Groceries and Virtualization

Rantoul, IL.

52 deg. clear, N. wind @ 10 mph.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. North winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.


Grocery shopping was the first thing on the agenda yesterday, so as soon as Linda finished doing her morning routine, she and Jim took CLT and headed, first to the Post Office to get their mail, and then to the County Market Grocery Store. They were gone for quite awhile and I just knew that they were buying lots of groceries, so I was prepared when they started bring in all the bags.

After getting everything put away, Jim took a little nap and Linda finished up her embroidery project. : )

I didn't realize it, but Jim and Linda have decided to get a new desktop computer. I knew that Jim had been talking to Greg from GeekyGuys but I thought it was just about Linda's family tree program.

Well, it was about the program, but it was also about Greg building a new computer for Jim and Linda and how to get the program to run in Window's 7. You see, it's a very old program and Linda has hundreds of ancestors entered into the database, so it was essential that it could be transferred to the new operating system.

Anyway, like I said, it is a very old program, it's called "Parents" and was a "shareware" program that was installed on the current desktop computer way back when it was purchased in about 2000. The author of the program was found and there are some updates, but somewhere along the line the format was changed and the data from the old version of the program can not be easily transferred to a newer version. : (

So, what to do?

Well, Greg, being the head GeekyGuy, has figured out a way. Right now I don't really understand it, but it's something about some fairly new technology called "virtualization" and he says that by using it, Jim and Linda should be able to run all of their older programs from their old computer on the new one.

So, Greg stopped by here last night, talked about the price of a new computer, the new technology and then took Jim and Linda's old computer with him so he can transfer all the programs to the new one as soon as he gets it built. (Which should be less than a week).

After Greg left, Jim and Linda watched some TV and then went to bed after the news.

Today, the first of the "Illinois Bunch" are coming here to the CG. I'm really looking forward to meeting them and their RVs. It should be a fun 4 days. ; )  Haven't heard anything more from Denny and Bev. Hope they're able to get their MH out of the shop in time for them to come tomorrow.

Did you know that the word “computer” was first used to describe a mechanical calculating device in the year 1897?