedly, serious iCult members. (But smart cult members. Cult members I respect. I might make a good cult member, too. {shrug})

And, not incidentally, there is this. Oh, Teh Shiny!

Rachel Vincent is married to her Word comments feature, but as I had to be dragged to Word kicking and screaming (from WordPerfect, which I remember with the fondness reserved for my first crush) I've always dumped my notes into a working journal. (Which is something I really need to talk a bit about in another post entirely as it's one of my most effective working tools - so don't let me forget!) But it looks like Scrivener will allow me to comment and journal, among other things, and do it all without the annoying clutter of the Word OS. Again, there's a bit of a learning curve up front, but I figure I can mess with it after I've made my word count and answered my reader mail for the day.

Anyway, those are my behind-the-scene issues for now, none too interesting, but honestly? When meeting a deadline, Not Interesting is highly underrated. I like to save the chaos for the page.

8 comments:

Chandra Rooney said...

I have held the Airbook. It is a thing of beauty and a technological feat that begs the early adapter in me to get one. A laptop that is lighter than my handbag! (Ok, I'm comparing the heavy handbag to the computer, but still....)

Scrivener is a villainous name. It would be better called "With This, You, Too, Can Be A Virgo!"

Amie Stuart said...

>>Hello, Mac.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I don't know how you resisted! I've already decided my next computer will be a Mac (but first the house needs floors badly)

cat said...

Oh. Oh, wow. You are so completely similar to one of my very best friends who had some very similar problems and had posts very similar to this (HP ick! Mac new!). How weird.

I knew there were many reasons I liked you, I just didn't realize it's because you were so much like my Monkey! :)

Macs are so pretty... when I get a new laptop that's likely what it will be.

Personally though, I still prefer to write with paper and pen and therefore none of my literary works (ha!) are on any computer...I'm such a dinosaur.

Fantasy Girl said...

Ah, Worderfect. As I've told my friends repeatedly, Wordperfect is the best-of-breed word processing software. Although I've migrated to Word I still have WP installed on my laptop, which by the way, has been making loud noises for about a month now. I know it's the hard drive and that I'm living on borrowed time (can you say backup?) but I just can't take the step to order a new one.

I'm definitely not a Maccie but they do look purty. I've been looking at the new Dells that come in different colors. Perhaps something in pink. Or lime green. Yum.

Rachel Vincent said...

I've never even considered a Mac, but I have to admit this Scrivener looks...amazing!

DestructoGirl said...

Welcome to the cult. [evil grin]
I'm sure you will enjoy the ride and if you have any tech questions give me a holler. Which new baby did you bring home? Have you played with Photobooth yet, my little girl loves it?

--Mendi

Vicki Pettersson said...

CHANDRA - I'm going to get my feet wet with a basic model, and wait on the Airbook, sexy though it is. {Purr....}

AMIE - Let's go Mac together!

CAT - pen and paper work wonders for me when I'm so-called 'blocked.' It's just a matter of perspective, and sometimes sneaking up on the page. In fact, I scribbled by hand today and came up with some good stuff. Yay!
So I don't think you're odd at all. (Other than cloning your friends.)

FANTASY GIRL - Oh, I could go on and on about the virtues of WordPerfect...and how much I loathe Word. I'm hoping Scrivener will take me out of this hell...

And on that note, RACHEL, isn't Scrivener sexy?!

MENDI - haven't gotten it yet. Waiting to get paid! I'll definitely keep you in mind when I do, though. Fellow cult member. (Or are you a self-designated leader? {G})

Chandra Rooney said...

Vic, even I am refraining from the utter sexiness of the AirBook this time. It's a practicality issue—I can't get over it not having a CD/DVD drive.