I decided to take some time to find out whatever became of Jimmy Richardson and his wife Emma after seeing a couple more buildings knocked down in Kensington today. Mrs. Richardson was my 1st Grade teacher. I found she passed away Sept 11, 2012. She was a grand 90 years old. It doesn't say when she retired from teaching after doing it for 30 years.
Then I had to look but I found an obit for James M. Richardson in the Alliance Review, where it mentioned he passed away in October 2008 and had owned and operated East Rochester Hardware for 40 years. But it doesn't say when he gave up the business. He was a grand 95 years old.
So it makes sense that between 2008 and some time in 2011 that the building was torn down. Emma would have been able to make the decision if she was still able - her obit does say she passed away in her home. Still, it makes me wonder what happened to the place and why it got so dilapidated and got filled up with stuff. I wonder who now owns the patch of property it stood on.
Probably a way to find that out, but I don't feel like doing it right now. I'm sure I could find out.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Sometimes the Dell scares me, other times its the POS I'm driving
Last Friday I booted up the system to do some picture editing so I could make a post somewhere. However, during the editing the system was updating AVG Free when it suddenly locked up. I didn't know what was going on. Maybe it was the recent USB device usage (I took the SD card out of the digital camera to grab photo files off it with my card reader) that messed it up. I've had the audio suddenly stop working until I had the system shut down, and then suddenly Oh I'd get to hear the shutdown sound.
At any rate, for the next half hour or so, the system kept acting up. Ignoring mouse and keyboard input for some reason. So I took the chance to unhook the Dell, open it up and blow out dust. Made sure connections on the motherboard were in place. Made sure the RAM modules were seated OK. And install that Sony DVD burner that I've said for a while I would put in so I could burn disks with Mom's system again. I upgraded the RAM 3 years ago, and finally it's got a burner drive better than the one that came with it and was flaky from the first few times we used it but generally worked well enough.
I have no idea what helped, but the system stopped locking up and stopped ignoring the mouse and keyboard. I tried a system restore only to tell me that it made no system changes. Eventually I ended up with a working system and AVG Free flipping out, so after enough scans and no problems I made it update itself and it ended up actually installing an update properly as well as setting down.
At any rate, for the next half hour or so, the system kept acting up. Ignoring mouse and keyboard input for some reason. So I took the chance to unhook the Dell, open it up and blow out dust. Made sure connections on the motherboard were in place. Made sure the RAM modules were seated OK. And install that Sony DVD burner that I've said for a while I would put in so I could burn disks with Mom's system again. I upgraded the RAM 3 years ago, and finally it's got a burner drive better than the one that came with it and was flaky from the first few times we used it but generally worked well enough.
I have no idea what helped, but the system stopped locking up and stopped ignoring the mouse and keyboard. I tried a system restore only to tell me that it made no system changes. Eventually I ended up with a working system and AVG Free flipping out, so after enough scans and no problems I made it update itself and it ended up actually installing an update properly as well as setting down.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Bit of a system scare, but nice to figure it out
I was moving files around when suddenly the system wasn't doing things I expect it to do. Then I figured out whatever it is, it was a system thing and not a hardware problem.
Basically, I moved some PDF files around and of course the Acrobat Reader part of the system kicked in so it could offer me a thumbnail in My Computer. However, if you deal with many PDFs very quickly, moving them from one directory (aka folder) to another, the Acrobat Reader system thingy can get confused. The result: You get more than one process named AcroReader trying to access files you just moved, and then one other file that you moved also ends up unable to be accessed. My Computer stops offering preview thumbnails for images. You load up My Computer, and it hangs, trying to find your drives. It seems you're having problems with your hard drive! Scary!!
Essentially, a system process was still trying to access a file on C drive. When a program continues to access a file, you get problems. When it's trying to access a file you moved, it's worse because it's trying to work with the file where it used to be and now it isn't there.
The solution was to end the AcroReader process (I had 2 going at the same time when this happened), and when they disappear, your drive is free again.
Basically, I moved some PDF files around and of course the Acrobat Reader part of the system kicked in so it could offer me a thumbnail in My Computer. However, if you deal with many PDFs very quickly, moving them from one directory (aka folder) to another, the Acrobat Reader system thingy can get confused. The result: You get more than one process named AcroReader trying to access files you just moved, and then one other file that you moved also ends up unable to be accessed. My Computer stops offering preview thumbnails for images. You load up My Computer, and it hangs, trying to find your drives. It seems you're having problems with your hard drive! Scary!!
Essentially, a system process was still trying to access a file on C drive. When a program continues to access a file, you get problems. When it's trying to access a file you moved, it's worse because it's trying to work with the file where it used to be and now it isn't there.
The solution was to end the AcroReader process (I had 2 going at the same time when this happened), and when they disappear, your drive is free again.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
The real explanation of those stupid names for winter storms
Athena: The MIT campus wide computer network
Brutus: The bad guy from Popeye
Caesar: Sid's salad dressing.
Draco: The Malfoy brat from Harry Potter
Euclid: The street where I used to live
Freyr: Some rock musician dude that I never remember
Gandolf: A character in a 1896 fantasy novel in a pseudo-medieval countryside.
(Hey, they got this one right)
Helen: Ms Slater
Iago: That parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried
Jove: By Jove!
Khan: Star Trek baddie played by Ricardo Montalban.
Luna: from Sailor Moon!
Magnus: Magnus opus?
Nemo: Nobody
Orko: From He-man, the mostly useless magic twerp
Plato: Singular of Plates. When you're asking for some - I want a plato spaghetti.
Q: Star Trek Next Generation trouble making imp
Rocky: YO ADRIAN
Saturn: The Sailor Senshi of Destruction and Rebirth
Triton: I'm thinking of something for this.
Ukko: Either they romanized Unko wrong or they meant Ukkutsu meaning Gloomy. Either way, winter storms are gloomy shit.
Virgil: Wasn't this the name of a gorilla?
Walda: Why not use Waldo? Then we could spend less time looking for him.
Xerxes: As opposed to Xerox?
Yogi: The Bear who was always after pick a nick basket.
Zeus: I'm ashamed to say it, but this sounds like a male porn star.
Brutus: The bad guy from Popeye
Caesar: Sid's salad dressing.
Draco: The Malfoy brat from Harry Potter
Euclid: The street where I used to live
Freyr: Some rock musician dude that I never remember
Gandolf: A character in a 1896 fantasy novel in a pseudo-medieval countryside.
(Hey, they got this one right)
Helen: Ms Slater
Iago: That parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried
Jove: By Jove!
Khan: Star Trek baddie played by Ricardo Montalban.
Luna: from Sailor Moon!
Magnus: Magnus opus?
Nemo: Nobody
Orko: From He-man, the mostly useless magic twerp
Plato: Singular of Plates. When you're asking for some - I want a plato spaghetti.
Q: Star Trek Next Generation trouble making imp
Rocky: YO ADRIAN
Saturn: The Sailor Senshi of Destruction and Rebirth
Triton: I'm thinking of something for this.
Ukko: Either they romanized Unko wrong or they meant Ukkutsu meaning Gloomy. Either way, winter storms are gloomy shit.
Virgil: Wasn't this the name of a gorilla?
Walda: Why not use Waldo? Then we could spend less time looking for him.
Xerxes: As opposed to Xerox?
Yogi: The Bear who was always after pick a nick basket.
Zeus: I'm ashamed to say it, but this sounds like a male porn star.
It finally came back on at 8:34pm
I had a few candles lit and even got out one of mom's oil lamps. When the electric finally came back on, I had a problem with the TV not wanting to stay on. It might be the dust I need to get out of the insides, but it could have been cold. I eventually cajoled it to work properly.
I never do find out what caused the outage each time it happens, but sometimes I can guess it had to do with a traffic accident killing a utility pole somewhere when I hear the sirens of rescue vehiculars off in the distance.
I never do find out what caused the outage each time it happens, but sometimes I can guess it had to do with a traffic accident killing a utility pole somewhere when I hear the sirens of rescue vehiculars off in the distance.
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
FINALLY FOUND THE PROBLEM
1. Probably my fault - it was stuck in 4WD Low. The mechanics at
Loudon's was able to bypass the computer and force it out of 4WD Low.
Drove it home - no OverDrive light flashing However...
2. 4WD switch on the console inside came up as having a problem. So that switch needs replaced. $84 for a freaking switch, and I told him might as well bypass it and just wire it to be in Automatic all the time when it comes down to it. This can cause the High and Low lights to flash.
3. Shifting motor should be replaced. This is about $300. I think this is a good thing to get done.
4. RIGHT FRONT SPEED SENSOR STILL COMES UP AS A PROBLEM. You know, this one is on the wheel well with a long wire going to it? IT'S NOT ON THE TRANSMISSION. Though I think $415 for this is excessive, the guy who spoke to me says an after market sensor 'could' cause a different reading between that and the Left Front Sensor. This affects the 4WF Low and High lights to flash, and can affect ABS, since he said they got that to light up.
I may end up liking this vehicle now that it's about to run right and it's not sucking down gas.
2. 4WD switch on the console inside came up as having a problem. So that switch needs replaced. $84 for a freaking switch, and I told him might as well bypass it and just wire it to be in Automatic all the time when it comes down to it. This can cause the High and Low lights to flash.
3. Shifting motor should be replaced. This is about $300. I think this is a good thing to get done.
4. RIGHT FRONT SPEED SENSOR STILL COMES UP AS A PROBLEM. You know, this one is on the wheel well with a long wire going to it? IT'S NOT ON THE TRANSMISSION. Though I think $415 for this is excessive, the guy who spoke to me says an after market sensor 'could' cause a different reading between that and the Left Front Sensor. This affects the 4WF Low and High lights to flash, and can affect ABS, since he said they got that to light up.
I may end up liking this vehicle now that it's about to run right and it's not sucking down gas.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The shit I put up with
So now I've spent $80 in getting a new Transmission Output sensor installed (because after all, that's what the Autozone code scanner said it was! Right??), I still have the Overdrive Off light flashing at me. They scanned it again, and that sensor error code didn't come up, so it's something deeper in the beast.
So while I have to work up the courage to call the dealer that sold me the freakin' thing, I was up late working on a video clip.
It was a 19 minute clip, originally shot in crappy Apple Quicktime MOV, in glorious 15 fps and 11025 hz audio, horribly upconverted to 44.1Khz. A file that downloaded as an FLV.
So here's what I had to do:
1. Convert to AVI - Super(c) had to do this because MediaCoder got confused. At least I got to set the resolution (352X288), aspect ratio to 4:3. I had to force the fps to 15 because MediaCoder thought it was 20fps. Well, no, it's not.
2. Use Virtualdub to amazingly resample the audio down to 11025 hz and fix the crappy raspy audio, a telltale sign the audio wasn't 44.1khz to begin with. It took a while to figure out that VirtualDub's audio filters aren't simply straightforward. You need to set up an Input Node, a Filter, and an Output Node, and on the little chart that comes up for this, you need little lines and arrows connecting stuff. Unlike the video processing where you just stack them in the order you want it performed.
3. I still have to pull out the audio as an MP3, because while the audio is fixed, the data still shows up as 11025 hz. I use Audacity to set the sample rate of the 11025 audio and the project itself back to 44100. Notice that rate is 4 times the playback rate, so I drop the speed by -50% twice. Each time doubles the playback time. 2x2 = 4. Which is what I want. The raspy audio is prevented by converting audio in this manner. Lots of digital cameras still do not save audio as CD quality, so it must be correctly converted using this method.
4. Remux the audio into the video, again using Virtualdub to copy the video stream into the new AVI. Rename this as the file I used in Movie Maker, and it slips into my project as if it was the first file I was working with. All my edits are retained, because while I was fixing the original clip's audio, I was inserting a CD quality MP3 over it in 2 places where it appears in the video. (It was a singing group with only 1 song.) Fade out the clip, fade in the song, back and forth. It works.
So while I have to work up the courage to call the dealer that sold me the freakin' thing, I was up late working on a video clip.
It was a 19 minute clip, originally shot in crappy Apple Quicktime MOV, in glorious 15 fps and 11025 hz audio, horribly upconverted to 44.1Khz. A file that downloaded as an FLV.
So here's what I had to do:
1. Convert to AVI - Super(c) had to do this because MediaCoder got confused. At least I got to set the resolution (352X288), aspect ratio to 4:3. I had to force the fps to 15 because MediaCoder thought it was 20fps. Well, no, it's not.
2. Use Virtualdub to amazingly resample the audio down to 11025 hz and fix the crappy raspy audio, a telltale sign the audio wasn't 44.1khz to begin with. It took a while to figure out that VirtualDub's audio filters aren't simply straightforward. You need to set up an Input Node, a Filter, and an Output Node, and on the little chart that comes up for this, you need little lines and arrows connecting stuff. Unlike the video processing where you just stack them in the order you want it performed.
3. I still have to pull out the audio as an MP3, because while the audio is fixed, the data still shows up as 11025 hz. I use Audacity to set the sample rate of the 11025 audio and the project itself back to 44100. Notice that rate is 4 times the playback rate, so I drop the speed by -50% twice. Each time doubles the playback time. 2x2 = 4. Which is what I want. The raspy audio is prevented by converting audio in this manner. Lots of digital cameras still do not save audio as CD quality, so it must be correctly converted using this method.
4. Remux the audio into the video, again using Virtualdub to copy the video stream into the new AVI. Rename this as the file I used in Movie Maker, and it slips into my project as if it was the first file I was working with. All my edits are retained, because while I was fixing the original clip's audio, I was inserting a CD quality MP3 over it in 2 places where it appears in the video. (It was a singing group with only 1 song.) Fade out the clip, fade in the song, back and forth. It works.
