And like a bad penny, I keep showing back up!
LadieStorm
🖼️ 50 images Surveyor
Hello again, everyone! I know... it's been a LONG time since you've seen me! I don't even know if those I knew are still here. I'm hoping, but then I'm also looking forward to seeing all of the new mappers!
Let's just say it's been a few CRAZY years since I was last in here. A lot of things have happened. First, my external hard drive died, the one I used to store ALL of my data... I think I mentioned it the last time I was here. All of my ftws, maps, everything I hadn't already posted... gone. Along with gaming notes, other hobbies I was working on... it kind of defeated and deflated me for a while. I also got burned out on DM'ing, though I still game, just not currently RUNNING anything. Since I was no longer running anything, I quit mapping for a while, to give me a chance to recharge my batteries.
Then, Covid hit. That put my hubby out of work for a while, and we had to shut down all non-essentials, including internet for a while. Both my mom, and my stepdad caught Covid Delta, and they survived it. Then their doctors convinced them to take the vaccines, even though they already had it.
Well, my stepdad died just after Christmas in 2020, within days of taking it. Mom died in Feb of 2021, within 2 weeks of getting the booster. Both died of heart attacks. My brother and I were left to deal with our parents' estate (with the help of the executor who has been worthless), and after almost two years, it's STILL not closed out (it's supposed to be completed in a year), so I've been crazy busy with that.
Finally got to the point where there wasn't any more I could do (what's left has to be dealt with by the executor, see comment above) and I finally got to settle back down...
Only to deal with my laptop getting fried. Again, I lost EVERYTHING. Well, almost everything. There is some stuff saved on the other external hard drive I have... but still. Then I had to save up for a new laptop.
Good news, I have one now :). I bought a shiny, new gamer's laptop. Now I just have to reinstall everything. Which has caused another snag, but one I hope to fix soon. So, hopefully, I will be able to ease myself back into mapping... especially since I plan to pick up some of the things I wasn't able to get earlier... like some of the add ons I've been waiting forever to get! But that won't happen until the estate is FINALY settled.
But, it's good to see everyone again! Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments
Good to see you around again.
Sorry to hear about all your troubles. Hopefully, thing will be better going forward.
Looking forward to seeing your maps again.
Welcome home, Storm! :D
Hey Remy, hey Sue :) It's good to be back .... again... lol
Howdy !
hey Jim! Long time no see, I know... lol
Yup, I'm here somewhere !
Hi, welcome back, although I am new here so do not know you or you know me. Sorry to hear about your troubles and family. :(
Make sure you have plenty of backups! :) Experiences like those are what leads me to have at least two backups of important files, 1 in the cloud and 1 or 2 on external storage (I have a few NAS devices at home so normally have multiple backups at home as well as in the cloud).
well, thankfully, most of my finished maps, the ones I've posted, I can get back... all I have to do is log into my deviant art, here, or Cartographer's Guild.
And yes, I do plan on having a double back up system from now on...
Oh, and nice to meet you!
Hi Storm!
I'm still here but for the past few years I've mainly just been lurking. I haven't done much mapping but with the new SS6 Isometric City add on that is coming out I may get motivated again to do some more maps. Sorry to hear about your parents and all of the trouble with the estate. I've been there. It does get better but seems to take forever to resolve. Hopefully you can get your computer to start cooperating so we can see some new creations from you.
Anyway, hope you have a great weekend!
oh, I got a whole new laptop! A Lenovo Gaming Laptop! With faster processing speeds, better graphics, and oh my, everything is crisper, cleaner!
I'm actually looking forward to seeing how my maps turn out with this new laptop! IF I can get programs to install! lol
Indeed, welcome back!
hey Wyvern! Good to see you're still here! How've you been doing? I think I have 3 years of maps to catch up on!
Tony!!! Good to see you, hon! I was hoping you were still here!!! I'm looking forward to catching up!
Oh, I've done a bit of mapping here now and again, mostly for the Community Atlas, over those same years.
It has though been pretty much three years since I've seen most folks in real-life, as has been the case for many others too, of course. Tends to be my standard opening line on seeing someone again for the first time now - "Must be three years at least!"
lol!
Welcome back, Storm. Sounds like you had more than a storm in the past few years. Hope those dark clouds will lift.
Yeah, there are some folks here trying to catch up to me on number of maps on the Atlas. Probably Quenten and Wyvern
😁
so the Atlas is still growing, huh?
By leaps and bounds !
So good to see you back. I've been mostly absent for the past few years, myself. I understand life gets crazy.
Welcome back! Glad you're all sorted out (sort of) now. Enjoy mapping again!
As soon as I remember how to do everything! lol
Oh yeah, 'cos finding and installing the programs again - and the Update last of all (don't forget the Update!!!) - is only the START of the process...💻️🖱️😡🤬😵🔨🗺️😁
actually, the cc3+ I have is the latest version, with the latest update, so I'm good on that. I'm currently downloading the 3rd party addons, then I have to remember how to install THOSE.. and then I will finally be done... unless I get CA for a belated birthday gift :D
When you install the update you will probably get a message that tells you you have a newer version installed. If you do, just ignore it and carry on installing the update.
A NOTE, Do not through out the dead drive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Data can be recovered from it, maybe not all of it but, some ( a lot ) of it. It will take some money but it is doable.
I had a friend that lost his drive, he could access it at all. After his death 5 years latter we recovered 100% of the data on the drive that was even formatted for an ATARII.
There are data recovery people out there and the cost keep coming down.
I just use Linux to recover data. I managed to most images off of a dead hard drive.
It hazard of a do it yourself approach is that if it doesn't work, you can make the data completely uncoverable. But professional services can get pretty pricey.
I sent the drive off to see what they recover. I'm mostly concerned about all the pictures that were on the drive. The rest of the stuff I can get back, but those, I can't.