Note 888: 01/31/00 9:40 P.M.: I was up at 5:30 P.M. this afternoon. I had breakfast of oatmeal, toast, orange juice, vitamins, and coffee. I threw out the broken 20 inch and broken Sun monitors and the Compaq 486/50 L equipment. I cleaned the NEC MultiSync XP17 monitor with a damp rag with a little bleach to make it a little cleaner looking. I will have to get a monitor cable and ethernet cable, so I can network both systems together and use both on the internet through the cable modem with Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Internet sharing. I should be able to print from the 486 to the the 233 with Network Printing sharing too. I cleaned up. I deleted a few files on the C: drive and transfered others to the D: drive, so I have 52.5 megs free with a 32 meg swapper on my backup 486. I will now sift through my last ten days email, deleting most of it very quickly. Well have a good evening. CIO

Note 888: 01/31/00 12:50 P.M.: Well I have been up all night again. I went out at 11 P.M., and cleaned off the snow off the car. There was about three inches. While driving over to CVS in Riverside, it started raining. I bought two packs of Phillie Cigar cigarettes for the usual price. I drove back to town and it was still raining. I drove down by the harbor. On the way back, I noticed a dumpster at the train station office park full of disgarded office equipment. I loaded up a NEC MultiSync XP17 monitor vintage 1995, a generic 20 inch monitor, a Sun 17 inch monitor, and Compac 486/50 L server. I returned home, and hauled the equipment up with the help of a skate board. I tried all night to get the Compaq to work. I downloaded the Setup files for it, but I think the problem is that it has a defective hard drive. I tired a number of combinations to replace it, but nothing worked. It has a 3COM ethernet III card about vintage 1993, I could salvage from it. It also had a board specific 32 meg memory card, I can't use except with it. It took quite a bit of time. The generic 20 inch and the Sun monitor did not work, however the NEC MultiSync XP17 monitor works fine. I will use it for my backup 486 once I get the main server up and running when I recieve the CMOS part which should be soon. I am dead tired. I will have some of my Tuna Alfredo fetticini, and then I will go to bed. Well have a good afternoon. CIO

Note 888: 01/30/00 10:00 P.M.: I am making up a batch of my ice tea. Instead of the normal recipie, I am using eight Lipton tea bags, 10 Tetley tea bags, one Ping Cherry tea bag, and two Twinnings Earle grey tea bags, in a gallon of boiled water and I add a couple of teaspoons of Angostora bitters, 3/4 cup of sugar, and I let is steep for an hour. I then removed the tea bags and I add a cup of orange juice to the mixture. I then put a quart of the mixture in each of four 3 quart plastic orange juice containers, and I add another two quarts of cold water to each container for 12 quarts or three gallons of ice tea in the refrigartor the week. I some of my Tuna Alfredo mixture with green spinich noodles. I make this by boiling several quarts of water in a Revere pot, and while the water is getting ready to boil, to a two quart pot, I add a jar of Ragu Garlic alfredo sauce. Ragu is a Cheesebourgh Ponds company out of Greenwich which also makes Dove soap. I fill half a Ragu cheese sauce jar with French white wine which I am running low on. I shake it around to get the extra cheese sauce out of the jar and put it in the two quart pot. I then add two diced onions, and five finely diced gloves of garlic, one diced Zuchinni, three cans of rinced tuna fish, and season with ground pepper, Italian spices, oregano, basil, a bit extra garlic powder, celery salt, cinnemon, ginger, Chinese five spice, and simmer it all while the Ronzoni green spinich noodles are boiling for 12 minutes in the large pot with a tad of salt and a bit of olive oil added to the pot. About half way through or about six minutes I pureed the tuna cheese sauce mixture with the Braun hand blender with the pot of the stove being sure not to splash. I then added a can of GU stems and pieces mushrooms, so the mushrooms are still visable and not pureed. Once the noodles are boiled, I strain off the water, and in a large plastic bowl I place the strained noodles and put the tuna cheese sauce mixture over it and mix it all together thoroughly, for a batch of Tuna Alfredo Spinich fetticini. I had a portion last night and I put the rest in the refrigerator in a large rubbermaid container and I just had another portion. The mixture makes about six portions and cost $2.50 for the Ragu garlic cheese sauce, $1.79 for the Ronzonni spinich noodles, three cans of tuna fish are on sale at the Grand Union until yesterday for $1 all, GU mushrooms and stems .69, white wine .50, onions .50, garlic .50, zuchinni .50, herbs and spices .25; so the whole meal cost about $7 approximately or a little over a dollar a portion for a good tasty meal which lasts a number of days. I had ice tea with dinner along with a jar of the Brazilian instant Samba coffee which is about the best tasting instant coffee, I have ever had. I make my oatmeal by adding a half cup of GU old fashioned oat meal to a large microwave proof bowl, and a cup of water. In my fifteen year old General Electric microwave which is less powerful, I microwave it on high for four minutes. I then added to the bowl of oatmeal a couple of pads of margerine, a half teaspoon of sugar and season it lightly with cinnemon and add on a little milk and mix it all together for an invigorating morning breakfast particularly on cold days. Well I guess it is time to start cleaning up while the ice tea seeps. Have a good evening. CIO

Note 888: 01/30/00 8:45 P.M.: I was up at 2 P.M. today. I had breakfast of oatmeal, orange juice, coffee, vitamins, and toast. I chatted with a family member and friend. I went back to bed until 7 P.M., and I watched a bit of television until now. The NOAA weather radio warning is still on for snow and sleet in this area for this evening. I am not sure what it is actually like out now. I got the 486 DX/120 mhz with 16 megs of memory set up a 500 meg recognized C: drive on a 1 gigabyte drive and older 340 meg drive. I put my 56,000 baud modem in the computer and my Sound Blaster SW32 card with 8 megs of audio memory in the computer. The 486 is about like a Pentium 60 or 90 in terms of speed. It is a high level 486. I was able to use this page for information on connecting the 3Com 3C503 Ethernet II card 3C503 - Win95 - Error: Your Network Adapter is not functioning . I basically set the card to I/O 0250 which is the Win95 default for the Win98 second edition default driver installation and put it on memory C8000, and I deleted the Com2 and Com4 drivers which were on IRQ3, so that I could put the 3COM Ethernet II 3C503 card on IRQ 3. Since it is a 10 meg ethernet card, it works just as fast at my regular card in my regular system. I set the registry setting at SpeedGuide.net for Win98 to increase cable speed. Thus though even since @Home says you need a Pentium 90 and recommend the PCI Ethernet Card, on this older computer, the internet basically works just as fast as my primary computer, particulary for web browsing, since even though it only has 16 megs fo memory, Windows 98 like Windows 95 swapper file swaps out to the hard drive for the memory caching. I also looked at CNET.com - Hardware - Desktops - Top 5 Leading-Edge PCs for CNet recommendation of the www.polywell.com computer which for high level user who does not require bundled software is an excellent computer solution for $1895 with all the bells and whistles including a 21 inch monitor if you can lift it, and I would prefer it with a AMD antlon 800 mhz, which from the description it might include, but it also mentions 700 and 256 megs of memory and of course Windows 2000. Well without the music files on my computer at present the older directory information on my server is not very busy at the moment. I guess I will clean up and check out the outside weather information and possibly go for a drive if it is clear. Well have a good evening. CIO

Note 888: 01/30/00 9:10 A.M.: Well I will post a longer note about what has been going on since early Friday morning 01/21/00. I had just updated my SIS Video drivers for the onboard PCWARE S-571 LMR motherboard, I had recently installed because the earlier S-571 motherboard CMOS chip had been corrupted by a bad CMOS driver for the S-571 LMR motherboard. The new motherboard bios was dated 07/02/00, so I updated it with the correct 08/13/99 update driver, and once again the CMOS chip was corrupted and no image including any CMOS information appear on the monitor when I turned on the computer. That morning I contacted HM Computing www.hmcomp.com, we agreed that www.pcware.com had posted a corrupted CMOS driver. I packed up the old and the new corrupted CMOS chips to be sent to HM Computing. I mailed them from the Valley Road post office at about 2 P.M. that afternoon First Class mail. I did contact PCWARE and they said my vendor would have to replace the chip. I tried using the Netzero connection on my old 486/120 mhz computer, but it was terribly slow. I had a visitor on the cold Friday afternoon. I went to bed early that evening after being up quite some time. That Saturday morning as usual I cleaned my apartment as usual. I recall doing some minor shopping. It was cold on that Friday and Saturday, so I spent most of the time inside. On Sunday, I had a quiet day. I decided to move some more items in the apartment. I put the dining table where the blue couch was against the outside wall near the adjacent computer wall oppsite the kitchen entrance. I put the blue couch perpendicular to the day bed on the window wall. I moved the Queen Anne chair against that day bed. I put the mahogany bureau back in the bedroom at the doorway entrance removing the bedroom door. I moved some other minor items too. On Monday I made my 4 P.M. appointment. I returned home, and I did some minor house keeping routines. On Tuesday, I went by the gas station as I recall, and I filled up the car. I did some routine grocery shopping. I made a Tuna alfredo sauce with noodles over the weekend I ate a bit. On Tuesday, I stayed inside most of the day after the snow. I believe on Wednesday, I stopped by a few thrift shops, and I went by Staples and bought a yearly day planner without the inserts for a dollar, and I got the Year 2000 calender for it for $4, and I went over to the Old Greenwich Post Office and mailed it to a relative. I stopped by Old Greenwich CVS and bought a carton of Phillie cigar cigarettes for $15.03 and a jar of planters peanuts. I stopped by Tod's Points and observed the waterfront for a while. I then went by the library and I read for a while. I checked out the videotapes Hackers, Independence Day, and a biography on Queen Elizabeth II video. I also watched a bit of television at home. On Thursday, I made my 3 P.M. appointment. I did some other house keeping routines. On Friday I checked with H.M. computing, and they had not recieved the package. I checked with the post office, and they said it might have gone parcel post by mistake which would mean it would take a week to ten days. I then moved my bookcase out of the kitchen entrance on top of the adjacent window dresser in the bedroom, and I moved the bathroom bookcase on top of the bureau by the bedroom entrance. I moved the bar to the left of the left living room closet. I moved the speakers behind the apartment entrance to the left of the computer table. I moved the brown leather chair facing opposite the computer chair at the entrance in front of the Danish end table I use as an entrance table. I moved the Queen Anne chair underneath the sterio area where the bar was. I moved some pictures and other smaller tables to organize the place. That evening after a speghetti and tomatoe and meat sauce dinner, I started working on trying to use the 486 computer. About 5 A.M. on this past Saturday morning, I was able to get an older 3COM Ethernet II card to work properly by setting it up on IRQ 3. I installed the CDROM driver temporarily from the main broken computer to the older computer. Once I had the 486 online, I installed the Windows 98 second edition update and a number of other downloadable. I set up the Apache server with an appreviated part of my server. I moved the rest of the 486 computer and monitor and stand on the desk in the living room to the right of the main computer and stacked the two CPU on top of each other. I have the 486 going just as fast as the main computer, but since it has a slower CPU and 16 megs of memory, it is not as fast; but still usable. I went to bed a 11 A.M. on this past Saturday morning yesterday, and I was up at 4 P.M.. After one of my usual breakfasts, I cleaned the apartment and I watered the plants. I went out for a walk about 9 P.M. on Saturday evening. I stopped by the Grand Union and I bought the ingredients for another Tuna Alfredo Green noodle mixture which I made when I returned home for dinner. I then watched a bit of television. I had seen the Richard Meyer presentation on Channel 18 earlier in the week on the new J.P. Getty museum. This past evening I watched a special on I.M. Pei. I then from about 2 A.M. this morning. I installed on the 486 Wordperfect 8.0, Microsoft Word 97 plus updates which was a bit difficult because of space limitations. I also installed Norton System Works, and I ran the basic group of utilities to tune up the system. Thus, I have the 486 all set up, until I get the CMOS chip to fix my IBM Cyrix 233. Since the Lan card works on the 486, I will network it with the main computer, and with Windows 98 Second edition, Internet sharing I should be able to run the cable modem off both computers at the same time, but the primary purpose of the 486 will continue to be a back up. I put my old IBM 50th anniversary selectric typewriter on the bedroom desk. I put the Panasonic Office typewriter underneath the living room day bed. Well it is time for bed, and it is possibly suppose to snow in the area this evening. Well have a good day. CIO

Computer Main Server Down:

Note:<888>01/21/00 Friday 4:55 A.M. EST:Well I was up around 3:30 A.M. waking up slowly. It sounds a little blustery out. I am not sure what the weather conditions are yet. I had breakfast of ice tea, vitamins, toast, oat meal, and coffee. I am now using my TOP tabacco papers to roll my own cigarettes with Round Hill and Grand Marnier tabacco, I keep in reserver for pipe smoking. I remember the anology when I lived in certain areas, of the old duffer smoking the pipe was like an Admiral on a Air Craft carrier smoking his corn cob pipe watching the Fly Birds come and go. Well not much happening here. I guess I will start up the Welbilt bread machine and make some more French bread. Have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/20/00 Thursday 8:30 P.M. EST: I went out after the last message. I made my 3 P.M. appointment early and sat around observing the television. I drove down by the waterfront and sat out for a while and observed. I had a Sea Gull sit on the hood of my car and observe me. Not much going on. I parked up town, and I the entire length of Greenwich Avenue for a early evening stroll. I stopped by CVS not much was happening there. I noticed the GAP store is leaving its front door wide open which is against energy regulations. It started to sleet around 6 P.M., do I returned home, and I relaxed a bit. I had the same dinner as last night. I guess I have been awake for a while, so I will go to bed. Have a good evening. CIO

Note:<888>01/20/00 Thursday 1:20 P.M. EST: Well I took a nap, and I was up at 11 A.M.. I had some more of my reheated diner from last night with ice tea. I chatted with a couple of family members. Not much really going on. I will go out and dust off the snow off the car and head out for my 3 P.M. appointment and kill some time downtown. Well have a good afternoon. CIO

Note:<888>01/20/00 Thursday 8:50 A.M. EST: Well not much happening. I relaxed most of the evening. I some of my dinner meal about 6 A.M.. I am rolling my own TOP cigarettes which takes a bit of time, since I enjoy making them near perfect like the old powder cartridges the British forces used in India for their fusselier rifles. Of course you have to know what your doing in this neck of the woods if you don't speak English or French. Well nothing unusal happening as usual. I will try to rest four hours and get up at 1 P.M. for a 3 P.M. appointment. I suppose with the minor snow flurry all the business types won't be going into the city and they're be hobnobbing around Starbucks like Saturday and doing other homebound errands in their GMCs. Well have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/20/00 Thursday 2:10 A.M. EST: I did another part of key Computer maintenance. How to restore a sluggish Microsoft mouse syndrom. I first remove the rolling ball from the mouse by rotating off the retain cover on the bottom of the mouse. I then take a sharp narrow knief like a cheap steak knief, and I carefully carve off the accumulated crud and oils of the rolling bars rotating them around their full circumference. I then take the mouse ball, and I clean it with toilet paper dampened with rubbing alcohol. I then clean the mouse rolling bars with alcohol. I then take the toilet paper dampened with alcohol and clean the entire mouse to remove palm and hand oils build up. I carefully dispose of the cleaning materials, so as not to cause fire hazard or fumes. I then reassemble the mouse, and I have a quick moving fast responsive like new mouse zooming around the mouse pad again. Well that should save you all a few bucks a year. Of course this procedure would probably work on most any other type of computer mouse, but not necessarily on a household mouse. So much for the latest news from the Mouse Palace East . CIO

Note:<888>01/20/00 Thursday 1:40 A.M. EST: Well I stopped by the library and returned some books. I chatted with a few staff. It was a quiet evening there. I went downtown and the satellite trucks were pulling out. I chatted with one local. I walked the lower section of Greenwich Avenue, and a few of the local college kids were out at the Pubs. I returned home, and I relaxed a bit. The NOAA weather warning radio came on about 11 P.M. with the winter storm warning for this Thursday morning and all day of about three to five inches of snow which in my routine, I think I can cope with. I broke the glue arm at one part on the antique reproduction arm chair last night that I use as my computer chair. I have a standard procedure for repairing it when it comes off, but this time it only broke at the lower part not the upper part. I moved it front of the left closet and put the brown leather chair in front of the computer. I then got some Elmers glue, plastic slide through garbage bag ties with arrow type holds, a long cotton swap which I use for cleaning my tape drive with 90% alcohol, a damp cloth, and a couple of paper towels. At the break I seperated the joint about a quarter inch which is all it would give, I then swiped in the Elmers glue, and I joined the break together. I then damped of the excess Elmers glue with the damp cloth and none of it dropped on the upholstery or carpet which I placed the paper towels on. Then I took the plastic arrow like garbage ties and interlaced a couple together at a few notched up and then tightened around the narrower of the round curving joint and slid them tight and then pushed them down over the wider part of the rounded arm to secure it. I repeated this procedure with four bands securing the glued arm back together tightly and secure until it drys again in 24 hours and it should look like a uniform joined joint on a broken piece of furniture again. I accidently sat on the arm when I was moving around the computer. This is the third time recently in about ten years, I have done the same procedure on the chair. I then relaxed a bit. I am running out of cigar cigarettes, so I a partial package and a full pack of TOP tabacco and rolling paper along with a month's supply of two year old aged in the freezer Cavandish tabacco which is the Round Hill and Grand Marnier blend 50/50 blend at the Greenwich tabcconist. Thus if I run out of the cigarette form of tabacco, I have plenty of smokeable pipe tabacco in reserver for a half dozen small bowls or more a day. Not much else happening in this neck of the woods. I guess when all the big spenders from the south felt this cold weather 20 degrees F. right now and got wind of a little snow, they had to move their aircraft to warmer locations for more convenience maintenance and storage. Thus this the nature of living in one location for the Four Seasons. Not much else to report. Have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/19/00 Wednesday 8:00 P.M. EST: Well I went out after the last message. I stopped by the Hospital Thrift shop and it is pretty well picked over. I noticed they were sending out their non needed donations to the Latvian Society again. I then drove by CVS and bought a pack of Hav-A-Tampa cigar cigarettes for $1.69. I drove down the Avenue and parked around the senior center. There were about fifiteen national media news satellite trucks covering the squirrel that lives at one of the trees at the Senior Center and gives pretty accurate weather information if you follow its pattern. It is rumoured that squirrels migrate. I walked on down the Avenue and I stopped by Zyns. I stopped by the other Indian news stand, and I chatted with a surveyor about East Coast environmental concerns and observations. I walked on down the Avenue, and a few people were waiting for the train at the train station. I stopped by the French sports shop Euro Chase and said hello to them. I stopped by Richards and look at the architects renderings of the new building they're building across the street. I stopped by the Post Office and studied the Wanted Posters. I sat out in the Post Office plaza for a while. I returned to my can and noticed all the news trucks were still there. I drove down by the Harbor and chatted with one long time harbor resident. I noticed there is a lot more Sea Gull crap on the pier than usual, so I guess during the colder time of the year when there are less tourists, the Sea Gulls have taken over the stone wharf for their sanitation needs. I returned uptown, I stopped by the Greenwich Library. I read the local paper, and viewed the new book selections. I chatted with a few regular patrons. I advised one Greenwich Times researcher, he should do more research on the natural watershed of Greenwich. There were the usual group of students and other users in the library. I then headed home. I boiled up a box of Green Spinich noodles. While I was boiling the water, I cubed the remain shell steak removing large pieces of fat. I cleaned and diced eight cloves of garlic, and I diced two medium onions. I also removed the French bread from the bread machine which was done. I sauteed in about four tablespoons of olive oil in my cast iron skillet the steak cubes, garlic, and onion adding five pads of margerine and ground pepper. Once the steak was browned and the onions were beginning to turn clear, I added a jar of Ragu Alfredo sauce, and then I filled the jar half full white wine and shook it to remove the remain sauce and added it to the pan. I stirred it around. I then added good portions of Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, and garlic powder and smaller portions of celery salt, Hungarian pepperica, and Chinese Five spice and mixed it all up. I simmered it for the twelve minutes it took to cook the Spinich noodles. I then drained the spinich noodles and added them to my large plastic mixing bowl and poured on the Alfredo meat sauce and mixed it all together and added a quarter cup of Parmesian cheese and mixed it more. I have a bowl of it for dinner with a slice of French bread with margerine and ice tea. After doing the dishes, I had a cup of Cappacino and relaxed a bit. I have some books to return to the library, so I guess I will go out for a while. Also last night when I installed Corel Wordperfect 8, it installed Microsoft Messenging Service which messed up Outlook 98 which I fixed by running Outlook 98 setup and just doing the Update Newer Files feature. All systems are go on the computer. I also noticed in the Greenwich Times today about six people are advertising for nannies. Well have a good evening. CIO

Note:<888>01/19/00 Wednesday 2:10 P.M. EST: Well I went to bed at 8 A.M. this morning. I was up at noon. It is 28 degrees F. outside right now. I checked my mail, just more computer stuff. I had breakfast of oatmeal with sugar, margerine, milk and cinnemon, the last of my orange juice, the last of my bread for toast, and coffee which I have about a three month supply of. I started the Welbilt bread machine to make the French Bread 2 recipie which should be done in a while. I called up the Wyndham Casa Marina in Key West, Florida yesterday. It was 72 degrees down there. There number is 1-800-626-0777 . They told me they still have non waterview rooms available for Sailboat Race week the third week of January for about $265 a night. There web page is Wyndham Casa Marina - Resort and Beach House - Key West, Florida . I lived in the Casa Marina during the winter of 1978 while it was under restoration by the "End of the Road Construction Company" along with about 250 stray cats and a friend whom like cats. I guess it is a little better fixed up now. I suppose they got rid of all the terransulas and other nasty creep crawlers that the cats use to keep track of. I never saw one myself, but I suppose there could be and aligator or crocodile in the sealed up Cystern of the Casa Marina just lurking there. One Floridian here told me, you can also buy breakfast in Clearwater, Florida for $2. Well so much for Florida dreaming. I noticed when I was up in North Haven, Connecticut yesterday at the Taft office complex where H.M. computing is, they have a UPS warehouse terminal there, and across the street from the Taft office complex, I think I remember seeing a New England Clock Company either factory or factory outlet. I suppose there might be other interesting manufacturing businesses at that location like a great many other locations in New England. Well since I live 100 feet give or take from the New England boarder with New York State, I guess I should get out after I clean up and do some boarder patrol. Well have a good afternoon. CIO

Note:<888>01/19/00 Wednesday 7:30 A.M. EST: I went to bed after the last message, and I had a phone call shortly thereafter from a family member. I got up at 1 A.M.. I tweaked the system checking drivers and added on accesory programs and checked my network settings. I enabled the USB port. I installed WordPerfect Suite 8 and the downloadable upgrade from www.coral.com. I also enabled it with Dragon Dictate. I ran Norton Win Doctor. I did a C: drive to D: drive backup. The computer system is running just fine as good as ever. I also reset the cables so the LCD lights and the reset button work properly on the new computer case. I had some Ramen noodles about 6 A.M., and then I had some Microwave popcorn. I chatted with a friend. I watched a little bit of morning television during the backup. Yesterday I recieved a Danish calender from a Danish computer friend which looks nice on my refrigertor door and has picture of older Danish art. Well not a lot else happening. It was 10 degrees F. on the outside thermomter this morning. The weather man said it is more like 4 degrees F. The hallways in my building and the community room are about 50 degrees which is uncomfortable for the tenants, however my apartment is warm and comfortable but as usual slightly drafty. I guess I will get some more rest and stay inside. Have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/18/00 Tuesday 9:25 P.M. EST: Sunday night after the last message, I logged onto the SIS site in Taiwan and downloaded the latest SIS driver for my S-571 motherboard, and the patch to make it work with Windows 98. I then did something that was stupid, I tried installing the M571LMR bios from www.pcware.com to see if it would work on my motherboard. It entirely messed up the system, so I did not get anything on the monitor when I booted. I spent all night trying to figure out what the problem was. I check at H.M. Computing www.hmcomp.com in Hamden, Ct. where I bought the motherboard, and they said it would be best to replace the motherboard. I checked around on Monday morning. I had Ramen noodles and tuna salad sandwich for dinner in the morning. I went to bed about noon. I was up in the early evening for a while and made a few phone calls. I went back to bed, and I was up at about midnight. It was zero degrees out. I had breakfast Tuesday morning of three soft boiled eggs, toast, coffee, vitamins, and orange juice. I went out to CVS in Riverside about 2 A.M. after bundling up and bought three packs of Phillie light cigar cigrettes for $4.26 with the .25 off coupons. I came back home, and I relaxed and I slept from 4 A.M. to 8 A.M.. I had mid day meal of boneless broiled shell steak, steamed frozen peas, Ramen noodles, ice tea and coffee. I relaxed around in the morning until noon when the mail came. I recieved a calender from a Computer pal in Denmark. I also recieved some computer CDs from Texas. I stopped by Putnam Trust Bank of New York on Mason street. I went by Exxon and bought $15.50 in premium. I then drove up to North Haven, Connecticut about fifty miles each way in light traffic on a cold day. I was happy to see Ming for the first time in two years at HM Computing www.hmcomp.com . I bought the same version newer motherboard Socket 7 M571LMR for $88 with the accessory cables and parts and the installation CD. Also I bought a Generic Mini Mid tower AT case with power supply for $20, the USB Port adaptor for the motherboard for $10 and a P5 processor cooling fan for $8 plus $7.56 tax for $133.56 total. I big adieu to Ming and told him I might pay him another visit in about a year, if I felt I needed to upgrade to another system which would be for $300 in processor and motherboard not to mention the possible headache. I returned to Greenwich in light traffic about 3:30 P.M. about a 103 mile round trip. I then started tranfering the contents of the old computer case to the new case working on my dining room table. I followed the manual and the entire procedure of setting up the new motherboard with the existing parts took about five hours until I was back online again. I first transfered the drives and their cables. I then follow the new motherboard manual and it was pretty much straight forward for me, since I am familiar with the board. However the new motherboard has much better onboard sound which I am using, on board LAN connection for a second in addition to my recently puchased PCI Lan card. Ming recommended that I not use the onboard LAN since it can cause overheating. I did set it up though. It has the same onboard 4 megs of VGA memory, onboard 56,000 VFP baud modem and FAX, one serial and one LPT port onboard, and when I first tested the system it did not work, since I misplugs the VGA connector which quickly fixed. Plug and pray recognized the new accessories. I also set up the CMOS for my existing drives and Plug and Play processor setup in the CMOS for my existing IBM/Cyrix 233. I forgot to enable the USB port which I will do later, and the same card has a PS2 mouse port and PS2 IR port, and two USB connectors. After setting up the CMOS and diabling antivirus protection, plug and play took me through the procedures of installing the new configuration and it was all simple and straight forward with the motherboard CDroma and Windows 98 Second Edition Cdrom. I tweaked a few sound settings, and the over all system was back online at 8:30 P.M. running better than ever. I made a quick phone call to let somebody know I was back online. Basically everything is up to date and runnning fine in the system, and except for the IBM Cyrix 233 processor which is two years old. I did not have to reinstall the operating system or reconfigure or install software, since it is basically the same motherboard, but unfortunately it uses a different BIOS which caused the original problem. As an added bonus the new M571LMR Cdrom also came with Wordperfect 8.0 Suite which I will install later. I put items back in order in the apartment, and I guess it is about time to have a bit to eat. Well have a good evening. CIO

Note:<888>01/16/00 Sunday 8:20 P.M. EST: Well I had a Tony's frozen pepperoni pizza with ice tea after the last message, and I then went to bed until about 6:30 P.M.. I got up and watched the ABC evening news. I had breakfast of oatmeal, with a teaspoon of sugar, a couple pads of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter", and cinnemon along with two slices of toast as usual with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" pads, a 12 oz. glass of orange juice as usual, and I am now drinking a cup of coffee. It seems to be cold out which is not unusual for this time of year. Well there is not happening on this side of the pond, so I suppose after I clean up, I might shower and clean up, and go out for a breath of fresh air. Well have a good evening. CIO

Note:<888>01/16/00 Sunday 10:20 A.M. EST: I started the tape backup when I went to bed yesterday afternoon, and when I woke up at about 10 P.M., it had failed. I restarted it, and then I had breakfast of three soft boiled eggs, toast, orange juice, coffee, and vitamins. I then fixed the Pelican and Pink Flamingo audubon prints, so they are alligned properly in their frame. I put the picture behind the bedroom door. I put an orange and gold frame mirror in their place behind the blue sofa. I put the shield of Pall Mall on the bedroom door. I read the back issues of the Greenwich Post and the last issues I will recieve of Interactive Week. I also checked out a book by the Audubon organization that I took time out to view their bird pictures and other natural wild life photos. I rest from about 2 A.M. to 4 A.M.. When the tape backup finished it did not write its header, so I had to restart it again, this time doing a seperate C: drive and E: drive backups. I had a tuna sandwich with Clementines. I rested a bit more, and I channel surfed a bit. I finally got the C: and E: drive backups, and I restarted the server. Well it is sort of a gloomy day, so I guess I will catch up on the internet news. Have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 3:15 P.M. EST: I went to bed after the last message, and I got up at 11 A.M.. I went out and I stopped by the Hospital Thrift Shop. I drove down by the harbor and viewed the Sound. I stopped by the Greenwich Library and read the local paper. I chatted with a Greenwich resident whom had come up from Florida to visit, and he said he was cold and going back down there. I went downtown. I help a visitor jump start their car with the aid of an adjacent parker and two sets of jumper cables. I stopped by the Mews Thrift shop, and they have a $7,500 custom built large 8' by 4.5' pine table for $1,500. I sat out at the Post Office plaza for a while. I then drove back down by the harbor. They are doing major excavation work in the parking lot of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club. I returned home. I made some Pasta Pesto with the remaining Ziti noodles and I had that with ice tea. I had some Twinnings Earle Grey tea with honey. I chatted with a family member. I am just about to start a full tape backup of the system, so the server will be down for a while I do it and sleep. Have a good afternoon. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 8:55 A.M. EST: I had some Ramen noodles and Angostora terriaki sauce along with a crunchy peanut butter sandwich and ice tea. I moved the oil filled radiator in front of the blue sofa next to the computer for a little more heat. I read the Greenwich Post. I guess I will take a nap until the mail comes after 11 A.M.. Have a good morning. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 7:20 A.M. EST: I downloaded and ran http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/default.asp The Microsoft Windows 2000 Readiness Analyser, and it produced this report ms2000upgrade.txt . I also set the the last six cache settings in my CMOS I believe for video from inactive to cached works, but it does not seem to make a difference. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 5:45 A.M. EST: Just for the heck of it, I reinstalled my BIOS from www.pcware.com for the S-571 motherboard, bios version 4/21/99 "000421s.rom". Well not much else happening. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 4:15 A.M. EST: Well I went out and I drove down by the harbor, not much happening. I parked downtown, and I walked the lower section of Greenwich Avenue. The Sundown saloon was cleaning up. I noticed that they were moving furniture at Best and Company. I walked up the Avenue, and I sat out briefly at the top of the Avenue. I walked west on Putnam Avenue. I noticed where the old Paradise cafe is, they're building a new facility with a low cieling I guess for short people. I noticed across the street at Harvey Accoustics where they sell the expensive Audio equipment, they have a sale on. They have a Harvey Accoustic jass Cdrom you can buy which they play out on the street that sound pretty good. I will check in the day time to see if they give away a free sample of it. I stopped by Kinkos and as usual they are open all night. I chatted with one employee and another employee returned to the shop from a coffee break. I walked back down the Avenue, and I said good morning to one of the proprieters of the Coffee Tree which was setting up for their morning opening. They have good Columbian coffee and other South American coffees there. I bought my Braun Cappacino machine at the summer sidewalk sales there about a year and a half ago for $40 off from $170. They have a large assorment of pastries they bring in there during the early morning hours. I returned back down the Avenue, and they were still moving at Best and Company. I noticed while down at the train station that the new Omni Fitness shop next to the train station entrance still has asbestos on the cieling rafters. I guess all the stores and movie theatrie and lobby at the Greenwich Train station must have an asbestos problem. I then drove back down by the harbor. A couple of homes as usual had their night lights on. I returned home and I filed this report. Not much happening on a quiet night. It is 15 degrees farenheit out, and there is not wind. Well have a good morning. I wore my Icelandic knit ski cap and leather gloves along with long john bottoms, but I should have worn a turtle neck with my flannel shirt and heavy sweater and parka. The headlines in the saturday Greenwich Times are that the Holly Hill transfer station dump still has obnoxious odors according the state agency investigating the dump. CIO

Note:<888>01/15/00 Saturday 2:20 A.M. EST: I rested until 10 P.M., and I got up and I cleaned the apartment and watered the plants. I listened to George H. W. Bush on Cspan. I also listened to the BBC on the internet. I had the rest of the speghetti sauce and some Ziti noodles. I have extra frozen containers of speghetti sauce in the freezer. I cleaned up, and I guess I guess I will go out for a breath of fresh air. Well have a good morning. It is 20 degrees Farenheit this morning at the present. I also put the TV tables behind the bathroom door for easier storage. Not much happening. CIO