Keystone Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Hello folks, This week's bad weather knocked Keystone Approver for a loop, as a lightning strike or other power surge fried the modem on my PC. I have been unable to access my Keystone Approver e-mail account (on Yahoo) since Tuesday morning. Attempts to fix this by switching in another modem have not been successful, so it looks like I'll remain without home internet access for a little longer. Obviously, I am still able to access the website and the forums from here at my office. But our computer network blocks access to personal e-mail accounts like Yahoo. So, if you have sent an e-mail to me recently, I am not ignoring you, I just can't read it! Until I get my computer problems fixed, here are some ways of contacting me: 1. Send a private message to me here in the forums. 2. Send an e-mail to contact at geocaching dot com and ask that the message be forwarded to me at my work e-mail address. 3. If you have a Pennsylvania or West Virginia cache submission that was placed "on hold" by Keystone Approver, post a note on your cache page. Each day, I will check through all of the caches that I have put on hold, to look for new information. Sorry for any inconvenience or confusion. Quote Link to comment
+Riddlers Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 (edited) I had a problem a few days ago and wanted to contact someone and since my e-mail was the problem, I tried to contact through the forum but everyone was able to see my problem and how dumb I was. How does one contact privately through the forum? I thought everyone read everything that went into the forum. By the by, the problem did get resolved thanks to the hard workers at geocaching. Edited May 21, 2004 by Riddlers Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 To send a private message through the forum software, that can only be read by the person you address it to, do one of the following two things: 1. Find a post in the forums by the person you want to write to. If you want to write me a test message, look at this post. Click on the little blue button that says "PM"; it is at the bottom left corner of each post. A window will pop up with my address already filled in. Compose your message and hit send. When I reply, a notification will pop up on your screen, much like an instant message on the internet using AIM, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, etc. (You will need to not be using a popup blocker for this to work.) 2. If you want to write a PM to someone without searching for one of their forum posts, click on "My Controls" at the top right of the forum page, just below "Help" and "Search." Then click on "Compose New Message" from the menu on the left side. You can also access "My Controls" at any time to read old messages that you've sent and received, and to change various settings you use in the forums. Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Maybe I should travel-bug a modem to you after all Quote Link to comment
+WVDan Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 You sure you didn't do something to anger the Geocaching God and he zapped your computer? If you did, let me know what it was so I don't do it. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted May 26, 2004 Author Share Posted May 26, 2004 WVDan, As fate would have it, no less than three of the volunteer cache reviewers have had computer problems recently. In addition to my modem getting fried, Moun10Bike had a hard drive crash on his laptop and the New Zealand reviewer had his whole system go down due to flooding. Therefore, we decided that Hydee is the one who is tossing the lightning bolts. So my advice to you is, don't get on Hydee's bad side. I know that I did, I do it all the time. As an update, I am checking my personal and my Groundspeak e-mail accounts every few days over at a neighbor's house, and other volunteers are assisting with many of the more complicated cache reviews in order to cut down on the amount of correspondence I need to have. Also, I took my fried dialup modem (a $50 problem) as a great excuse to splurge thousands of dollars on a new state-of-the-art home network, with two desktop PC's and a wireless laptop all hooked up via a cable router. I should have basic home dialup internet service restored within 2 to 6 days from now, and broadband access sometime after that when I can get a service appointment. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 Keystone I did that. The Cable modem is hooked up to the router. Each PC has direct access to the net via the router. The router also lets computers communicate in the network. Except Windows XP hates that configureation and throws up so much security that comptuers can't see each other and file and printer sharing doesn't happen. I'm still trying to figure out how to solve that problem. The only high tech software I've got to work on the home network is games. Go figure. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 Update: I'm now typing from my brand new Dell Dimension 8300 and its accompanying 17 inch flat screen monitor. A fine, fine solution to a fried modem, if I do say so myself. Anyways, I once again have access to my reviewer e-mail account, and I'm in the process of slogging through a few hundred geo-mails. I'm pretty caught up with cache reviews, thanks mainly to assistance from other volunteers. Sorry for the slow responses and thanks for bearing with me. Quote Link to comment
+PeachyPA Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Welcome back, KA. Sounds like you have a nifty new machine! Does it help you find caches any faster? Quote Link to comment
+Mastifflover Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Glad to see you up and running again. With a new Dell and broadband access we should see cache approvals going through in about what 30 seconds after we submit them? Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Well, I didn't splurge on a new computer, but I did do a format and fresh install. The worst part was finding out my floppy drive had gone kaput and wouldn't boot to an A:> prompt Fortunately, I don't throw away old computer parts (much to the wife's chagrin) so I had an extra lying around. Quote Link to comment
+Mopar Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Well, I didn't splurge on a new computer, but I did do a format and fresh install. The worst part was finding out my floppy drive had gone kaput and wouldn't boot to an A:> prompt Fortunately, I don't throw away old computer parts (much to the wife's chagrin) so I had an extra lying around. What the heck did you need a floppy for? Quote Link to comment
+PSUPAUL Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I hope you now have good lightning surge protection. Don't want to fry the expensive stuff. Of course you could play the odds, lightning doesn't strike twice does it? Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Well, I didn't splurge on a new computer, but I did do a format and fresh install. The worst part was finding out my floppy drive had gone kaput and wouldn't boot to an A:> prompt Fortunately, I don't throw away old computer parts (much to the wife's chagrin) so I had an extra lying around. What the heck did you need a floppy for? Because somewhere I have a bunch of 5 1/4" disks. DUH! Uh, Windows 98 is installed from a DOS prompt. I get to the DOS prompt by using a 3.5" boot disk. Quote Link to comment
avroair Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Uh, Windows 98 is installed from a DOS prompt. I get to the DOS prompt by using a 3.5" boot disk. Can I borrow your 2400 baud modem sometime? Make sure you punch a hole in the other side of the floppy then you can use BOTH sides at 712k! Quote Link to comment
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