(no subject)

[akeyoftime]

Well, I'm boggled. (All shaken up and the little squares have new letters showing.) How does an IMB knock-off with Windows as an OS not have Microsoft Word? I'm sitting here going... buh? I get that it is not the world's best program, but I fail to understand why it is not here at all.

Definitly Kate's Day of Computer Woes.

ETA: And no accents too! I think I remember how to change that, but what a swimming start!

ETA2 8:35pm: Rather than spam the devil out of everyone, I'll just be updating here. I'm using WordPad, which is saving things in Rich Text Format and I pray that there's a program on the school computers that can read it. Got the accent thing sorted out to a point where I can function thanks to mims725 and though there don't appear to be page breaks, print previews or any other kind of identifier, an online word counter informs me I have just over three hundred words, so I've written about a page. A most excellent start.

ETA3 10:11pm: I had an overheat (Norton insisted on scanning a file I'd downloaded and then the computer insisted on overheating), so I took a break from it all and snuck into Dominion just before closing to buy some of the cereal I'd been longing for. I am a cereal fiend. (I bought Crispix, if anyone's curious). About 750 words, two and a half pages. Intro is done and I am getting to the end of La Mare au Diable stuff. Three more novels, a short story and a conclusion left to go!

ETA4 1:00am: Good start, slower continuation. To be expected, I suppose, as the fatigue grows. I am nearly done with Balzac. I just need to find a few specific references, as vague of doom = bad when you're already going to lose at least a half-letter grade for grammar. Four pages or so altogether - just over a thousand words. Two books, short story, conclusion to go. I would like to pick up the pace so I can sleep. My last all-nighter is too recent a memory - I can still remember that horrible crushing feeling that settles in as the sun comes up and the light-headed exhaustion. Hate it. Maybe I'll sleep for two or three hours through sunrise, even if I'm not done.

ETA5 2:20am: GOODGODIAMGETTINGEXHAUSTED. And distracted. Into Flaubert, the second to last full novel. The difference between the first novel I tackled in the early evening (La Mare au Diable) and the second (Une fille d'Ève) is really quite pronounced, but I think this novel (Madame Bovary) is headed back in the right direction so far as quality analysis goes. I really want to be in bed in two and a half hours. I know I will make it, it will just be a question for how long I will stay there. Up to five pages of the eight or nine I am aiming for with one.

ETA6 2:45am: Massages + caffeine = restorative powers, but there`s also a problematic lack of focus. I need blinders. Or tunnel vision. (But not carpal tunnel.) Maybe really snazzy sunglasses would do. Or sleep. What a novel idea! Still working on Bovary.

ETA7 4:20am: True if only for tonight: My body is a temple and I am an infidel. (I blame Mitchell for this madness, who is also staying up all night for school purposes.) I've dropped Raquin. They are stupid and selfish, but it's not quite going with my theme. I may re-add them after I get some sleep though.

Comments

[the-great-waka.livejournal.com]

Why doesn't every Windows computer have Word? Because if you want to stay legit, you have to shell out $499 for Office, or $199 for the Student and Teacher edition.

However, if you have some time, you can download OpenOffice, which is a free, open-source replacement. You can get it here:

http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.2/index.html

The interface is similar, and it will open and save in Word format.

[akeyoftime.livejournal.com]

You present some excellent points. Except that Andrew has the same computer I do - it's just the next year's model. I got my Dell in the summer of 2003, he got his in the summer of 2004. Bob has a newer model still, but it's still a Dell and it's still got Word.

I will probably go do some downloading later. I will have to sneak into Andrew's account to install it, so it's easiest to just write all I have to say now and then switch it over at the end. No need to completely ruin what is a decent flow! (This is a brief study break after writing another 300 words :P I so win at life tonight.)

You are my computer hero today! *swoons*

[the-great-waka.livejournal.com]

Ah you had Word pre-installed then? I see. Yeah, that is the stupidest thing when everything is pre-installed and they don't give you the actual CDs. Is the computer still under warranty? If so, blame them for it and they should pay for a data recovery. Unless of course there is something in the warranty that excludes them from software related issues.

And I agree with Colin, just finish it all up in WordPad as an RTF and email it to school. Open it Word there and make it look pretty. Probably easier than installing more, unless Andrew wants OpenOffice.

[akeyoftime.livejournal.com]

I'm really liking working in WordPad anyway. I am focusing more on getting through the material than watching the pages slowly fill up. It's a lot less distracting, though slightly disorienting to see over 700 words fit comfortably on the screen and think that that should actually be over two pages when double-spaced. (Which is yet another thing WordPad doesn't do :P)

You and Colin agreeing. Shocking. Simply shocking.