May the force be with you mate.

I never had an issue with boot manager or CMOS seeing it in the near 8 months I've had it... not until Friday afternoon: when it effing-well died without warning. 

However, it's funny you mention how some Seagate drives have issues with the 'boot manager missing'... the new 500 gig I got didn't show the new installation of Vista Home Premium in the boot preferences screen.  Luckily, I was still able to boot up cos I had changed Win 7 to the default OS/it's HDD to first boot when the previous drive died   Anyhow, I fixed it by installing a 3rd party boot manager proggie and added the new OS that way... once detected I removed the app and I'm in business.

Yeah, I'll look into it... who knows, I might be able to save myself a bit of cash if I can get it running again and/or retrieve the data.  Funny thing is, when I disconnect/reconnect the powere adapter, I can hear it firing up and physically running... so that would suggest the platters are fine and rather that it's a circuitry thing. 

Oh well. I'll soon find out.

For sure, losing yours the way you did would have sent me ballistic and looking for blood.  Sadly, we're on opposite sides of the World, otherwise I'd have loaned you my spare rig until you could replace yours.... which hopefully will be very soon now.  While it can be useful in the short term to access reference materials, etc, it'd have to be a pain in the arse having to go out to use public machines in libraries and the like on a daily or regular basis  So here's hoping you're soon set up again with a rig of your very own again

     I've taken to heart some of the things said in the forums of late. Going to Best Buy or Staples, where I bought my last machine and paying nearly $800.00 for it, I thought was a pretty good deal. The original price $999.99. It was discounted because that particular model had been discontinued. It was a decent rig. HP Pavilion with 2 gigs of ram, 400 gig SATA HD, Intel dual core processor at 2.66 gigahertz that could be safely overclocked at 3.01 gigahertz. Could have upgraded to 4 gigs of ram, installed a second HD, in this case it would have been my XP drive which is a standard ATA at 250 gigs. Took the power supply from 250W to a cool 500W easily. Even had an external HD at 300 gigs plus a 19" Hi-Def widescreen LCD.

     Anyway...next one is by the piece. The mobo, processor, video and audio cards (no cheap shit). Not going to do a RAID setup I don't think because the dual boot is more to my liking. I won't give up my XP but I don't want Vista again. I'll go with Win7. I like doing custom builds. I'm looking into ways to build a custom case with 1/4 inch smoked plexi. I know a ground plane is needed for obvious reasons. That's no problem. An aluminum plate as a base, four supports and a frame up top is all that's needed. Front cover, sides and rear cover are all smoked plexi. This is not a tower or it could be...I don't know yet. I'm still running it through my head.  

Look at Newegg.com first, buddy!

They're one helluva lot cheaper in most cases!

I know...that's what I meant by taking things to heart. The kind of rig I had probably would have cost me like 4 or 5 bills as opposed to close to a thousand. I never knew Newegg existed prior to coming to WC. I figure I could build a decent rig for say 8 bills and get a lot of bang for my buck. I paid a lot of attention to the prices quoted in some threads. I was very impressed.

After recovery I reformatted disk and it has never crashed since but I no longer trust it really and don't use firewire for backups and storage either.

Yeah, I had a look but don't think it'll be the tool for the job, well not for me anyway.... the trial only allows you to preview files but not save them, and 2 reviewers say it is painfully slow, not worth the money.  Thanks for the link/thought, however,  but I'll look elsewhere, I think.

I just hate it when sh!tty things happen to really good people.

I'm frustrated. The last start panel, though I liked it, was all over the place. No telling how it would it have sized for different folks. In case you haven't noticed, I was trying to capture the 'retro advertising' look with the odd shapes. Keeping it in line with the 'atomic curried cabbage' idea.

I redid the start panel and made it more workable while still trying to keep the theme.  Let me know what you think. I 2want to get this part right before I move on. SOrry for the delay. Back and shoulders acting up againa nd they got me on new meds. But this is my only project until I complete it.

Looks good Po!

I like the left one more, the colors are really in keeping with the font and retro/deco look.

I think the buttons on the task bar would look better upside down...more like a 'brown bowl'.

I'm sorry about the shoulders/back, Po'. But you know that.

And I hate it when people do shitty things.

If the manufacturer hadn't kept my external drive overseas for six months and not sent it back with the issue unresolved, I'd have moved on sooner and would have had a new external drive for my backups months ago, meaning I would not have the issue of having to recover data from a sick or terminal HDD.

So yeah, I hate it when people do shitty things... like it takes 6 months to decide to do nothing! 

Won't buy any of their crap again.

Yup, still looks good and in keeping with the theme idea... I like it. 

I hear ya, Po`.  I too suffer with neck, back and shoulder pain (hips and knees as well) so I know what it's like to have days when things don't come together so well because of it. Worse still, due to a big gov't hullabaloo about prescription drugs, I'm having difficulty finding a doctor these days who will prescribe halfway decent pain relief... paracetamol as best offer is hardly adequate, but that's another story.

So anyway, go at your own speed and don't worry about taking your time with this, there are no deadlines and we appreciate your efforts in difficult circumstances.

Great. The people who need my help live impossibly far away, starkers being treated with a med better used to break a fever. Paracetamol is Tylenol. That's all they can do? Well that's pathetic. Truly pathetic. Hope that SOB falls into my hands someday. I'll give him a few lessons in pain management, Mark.

Now I hear my other son will be moving to Israel. With an Ahmadinejad in the world. Perfect.

Yup, it's pathetic orright... I might just as well be popping M&M's.  I also suffer with restless leg syndrome and muscle cramps at night when trying to sleep... I used to be able to get Antenex (a derivative of Valium) to help with that, but not any more. Instead I get told to walk more... yeah, right, being that I'm often mobility challenged due to chronic back and hip pain, I have more chance of moving mountains.  Besides, I used to suffer with restless legs back when I was still reasonably active, so it's more likely the result a nuerological condition caused by spinal issues.

Just like every other scumbag who wanted to stay in power, rigged the vote so he couldn't lose... even though he most likely did.  I see civil war erupting there soon if he doesn't use his Republican Guards to wipe out all those who are against him, which is likely, so it'll be overtones of Saddam Hussein all over again.  Israel is pretty adept at looking after itself, so hopefully your son(s) will be safe.

I'll get it done.

In April they told me vicodin and oxycontin were the wrong meds for my pain. So they started me on neurontin. 45 days into it I started stuttering like a fool. SO they stopped it...cold..and started lyrica..which they stopped cold after 7 days and started me on topomax and tramidol. And JOY of JOY..I go for a double nerve block this Thursday.  The last two nerve blocks took me 36 hours to get over. I am SO looking forward to the double.

  ..did you by any chance tick the box that said 'Volunteer for medical experiments'..?

wow...

I'm sorry to hear you're going through so much Po. My father suffered with back pains so bad he could barely walk. He had to go once every three months for spinal taps to draw excess fluid out of his back. Not something you'd want to look forward to. As he explained it the pain from the tap was excruciating. I have a bad back but nowhere near that severe. Mine derived from a pinched sciatic nerve on my left side. That in itself was bad enough. Hope it gets better for you and starkers...I feel you dude. No one should have to put up with such nonsense. Feel better you guys.

I like the blind as it's coming along. I agree that the brown boxes should be inverted. Sort of like a repository for...ahem...barks lol

I like the idea of bowls. I have to experiment and see how it would work.

Bowls or Bowels?

Tim strikes from the sea!

@syd...Truth? Every attempt at a treatment is, in effect, an experiment....hopefully based on knowledge and experience.

I'm hoping Po' sees more success than he has in the past. At least they're trying...

@ starkers:

Best treatment? Mirapex or Ropinarole....starts really low dose at supper, then increasing until symptoms disappear....or you turn into a radish.

My doctor told me I had Restless Legs Syndrome waaaaaayyyyy back and I'd never heard of it then and actually thought he was kidding me! It sounded so made up, you know? Then, about 15 years later they told me I have Degenerative Disc Disease (the ole DDD) and as it got worse I noticed the tingle went from my back down my legs. So, now I'm wondering if the two might be connected. I don't take anything for it. Aleave once in awhile. I used to have a lot of artheritis in my hip from a fall. It got to the point I couldn't walk all the way through the grocery store. But then, five years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and let me tell you, it was everywhere, even in my bone marrow. And one of the drugs they gave me in chemo was called Rituxin and you know, it got rid of the pain! It hardly ever hurts now and nowhere near as bad. And I see they have ads now for using it for artheritis. They must have had a lot of cancer patients saying how it helped.

...............

Heck, I forgot what the point of this post was now! Damn!

'Trying'???????

Sigh.

I called them when the stuttering started. I 'stuttered' the problem to a 'nurse practitioner' who put me on hold to relay it to the doctor. She then told me told me to come by (it was 4:15pm) to get a 'free' sample of lyrica. I got there at 5:55. The sample was a 'card' for a free sample. I get to the pharmacy. They can't fill it because there is no perscription to go with it. I call the now 'closed' doctors office. The answering service listens to me stutter out the problem. They say the will have the doctor on call contact me. 20 minutes later MY doc calls. The one who has been giving me the shots every three months for three years and perscribed vicodin, oxycontin, toradol, avinza, and neurontin...and now lyrica.

'What's the problem?'

stutter stutter

"Excuse me..have you always had this stutter?"

stutter stutter stutter

"I see. And what are you taking again?"

stutter

"How many times a day?"

stutter

"Are you taking anything else?"

stutter = 'No, because you told me NOT to. That the other meds you had me on were not for my pain"

"Oh. Well, you should take them if you're in pain."

stutter

"Well, I'm in my car. Stop the neurontin.."

stutter stutter

"You shouldn't stop it cold turkey, you're right. But that stutter isn't good."

stutter

"I will phone the lyricas in to the pharmacy in the morning."

stutter

I get the lyrica the next day. I take it that night. I don't sleep. All the pain is back. And now there is new pain. The doc's office calls. Tammy, the N.P. wants me to come in a week from yesterday.

I go in. The stutter is gone. The pain is back and surreal. Tammy comes in. "How are you?"

"I've lost 20 pounds in the past week. All I want to do is sleep. I hurt.."

"Where?"

"Look at the little pictures you had me mark."

"There are X's every where>"

"Right. I also ran two red lights yesterday and I can't sleep or concentrate."

"Maybe we need to double the dose on the lyrica'"

"I can't. I won't. I can't."

"Well, you're chart says you had your last shot in January. Maybe it's time..."

"April. I had it in April."

Waving the page in my face. "It says here it was January."

"April."

She leaves and the doctor comes in. Wearing his lead apron cause he has the conveyor belt of pain going today. We go over it all again. Tammy comes back.

"I need pain meds that work. I have a friend who tried this patch..."

"No."

Tammy says, again, it's been since January...I say April. The doc confirms April. Tammy waves the chart at him. Tammy must die.

I ask about an implant that 2..TWO people I know have had success with. Now, I am alreay being told I am too young for surgery. After my last visit in April, when I was told this again, it occured to me...I have 20 MORE YEARS of this shit to look forward to.

The doc says...of the implant..."It's not a cure. You could never get another MRI once it's in. AND...to be blunt, it costs $20,000 and the insurance company will never approve it until you have tried everything else....

wait for it....

including surgery..which you are too young to have"

"I see. So what do I do about this pain I am in."

"Tell you what.." he looks at Tammy..."Let's get him in here next week." Turns to me "And we'll do a double nerve block."

I bite my tongue to keep the tears from rolling out my eyeballs. The thought of the needles...the 'bee stings'..now there will be multiple...and then the cramps and aches as he injects me and I feel it in my groin, legs, toes..the pressure..all doubled this time. Not being ablke to walk for two days because it will all hurt and ache and not want to move..all doubled. He also adds that he will start me on topomax and tramidol..one for the pain and one for the headaches. He leaves with Tammy. A minute later someone new comes in with my instructions for the double nerve block. As she reads them, Tammy comes back with the headache script. I ask 'What about the pain medicine?"

"This is for pain."

"No, this is for the migraines."

"It's for both."

"No, he said one for the headaches and one for the pain."

"Have you ever tried something or other"

"What is that?"

"It's for depression."

"No."

"Have you taken anything for depression?"

"No."

"Never?"

"No"

"Maybe.."

"No. You see, the last doctor that went that route said there was nothing wrong with me. A month later I was having an emergency spinal fusion when I became suddenly paralized TWICE from the waist down.. A year later, a second doctor ..a pain management doctor said there was nothing wrong with me. When I begged for a mylogram he rolled his eyes and said fine but it will show nothing and I will be on anti-depressants."

"What happened with that?"

"It showed severe stinosis at the other end of my spine and he rolled his eyes and sent me here where I have been coming for the past three years to get nerve blocks and epidorals. So do not try to give me anti depressants. Get rid of my pain and I won't be depresed."

"I will have the doctor phone something in before he goes."

"Thank you"

Thing is, are those prescription drugs or can they be bought over the counter??  You see, all the doctors locally are (and this is not a racial gripe/slur) Indians who are most reluctant to prescribe anything... unless it's an antibiotic for a persistent infection or something.  Dunno if it's a cultural thing (natural healing and all that) but it's nigh on impossible to get one to write a prescription these days.

I have tried numerous times to get an appointment with other doctors slightly outside my local area, but that has been a waste of my time and money (phone calls) because none have been taking on new patients... not unless they're loaded/cashed up, which I'm not. And let's not go there with medical insurance... because of pre-existing conditions, the premiums would price me out of a roof over my head and food on the table. 

I am dependent on a more public system that's in total disarray and has specialists waiting lists in public hospitals running into years.  If it were not so serious it'd be laughable... for example; I have been waiting 3 years to see a urologist, and last week I got a letter from 'outpatients' to say that I had been taken off the list, as per my request.  I requested no such thing... it was a damned pencil pusher who decided to smudge the figures and shorten the list to show the hospital is coping well and doesn't need more doctors and/or nurses.  And with the harshest state budget in history being handed down this afternoon, things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better... if they ever do.

Faith in the system... what effing system???  If whacky tobaccy didn't make me ill, I'd resort to that for pain relief and forget about it. 

Anyhow, enough of that.... it's time for a bowl of curried cabbage.  Hehe, maybe if I close up all the windows and doors I can remain in a constant state of euphoria from the bi-product and feel pain free...

or at least not notice/care as much.

Po'...check your pm...sorry...had to lie down for a min...and just woke up. I have a rather large herniated disk and after 3 plus hrs trip to see another group of patients and supper, I fell asleep... . Thankfully, I don't require pain meds. Just a little rest.

starkers-  

"Dunno if it's a cultural thing (natural healing and all that) but it's nigh on impossible to get one to write a prescription these days."

At the risk of sounding culturally insensitive....rubbish. They're supposed to treat your pain. You are the patient. The one who's suffering. If they refuse to do so, inquiries should be made as to the propriety of their practice. As for the rest? Well, we've spoken in the past, and if people weren't getting hurt, I'd think it was a Laurel and Hardy routine. Same with Po'. Sounds like Abbot and Costello's "Who's on first..." routine. Again...I'm not laughing. Not at all. Quite the opposite.

I can only wish either I was there, or you here. Both of you.

As bad as our system is, that crap wouldn't have happened to you...never has to any of my patients. And I've never let a patient go with Tylenol and transcendental meditation. What utter tripe.

From my point of view, you are totally correct.  However, I get the argument: "But I am the doctor here, and I know what is best for you... and I am telling you that those drugs will do you more harm than good."  Or words to that effect.  One time, I showed one of these doctors an X-ray of my neck showing 5 vertebrae with no disc between them, just bone rubbing on bone, and he had the audacity to tell me that I need to stop thinking about it, that if I focus on other things it will almost completely go away.

Needless to say, it was a once only visit and I didn't go back to him... not that the next one was any better.  He kept telling me that the government had cracked down and placed restrictions on various medications I had asked for, that he would get into trouble with the health authorities for prescription abuse if he prescribed them to me.  They are drugs for which I have a Federal Government authority for, but he argued that the state law applied and refused treatment.  Instead he offered me a referral to counseling... end of story.

Trouble is, there are only 3 local doctors surgeries/clinics, and all 3 are manned by Indians who refuse to prescribe medication, it seems, other than anti-boitics. A coincidence?  Perhaps not! Upon consulting the 3rd doctor, he told me told that he'd only prescribe medications if I'd had them before and could provide a medical history to substantiate it.  Well I did that, but he still argued that I would be better off using natural remedies... that he would teach me pain management.  Yeah, right!

I can get medication through the ER at the public hospital about an hours travel away, but that is an all-day venture and most times I feel far worse for going when I get home.  What I need is a good practice not so far from home, but like I said before, I've been ringing for months now, and those I've called are not taking on new patients.  What little medication I had has just about run out, so I'll have to find a decent doctor soon.  

Trouble is, a lot of our home-grown doctors have buggered off overseas to where the money is, and we're left with culturally different immigrant doctors with entirely different medical perspectives to those most practiced here... and to complicate matters further, many of them are quite difficult to understand.  Do I blame these doctors?  No, certainly not, I blame the government for forcing many of our GP's/MD's overseas through poor conditions and less than rewarding remuneration, then advertising overseas for doctors, many just out of medical school, to replace them, often in less than ideal circumstances.