I have a Western Digital 80G external drive. I installed it for backing up data files. Everything worked fine until I tried to copy a large folder of files; It was a very large folder. The copy process stopped midway without a hint of the problem - just stalled. This is what happened, but I did not know it at the time. The write process hit a bad sector on the disk. I had wrongly assummed that the drive was ready to use fresh out of the box. The fix: I re-formatted the disk and then scanned the entire drive with "fix disk" (or scan disk depending on the operating system.) After the scan I found that the disk was not as large as before; The scan had marked off some bad sectors. Thereafter, the disk has perfomed flawlessly for 3 years. It took some time to scan and verify 80G of disk space, but it is necessary and worthwhile to insure a well behaved disk.

Rosewitch, England was definitely one of my favorite places I have ever visited. My folks took me there when I was 14, and I remember bits and pieces the Crown jewels, walking amongst the Stonehenge stones (roped off now, vandalism), Stratford upon Avon. Time for me to take my own 14YO. Im trying to think how I can get over there for a whole summer, LOL. Dlynn, I could have worked so much more. I didnt really look at night time stuff and there was loads to do. Greece: cant help you, but shoot Yasou a line, she went a few years ago. LOL Annie! Teresa, well go together. I wanted to explore more cooking and food shops/stores but didnt get to. Terri, here is more a link to Pictures of England, a website pointed out to me by Denise. I started it on Bourton on the Water, where we stayed for a few days. Thanks Sharon, I was actually thinking how can I even come close to posting her quality of travel guides, I dont do the pictures she does LOL. We might have sat at the same table in the Cheshire Cheeses dining room! Sawdust still there, but we didnt make it to the cellar. I missed a lot of the British Museum. It has changed.check out the new atrium. I couldnt keep up with DH and DS16. Afternoons, when I planned museums, I crashed. Next time! Pam, lots of people did more than we did per day! Theater every night, more attractions, I cant imagine. Gina heh heh yeah I need another vacation like a hole in my head. Speaking of whichDH has another week off in August. Nooooooooo! Kathleen, DH says he took an average of 200 pictures a day. Yup. Me, I just buy the post cards or Google the images, same thing (DARFC from the photo bugs here) Cathy, thanks for giving me the War and Peace moniker heh heh. Next time I go with CF friends! LindaC, I know. Im still exhausted. Speaking of the V&A, did you know there was a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entrance room?

We drove from NYC to Iowa, staying with friends along the way (which was part of the reason for the drive) when our daughter was about that age. It turned out to be fun, but we only drive about 8 hours a day--NAPTIME!. Here's how we handled the kid in the car seat. Get up, eat breakfast, gas up car, let kid run around and play while all these things are being done, EVERYBODY GO POTTY BEFORE YOU GET IN THE CAR. Get in the car, strap her in, she's in a good mood, talk, sing, point out stuff outside the window, she draws or colors, sometimes mommy got in the back to read story books, or tilted the seat way back (not the safest, though). Then, eventually, she falls asleep for a morning nap. Drive as far as possible--NO STOPS! (she wakes up at stops; hence the urgent need for the grownups to go potty, just in case, even if they don't think they need to or just went before lunch--go again now, you CANNOT STOP once the kid is asleep) Since she's lulled by the car, her morning nap is longer than usual. When she wakes, begin the search for food. (and a bathroom; we also did this right after she'd been potty trained; we used pull-ups for the trip in case, but had to get her to the bathroom if at all possible) Eat lunch, find some sort of playground (fast-food play area, or occasionally a city park) and let her run around for an hour. EVERYBODY GO POTTY BEFORE YOU GET BACK IN THE CAR! Back in the car, more talking and pointing out the window, etc. She gets lulled to sleep again for a long afternoon nap. When she wakes, find a bathroom and supper, then drive to the town we're staying in. It worked out pretty well in terms of distance, we usually arrived there right at dinner time. Playtime in the evening, and a sort of late bedtime because of all the extra-long naps in the car. The really long part of the trip was NYC to Clarion, PA (here we had to stay in a hotel). Then to South Bend, IN. Then over to Peoria, IL, then to the center of Iowa (the shortest hop of all). That'll give you an idea of how many miles you could hope to cover with a pleasant schedule. We stayed in very inexpensive hotels (Super 8, Day's Inn, Motel 6--it only has to be clean and safe, not w/ a pool or anything, and we brought our own playpen bcs the cribs were not very good, but it was cheap), We played in the hallways, alcoves, and outdoor walkways of the hotels (at 18months, everything is fun!) had great fun looking out the windows (I hate the new fences along the interstates in populated areas; I understand them, but boy they're boring!).

I don't like driving (or riding in a car) for long distances no matter how many people are with me. I got spoiled at 19, when I learned I could pick up a phone to call my cousin or another pilot to take me where I wanted to go. Even if there aren't airports for airliners, there is usually an airport for small aircraft in most areas you wouldn't expect to find one. But, I have driven 3 hours, 1.5 hours each way, to the outlet mall up north a bit from me. Did that several times to either go shopping or to visit a friend who lives in that town.