Friday, November 28, 2008

And, technology strikes again

What I'm reading: Home is Where the Heart Is, by Suzanne Brockmann

After I finished yesterday's post, some power from above decided I'd had enough good news for a day, and I got a warning pop-up about the USB cable on my battery back up power supply. Before my trusted IT hubby could get there, loud clicking noises ensued. Then a pop. Then bad smells like something electrical burning.


He sent me away while he worked. His report: Power supply shorted out. Sparks. Not good. He did hook up my laptop to my desk monitor, and to the wireless keyboard so at least I don't have to type on the laptop, but I'm still working off my laptop, which is NOT a replication of my PC.

MOST of my files are backed up externally. But not ALL my files. Some might not have been updated in longer than they should have. (I'm thinking all my financial writing records, neatly organized into the IRS Schedule C categories).

But, nothing we could do on Thanksgiving day, so we bummed around until it was time to leave for dinner, had a very good meal (excellent curried butternut squash soup) and came home to Netflix.

This morning, we brought the computer into the Office Depot's Tech department, where for a flat fee (not a LOW flat fee, but reasonable), they ship it off to their central repair facility, diagnose and fix what's wrong. Normal turnaround time is a week, but it's a holiday, and I'm never that lucky. Until then, there's no way to know if the data on my hard drive survived the sparking and burning stuff.

Another fun glitch -- when I went to buy touchup paint for my car, the dealership had to order it. They don't stock it. Today, several weeks later, hubby decides he wants to have a go and see if the paint will cover the bumper scrapes from too-high curbs. He opens the paint. And yeah, it's the wrong color. Not a 'wrong shade', but a totally different color. It'll be Tuesday before they get in a replacement.

Today's Gratitude List
1. The curried butternut squash soup at The Everglades
2. That we were home when the computer shorted so the house didn't burn down
3. (again). My IT hubby.

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