Thursday, January 10, 2008

Very Early in the Morning

Designing quilt patterns is easy on one hand and difficult in the other hand. I have never had trouble coming up with designs or writing them for classes, but now that I am also writing for others I found drawing for instructions using the computer was difficult. So I decided to try a new program for the computer. Adobe Illustrator looked like the one I wanted to try, so I downloaded the 30 day trial from http://www.adobe.com I soon discovered that the ram memory in our computer was not enough to run the program. So I went to http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm and learned how to add more ram memory. They said to go to http://www.crucial.com to find out what type of ram memory I needed for our computer. I did the test and found out that we had an opening for memory and what type to get. When we went to town I was going to buy the memory, but they didn't have what I wanted. So when we arrived home yesterday I went back to crucial.com and ordered it. They sent me an e-mail saying the order arrived. Then a little later another e-mail saying that my items were ready for shipping and how I could track the package. I could see no reason to track it at that point as it was being send Fedex 2 day shipping. This was yesterday afternoon. They are located in Idaho. I am in Kentucky. The package arrived today early in the day. I was shocked, but pleased.

I waited a bit before tackling the job of putting in the memory, because the last time I added something to a computer, the computer stopped working. When I finally worked up my nerve I gather all my tools. That was not much, none magnetic screw driver, the memory, an antistatic wrist strap, cleaning tools (I knew there would be dust inside the computer tower) and scissors to open the package. I said a little prayer, turned off the computer and unplugged everything from the tower. I then proceeded to add the memory. I was careful, got rid of the dust and plugged everything back in. OH THAT AWFUL FEELING IN THE PIT OF MY STOMACH. I turned on the computer and it sounded like it wanted to boot up, but didn't. I WAS NOT GOING TO LOOSE ANOTHER COMPUTER! We can not buy a new one right now. So I unplugged again and opened the tower and checked to be sure everything was connected correctly. I appeared to be ok. I didn't put the cover back on this time I just plugged in the power and tried to start the computer. The same sound....and now the head started to pound. I unplugged and looked closely. Wow! The fan was packed with dust that I didn't get out with the first cleaning. So with the help of my husband Bill we cleaned out the dust. I plugged in the computer and guess what.......I turned it on and it works!!!!!!!! I was so releaved. I put the cover back on, plugged everything else back in and we were back in business.

I then finished loading the Adobe Illustrator trial. It loaded ok, but took a while. It is a large program. I played with it a little bit after dinner, but my eyes were hurting. So I turned the computer over to DH....as he had not been on it since early this morning and I took a nap.

Late this evening I went back to the Illustrator program and played with it. I learned enough to do the drawing I needed and feel pleased. I had been struggling with this drawing for days with the limited programs that we had on the computer. I am going to have to work hard to make enough money to buy Illustator or a similar program to aid in my pattern business.

I must get some rest now as it will be time to make breakfast before I know it.

Peggy