Oops!

Hi again!

My laptop's hard disk destroyed itself during my trip, so the latest news is ... there is no latest news! The laptop (now exactly two years old) was protected by a 1-year warranty and a 2-year extention at the initial purchase (direct from the manufacturer). I have to say that the service has been relatively good. This is the second time I have had to use it.

The first time, the optical drive (DVD-RW) died. I had an additional problem after the manufacturer replaced the drive -- apparently a registry conflict between some proprietary bundled software and Nero. The result was that I was functioning without the CD/DVD. My work-around was to copy essential CD's onto a 1GB or 2GB USB memory stick. That worked reasonably well, but having the drive would have been easier. I know that the CD/DVD drive worked, because I was able to start the laptop with a boot disk. I just didn't have the time and patience to find out what the registry fix is. Maybe after this I will.

Here in central Italy the heat is on! Temperatures in the 30-35°C (high 80's-low 90'sF) range. The following nine days are dedicated to the town's festival, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, our patron saint. I'll be selling cold beer for the town's promotional committee "Associazione Pro Loco Marsciano", so the hot weather is a good thing for beer sales (see www.MeetingPointBeer.com for an idea about the beer store)! There is no web site for the festival.

More about the real estate market later on - my e-mails are accumulating...

Ciao for now

Craig