Some Fridays Are Better Than Others

I only had to work a half-day today, which was good.  I woke up this morning with an upset tummy and a nagging headache, which was bad.

On my way to work this morning, I heard "These Days" by the Foo Fighters on the radio, which was good.  Traffic was really terrible, which was bad.

My morning at work was relatively quiet, which was good.  My headache got worse, which was bad.

On the way home, I stopped at Cracker Barrel to pick up a take-out lunch I'd called in from the office before I left, which was good.  When I got there they couldn't find my order and I had to wait for them to fix it, which was bad.

I made another stop on the way home at Office Depot and found a nice little laptop stand at a reasonable price, which was good.  My headache continued to get worse, which was bad.

My last stop on the way home was at the post office, where I picked up a package containing my new laptop docking station, which was good.  Traffic downtown was really, really heavy, which was bad.

When I arrived home, my take-out lunch was still warm, which was good.  My headache was so bad by then that I was fairly nauseous, which was bad.

After lunch I hooked up the docking station, and it worked like a dream, which was good.  Right now I'm in the recliner with the laptop hooked into my large monitor, keying this entry on a wireless keyboard, all of which is good.

Yup, the good outweighs the bad.  It's a good, good Friday.

Hope yours is good, too!

My Computer Croaked!

Adios, dear Dell desktop computer.  Okay, first and foremost, this is not a complaint.  It really and truly isn't.  I'd had my Dell desktop for several years (seven or eight, I really can't remember), and it was a replacement for an older Dell desktop.  They both served me well, and my losses when they croaked are nobody's fault but my own.

Losses, you ask?  Being spoiled by years of faithful service, I got lazy about backing up my stuff.  Photos, videos, correspondence.  All gone.  Not once, mind you, but TWICE.  Dumb.  Just plain dumb.

Here's how the latest loss came about.  Last Friday terrible storms rocked my little corner of the world.  The storms were not as severe as those of April 2011, but there was a confirmed F1 tornado in nearby Lee County last Friday.  As a precaution, I had turned off my Dell desktop.  Keep in mind that this computer was rarely turned off.  It ran happily at a desk in the corner of my bedroom, only occasionally being rebooted due to the eccentricities of Microsoft Vista.

On Saturday following the passing of the storms I realized I needed to turn the computer on to pay some bills and e-file my taxes.  I pushed the power button.  Nothing happened.

A brief wave of nausea ran over me.  Oh, man, how long has it been since I saved my photos?  How many episodes of Knitting Daily and movies from Turner Classic Movies had I not yet burned to DVD?

I fiddled a bit with the computer, doing the few techie tricks I know, to no avail.  So now, the computer sits temporarily beside my bed, unplugged and mourned.

I still had my little Acer netbook, so I wasn't completely out of touch with my online world, but I knew that was a temporary solution at best.  I shopped online for a replacement for my beloved Dell and had settled on a Dell laptop that happened to be on sale.  I didn't order it right away, though, because I had to be out of town for a training session for a few days.

On the first day out of town, my coworkers and I dropped in at Staples to look around.  (We don't have a Staples nearby, so we wanted to see if we found any bargains.)  There I found a heckuva deal in a Toshiba laptop.

So here I sit, tapping away at a new personal computer.  Now all I have to do is try to remember all the useful stuff I had bookmarked on my Dell.  I'll hang onto the Dell, of course, and try later to get it up and running long enough to rescue all the items I hadn't backed up, but there's no huge rush on that.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this new toy.


I am a happy woman.  :-)

The Harvest

As you can see by this photograph, Daddy has harvested the broomcorn. It looks just beautiful, and I hope we can put it to good use!

I had my first big disaster with my new computer last Saturday. A message popped up from my internet security suite stating that an important update was available, and all I needed to do was click on the link to load it. So I did. Dumb. No, it wasn't a virus. It was really and truly an update from the company who wrote my security program. Unfortunately, the update was REALLY buggy. Not only did I have to completely uninstall the security program, I also had to reinstall WINDOWS, for cryin' out loud!!

At least I know it wasn't just me....the message board on the company's website was full of irate messages from customers who'd had the same experience I'd had. I was up until 3:00 am Sunday morning trying to get everything back to par. After that, I dozed while waiting for Windows Vista to reinstall (a lengthy process). To say that I felt a bit draggy yesterday is an understatement. Luckily, all I really had to do was a load of laundry. I had a lot of other projects that I should have worked on, but they'll just have to wait!!

Today is a "dull sinus headache" kinda day, so I'm probably going to call it a night pretty early. I've already had my dinner. I'm waiting for a thunderstorm to pass (I can hear distant rumbles as I'm typing this) so that I can have my shower and get into my jammies. I think a warm shower, a cool glass of tea, and a good night's sleep will be very helpful. :-)

Catching Up

I've not posted in AGES, so let's see now, what's been going on lately in my little corner of the world?

Daddy's been raising broomcorn (see photo). He and I received instruction from a fellow camper last October in the art of broom making, so Daddy raised broomcorn this summer so we can try it for ourselves. He cut the corn (actually a type of sorghum) this week and has now hung the "straw" to dry. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Dad's family reunion was August 8 - 10. I went over on Saturday and spent most of the day. I believe they had the nicest weather I've ever seen for a reunion. It's usually too hot to breathe, but it wasn't bad that day. They have it on Copper Creek in Scott County each August.

MeggieDog and I went to Grindstone for a 4-day weekend to celebrate my birthday August 14 - 17. We had the best weather we've had on a camping trip this year....its was just glorious! Mom and Dad had gone to Pigeon Forge the Monday before, so they weren't camping with us this time. They came up and visited on Saturday, though, so that was really nice.

Fearful that my five-year-old Dell desktop computer (which developed a noticable whine a LONG time ago) might soon bite the dust, I treated myself to a new Dell desktop. I'm still a bit awed by the 500 GB hard drive, remembering that the 80 GB drive on the old Dell was top of the line when I bought it. I wonder what the storage capacity will be the NEXT time I buy a new PC?

Last Saturday my little friend Lindsay celebrated her 16th birthday with a party at the Eastman Recreational Center at Bays Mountain. A great time was had by all!

Tuesday was the first rehearsal of the season for the madrigal singers I sing with during the Christmas season. The first rehearsal is actually an introductory "tea" where we gather at the music studio, enjoy yummy snacks, and look over the music we'll be performing this season. Beth, our Fearless Leader, handed out manila envelopes of sheet music. As I thumbed through mine, I recognized a title. Opening the music and quickly sight-reading it, I said, "Hey, the Monkees sang this one on their Christmas episode." Several of the group laughed, thinking I was kidding. I said, "No, really, they DID." *LOL* After I got home, I found a clip of it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko94b3I0X0Y. It's lovely, and I can hardly wait to hear it performed in 4-part harmony with women's voices.

With Monday being a holiday, the rest of the workweek was busy, busy, busy. I woke up with a headache Thursday, but figured it was the result of sinus congestion (which I enjoy on a regular basis...*ick*). I'd been invited to have dinner with friends at Shoney's after work; by then my head was really pounding. By the time I left Shoney's I was feeling queasy. I hurried home, called Mom, put my jammies on and took a couple of Excedrin PM. Apparently, the sip of water I took with the medicine was all I needed to push me over the edge. Everything in me came up. *YUCK* Luckily, that made me feel better, though. I was able to go to sleep quickly and slept straight through until just before the clock went off at 6:00 the next morning.

I still felt a bit delicate, but was much, much better. So off I went to work, a busy but relatively uneventful end to the workweek! When I got home, I had a fairly quiet evening: a light supper and a DVD from Netflix. I watched "Clerks 2", the latest in a recent rash of Kevin Smith movies I've watched.

Am I the last person in America to discover Kevin Smith? "Dogma" had been recommended to me just after it became available on DVD, and I really enjoyed it. I laughingly referred to it as one of my "guilty pleasures". It's profane (the language is truly dreadful) and irreverent (yes, most would say blasphemous), and sometimes you just need one of those, y'know? However, I had no idea that "Silent Bob" was so hilarious until I happened to catch "An Evening with Kevin Smith" on the "Watch Instantly" tab of my Netflix account. I was hooked!

So I rented "Clerks", "Mallrats", "Chasing Amy", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", and now "Clerks 2". Funny, funny stuff. I also watched "An Evening with Kevin Smith 2 - Evening Harder". It must be nice to be young and talented.

What else have a been watching? There's absolutely NOTHING on television; after the "Meerkat Manor" season ended, the only thing new on TV I've been watching is new episodes of "Monk". So, I've been watching the 1956-1957 season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on Netflix. I've also watched the entire run of "American Gothic" from 1995. I never understood why that show didn't catch on more than it did. It really was wicked fun. Back in July I finished up "The Sopranos". I'd already heard all the hype, of course, so I wasn't expecting the ending to surprise me. Even though I knew what was coming, the sudden cut to black silence was jangling. Adios, Tony. It was an interesting journey.

So what's next? A "regular" weekend, I think. Today I'll do a bit of household drudgery, then go visit Mom and Dad for a bit. Then Kris and I will talk by Skype early this evening (early tomorrow morning Sydney time). I always look forward to that. :-) Then tomorrow I'll finish up the weekly household chores and do something relaxing and fun.

It's nearly 7:30 now, and household drudgery awaits.....so, off I go.