Cold and wet weather continued today, with temperatures hanging in the 40s.  Paul, the “bowl program” instructor, is out today, giving me an opportunity to wrap-up loading software on the new computer.

I loaded Lightroom (LR) 3, an ADOBE photo filing and editing program, into the new computer, knowing that there was a high probability that it was not compatible with Windows 8. However, it loaded just fine. And then, I began the lengthy process of copying backup files, catalog files, preferences, and presets. These are more than likely form terms to most of you readers, however, they are very important in streamlining the migration process from one computer to the other. Additionally, I synchronized several thousand photographs from 2000 to the present. So far, so good. After turning the computer off, and restarting, LR3 would not load, having a number of corrupted files; I had somewhat expected this, and was not terribly disappointed.

The only alternative left, if I wanted to continue using LR, was to download LR4, the newest version compatible with Windows 8. Using the Adobe webpage, it appeared to be an easy process—order the product, pay for it, and begin the downloading process. Well, it didn’t go quite that smoothly. The download showed that it had begun, but in reality it had not. I tried this several times to no avail. Finally, giving up, I entered into an online chat with Adobe representatives somewhere halfway across the world. They could not understand southern talk, and I could not understand Middle Eastern talk. After an hour, and no assistance, the Internet connection was lost!  This was frustrating. I unplugged, plugged back in and attempted to download the software once again, and left the computer running for hours and hours and hours; still, no success. I finally tried a bit of a different technique, and left it running for the evening, thinking that the file was so large it would take several hours to download. Tomorrow will tell.

Kay and I joined Al and Sharon, neighbors, and others at the Activities Center for cards and games tonight, and we ended up with three tables of party bridge. Neither of us had played in about 12 years, and it had been some 30 years since either of us has played regularly. We expected the worst. However, we found ourselves to be in the upper middle of the skill level, and had to exercise patience with some of the new bridge players. But, it was all in fun and was actually nice introducing someone to the spectacular card game. Time was called at 9:00 PM and we returned home for the evening, after a much bedraggled day.