Crash!

So, two weeks ago my netbook started acting funny... needed some updates but all seemed OK. Until the day it wiped itself back to factory settings, all by itself. And then wouldn't accept any more updates and then it forgot it was a computer and became just a pretty shell of itself.
After a bit of swearing, cause my daughter had just finished a paper for her summer class on it, we launched the home computer and she dictated her paper while I typed. Got the whole thing recreated in about two hours, printed it and all seemed fine.

Until the next morning when the desktop started acting funny. And needed some updates and started losing the connection to the monitor etc. Tried a new video card but it's the motherboard. And so, the desktop is now dead.

Interestingly, both computers were purchased at the same time and set up on the same day. Makes me seriously wonder if I'm dealing with some planned obsolescence here. Just too weird that they both died within days of each other.

Since I believe the hard drive to still be OK on the desktop, I'm not freaking out as much as one might think. We do regular back-up of the data on it so even if it really did die, I have photos etc. Will have lost some video, but I have memories. We're just computerless at home right now. Which feels really weird.

The bright spot in this whole fiasco: well there are a few.

• First, because I bought extended warranties (over the objection of those who shall remain nameless) both computers are still covered. So they get fixed or I get new ones. Will just take a few weeks to sort that out.
• Second, my son is now willing to get a external hard drive to save his work at college. Might save him some of the pain his sister experienced.
• Finally, this happened before real school started, so we have time to get up and running again by September. And we're playing board games most nights now since we can't goof off online. Improved family time is the best ending of all.

Cleaning up the social media

I think I'm overwhelmed. There are way too many social media accounts out there. With the advent of Google+ everything is shooting into overdrive.

So, I decided to start looking for any account I ever opened. So far I've cleaned up six old accounts and am debating if I "need" my other profiles out there.

Then in one last major attempt to purge a little bit from the ether, I found an old blog tied to a website with a previous employer. Deleted. But in the same venue I found two other work related blogs tied to that company too. I thought I'd left instructions of how to manage/delete, but they were overlooked. Three years later I was contacting my replacement to let her know they are there.

Makes me wonder what else is buried out there. I'm glad to say that I've always been well behaved on the internet, so even if I've really lost something, it's ok if someone finds later.

About.me

Well, new social media platforms are cropping up all over the place. Today Klout partnered with Spotify to give early adopters a way to sign up quickly. While I have a Klout profile, I'm not into the Spotify insanity. I prefer quiet when I code so streaming music is not something I'm going to chase down.

The twitterverse is jumping all over Spotify, so perhaps now Google+ will have a chance to catch up. While many of my colleagues are in G+ now, many are not. So, I'm still checking multiple platforms to pull my info stream together.

As part of a way to streamline my SM, I recalled About.me (http://about.me/cpd623). I had signed up for an account last October but they never notified me when they opened it up. So, I had my name saved, but couldn't access it. Finally got it all fixed this am. Still way too much stuff to check, but until the dust settles, I think I'm in for a lot of touching base all over the web.