Transcript For Strip 2453

The Murphy Drive
meets
Murphy’s Law

So, last Wednesday night I had finished putting together all the files for the Omnibus, the art for the cover, for the slipcase, and a really big InDesign file assmbling all 600-plus story pages. I had generated a preliminary .pdf of the interiors for Frank to check over for errors. I made a few last-minute tweeks to the volume notes and afterword, and being tired, went to bed.The next morning I found that Microsoft had forced another one of their wonderful OS updates, which required a reboot of my workstation computer, the machine I’ve been using to produce QUANTUM VIBE and also Not-Safe.Space since the beginning. The problem is, it wouldn’t reboot. It just threw up the initial “yes I’m alive screen,” which in this case is a white screen with the large letters AVATAR in the center, that being the make of the computer, which I’d purchased 10 years ago from Newegg, I think.Anyway, after the usual useless turn-it-off-then-on-again monkeyshines, I hurried down to the best-rated computer repair shop on Gilligan’s ... I mean, Galveston Island. Turned out the issue was an aging HDD with a lot of bad sectors, and the proposed solution was to install a brand-new Solid-State drive which would be much faster, and they would “clone” the old drive contents onto the new drive and I could go on my merry way a mere $200 poorer.

I was promised the computer would be ready possibly by Thursday afternoon, certainly by Friday morning.Friday morning I called the shop and was told that the cloning was taking longer than they expected. Friday evening I called again and was told check back again Saturday morning. Saturday morning I was told that the cloning had frozen at 50 percent, which was useless, so they’d try again, check back Monday morning after the shop opens at 10 AM.If the cloning failed a second time the plan was to back up the data on the old drive into a 5T drive I’d purchased recently (and stupidly neglected to make an updated backup after a few days before the disaster). And I’d get my computer back -- then spend a day or so re-installing all the graphics applications I need to make comics and also get the files for The Murphy Drive to the printers.As I type these words on my under-powered, also aging ACER laptop it’s Sunday night and I have no idea what I’ll be getting back the next day. And come what may, we will get the Omnibus produced and shipped, even if it’s a bit late. But I figured readers deserve an explanation for why no new QV update for two weeks.Apologies, and thanks for bearing with us.

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Gunnerkrigg Court
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