Menoloopal; The Condition Of Discomfiture

By the time Mac1 arrived on the day following Gail and Bertie's departure, I was further educated on the Chromebook. It turns out there is quite a bit to be learned! I can understand a fair bit of why Google found it necessary to create a keyboard specific to Chrome usage, but one I don't fully understand is the removal of a direct CAPS LOCK FUNCTION. That said, after a few days, I discovered that one can override** that and reset the function of the 'search' key to that of CAPS LOCK, so there ought to be no further refusals of entry for yours truly. I use the CAPS key quite a lot, you see, for passwords to various things. When used to specific muscle memory (I am a speedy and mostly accurate touch-typist of the old school), it can be tricky to retrain the fingers. That is the only override I have required for now. Remembering all the little 'shortcuts' is now the main challenge. On Thursday evening there was a moment of sheer...menoloopal. Between having just completed a comment on a blog, then reading the warranty booklet for OctoKan, the screen went black. Not just a 'snooze' black, but a full-force, non-functioning black. I did everything I knew of old to do for restoring function... but after a few HBO words and a foot stomp, I hauled the YAMroid out of its slumber and searched the net for clues as to what was going on. 

Apparently, black screening is something that happens to these machines and one has to do a keyed reboot (refresh key + power switch). Thankfully, this is not a full factory reset, but does restart the system with a note that "there was an unexpected closure of the OS." You don't say...😬

While my sis was here, though, I didn't spend too much time being starry-eyed over new tech. Needless to say, the weather prevented us from going on any excursions, but we had lots to natter about as only sisters can, as well as taking time to share insights into each other's interests; Mac1 is in the closing stages of the Diploma of Fabric Arts and enjoyed having a fresh point of view of her ideas and concepts. Her workbook is looking very good.

We also spent time keeping up with the early happenings at the Winter Olympics - and cheered and jumped and waved our arms about at the Rugby Union Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England. We were, of course, well satisfied with the result... at the Os, I am following closely the Curling, speed skating and as much of the other things as I can. 

It was a very laid-back, easy-going time together. Mac1 also brought me a new member for the Stuffy Gang... Spar the Tiger belonged to the Maestro (can it really be six years this month since her passing?!). Licky The Lucky Stuffy Puppy Who Escaped The Ikky Shoppe immediately set to making him feel at home...

After Mac1 departed on Sunday morning, I settled down with the Winter sports on the telly, a warm cup of Milo (chocolate malt), lots of covers and a cuddly toy. No other way to see out a sleety, freezy, dark grey day! (A very poor selfie taken on the YAMroid and then mucked around with ...)

**Note for Sandra and other Chromebook users - to reset the search key to CAPS LOCK, go to settings>keyboard>select from down arrow list of possible functions. I would also note here that the backspace key functions as a delete key not just by selecting the alt+ key but also by highlighting the characters required to be deleted on the screen and then pressing the backspace.