New Year, new laptop...

[byslantedlight]

I did it - I went out and bought a new laptop today, and the only thing I'm not keen on about it so far (apart from Windows 7 *sighs*) is that the up-down-sideways keys are the teeniest ones on the keyboard, and it's going to take some practice until I stop missing them... Oh, and they always take away programmes that you've just got used to using, too... It's very shiny though, and long (as they mostly seem to be these days), and... and I was a very good girl, and did my research, and bought a Which Laptop Shall I Buy type mag to read over coffee this morning, and then I went around shops and I read and I fiddled and I tapped at keyboards, and I compared specs and compared them with what it'd said in the mag, and... I bought another Sony Vaio. *g* It was in my price range, it had pretty much all the specs I'd wanted, and the keyboard felt good to type on. And the touchpad is in the middle of it. Though the teeny weeny need-to-reach-for-them up-down-sideways keys are a bit of a bugger, I'll grant you... Anyway - I've spent the best part of the day transferring my security and stuff over, and it's beginning to feel a bit more like home now - though I'm still sad for my old Vaio, sleeping the sleep of the cannot-turn-on-any-more...

Now I get to catch up on all the stuff I've fallen hugely behind on - eep! And to wonder about things for 2012, and Pros in 2012, and...oh, stuff, as you do at this time of year. There's lots of Pros-y stuff I should be getting on with - palelyloitering (if I can find a Dreamweaver equivalent to use), and lots of Prosfic I haven't read yet, and wondering whether to carry on with discoveredinalj after the Christmas challenge, and/or my own writings, and/or... oh, you know. Stuff... And there's non-Pros stuff, of course...

...and by the time I've faffed around more with getting things into order on this laptop (have I mentioned the lovely keypad, by the way? *g*), it's time for bed! So here instead of my potential rambling, is the solstice sunset...


And for now, goodnight... until work again tomorrow morning - yuck! I'd much rather stay at home and organise my new laptop... *g*

Oh and I nearly forgot - I liked Sherlock very much, last night, I think they did a great job! Anyone else see it?

Comments

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I can hardly wait till we can see more Sherlock in the US! :D
Glad your laptop woes are better with a new machine.

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was going to wait till it runs on TV. Those DVDs are EXPENSIVE! *g

But hey, maybe I'll get desperate (and have the money)... :)

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

I'm already desperately trying to avoid spoilers and there's two episodes to go yet! I think I'd be driven made waiting for NZ TV to get Sherlock, probably mid winter (July/August) going by the series one showing.

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I can hardly wait. :D

I know I recorded the first ones (somewhere). If I could find the tapes I could rewatch........

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sherlock was good - I even rather fancy watching it again already, which is a good sign! *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Oooo, that IS a good sign! :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I've not even looked at the dvds yet (well, we've only just had the first one on telly!) but I shall put them on my list for when the price comes down... *g*

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

Hee, you went for another vaio! I quite like mine - although I don't use it that much (except in Derbyshire!). Agewise it must be coming up for its sleep of the cannot-turn-on-anymore. Ergh, I hate that sleep - I was guilty at how bad I felt when my desktop went into terminal snooze. I'm sure you were better organized than me and so didn't have any disappearance of the files that were not backed up to cope with! It *is* fun getting new shiny though :D

Not seen Sherlock yet - son says it was ace.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I did go for another Vaio, I like them! And the keyboard really is ever so good (better than on old Vaio, too...) I actually did manage to be pretty organised about collecting up my files and all, because I had warning that it was all going wrong. Even so I didn't quite manage to catch them all, and it's only okay cos I actually had backed up the last few folders of photos ages before onto CD... I just need to replace all the programmes I had now, and some have been updated in ways I didn't like, waaah!

Sherlock was brill, I loved it! *g*

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Deleted as I replied to someone else rahter than commented... doh!

So looking forward to Sherlock, but have to wait until DVDs arrive on 23rd (Amazon promised!). Avoiding spoilers like mad, but it does sound as if most everyone thought it was fantastic.

Bought a HP lap top in the sales here, lovely screen. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heee for doh! *g*

And wow that the Sherlock dvds are out so fast, I had no idea! It was soooo good! *g*

I looked at HPs yesterday, and I think that keyboard felt okay too - but I think they were ones that threw me by having the touchpad off centre, I can't work out the thinking behind that, cos it just feels all wrong!

I remember your sales... *g*

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

What do you mean, "whether to carry on with DIALJ"? I am wondering what the next challenge will be already! And "and my own writings"? What? This is just me misreading, surely?

Love the sunsets. I think I have a picture of the sunrise the following day, actually!

Sherlock: I turned over ten minutes late (oops), just in time to miss the cliff-hanger resolution, and then thoroughly enjoyed the rest. Loved all the nods to other Holmes stories - I'm sure I remember someone losing a thumb in one of them, so when poor Mrs Hudson opened the fridge and found thumbs... Had to put the subtitles on when they started talking really fast, though, argh! I liked the "if there is anyone still interested, I'm not actually gay" remark: as if that will stop the fanfic. Loved all the updating, from Bohemia to Belgravia and photographs to cameraphone. Thought the plot all began to go a bit weird at the end, because one of the things I missed at the start was the critical detail about why they were so interested in the dead man in the car. (I subsequently caught up with that on iPlayer, and I actually am not sure I'd have kept watching through the pool scene, so it was a good job I missed it first time round.)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - well, no... Dialj has been very little used over the past year or so, which I'm partly putting down to people having life thrown at them in 2011, and partly to the Pros Big Bang taking writers away to concentrate on a single story over a whole year, and partly because once I was discouraged by lack of participation, I lost enthusiasm for it myself, which isn't helpful... I've always said, too, that having too many different challenges in Pros will mean that participation is spread more thinly, and sadly that does seem to have happened. empty_mirrors and I always put alot of effort into posting new challenges at discoveredinalj, with different banners and layouts for each challenge, and individual prompts for people, and so on, and especially now that RL has claimed her as my co-mod, it's alot of work when there's not much participation... There's been a few challenges that closed without any fics or other responses, which... :( So I dunno, I'm havering...

One of the few things that niggled me about Sherlock was actually John declaring I'm not gay - it felt out of context to the point where I wondered if they were playing on purpose to what they'd recognised as the slash crowd following...

Lol for the pool scene - I didn't mind that, but perhaps that was cos I'd totally forgotten how we'd been left after the last season (I still can't remember, as I never did get around to buying the dvds and re-watching). So what was your problem with the pool scene, then?

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

God, I am starting to think that I am the kiss of death to things. Things look so cool, and I arrive, and they die. Wail. I had better not go near the Big Bang! Nor a handy local council service - the building housing it will probably fall down at this rate.

There were definitely things that I didn't understand about the comm when I joined LJ, and things that made me nervous about posting, and I think that is because I was new to everything: LJ, Pros, and active participation (rather than just reading). I don't think that's common. I think most people have experience of at least one of those before finding the thing.

I also had totally forgotten the detail of the end of Sherlock. I think it was simply the realisation that that pool scene took ten minutes (well, that scene and the dead man in the car together). That's a long time for such a bathetic resolution. I think I'd have lost interest. I know a friend did genuinely just get bored and give up at about the stage I tuned in - so just in time to miss Irene Adler's 'battle-dress' (or whatever she called it), whoops.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - do you mean you've kissed Dialj to death? Nah... Though if you do go near the Big Bang I hope it won't stop you writing other things as well!

I'm actually about to take back my Dialj comments below, cos having gone through and done the tagging and sorted the User Info page for last year, there was alot more fic posted than I remembered, though from fewer challenges. It was the year before that was particularly quiet... So really it's just me, probably feeling bad that I didn't write much myself, and projecting... *g*

I didn't time the pool scene, but it kept me watching, so... *g* I'm amused to hear that the Daily Fail has apparently already been on about complaints over the nudity in Sherlock - which I thought was brief, tasteful to the point of non-existence, and sadly all female...

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Sherlock was great! Loved it.

Nice laptop. Your typing looks wonderful and the pictures are nice on the new toy. *beg* Enjoy!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - it does have very pretty typing, doesn't it? *g*

And yeay Sherlock!

[sunray45.livejournal.com]

Yay for the new laptop! Such a shame you have to go back to work today and leave your new Lappy at home. You can have fun tonight catching up on everything.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I know - poor new laptop, at home all alone today... There will be much playing tonight (there'll have to be, I still have programmes to replace!) *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Happy new laptop!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - thank you! *g*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you got a new laptop. Can someone very clever get stuff off the old one? E.g. Dreamweaver? It's usually possible. Although you mention transferring stuff so presumably there's another reason for not being able to use Dreamweaver. You will soon get used to Windows7 and most people prefer it once they've stopped screaming about the changes for change's sake. Incidentally, one of my husband's friends fixed my old Vaio - rebuilt the battery, extracted stuff and returned the machine to default manufacturer's specs. So I now have a 'spare' laptop (which is currently on loan to a friend who was burgled).

Lovely photos - as ever. I found the different photo handling in Windows7 one of the harder things to get used to but now I like it.

Sherlock is in a queue, waiting to be watched. It clashed with The Great Barrier Reef which Mr. Moth adored and which I have to confess sent me to sleep.

And - waah! - what are the pros(!) and cons of continuing dialj??

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I managed to save my files from the old laptop, it's just that some programmes will need to be re-downloaded, and they always make changes to them! My copy of DreamWeaver was a naughty copy though, and actually really old as well. It needs updating just for usability, but the actual software is far too expensive for someone running a non-business website, so... hmmn!

I'm missing the straighten facility on Picasa (which was all I used it for, but it was really useful!), and I wish they'd not got rid of the facility to edit (and even rename) via the Windows photo viewer... I might have to change my default to the Office viewer, which I stopped using when it got rid of the edit capacity, but it seems to be back now... *head spins*

Pros and cons of continuing discoveredinalj - it's just that, as I was saying up above, participation in the challenges has been way down over the last couple of years, and since we (just me, now!) spend alot of time designing the challenges if no one's playing then it's rather a waste of that time... There's been a couple of challenges now where no one's responded at all, which is rather discouraging. There are now three Pros comms offering challenges, and although that's all very well in theory, in practice it means that participation is going to be more thinly spread. Many people writing Pros seem to concentrate only, or largely, on writing a single Big Bang story, and others seem happy with a single word being thrown at them elsewhere... On the other hand, there was also Real Life that's stopped some people writing in general in 2011, and as I've been discouraged I've perhaps not put in the effort with Dialj in general, so maybe I should post a challenge after Christmas Tree and see what the response is like to that - judge it from there...

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the propensity of graphics progs to change for no apparent purpose/benefit to anyone! I use a pirate copy of Fireworks plus Picnik (free but you can pay for extra features). I would be devastated if I lost Fireworks but a fellow iconmaker who also does some great artwork recommends Gimp - also free and I have no idea about it but it might be worth a look?

And yes, 'straighten' is a useful thing which I get on Fireworks.

Re dialj. Maybe consider fewer challenges? Perhaps just one or two a year? It does have a unique place - there are trivial/ephemeral challenges like 'caption this' etc. and there are weighty things like the BB but dialj falls between and is also a great place to 'socialise'.

I've always followed it but have only recently dipped my toes into the challenge of posting!! I used to be scared of challenges with all the rules and regulations... Maybe because my first LJ experiences were in role-play comms which are often very strict and quite bewildering. I know I've absolutely loved this latest challenge and finding something exciting every day has enriched Christmas considerably, even if I haven't had time to read all the longer fics yet. I can imagine that it's a huge amount of work but I, for one, am very grateful.

Also, is there any way somebody (e.g. me) could share the burden? I have the time and the interest but am sometimes constrained by lack of internet. We think we have beaten Portuguese Telecom into submission but who knows what 2012 will bring?!

Of course, you increased your workload with the drabble challenge and the Reading Room Advent calendar but those were great, too. Your challenges make Pros a fun place to be - it isn't just fics/vids/icons, like some fandoms and it's a way of making good friends.

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

"Maybe consider fewer challenges? Perhaps just one or two a year?"

I quite liked the time-scale, though: longer than the week-long ones, but short enough to remind me to get my skates on and do something. Which I signally failed to do for the Reporter's Notebook one, I admit. (But I tried! - I have a couple of silly exchanges which will doubtless surface in something else, at least.) And when you have really really long times, I feel that I ought to produce something of some length, as with the minimum word count for the Big Bang.

Also, I really liked the idea that someone (slantedlight) was taking them all and putting them together into little e-zines and making them beautiful. I am still wishing I had saved my druggy story for the Christmas one, just in case she does that again! And I was thinking "next year..." and now there may not be one. Woe.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oops, I forgot to address Moth's suggestion of fewer challenges a year - hopefully she'll get notification of this comment too!

I think Dialj will continue along the same lines it's been running. We originally planned on a challenge every month/six weeks or so, but with total flexibility around that, so that we've had weekend challenges, and much longer challenges too. It all depends on how we feel about a particular idea at the time! I'd be reluctant to change that, because there's now another challenge that's just once a year, and it'd also mess with the way we originally started by playing with the "seasonal" challenge idea - though it was never meant to be limited to just special occasions, that was just something to hang our hats on...

Also, I see no reason why there wouldn't be a Christmas-y Dialj next year, at the very least! But as I said above, and to Moth, I was perhaps a bit hasty saying that participation was so very badly down - it wasn't nearly as bad last year as I felt it was the year before, partly due to lovely new people like yourself joining in to replace those who've left us...

I really must get on with those ezines, too... *g*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Well, our enthusiasm seems to be having some kind of effect - *crosses fingers*.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh I love Gimp, and that's on my list to re-download! I can straighten pics through it too, but like Photoshop it's a monster to start up each time, and Picasa was so much quicker. I may just download Picasa myself, as I see that it is actually free - even though I don't use it for anything except the straightening! *g*

Dialj - I might have to take back what I was saying about it, to some extent. It has been affected by the other challenges etc, no doubt about it, but having finally gone through and tagged and sorted out the User Page index for 2011, there was alot more participation than I was remembering - just fewer challenges! So it may just have been my general malaise over last year making me think sadly about it... *g*

That said, if you'd like to help out, that'd be fab - its so much more fun to work with other people with the challenges, and I really miss Josey at Dialj (quite apart from anywhere else!) We'd chat and work out the challenges together, and then she'd do gorgeous visuals, and I'd do the words-y bit, usually... Of course it helped that we thought similarly about alot of things (including wanting it all to be right!), and that she was a gorgeous genius... *g*

I'm thinking about what the next challenge could be right now (yes, at the same time as wondering whether I should do one at all *g*) if you want to drop me a line... *g*

And thank you for your kind words - Pros is a fun place to be, isn't it! I've made some lovely friends here, and its completely spilled into my "real life" - I now have very high expectations of a fandom! *g*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Will email soon - not today because I have to get ready for a hospital appointment and then we are having visitors. But I won't forget!

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

Have fun with the new laptop! They always feel so strange and different at first but once you start to get all your usual programs loaded, and your own wallpaper etc they start to feel a lot more comfortable.

As for Sherlock - only saw it tonight and I'm still buzzing. I know I'll have to watch it a few more times to pick up everything (well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

I'd hate to see dialj go. I know I don't contribute but there have been some excellent fics over the years. I even printed out a few of the collections for re-reading when I was away from the pc. But I understand why you'd feel the way you do; no satisfaction in putting a challenge out if there are no responses.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lovely laptop is definitely starting to feel more like home, now that I've got my lads back up as wallpaper, and am getting things organised, you're right!

Heeee for having to watch Sherlock a few more times to pick everything up - me too! *hugs excuse* *g*

I actually have to take back some of what I said about Dialj - having spent the morning tagging and sorting out the User Info challenge index for 2011, there was alot more participation than I remembered, though fewer challenges. So it's partly just me feeling guilty about my own lack of writing last year and I shall shut up... *g* discoveredinalj shall forge on (and we'll see how it goes this year... *g*)

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

(coming in a bit late here) well done you for getting a new laptop so efficiently and just in the nick of time before going back to work (yuck). apart from the things that niggle, I hope that having the same brand again means it feels familiar in some ways. What do you mean by 'long'? Larger screen?

And wow! 'Sherlock'! I didn't watch S1 but for some reason N decided to watch t'other night, and we all loved it. Granted I'm the only one in the household squeeing over Benedict C as SH, but it's so great in so many ways.
Now I must see S1. It's a little disappointing to discover 'Sherlock' just as they introduce the female love interest (gack). Like moonlightmead I was struck by Watson's 'I'm not gay' as maybe addressing the slash fandom, but it was in a particular context. I'm sure (unless I misheard) that Ms Adler replied, 'But I am.' (but in that case, why was she all pupils dilating etc. over Sherlock?).

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Quite right, she did, and I liked that even more than his comment. If it was true, then I think the point of that was 'he confounds all the normal expectations'.

But of course, given the rest of her actions, there is room to doubt her word!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

I think the point of that was 'he confounds all the normal expectations'. Like the slash fic trope 'only gay for him', but in reverse? *g*

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Hee, that escaped me completely, but yeah, I suppose so!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Replying somewhat late too - have had stupid work and stupid face-ache today, just when I wanted to be free to play. But I did play with discoveredinalj this morning and realised that things weren't as dire as I'd been worrying, so I'm going to shut up about that and get on with planning the next challenge... *g*

And yeay that you saw Sherlock! Isn't it ace! *g* Don't worry about any female love interest - she's gone and won't be back, and she's the only one that existed in the books, and that was pretty much as deep as it got, so... *g* Irene Adler was definitely gay, though she clearly worked with men too - there were lots of hints that she preferred her female clients, I thought. I figured she was bi, and enjoyed whoever caught her attention at the time...

In S1 they played quite heavily on a gay subtext between Holmes and Watson, building it up quite gently I thought, and now they seem to be making it quite the running gag, if this ep was anything to go by. I'll be interested to see how the next two stories bear that out, especially after Cumberbatch's comments in The Telegraph!

Oh, and yes - my new laptop has a wider but narrower screen, which I've never really been keen on. Even my telly isn't widescreen, though that'll have to change one of these days too (and it's partly cos it's an old one, rather than anything else - it's not a flatscreen either!) On the bright side, it's occurred to me that of course if I keep the number lock off, the numberpad functions as arrowkeys, which is much handier for general use! *g*

[cornishcat.livejournal.com]

I went out and bought a new laptop today ... yes but what colour? (See, I always enjoy deep and meaningful discussions!)

Hope you didn't set off too many more shop tamper-alarms because it gets a little embarrassing after a while.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

See, I knew someone would ask the important questions... *g* It's odd - and patterned with diamonds, which might sound rather familiar... *g*

And the cheek of it! Those shop tamper-alarms were completely faulty, and it had nothing to do with the fact that I was tampering with the laptops! And how are you supposed to try them out without tampering with them, anyway? Humph! *g*