256 Hours to Go

I downloaded and installed PC Mover after doing back-ups of my mailboxes, a complete deep virus scan, and making sure my disks were defragged. I started the program up and was ready to go. I had bought a 1TB external hard drive for this operation.

All went well, but for some reason tech support said that I had include the D and E drive on the computer in the migration. I cannot see why if it is only the C drive that is being reformatted, but I included them anyway.

The program started, calculated the space needed, said that the files were going to be really compressed and then went to work. Estimated completion time would be 268 hours (eleven days and 4 hours). Two hundred and sixty-eight hours? I thought it was a joke or one of those estimate high and come to reality after time goes on. Well, after the program ran for twelve hours, it had only processed 19 gigabytes of data and was showing 256 hours (ten days and sixteen hours) left yet. I knew I had 700+ gigabytes on the 3 drives, so this could be on target. The bad thing is that you cannot operate the computer during this process, so it is time wasted. 

After the twelve hours, I stopped it. I am transferring all of the data from the two internal drives onto the external disk and then starting again. Maybe I can get it down to less than a week.

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Say It Ain't So

Last night, my student Balazs wanted to go out for a good-travels dinner since Ron leaves for the States on Wednesday morning. Using a frequent flier ticket, he had to go from Budapest > Warsaw> Toronto > Denver with all but the last leg on Polish Airline LOT. He will Amtrak from Denver to Iowa and when he leaves there, will be flying from Cedar Rapids > Chicago > Newark. On the way home, he is routed on TAP the Portuguese airline Newark > Lisbon > Budapest. I have him primed for the NJ stint, working on the storage POD from here as much as I can and putting as much in place as possible. I have been trying to arrange for a disposable mobile phone for his arrival too. This morning, I found this e-mail from my brother: Hi, We had some excitement over the weekend, we had the cops over to daddy's house. Stuff was ransacked, the door was busted open to your storage room. I don't think any of your stuff was stolen, but whoever it was cut open boxes looking for something. We padlocked the back door and locked everything else up. We're going back next weekend to start the cleaning up process. We'll call you guys this Thurs - last week was very busy for me at work and it got away from me. Talk to you later.... The fact that Ron is leaving for the States on Wednesday has totally escaped him. My greatest concern now is Ron's sleeping at the house alone. We will have to see what we can work out.

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Friends = Relatives

My friend Daphnee go way back to the point where we just refer to each other as sister and brother. We first met in a Comparative Religions class when I first decided to return to college for my BA degree. It was a summer course and my partner at the time had gone to FL to visit a friend. This was 1976 and we have been close ever since. Daphnee has always been there for me regardless of the distance between us; I have been there for her when she has opened up and let me know she needed me. We spoke on Sunday about Ron's returning to the States and making his way to NJ to do something with our storage at dad's house, so the house can be sold. I have been looking into a moving POD, where they bring the storage unit to you, you fill it, and then they take it away to the storage place. This seems ideal for Ron. They can place it in the backyard and he can fill it as energy allows. Daphnee had a better idea. She contacted and plans to pay her college-aged grandson to be Ron's driver and mover helper. Neither of us have a driver's license, so renting a car is out of the question. Her other idea is to check out flights; if there is a reasonable one, she will fly back and meet Ron to help him. My great concern was that he will not transportation and will be stuck at my father's house without a computer or Internet access even if he had one. Her generousity over the years has been amazing, but I cannot pass this over without saying that her partner Ellie is just as supportive with finances. Ellie has been just as generous with coming to our rescue when needed without a moment of hesitation. This is a prime example of where friends become family.

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Procrastinators Anonymous

My brother ranks high in the list of world's greatest procrastinators. He has thought about attending meetings of Procrastinators Anonymous, but they keep putting off having a meeting. Two weeks ago, he called to give us an update on our father's condition. We had a conference call so that Ron, his wife, and I could all listen in. At the time, he shared the news about his venture over to dad's house to get something and found people in the house. They presumably were given permission to crash there by our father. Kevin, I believe had them leave, but then again, Kevin is not the assertive one in the family. He is a chip off of our father, I am more like our mother. My immediate reaction was to get the locks changed and he agreed. There are three entrances to the house. One will only get you into the front porch, another into the basement, and the third into the outer pantry leading to the backyard. After entering any of these areas, there is still another door to negotiate before entering living space. All six doors have locks on them. Our mother was paranoid. Our father used to work nights. Changing locks can be expensive, but hey, the old guy has $40,000 he needs to spend down to be eligible just to apply for Medicaid. Kevin has the power of attorney to access his funds. No brainer. Off of the dining room, there is a wasted little room that never was declared utilitarian because is lacked a radiator or heating vent. The whole time we were growing up, the old chest freezer lived in there and the rest of the space was a throw-all junk room. When we moved our things from CA, this was cleaned out and stores our life belongings, minus all of the furniture we sold. Mostly, it has our kitchen appliances, china, thousands of books, and memorabilia from dozens of trips abroad. Our thinking at the time was after a year away, at least our kitchen will not need to be restocked with essentials. The padlock on the door survived seven years of having the scheming slut whore who stole thousands from dad during her days of leeching off of him. Kevin said the door was barricade with the china cabinet, a formidable piece of furniture. At the end of the call, we all agreed to speak each Wednesday for updates on dad's condition. We were still waiting for the neurological report due the day after this call. The next Wednesday, I e-mailed Kevin about calling. He responded with "Nothing has changed, no need to call." Nothing about the report and a follow-up e-mail was not responded to. The following Wednesday, I wrote again, but did not get a response until that Friday. Giving him his due, he is a manager at an IT company, from what I gather is head of an extensive team, so does have a lot on his plate. Adding the needs of our father is a burden that he has to deal with with little help from me.

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