Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Yesterday was not a very good day. The optimist in me would say that it was a “challenging” day, and that the important things were fine: Claire was happy and healthy. The house didn’t burn down. The kitties are still alive. I didn’t fall down the stairs. The realist in me is screaming about how everything else pretty much sucked, and sugar-coating the truth is a big ol’ waste of time.

I’m not even sure if the following things are related or if they all just happened at once and became intertwined.

It all started when the special program I use for my job barfed all over my computer, desk and keyboard. That’s the only way I can describe the mess it made. I consciously decided not to panic, and I rebooted. That usually works. Not this time. It barfed again, and I didn’t even think there was anything left in its stomach, but I was wrong. This time, it got all over my shirt, pants and my chair. And, I really hate that.

So, I rebooted again.

Now, the program seemed to be working, and it was actually working better than it had in weeks! But, when I went to open an Internet Explorer window, it just sat there and churned and churned, the little green progress bar (that usually goes so fast you don’t know it’s there) was stuck on two little boxes. What the…? Approximately 25 minutes later (27 to be exact, not that I’m counting), it opens, and acts like everything is fine. I can go to numerous sites, all at the speed of light. So, I opened another window to see if the glitch was gone, and nope…it sits there, stalled.

So, I rebooted again. Third time’s the charm, right?

I go to the kitchen and boot up the laptop. Everything appears to be working fine, so I know it’s not our network. I come back in my office, and everything seems to open fine on my computer, and I click on the little blue ‘e’ at the bottom of my screen, crossing my fingers. No luck. Stuck again. Why is this happening now??

So, I bring the laptop in from the kitchen and find a place for it on my desk. All the while, Claire has been asking over and over and over and over for the last 33 minutes to listen to Rollin! And Move it! And Rollin? And Move it? And, I’m beginning to lose my mind. It takes every ounce of my being to not scream at her cute little face. It’s not her fault. I try explaining that Momma’s computer isn’t working right now, but we’ll listen to her music soon.

In the meantime, my Logitech Keyboard decides to have seizures. I can no longer control the sound via my keyboard controls and there is no indication on my screen telling me which mode I’m in. This keyboard is one of those things that I never thought I needed until I had it, and now I don’t know how to do anything without it. I finally figure out how to mute the sound on my computer, but it doesn’t work on Claire. I can still hear her loud and clear. She’s just sure that I’m not paying attention, so her pleas get louder and louder.

So, I try to focus on getting the laptop set up in my office. Of course, I can’t plug the laptop in where I want to, because the previous owners painted over the bottom hole on the most convenient outlet. Yes, we’ve lived here over six years. Your point? I don’t have time to dig out paint from a third hole I rarely need. So, I find an empty spot on my UPS (battery backup thingy). Success! I can now look at the websites I need to (for work) and the websites I have to (for Claire). My work program and email seem to be running fine on my computer, so I proceed with a desk that looks like I’m about ready to launch the space shuttle.

When Tech Support gets home, I waited until he was changed into his sweats and comfy t-shirt before telling him that Claire opted to boycott her afternoon nap, and oh, yeah, my computer is possessed. He worked on it a little bit last night and some this morning and figured out the problem. He also installed Mozilla Firefox, so now I’m going to use that instead of Internet Explorer. Even though IE is fixed, this is the perfect opportunity to install it and start using it. I’ve wanted to in the past, but hadn’t been motivated.

It’s cool, and I use it on the laptop, but it’s not the same. All my bookmarks were imported but they are all out of order. I automatically look at the bottom of my screen for my websites instead of at the tabs at the top of the screen. Everything I do seems to be happening in slow motion because I actually have to think about where things are. Before yesterday’s incident, I could just do. Now, I have to re-learn, remember, and then do. I’m trying really hard to summon the casual side of my perfectionism today, and I’m struggling.

So, I’m a bit out of sorts today. Just writing this all down has helped a tad. Things are starting to feel a little more balanced around here. By the end of the day, I should be feeling a lot better. Now, I should get back to work before these files eat me alive…and if that happened, who would play Rollin’ and Move It over and over and over?