TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY -- Please Stand By

Well, the best laid plans, and all that.

I shut down my computer the other night, just as normal. The following morning, I turned it on, with every intention of running my traps, checking the news, and doing my daily reading. I was then going to settle down and do some serious writing. I had two blog posts in mind, and wanted to start on a couple more. The only problem: My computer wouldn't boot up. I could get to the opening screen, but no farther.

Hummm - - I called a couple of friends who have a lot more cyber expertise than I. It really doesn't take much to reach THAT standard. Some were out of touch, some out of town, and . . . ? I phoned Peter who had provided invaluable support in the past. The hitch there is that he lives several hours away. Our discussion boiled down to - -

A. Spend big bucks at the local technicians, with a predictably daunting minimum bench fee. This might easily result in fees well above the worth of a two-year-old computer.

B. Await Peter's next visit, at least a couple of weeks away, and see if he could remedy the situation, OR

C. Shop around with a view toward getting a new 'puter, and hope to install my old hard drive and try to access that using the new rig.

The latter seemed best, especially when Beloved Bride checked around on-line and found that Fry's in Irving had a sale in progress. I phoned and discussed the matter with a helpful technical guy. He verified that the item I was considering had enough room in the case to hold my old hard drive. The price, while a little bothersome, wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

I did the hour's drive, took in by old processing unit and found the guy I'd talked with on the phone. He soon had me fixed up with the new purchase, a refurbished Compaq with a 90-day warranty. I also purchased a two-year extended warranty and paid for removal of the old hard drive and re-installation in the new unit. They did the work while I waited, drank coffee, and read a new Loren Estleman book. I was out in not much over an hour.

Have I mentioned that I'm essentially cyberlexic? On a good day, I can find the "ON" switch and fumble my way around the 'net. I can barely use a couple of word processing programs, and can play Free Cell and solitaire. My younger son despairs of my learning to play any more complicated games. Anyhow, I'm trying hard to install Open Office and implement some sort of image management arrangement. I much prefer to write off-line and just cut-and-paste my work onto the blog. And I really enjoy presenting some images with the text. Oh, well, things will proceed, however slowly.

I've managed to do some hand loading in the past several days, and have a working stock of my favorite low-end .357 magnum ammo, a fair number of .44 Specials, and, joy of joys, I've loaded my first hundred or so Super .38 cartridges. Matt and I spent a couple of hours at the range Sunday aftrernoon, and I'm very gratified with the way the new/old Super shoots. Later on, I'll discuss why this was NOT a foregone conclusion. I have a lot of experimenting to do with Super .38 loads. Right now, I'm satisfied that I have a good target/training/steel plate load. I'll want to develop a good, stout-but-not-maximum 124-grain JHP load, and likely something with a good 147-grain hunting bullet.

I'm satisfied with my .357 loads, both low-end and the heavy loads using 158-grain JHP bullets. My all-around .44 Special load is good, and I may or may not bother to work up a heavy hunting load.

Anyhow, as I regain computer capability, I'll have plenty on which to write, just on handgun cartridges. I also ponder a couple of historical items.

Later - -
JPG