In this Aussie English episode of Walking With Pete I tell you guys all about my recent computer issues and give a special shout-out to my folks!

WWP: Computer Issues & A Shout-out To My Folks

G’day guys. Welcome to this episode of Walking With Pete.

(I’m) just heading down to the shops at the moment. (I’m) off to the shops. (I’m) going get some food, (I’m) going to get some coffee, (I’m) going get some bocconcini cheese that I owe my housemate. So, I ate some of his bocconcini cheese and now I owe him some more bocconcini cheese. And I have to go grab some, I have to go buy some from the shops. So, I’m walking down (to) the shops. (I) thought I would just chat to you a little bit about what I’ve been up to recently.

Yesterday, I was sort of shattered, I was shattered. And the phrase TO BE SHATTERED, SHATTERED literally means to break, to shatter, to, I guess, like, smash into a lot of pieces. So, if you dropped a glass vase and it smashed on the ground you could say that that glass vase has shattered. The glass has shattered. So, (it) tends to by those kinds of things like glass and ceramic, anything stiff and hard and fragile that if you break it it turns into a lot of different little pieces. So, when you say that I’M SHATTERED it’s kind of that idea of “I’ve broken into a lot of pieces because I’m disappointed, I’m upset, I’m shattered, I’m shattered.”

So, yesterday I got home after, geez I can’t even remember what I was doing. Anyway, I got home after my day… Oh! I went to work. I had to work during lunch time at the restaurant. That was fun. And then I did some English tutoring with my mate Amir. So, (I) chatted to him and helped him out with a few different things English tutoring wise. And then, when I got home I tried to use my computer and I was getting that spinning wheel of death that it’s known as for Macs. So, there’s something wrong with the hardware in the computer that I’m going to have to fix or get fixed rather. I can’t fix it. And, yeah, so it’s not working. It literally died. I couldn’t get files off it, I couldn’t open up files, I could turn it on but I couldn’t actually access anything. Fortunately, though, I recently backed up everything on the computer. Although, I think it’ll be fine because I don’t think this is a hard drive problem. So, I’ll be able to get the hard drive out even if the computer is broken. I think it’s a hardware problem where the actual hardware, the actual machinery inside the computer is broken.

So, anyway, I’ve had this computer for probably 5 years it’S HAD A GOOD RUN. And TO HAVE A GOOD RUN means to have been working for a long time, or to have been successful for a long time. So, in the terms… in terms of the computer, for the computer to have HAD A GOOD RUN, like literally “Running”, TO HAVE A GOOD RUN means that it did well, it worked well for a long time. I had it for 5 years. I mean most computers, especially laptops, probably break down after 2, 3, 4 years and this one lasted 5. So, it HAD A GOOD RUN. And I guess another example of using the phrase TO HAVE A GOOD RUN… how else could we use this? So, imagine you’re playing a game, you’re gambling, you’re at the casino and you’re gambling and you keep winning again and again and again. You keep winning all these hands of Blackjack, you know, 21, or you’re playing poker and you keep winning. You could say, “Oh, I’m on a really GOOD RUN.” or “I’M HAVING A REALLY GOOD RUN.”. And it’s that idea of you’re doing well over a period of time, it’s a sequence that you keep repeatedly doing well at, you know, you keep winning again and again and again. So, in terms of going to the casino, TO HAVE A GOOD RUN would mean to continually be winning. And in terms of my computer HAVING A GOOD RUN it means that it was working year after year, month after month, day after day, for a very long time. So, TO HAVE A GOOD RUN. There’s another expression for you.

Anyway, long story short, although I’ve already talked for about 4 minutes. So, it’s not really that short. Long story short, the computer was busted, I was kind of… not distressed, not desolated or upset too much, but just a little bit panicky, a little bit worried about what I was going to do, because I like working on the podcast pretty much all the time, particularly at night. And so, last night I had all this spare time that I had allocated, that I had put aside to work on the podcast and to, you know, just work on it in general, keep making episodes, keep uploading things, keep adding to it, keep working on it. And not only was I worried that I couldn’t work last night, but I was worried about, well, if this computer’s completely broken how am I going to be able to continue to work on the podcast in the next week, in the next month, in the next year, because obviously when you work online and you do those sorts of, I guess, technical things online, you need a computer. And, Macs, I use a Mac, and Macs are very expensive.

Anyway, so, I worried about that but I ended up calling up… I’m just going to check the road so I can cross without getting hit by a car. It’s all good. You’ve got to check out this laneway behind me with these nice trees. What do you think?

Anyway, yeah, so I am fortunate enough to have incredibly loving and caring parents, and I rang them to just ask if I could get some advice as to what they would recommend. Should I try and buy a secondhand Mac? Should I buy a PC, because PCs tend to generally be cheaper? Or should I just wait and try and get this thing repaired even though it’s 5 years old and chances are it’s going to break down again in a few months because it seems to be at that stage where one thing breaks, it gets fixed, and then there’s an issue with another thing, it breaks, it gets fixed. Anyway, I spoke to them and I also asked if they have any of their laptops that they were going to potentially upgrade soon, you know, buy a new one, get the next model, and could I potentially buy one of their laptops. And my parents were wonderful enough to offer to buy me a completely new computer for my 30^th birthday, but early.

So, I guess I dedicated this episode to them. They probably won’t ever see it, but if they do, I love you guys and I really appreciate what you do for me and have done for me in the past, and I guess I just want to say that from the bottom of my heart thank you so much for your love, your support, your care and your on-going help with just, you know, the podcast and being involved in it one way or another, whether it’s being in the episodes that I’m sure many of you guys have seen, or whether it’s helping me have the ability to keep making episodes by supporting me and buying, you know, in this case a new computer. So, just a quick side note there, but I just wanted to say that I love you guys and thank you so much.

Anyway, so, today I walked into Melbourne. As you guys know I love walking everywhere. Hence the name of the episodes Walking With Pete. So, I walked in from North Melbourne all the way into the CBD, and I went to a Macintosh store or a Macintosh re-saler. So, I think they just sell the Macs, but they don’t actually… they’re not actually owned by Macintosh. So, I went there and chatted to them and ended up buying a new laptop that looks like it’s a whole bunch more powerful than my previous one, and hopefully is going to do me, you know, success in the future. Hopefully, I can keep making stuff. And I think I might try and get the old one prepared just so I have a backup, just in case. And TO HAVE A BACKUP is to just have something TO BACK YOU UP, to have something sitting on reserve, to have another plan, to have something else in case something goes wrong with the thing that you used primarily. So, in the case of my computer, obviously, now I have a new one that I’m going to use the majority of the time, the one that I just bought, and I’m going to also try and get the other one repaired, the old one, to be able to use just in case something goes wrong in the future with the new one. So, that’s what A BACKUP is. And you can have that with anything. You could have A BACKUP job if you had two jobs and you had one on the side that you could do as a secondary one in case you were fired from the first job. You could HAVE A BACKUP car where you have two cars. One that you primarily use but you also have a second car in case something goes wrong. So, it’s just that idea of having something else sitting there to potentially use in case of an emergency, in case something goes wrong with the thing that you’re mainly using. And this is also where that verb TO BACK UP something comes from. Where if you BACK UP your data, your PhD project, that is something I do all the time, it’s that you have a secondary copy of the data that you may need. You’VE GOT A BACK UP. You’VE BACKED UP the information, the stuff that you rely on, so that in case something goes wrong with the primary copy that you use or that you have, you’VE GOT A BACKUP, you’ve got a secondary one that you can rely on.

Anyway, so, I sort of deviated and walked away from the shops because I knew that this episode was going to go a little longer. But we’re at about 10 minutes now I think, GIVE OR TAKE. GIVE OR TAKE. And that’s another expression for you. I might explain that and then we can sign off. The expression GIVE OR TAKE, I think this one’s got a few different meanings, but in terms of how I just used it when you’ve got a certain amount of something GIVE OR TAKE it means roughly that amount, approximately that amount, GIVE a little bit or TAKE a little bit it’s approximately 10 minutes. So, for example, if I get to the 10 minute mark here but I’m at 9 minutes 30 I could say, “Well, we’re almost at the 10 minute mark GIVE OR TAKE.” And that just means effectively that TAKE 30 seconds, you know, or sorry GIVE* 30 seconds, if you added 30 seconds to it we would be at 10 minutes. And if we were at 10 minutes 30 and I said, “Oh, we’re at 10 minutes GIVE OR TAKE.” If you took 30 seconds from the total we would be at 10 minutes. So, GIVE OR TAKE. And it’s the same with anything else. Say that you’re a dog breeder and you’ve got a whole bunch of dogs that’s just given birth, that have* just given birth to a bunch of different litters, and a litter is the name that we give all the puppies that a mother dog or a bitch, you can say, gave birth to. So, that’s a litter of puppies. And so, if you’ve got a whole bunch but you’re not exactly sure. You know that it’s approximately, you know, 10 dogs, 20 dogs, you could say, you know, if someone asks you, “How many puppies do you have at the moment?”, and you could say, “Well. I don’t know exactly but I think it’s about 10 GIVE OR TAKE.”. So, maybe it’s a few less than 10, maybe it’s a few more or 10, than* 10, but it is approximately 10 puppies, it’s thereabouts, that’s about how many puppies we have. It’s 10 puppies GIVE OR TAKE.

Anyway, so, I’m walking back down to the shops. I’m going to go get some coffee. (I’ve) got to make sure I remember that, because I love coffee. I also have to get some bocconcini cheese. Don’t forget that or my housemate’s going to get annoyed, because I think I’ve eaten the last of his bocconcini cheese twice now. And he’s not a fan of sharing. So, anyway, that’s what I’m off to. I hope you guys are having a beautiful weekend. The weather as you can tell here is absolutely phenomenal. It’s probably about, I don’t know, 24C, mid-20s or something. So, it’s actually really really lovely, but incredibly sunny, incredibly sunny. (There’re) barely any clouds and again that’s why I’ve got my shirt on, my glasses on, my hat on, and a bit of sunscreen. (You’ve) got to stay sun-smart, (you’ve) got to stay sun-smart.

Anyway, that’s probably enough guys. I’ve chatted for quite a while today. I will see you soon and I wish you all the best! See you guys!