Still PC-less

Back again in CR. The trip home was all too short, but it was greatcatching up with everyone. I just wish I had more time.

Mrs. O'Connor
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Well, the wedding went brilliantly. I arrived down to Cashel Bay in the damp and drizzle that you expect for Connemara. Later, it got worse and the rain was beating against the windows. Incredibly, there was a total transformation on the Monday. It was a scorcher. And nowhere in the world can beat the west of Ireland when you have the weather. The weather was beautiful and Sharon was stunning. She's now Mrs. O'Connor (I keep thinking of that butter ad with the GrimReaper).

Lone voyager
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As most of you who met up with us over the week know, Jack has decided to stay on in Ireland for a while. He never really settled in over here. He feels CR is a good holiday destination, but not a place he'd like to live. So the plan is for him to stay on in Ireland for the moment, get a job, and head back here in the new year for another stint.

Thursday night
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I can't tell you how delighted I was to meet up with so many of you in the Forum on Thursday night. It was brilliant. The only downside was that it meant I had so little time to catch up with people individually. Rest assured that I will never travel home for only a week in the future, so I will have more time to catch up. However, it was brilliant to meet everyone and catch up, however briefly. Thanks for coming in, one and all. One thing that was mentioned again and again was how the weekly email is part of so many people's Monday mornings. Cue immediate guilt for the amount of times I've missed the deadline through busy weekends. So I promise to make more of an effort in the future. Apologies that I'm saying this on a 'Wednesday' delivery week (see ongoing computer problems below).

Ireland
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I guess you have to be away from Ireland for a while to really appreciate it. It was great to see Dublin, Galway and Clare (and everywhere in between) on the visit. The weather was great, and sure you can't beat Ireland with the weather. Although it seemed cold at first, I think this was just that Friday WAS cold. There were no problems the rest of the week. Also, I miss the long summer evenings so much. I know you all feel the evenings closing in at this time of the year, but you have many hours on us. 6pm and it's dark. All year round. The other thing I really noticed was the obvious wealth. The expensive cars, the amount of people in shops and restaurants. The amount of road building going on. The shocking prices! It's quite a contrast to here!

Hope recedes
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The story with the PC is a little like being a sailor on a Russian submarine. Time is running out and hope is fading fast. Thanks to those of you who have come back with suggestions. However, it seems to be a big problem. I've tried all manner of CHKDSK and FIXBOOT instructions to no avail. I've tried accessing it from a Linux live-CD. I've been travelling around Heredia and San Jose trying to get people to help. I'm meeting a guy in San Jose tomorrow who has particular expertise in laptops, so I'm hoping. But without optimism at this stage. I know that I can reformat the disk, and reinstall everything, but at the cost of losing everything too. I hope this is a lesson to you all. Learn from my misfortune and avoid having it yourself. The amount of times I made a mental note to investigate the options to backup the laptop now that there are gigabytes of data on it, especially since all Jack's music went on. But I just never got around to it. I felt that the only real threats were from viruses. I now have an external hard drive for backup. I've learnt my lesson, so if I could just get the data back as a slight forgiveness it would be fantastic.

So it's all go, go, go here, rescuing PCs and slaving away in the school. I'm legal again (but just for a month!).