Computer update

[pegkerr]

We have given up on the data search and will now be concentrating on re-building the e-mail profile and bookmarks. It looks as though my e-mail address book got blown to bits when my computer froze and so will have to be re-built from scratch. Rob has tomorrow off work and he says, optimist that he is, that he should have the computer up and running by this weekend. I say it'd BETTER be. Or I'm gonna be tempted to lock him in my office and shove his meals under the door until it is.

Peg, feeling growly

Comments

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeek. I hope there were backups?

Backups

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Ironically, it's what we had done to protect ourselves from systems failure is what has undone us. After my hard disk crashed the last time, we were able to reconstruct it because all the data was on floppy backups and another hard drive, the D: drive. If I understand things correctly Rob installed a software program called "Go Back" which is supposed to allow you to reconstuct an exact picture of your drive after any failure. Instead, what Go Back did was that it gummed up the drive so badly that it wouldn't even boot. It was essentially unuseable. So, Rob switched the C: and D: drives around, until he could "get around" to trouble shooting that Go Back problem. So it's my former D: drive that I've been using as my C: drive that lost all the e-mail information. And the backup drive has been rendered unusable because of a software program which we installed specifically because we wanted to avoid this kind of mess.

We've always backed up our Quicken data religiously, so that's not a problem. I think everything I've written on the book so far is also backed up, and my thought process/brainstorming about it is all on LiveJournal (and printed out on hard copy). Actually, I don't think that any of the programs that are unrelated to e-mail and our Netscape account are affected anyway. I have a lot of the same bookmarks on my computer at work, which will help. And as for e-mail . . . well, we'll see. I suppose this means I'll have cleaned out a lot of obsolete addresses that don't even work anymore. Whether I like it or not.

*Sigh*

Hmm.....

[rachet.livejournal.com]

Well, I attempted to e-mail this but..alas, it bounced back. Now reading your entry, I think I know why. :-)




Hey, Peg. Just wanted to send you a note of thanks for The
Wild Swans. Lori (Summers) and I were talking the other
night about books (Jennifer Government, The Eyre Affair,
etc) and she mentioned The Wild Swans. I've been meaning
to read one of your books and so I thought I'd start with
that one.

I started it Tuesday and, unfortunately...finished it at
work Wednesday....alarming my boss as to why I was crying.
I know better than to read at work!

It was beautiful. Touching. And a bit nostalgic.

I lost a dear friend of mine in 1994 to AIDS. He was a
hemophiliac and had a transfusion when he was 15 (1983).
He found out he was HIV positive in 1990. It was
heartbreaking. Keith was so full of life, so intelligent,
and so handsome and sweet. He was my husband's best friend
and when he died, a part of us died with him. What made it
worse was the fact that we grew up in a very small town on
the Ohio River where homophobia runs rapid. Keith was not
homosexual but knew that people would automatically assume
the worst about him if they knew he had AIDS (drug user,
"pervert", etc.). In the end, if I remember correctly, the
obituary in the paper stated that he died of pneumonia.
Only those close to him actually knew it was AIDS. And
it's probably better that way. I would rather everyone in
my hometown remember him as the Golden Boy who got all the
girls, all the laughs and all the scholarships.

Anyway, your book touched a place in my heart that I hadn't
visited in a long while and I mourned Keith all over again.
I think I needed that, too. So thank you for such a
beautiful story.

Re: Hmm.....

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your note, which I have printed out for my "Attagirl" file. For many writers, releasing a book to the public is rather like dropping a stone down a very deep well--it feels as though you have to wait forever to hear the splash, and sometimes it seems as though you never hear it! Feedback from readers is more precious than rubies, and positive feedback is even better.

I'm glad you thought that my book honored your dear friend's memory. It was my deeply-held wish that it would, for all those who have suffered from AIDS. Thanks again.

Peg