Last night my computer flashed me a message saying “Virtual memory is running low.” It claimed that Windows was working on the problem, but that in the meantime, some programs might be affected. And sure enough, it was running maddeningly slowly, so I decided to shut down for the night and give it a good eight hours’ sleep. Before I logged out, I decided to check my blog one more time.
To my dismay, my blogroll had disappeared, with its links to all my Blog Book Tours cronies! Trying not to panic, I logged off and shut down. Then, fearing I wouldn’t be able to sleep without fixing it, I booted the computer up again and checked my blog. Still no blogroll! I shut down again and tried again this morning. Nothing had changed; all my links were still missing. With admirable sangfroid, I clicked on Links. To my vast relief, all the links were still there; they just weren’t showing on my blog’s sidebar. I searched in vain for my WordPress for Dummies book. But there was no time for problem-solving anyway; I had to leave for Woodstock for a day of grandmothering.
Now here I am 12 hours later, back home and determined not to miss my Blog A Day. Alas, still no Blogroll. I’ve been extolling the virtues of WordPress, but it seems to have turned against me. Or is my computer the culprit? Maybe I should have paid more heed to those “Virtual memory” warnings. They’ve occurred a few times since I’ve been blogging, jumping heedlessly from one web page to another checking on my fellow BAD bloggers. Maybe the poor machine is just freaked out from information overload – too many images, too many diverse points of view, and I’ve been insensitive to its plight.
I’ll solve the problem tomorrow, I hope. But now, before my cats kick me out of my office (it’s also their bedroom), I need to get to my homework and critique another blog. I’m pleased with myself, though – I haven’t suffered my usual technophobic anxiety attack. I can cope, I tell myself. Yes I can . . .
Jane Kennedy Sutton says
Nothing makes me panic like computer glitches! Congratulations on taking it so well. Hope it turns out to be something that’s easy to fix.
Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
julielomoe says
Thanks, Jane. I’ve been taking it well by avoiding the problem and procrastinating. I swear I’ll try in the morning.
Karen Walker says
I’m with Jane. Panic is my first response. Hope your grandmothering duties helped you relax.
karen
http://www.karenfollowingthewhispers.blogspot.com
julielomoe says
Grandmothering did take my mind off the computer, but it didn’t help me relax. I spent most of the day worrying if the three-year-old was getting the flu because she slept so much, then the evening shushing her as she wriggled through her nine-year-old sister’s spring concert at school. The day turned out great, though. It was Woodstock, after all – the music was pretty hip.
K. A. Laity says
Back up, back up, back up — multiple back ups and redundancies are essential. If you don’t have an external hard drive or virtual drive, get yourself one NOW.
It is so monumentally frustrating when the machines we rely on daily let us down. But it’s always going to happen (says the woman who spent the first hour of the day trying to get a spybot off her office computer). Doesn’t make it any less irritating though, eh?
julielomoe says
That’s what my husband’s always telling me, and generally he shows me how to do it. I hadn’t thought about it for the blog, though. And he’s been having nasty computer problems too.
Alexis Grant says
Sometimes WordPress eats widgets. I don’t understand why, thought I imagine there’s a reason that we just aren’t aware of. I’ll send you a copy of mine if you want…
julielomoe says
Hi Alexis,
My blogroll widget was sitting there safe and sound in the “Appearance” section on my dshboard – I just had drag and drop it back into the sidebar.
Karen Brees says
I learned the hard way to back up my blog when Blogger was doing its “amazing disappearing widget thing.” My own tech travails were the topic of a recent blog. It’s not a brave new world!! It’s scary.
Elle Parker says
I wish you much luck – I was completely flummoxed by WordPress.
Elle Parker
http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/
Galen Kindley says
So, the parable of the man with no shoes feeling sad until he meets the man with no feet is applicable here. I have had to redo my entire blog…from scratch, on two occasions. Partial rebuilds on one other. A missing blog role? Easy to fix, a PITA, but, easy to cut, paste, and post.
P.S. Don’t mean for this to sound unsympathetic, just trying to say…it coulda been way worse. Small comfort, I know, but…all the same.
Best Regards, Galen.
GalenKindley.com
julielomoe says
Hi Alexis, Karen, Elle and Galen,
Thanks for your sympathetic comments – your stories are kind of scary, especially Galen’s. Galen, I gave up on your blog early on when you were having trouble, because I couldn’t get to it, but now it’s looking great!
I’m still glad I’m on WordPress – Alexis convinced me to stick with it. Elle, it’s really not that hard – says Julie, who can’t even remember where to find the widgets. Alexis, I may need another coaching session at Panera, especially if I can’t find my WordPress for Dummies book! But now I’ve got to go critique your blog.
Patricia Stoltey says
This sounds horrible! I was whining because both IE and Firefox get all upset and stop responding when I have too many tabs open. At least I haven’t had anything disappear into the twilight zone…yet.
Patricia
http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com
julielomoe says
Hi Patricia,
My blogroll widget was there all along; I just had to find it and drop it back into the sidebar.
I believe our computers do get flummoxed when we have too many windows open. And it’s not just the ones that are open – it’s the ones we accessed recently and closed, remnants of which are still floating around in the computer’s mind as random access memory. My husband explained this to me (sort of), so now I’m shutting down my computer once a day, and it helps the speed. Last night I didn’t turn it off, and once more Windows warned me that it was low on “virtual memory.” So I started the day by shutting it down, then booting up again.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never spent so much time jumping around to different websites, and I guess my computer is no more used to it than I am.