[Where's my sound?]

Beyond that, I can't help unless you buy a Mac

Looking like a good idea for next time!

Tracy

[Where's my sound?]

Ok, I've been a slacker and now i'll try to keep my replies in some semblence of order. I appreciate all the response, and

will even venture some hope that somebody can help the obviously helpless. :-)

The aftermarket stuff is just a few games from discs, which I mentioned because I thought I would have to remember where I put them

and I didn't.

The green cord is plugged into the green slot.

And I'm not muted, funny boy. Although, when I first did the restore, the volume icon was still in the bottom right section, but I moved

last year and had not noticed that is no longer there. I may have done something that picked what's down there, if that's how they get there, or whatever, it's not there and it used to be, and was after I was missing sound, at which time I checked the volume control and mute box.

When I went to control panel and sound devices in the past, or where ever someone may have told me to look, I always found it to say

everything was functional. Today, when I followed the instructions to cp, sound devices, on the opening tab which is volume, it says "no sound device". On the audio tab, where it says playback, recording etc, it says no default devices.

My daughter used to live with me, and when she left I made her remove her zillion files of downloaded music, and maybe whatever she used

to do that with, like Limewire or whatever.

It does appear like maybe I lost something somewhere and compounded the problem since it used to say things were functional.

If you're still with me, I promise to be diligent in keeping up with your posts. I am not, and would not want to appear, ungrateful. How I missed the notifications is anyone's guess.

Tracy

[David Nearly 13]

Another new site for me, whoohoo!

Hello, and thank you, Steven!

Tracy

[Where's my sound?]

First of all, I hope i'm in the right place with an appropriate question.

I have a HP desktop that is about 4 years old. I had a crash a while back, and after doing

a system recovery, everything came back (including things I had installed after market which

I understood would not happen) except my sound.

It is impotant to realize you are dealing here with, um, a computer idiot, and all I can say is

my sound used to come out of speakers on my monitor, and though I have heard of drivers and sound cards, I don't know what I have.

If it helps, my model number is HP Pavillion a335w Desktop PC. I have browsed the forum

of HP users, and asked my question there, but got no reply, and my browsing only produced

a lot of new terms I didn't understand, though I did discover that there are MANY sound problems

with HP products of all kinds.

Of course, any help will be greatly appreciated, and laughing is allowed.

Tracy

[The Wall]

There is something about analogy that lends itself well to the experience of human emotion,

and to the human mind in it's attempt to recreate the feeings with word pictures.

Yours is a fine example of just that, Richard, and as your wall went up, my heart sank, my hope

faded, and the feeling of being cut off from the world and self was vividly real and frighteningly

claustrophobic.

And in the sudden influx of light, I found myself taking a deep breath.

Nice work, Richard. Thank you for your effort.

Tracy

[What was it like]

I'm sorry if you have the runs, Tracy. Keep 'em clenched.

You are incorrigible, Cole! And doing a fine job of it i'd say.

With family here, Richard, you perhaps have a place to visit, in the summer of course!

I hear so many writers here express the desire to make the world a more welcoming place for

our children, where instead of spending years trying to come to terms with themselves and the world they live in, they can move into adulthood to realize the potential that exists in all of us. It's

impossible to imagine what the world would be like if that were the norm; a world where diverse ideas and infinite creativity reigned would certainly look much different than the one we look out on today.

I thank you all, for my child, and for everyone's children, and my every hope is that you succeed, for undoubtedly, what helps one gay child, helps all gay children, and what helps them, helps the whole world in the process.

For my part, I am much like Paul, believing that prejudice of any kind only futhers prejudice, and

I fight it where I see it, in myself as well as my environment. In myself, I find I must peel it off, layer after layer, and I honestly have yet to reach the bottom of it. On days when I'm tempted to think life is long, I need only remind myself how much work there is to do in it, and i'm soon thankful for even one more day.

As an aside, this forum has given me a number of new names to use in hunting for stories, so I am off to read--that is, after all, what I do.

Tracy

[What was it like]

Those of you that have read Broken know most of my story or as much as I've been able to tell so far

I just read your story a couple days ago, James, in fact, stayed up all night reading it, which is an indication of it's impact on me, which was considerable, as the live of others usually are. I trust you received my comments through the provided link?

I was born in northern Minnesota

I grew up in International Falls, Richard, as north in Minnesota as it gets. I have lived in a couple other states, including Florida, and I'd have to say i'll take the total number of really cold days in Minnesota over the total

number of so-hot-I can't-stand-it days down there. My best memories of living in noth woods country come from

my childhood, so I hope there is still a bit of that in your heart, too. I came back to Minnesota for a number of reasons, the main one being a relationship with what I now know to be a bi-polar woman who appeared to hate me more often than she loved me. That of course is another story, but I have not since been seriously tempted to move away from everything I know and everyone who knows me.

And quite possibly those very folks have had cause to lament my decision, and more than once or twice. I had a

restless adolescence, which somewhat solidified in my early adult years to a succession of habitual obstacles that had to be overcome, and only a decidedly persistant nature, along with an ability to avail myself of the many sources of help, both personal and professional that abound in current society, saw me through to the relative comfort I now enjoy. I have a career I pursue with enthusiasm, an absence of anything I could honestly claim to need, and more peace of mind than I ever dreamed existed.

Having been a less than ideal fit almost everywhere I placed or found myself, hanging around a predominately

male but infinitely interesting and creative environment seems to suit me rather well. All I know is, after stumbling in looking for answers to what I thought were simple questions, I found a world that offered more in the way of what I consider worthwhile than my world up to that time ever would.

Thank you, Richard, for what is sure to be a thread that sends no one away empty handed. Inspired, if you ask me, for the opportunity for any who wish to express what they might not otherwise say, and for insight into others for which they would not otherwise ask.

I'm going back for that insight right now. Haha, Cole you know i'm running for it!

Tracy

[Outside the Foul Lines]

I posted this response from Rick under the Redemption banner a couple days ago,

but much of what I sent him actually came from here, so it seems fitting to post a

duplication rather than have his thanks miss anyone...honestly, if there's a misstep

to be be made, i'm going to find it.

Anyway, Rick says:

'It is particularly gratifying that respected writers enjoy my efforts at expanding the conversation about what it means to be a gay man. I do my best to draw on my own experiences and knowledge of the men I've known to bring them into the discussion. The email I receive is the fuel for my work and it expands again my understanding of the complex male state of mind. We do not wear labels well and just when you think you know it all, you discover the tip of a new, previously unidentified faceted emerging from someone on the other end of an email.

'I can't ever know what it means to be a gay man. I'll continue to search and to write about people who defy labels and reject being classified as this or that. We are all from a unique past set into a unique environment and each of us compromise who we are to varying degrees.

'Being able to hear comments from inside Awesome Dude is the best thing that's come my way in ages. I work alone and the only feedback is from email. Each one is a single individual who is or is not particularly pleased with what I have to say. Writers writing is more revealing and easier to allow me to feel as though I may be accomplishing something worth the time I invest. Tracy is open and of the moment and the spirit that encompasses me. Her efforts on my behalf are life altering. Love & Peace, Rick Beck.'

Tracy

[David Nearly 13]

I keep forgetting to remember that forums have a specified purpose, and that there may well

be one for my particular comment and it is my job to put it there!

That "David Nearly Thirteen" is available somewhere other than Nifty is useful info

for me. I will never stop using Nifty as a source, but the ease of other sites is invaluable

also.

So, thanks guys, and to you Caleb, for your effort always.

Tracy

[Rick Beck's Redemption]

It was a pleasure delivering your comments to Rick, Everyone, matched only by my pleasure

in bringing this back.

Rick says:

'It is particularly gratifying that respected writers enjoy my efforts at expanding the conversation about what it means to be a gay man. I do my best to draw on my own experiences and knowledge of the men I've known to bring them into the discussion. The email I receive is the fuel for my work and it expands again my understanding of the complex male state of mind. We do not wear labels well and just when you think you know it all, you discover the tip of a new, previously unidentified faceted emerging from someone on the other end of an email.

'I can't ever know what it means to be a gay man. I'll continue to search and to write about people who defy labels and reject being classified as this or that. We are all from a unique past set into a unique environment and each of us compromise who we are to varying degrees.

'Being able to hear comments from inside Awesome Dude is the best thing that's come my way in ages. I work alone and the only feedback is from email. Each one is a single individual who is or is not particularly pleased with what I have to say. Writers writing is more revealing and easier to allow me to feel as though I may be accomplishing something worth the time I invest. Tracy is open and of the moment and the spirit that encompasses me. Her efforts on my behalf are life altering. Love & Peace, Rick Beck.'

Tracy

[David Nearly 13]

Nothing pleases me more, Caleb, than getting what I s'posed to got.

Seriously, I'd say you did your job and I did mine.

And the rest of you, i'm not supposed to laughing this hard at work,

they'll think they're paying me too much...

"...here little question mark?" hehe, but you're telling me it goes inside, right?

That question within a question is just enough to throw me off. Ask Cole, he

does it with his hands tied behind his back.

Now, there's a picture, eh?

Tracy

[David Nearly 13]

I like this one, and hearing that it was part of a contest entitled "Death's Day Off" has me clapping

my hands for Caleb with the thought, "you got this from that?" Priceless!!

I just came over from the grammar section, and i'm and I have no idea whether the questionmark

goes inside or outside the quotations, haha. I ain't a writer, but I like to talk.

I do believe I've been following this story on Nifty. Did I say I like this one? David portrays the balancing act of being on the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence with all the fearless innocence of the former and the genuine ignorance of the latter.

Tracy

[Opinions sought]

[Outside the Foul Lines]

I will most certainly do that, and thanks to all of you.

This is the most fun i've had in a while, and yes, I know that is as good as an invitation for

you to have some more, Cole...haha, I don't mind if the laugh is on me, as long as it's a good one.

Time to do my famous copy/paste act. I've got that down to an art, and it only took me.....

Best to all of you, and many thanks from Rick,

[Outside the Foul Lines]

Nice to see you boys entertaining yourselves. And girls I'm not ignoring you, I just didn't see

you doing the same thing here...

Wasn't this about "Outside the Foul Lines"? I for one would like to see Rick back at it, and would

like to send him your comments to back up my whining. Do I need permission for this?

As I said under the Redemption thread, Rick has very poor eyesight, so I am his little forum

scout. It's a great job, since good writers get good comments, and the criticisms on this forum

are the most consistantly constructive I see.

Thanks James, for starting this off, you can't be held responsible for the train when it leaves the track!

[Courage by Cole Parker]

Thanks Des!

Cole, that's two to your one, we win.

T.

[Courage by Cole Parker]

I came late to this party, and the best of course has been said. I just wanted to add that this is

my favorite Cole Parker story, and one I return to whenever there is a lull in my usually full

dance card of stories.

Nice work Cole. You're a genius!

Tracy

[Rick Beck's Redemption]

This is a great thread, guys. I don't know if any of you are aware that Rick is legally blind, and

the limited sight he has is spent reading his mail, and of course, writing. I am going to send some of this to him in larger type, as I think he will be encouraged by it, and who gets too much of that?

Obviously, I think he's everything you say, and more.

Tracy

[The Purity Test]

The link wouldn't let me open it. It said I have to be signed in--I am signed in or I wouldn't be typing this. There is at least one person around here who will not be surprised by this.

[Just One Starfish]

I'd be lost without scouts like you, Cole. Many thanks.

I'd been checking this story for a new chapter, unwilling to believe he would make an orphan of this, or any other, of his wonderful stories. Sometimes it's REALLY good to be right.

Tracy

[Help on Register Three, Please]

Surely everyone knows that clerk, or her twin. And will be vicarously validated by seeing her lose this round. I wanted to join in the clapping myself, and would have, had I been there. No doubt this has been

very close to an actual experience for someone, and representative of numerous others.

Written in your consistantly flawless manner, a delight to read on all fronts!

As always, thank you for your effort, Cole.

Tracy

[The Tree House]

I understand the term "Flash Fiction" now, Steven.

Drawn in from the first sentence, wrapped up and carried all the through to the end.

Which came too quickly for me, leaving me hungry for more. Not a bad state for a reader

to be in, or for a writer to have a reader in, either.

As always, thank you for your effort.

Tracy