The joys of computer ownership

[rhondalea]

I love my computer...but...

It broke when I came back from San Antonio. I have spent the last month and a half making it perfect. Last night, nirvana....until I dropped it as I was walking across the basement.

Now I'm formatting the drive (which is toast) so I can restore an image. It's not that I don't have a spare drive, but even newly formatted, it won't take the image.

I might start over. It's that frustrating. I just hate to lose all the work I have done since this debacle began.

I hope this post doesn't sound too stilted but I'm posting from my phone, and I have to concentrate so hard to hit the right keys, I can't think.

I miss you all.

[rhondalea]

I forgot to say that it's okay to laugh. And you would if you had any idea what a freaking comedy this has been.

[StephN]

OH, man alive! The computer gremlin has been haunting you big time.

Sorry to hear you had a momentary lapse and dropped the thing. I see you cringing just before the crash.

My old desktop has not been perfect for along time. So, I just have learned how to figure out workarounds. When learning how to use windows 3.1, I was overjoyed to find out that sometimes there is more than one way to do something. I am still at the basics, and admire your tenacity to get your computer to do so many other tasks.

If I do have a bigger problem with which I need help, I use our laptop to log on while talking with support.

Come back when you can!

[chrisy]

Well, at least you didn't trip over it and break your leg...

[rhondalea]

Ah, and apparently I'm not getting email from this site. Chalk up one more for the sorry state of my email.

Is that how you did it, Chris? Tripping over the computer? I trip over the power cord all the time, but I've always managed to catch myself. Maybe dropping the laptop was a blessing in disguise. (And how's your leg?)

Anyway, my laptop is fixed now. Well, mostly. I'm tweaking. If I were still using XP, it would be no problem, but even after a year, I'm just not as familiar with Windows 7. Today, my project is cleaning out all the duplicate files (mostly photos) on my HDD. (Yesterday, I got rid of all the duplicates in Outlook.) Of course, this project is just the run-up to organizing the entire household (in other words, I'm procrastinating), so there's an awful lot left to do before I feel like a normal person.

Still, I think I'm back now. I guess that means "one more thing to catch up on" to add to my list.

Yeesh.

[rhondalea]

Oh, the irony.

After all the fixing, followed by all the tweaking (and a couple of mistakes that required re-imaging), I have achieved computer nirvana. (Well, almost.) Windows Search even did a contents search on all my PDFs. I can find anything and everything on this machine now.

And it's a good thing I have my whole hard drive to keep me occupied, because this morning our FIOS went out. Something's wrong at the box--no internet, no TV (on Super Sunday--my poor husband), no phone. Verizon can't send anyone until Wednesday. (I had a fit and Xfinity was looking good until I realized that they're still cleaning up after the hurricane.)

I can get online because my phone has a hotspot account, but I'm starting to wonder if the gods of information technology have affixed a target to my back. It's just weird.

[StephN]

Another reason we have avoided bundling. Costs a little more, but then we are not out of everything at once. Hope someone will arrive sooner than Wed if more people are complaining!

[rhondalea]

If only it were the case that the whole neighborhood was out, someone might be here sooner.

But this outage? It's not an outage. Something's broken in the main box in our basement, not the box on the street.

I'm not sure I mentioned that all this technological inconvenience began the day I dropped my smartphone in the toilet (helping my almost-4-years old grandson go to the bathroom at the pediatrician's office). Maybe it's an omen. Or maybe it's just my year. (But it's good for a laugh, so no problem.)