WarFlail's Archives - March 1999

Go to WarFlail's Archives - April 1999

Still no hard disk. It's been two weeks now... :-( In the meantime, I continue to make updates to this website via my notebook computer.

I picked up a Liebert PowerSure ProActive 350VA UPS from my dealer (Howe Solutions) for A$295. I am treating this as insurance against future power failures (and hard disk crashes as a result of them).

Still no sign of the replacement hard disk. :-( I went over to my dealer's place and he put everything else together for me (the new CPU, motherboard and case arrived earlier in the week) and it all works fine - I'm particularly relieved that the 128MB of 66MHz SDRAM I ported across from the old motherboard works without any trouble on this machine. But without a C: drive, the computer is essentially just a non-functioning metal box...

I refuse to let a hard disk failure ruin my day, so I've taken the opportunity to upgrade my computer - after all, the fault may be within the motherboard or even the case itself rather than the power supply. :-) For A$560, I am upgrading my main PC from a P166MMX (overclocked to 200MHz) with an Asus TX97 motherboard and mini-tower case to a Celeron 333MHz with an Asus P2B motherboard and AOpen LX45 mid-tower case. Later on, I will buy PC-100 SDRAM for the Celeron, transfer the original RAM back into the P166MMX, then use the old PC as a server. Sticking to a Slot 1 Celeron is probably a good idea, since the P2B will allow me to upgrade to a Pentium III one day (when they become affordable!).

Argh! My primary hard disk crashed today! It clunked out during mid-write when the power must have dipped. In a single instant, I permanently lost over 5 gigabytes of data. :-( Fortunately, I had backups of my most important documents and spreadsheets, but I still lost hundreds of megabytes of scans and games. The HD (a Quantum Fireball ST 6.4GB) is still under warranty, at least, so I will see my dealer tomorrow about getting a replacement drive asap.

It's my 30th birthday today! I can hardly believe it - it didn't seem all that long ago when thirty seemed impossibly far away. Anyway, to celebrate my "coming of age", I held a cocktail party last night. The party was excellent, about 30 people turned up at various times in the evening. One of the highlights of the party was the opening and consumption of a 20-year old bottle of Western Australian red wine (1979 Leeuwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon for you wine buffs out there) - to my great relief, the wine tasted magnificent!

I've returned from a short (three-day) holiday in Sydney with my wife. There was so much to do in that great city - there's no way that we could see more than just the city centre itself in the short time we were there. Although the 1999 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade took place on Saturday night, we couldn't get very close to the festivities because the streets were absolutely packed with onlookers. I did take a few photos, but it was too dark so they didn't come out well.

One of the highlights of our stay was the BridgeClimb. We climbed up to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and - despite the wet weather - we were treated to an exhilirating view. I thoroughly recommend it!

Go to WarFlail's Archives - February 1999

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