We had a layover in Phoenix. In addition to the usual overpriced snacks, and beverages they had a small section for local flavors. In Phoenix, this means Cactus Candy.
I had to get it. Not to eat it. I'm kind of afraid of it, to be honest. Back when I mentioned cactus candy in You Say it First, I had no idea that such things existed. I had just been listening to a lot of Jacques Dutronc and the idea of cactus flavorant being surprisingly popular amused me.
I was going to joke about how they got the idea from me, but according to the copyright date on the box, this stuff has been around since before I was born.
So, how are they? A lot like lemon gumdrops, except with a bit more lemon and a little less gummyness. Cactus juice is the sixth thing on the ingredient list. I'm going to assume that the cactus-flavored jellybeans had a lot more cactus flavor to them.
Firstly, no. Not to each other. We were involved in two weddings - seven days and three thousand miles apart.
Secondly, we're sorry that we didn't have a chance to work ahead; we spent the previous month preparing for the weddings and generally being of assistance. There was more work to be done than we had anticipated. The good news is that everything went well. I have a new sister-in-law. She has a new brother-in-law. We wish them the best, of course.
Thirdly, Isabel did many random comics while we were out. We hope you enjoy them.
We've had a long day. We're still operating on Eastern time. So now we sleep.
When we started, Brisbane and Kimberly were single. They were unemployed. And one of them was kinda homeless. Now, they're married. They run a medium-sized company. And Kimberly moved from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom apartment. I think they've earned every bit of that over the last nine years.
It's been a lot of work getting them from here to there, but it's been a lot of fun too. Isabel and I are glad we could do it, and we're glad you came along. We want to thank everybody who reads the comic and everybody who supported the comic. We're sad that it's over, but more than that, we're proud that we were able to see the story through to the end.
We don't have any further plans for Brisbane and Kimberly. We didn't have any plans for Brisbane and Kimberly when Unlike Minerva ended - and then we did You Say it First for nearly ten years, so I'm not going to rule anything out.
100% Cat is going on indefinite hiatus. We've got more information on that page, but the long and short of it is that it's not the right series for Isabel right now.
Namir Deiter will be continuing.
What's next? We don't know. We're not ready to make any announcements. We will let you know when there's news.
So from both of us, thank you. These comics have been a great part of our lives, and we're glad they could be a part of yours.
Happy New Years! Keep reading Namir Deiter, and keep reading You Say it First while it's still going!
There were two possibilities: Either the drive was totally dead or it was just mostly dead. The difference is that if it was mostly dead and I could repair the file system, I just might be able to get my data back. I've got three hard drives in there - when I upgrade to a new computer, I keep the old computer's drives. I keep my data distributed across all three drives. That way, if something happens to any one of them I'm bound to lose *something* important. It was, of course, the largest and newest of the drives that failed.
This reminded me of things, like the portable backup drive that I got two weeks ago. I decided - against my wife's suggestion - not to open it, so it'd be a "Christmas present". In retrospect, this was not a wise decision.
So the BIOS saw that the drive existed, just that it had 0 MB. I tried a set of known good cables - same thing. Cable failure is vanishingly rare, but it's a good idea to try the easiest solution first. I commandeered Isabel's computer, hooked the drive to it. After several hours - including time in the freezer - I was able to get it working and copy some of the files off. That lasted about 30 minutes before it stopped responding again.
I spent most of Sunday trying to get it working again. By the end of it, the computer wasn't even acknowledging that the drive exists. Every couple minutes, it'd start clicking. I'd spent about twenty hours working on it. THAT was when I decided to go and replace the hard drive.
But it's not that simple. The computer came with Windows Vista. Instead of a CD, it kept the recovery information on a partition on the hard drive. The now-defunct hard drive. I had tried to burn it to DVD a few times, but it wouldn't cooperate. I had a retail copy of Windows XP, but the disc was scuffed and unreadable.
Windows 8 is heavily discounted right now. It makes your computer behave like a smartphone. I don't even like it when my smartphone behaves like a smartphone, so that's not the OS for me.
So I had to get a hard drive. I had to get an OS. I'd have to reinstall all of my software. I could either do that on a computer that was four years old and at the end of its upgrade path, or I could replace it. Isabel suggested I replace it. She's been suggesting that for a while, actually. I just hadn't wanted to have to reinstall all my stuff, earlier.
I got the thing rebuilt at around 1 AM Sunday/Monday. I've reloaded most of the software that I remember using. If I had other programs that I never remember to use again, I'm probably better off without them.
What does this mean to you, the reader? No comic-related data was lost. That's backed up in many, many places. We lost a lot of comic-related time, however. I'm still trying to get this thing working the way it ought to work.
What does it mean for me? Firstly, that I need to back things up better. Secondly, that I should always listen to Isabel. At least when she's right.