Geek of the family

I had a great weekend in LA for New Year's - with brother Jim and his partner Joe. I did two of my favorite things : Celebrating, and installing stuff on a new computer!

I had given Jim a new notebook computer for Christmas, so on this trip, it was time to get it set up. Jim has an outstanding green thumb as a landscape designer but is not the geek of the family. That duty falls to me, and I accept it humbly.

Getting data from an old computer to a new one is usually the hardest part of the equation, and especially in this case because Jim has never embraced the concept of organization and housekeeping on his computers. Files, documents, pictures, QuickBooks setups - all were scattered about on his old computer and I had to round everything up, transfer them to a USB hard drive I brought along, then transfer from there to the new 'puter.

Then there was the installation of programs. In this regard, Jim's much more low maintenance - I only need to install Office, QuickBooks, and a receipt scanner and program that I had purchased for him last year. Printer drivers completed the transfer.

Unfortunately, there was a hitch during the day-long transplant. Jim's new computer began behaving pretty oddly near the end and there were ominous clicking noises from the hard drive inside the notebook. Ugh. If Jim ends up having to return it, he'll of course be back to Square One, but without my geekiness to set up the replacement. We (somewhat wishfully) decided that the flaky hard drive was overheating because I had literally caused it to spin for about five hours. Sure enough, allowing everything to cool off and resume a few hours later seemed to "fix" things. For now. Cue the ominous music.

Jim finally joins the ranks of those toting a notebook computer and he's excited about the possibilities. He can now show potential clients large photos of his previous work, easily updating with new clients and projects. I'm glad I'm able to help my brother out.