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 A
few months ago Susana and I purchased new Dell computers, having begun
to tax the capabilities of our old Windows 98 based machines. The setup
of both computers was amazingly easy, as I experienced no problems connecting
all our devices and loading our graphics software. Since then Susana’s
computer has performed flawlessly, but mine occasionally presented me with
a “blue screen of death.” Fortunately each time that occurred I was able
to restart the computer fairly quickly. I searched around for the possible
cause of the problem, uninstalling an external zip drive just in case that
was causing the problem. That didn’t cure the problem, but I didn’t worry
too much about it as the blue screen only appeared every couple of weeks
in a seemingly random pattern.
On the Sunday morning of our January Board Meeting, the blue screen appeared again and this time the computer would not initiate Windows, crashing each time the desktop appeared on the monitor. After multiple attempts to restart the computer, each failing, I contacted Dell’s technical support. After many minutes on hold I was connected with “Charles” and we began to experiment with possible solutions. Charles was obviously working from a prearranged list of things to try. The more things we did the worse the problem seemed to become, as soon we couldn’t even get to the Windows startup screen. After nearly three hours, Charles advised that his shift was ending (he’s located in India) and that he would call me back at midnight my time (I commented that I didn’t plan on being awake at midnight!). So we arranged for him to call me at 5:00 am my time, unfortunately he called my office rather than my home so we never connected. After waiting for a call for nearly two hours, I started over with tech support with another technical advisor. He quickly gave up on experiments and determined that the only solution was to install Windows XP again on my computer in a separate folder. Which I did reluctantly as that necessitated essentially rebuilding my computer from scratch, but that approach would at least preserve access to all my files (which of course I’d not backed up!). After six more hours of work, and another very long two-hour phone call to Dell software support (during which time the person I spoke with commented that I’d been routed to the wrong technical support group and that what they’d had me do was probably wrong), I had my computer back working properly. There’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with computer problems I’ve decided. You’re put on hold for hours, the advice you get sometimes works, and all the while you’re terrified that you’ve lost all your files! Now that my computer is back working, I’m busily going about planning our driving activities for 2004. We’re planning on starting our driving season once again at the Zone 2 VIR event the first weekend in April. Which now doesn’t seem that far away; as registration opens on February 1st. Somehow my attitude seems to be improving as the dreary cold days of January pass! Sign that the economy is definitely improving, Porsche has 1000 deposits on hand for the new Carrera GT. To get a place in line for this new Porsche, a $50,000 deposit is required. Porsche gets to earn interest on the $50 million, while they slowly build the cars over the next two years. Not a bad deal at all for Porsche, no wonder they’re apparently the most profitable automobile company. I don’t know if you’ve paid attention to the photos of cars shown at the recent LA and Detroit Auto Shows. Ford showed a new Shelby Cobra that looked pretty cool and Daimler Chrysler showed an impressive prototype car, but what really caught my eye was the new 2005 Ford Mustang. The redone Mustang is retro ’69-’70, having many styling cues similar to my old ’70 Ford Boss 302 Mustang. I admit to having spent a few moments thinking about reliving that ownership experience! One of these years I’m going to make it to the Detroit Auto Show, for an automotive fan it’s apparently a must do event. In a couple of weeks the 24 Hours of Daytona will take place. This year the rules have been further changed to handicap the Porsche GT3 RS’s, to make sure they don’t win overall again. Grand-Am officials desperately want a Daytona Prototype car to win! The consequences of their rules making, is that the field of entrants that used to number around 80 is now down to 40 cars. What was once a premier endurance race is fast becoming a minor league event in my mind. I suspect fan interest is similarly waning, as who can stir up much passion for a Porsche Fabcar or a BMW Piccio. Last year I mentioned that almost no one was in the grandstands; this year no-one in the stands might not be an exaggeration. I’m not sure what the France family agenda is for Grand-Am, if they wanted to further dilute sports car racing in order to enhance NASCAR they seemed to be making progress. A horror of a much more serious nature occurred recently on Route 128 near Manchester-By-The-Sea. A driver, traveling at nearly 100 mph at night, south-bound in the north-bound lanes crashed head-on into a SUV traveling northbound, also at nearly 100 mph. The SUV’s two occupants (16 & 17 years old) were killed instantly as the SUV exploded in flames. The driver of the south-bound car, apparently driving under the influence, was also killed instantly. Witnesses and police officers all commented that this was by far the worst crash they’d ever seen. I can’t imagine the magnitude of the impact, resulting from two vehicles hitting head on each traveling at 100 mph. Massachusetts experiences a number of crashes resulting from drivers going in the wrong direction on freeways. Apparently there are a number of instances throughout the state where exit and entrance ramps to freeways utilize the same general location. If a driver doesn’t pay attention they can turn into the exit ramp lane, rather than the entrance ramp lane – this despite the presence of large “do not enter” signs. Other factors obviously contributed to this accident, drunk driving at an excessive speed at night, and an inexperienced driver also traveling at high speed. The morale of the story is that you must be ever vigilant while driving. You can’t be distracted for one moment; conditions can change in an instant. |
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