Last year, readers of my blog might recall, I had many unkind words for Microsoft due to the multitudinous “Microsoft (this or that app) not responding” error messages I kept receiving, causing me to lose hours each day, and which delayed my setoff by at least two whole days. So, I vowed to dump Microsoft when I returned from my trip. I never got around to getting to that until two months ago, but decided to give Microsoft one more try, so I got a new desktop. I must say that I have been rather thrilled with it (mainly because Microsoft had set the bar so low). Then, last evening at 4:33 p.m., after my first really productive day in getting on with preparing for this trip, my Outlook email shut down. Google would not accept my Outlook mail client. I could have abandoned Outlook and used Google's web mail, but I do not like that app. I then went through the standard recommended routine of checking my IMAP settings, etc., but nothing. I then called Verizon, my ISP provider, and they were useless, although admittedly this was not their problem. I lost four good hours last night working on this. Then this norming, not one for giving up on problems, before I called in “Computer Geeks Я Us” I dug more deeply into the issue. Well, to make a long story short, after an extra hour, I figured out the problem. Not only did Google change the incoming and outgoing port numbers for Outlook users unannounced (not the first time they did that), but they also declared Outlook an unsafe client, meaning I had to activate the “allow unsafe apps to access my account” option in my Google settings. After activating that option and some trial and error with the port numbers, I got my Outlook email back, but lost six hours. Since I am in the last week of preparing for a trip, I had no time to waste, so I have to make up for that lost time somehow if I am to get on the road on Thursday morning. Blog less, perhaps? I cannot do that because blogging now gets me into the rhythm so I can start blogging from Day 1.
There is good news on one front. Donner is reacting splendidly to the meds and new diet the vet put him on to solve his bacterial imbalance. For those who do not mind scatological references every now and then, his stools, just last week a 1, now are 4.5 out of 5. He even likes the special diet the vet put him on. Life does not get any better than this, if you are a dog.
There is also good news on the Defender front. After some work Dean's team did on the Defender’s dashboard and gauges a few months back, my odometer stopped working. “Broken,” they proclaimed, although thinking that it might have been because it was reinstalled improperly I suggested that the odds of the odometer breaking at the exact same moment as the other work on the dashboard were zero. As of last week, that literally was the only problem with the 26-year old Defender. But yesterday, after I got the Defender back last week after Dean installed a new temperature gauge, I discovered that the odometer was working. This was after I ordered a new speedometer gauge on Thursday. Instead of returning it, I will replace the old one so that I have all four gauges new.
My ToDo list calls. Time to go the Defender and load it with all the equipment. A good sign, even though I moved this chore from last on my long ToDo list to the top.
ED and Donner, from DC
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