Jen Clodius

I can’t tell you whether I learned to quilt or knit first.  I still do both.

As much as I’ve been knitting recently (it is considerably more transportable than quilting), I’ve only momentarily slowed down — not stopped — my fabric addiction.  And I’m delighted to be associated with a spin-off of an old usenet group (RCTQ (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)) known as the Baseball Swap.  Each member of the Baseball Swap has favorite teams, and there is much back-and-forthing about whose team has the cutest shortstop.  And so on.

Last weekend, I had the good fortune to drift Seattle-wards to meet with two swappers I hadn’t met face-to-face (although I’ve known them for years).  Even better, we — and a woman I’ve known since grade school because she was one of my sister’s pals — got to go to a Mariner’s game on Sunday.

Quilters, baseball, fabric, baseball, kettle corn, baseball, an easy drive back to Portland, baseball, excellent company — it may not have been a traditional July 4 weekend, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

(completely aside, of course, from the fact that the Mariners lost in the 15th…)

No, not the “life” kind. The Microsoft kind.

My non-work life runs on a MacBook Pro. I do have Boot Camp installed and, on that side, run Microsoft XP so that I can update the website for an organization with which my dad is involved.

The head of that group knew I was job hunting, moving across the country, buying a house, and (in general) distracted. She hasn’t sent me updates for a while. She recently, graciously checked with Dad, who confirmed that I was (to the extent that I ever am) organized, and sent me the current updates.

Being relatively security conscious, the first thing I do whilst booting into the Windows side of my Mac is check for updates. And when I booted into Windows, I discovered that I’d missed several updates.

“Wow!”, I think. “An entire service pack! And all of the subsequent updates rely on having Service Pack 3 installed!” I’m a geek. I can do this.

Well.

First attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

I own a Mac. I boot into the Windows side maaaaybe once a month. The Windows version of iTunes can certainly go, and that’ll free up 68(ish)MB.

Sa-weeet. Done, and done.

Second attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

Uh… Oh, yeah. Windows. Reboot, then try again.

Third attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

Excuse me?

Well, okay. (think-a-think-a-think) Wait! Maybe the update needs 4-contiguous-MB? De-frag and generally clean up? What the heck, there’s no harm in trying!

Fourth attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

I walked away. I muttered rude comments. I updated Dad’s website and ignored the potential security risk of using an out-dated version of XP on a Mac.

Evenutally I came to my senses, and Googled.

Ah. Update Boot Camp, THEN attempt to install Service Pack 3.

Done, and done.

(And people wonder why folks love Macs, and are annoyed by Windows? You coulda given me a teeny bit more of a clue in the error message!)