Thursday 5 May 2011

Burnt Out

I noticed a funny smell in the East Wing the other day.  I checked the iron, but it was cool.  Then I noticed that the screen on the PC no longer had a picture or an operations light, but the keyboard and the big box did have lights.  Bill confirmed my suspicion that the PC had burned itself out and we turned it off and left it to cool.

I'm typing this on a new laptop with which I've yet to make friends.  I'm sure there are many nice things about it, like the squillion times faster Internet, but the screen resolution isn't as good and I've spent a good deal of time trying to adjust settings and kill off all the garbage that new computers use to make you crazy. 

It seems so strange to be talking to you on a different computer that I almost feel I've lost my 'voice', like I'm starting all over again as a blogger...ridiculous.  Instead of whinging about what I don't like I need to count my blessings:
  • I had the money to just go out and buy a new computer, even if I didn't allow myself to get a snazzy one.  We looked at Sonys and Macs and I walked away just as if they were Jaguar cars or Alexander McQueen dresses; nice to look at, but stupid prices.
  •  Nothing was lost off the old PC:  I still have all my photos and...AND  I DON'T HAVE TO DO MY TAXES ALL OVER AGAIN!  I got all the way done to some last hitch on the Utah form and that's when the PC began to crumble.  I could have filed for an extension, but I think figuring out that puzzle once is sufficient punishment for having any income at all. 
  • I have loads of posts written and all I need to do is add the photos and hit publish.  I never stopped having ideas or writing, they just aren't on this computer ... yet.  We've had loads of adventures the past few days, so all I have to do is be patient with this Japanese computer that was made in Germany and we'll be champion, right?

3 comments:

BigLittleWolf said...

Well I think you're taking this event like a trooper!

But getting used to a new PC is hard, hard, hard. I might even venture to say, bordering on the dramatic for those of us who are glued to our writing at the hip. We lost two PCs simultaneously about a year ago, and we didn't have everything backed up (though about 85%) - and it was ye olde quick trip to the nearest store to get an inexpensive laptop asap - one that had to be shared with a kid, at that.

No fun! But you're so smart to look on the bright side. It could have been worse. (It can always be worse, right?)

Hoping you decipher your Japanese-German friend quickly and easily...

Rick Stone said...

You have all those pics and files stored on your computer? Have you backed them up? After having several computers crash on me over the years I've learned to not keep any files on the computer. I put everthing on flash drives. Really important stuff is also put on CD's and put in the fire safe. Flash drives have gotten so cheap I have a bunch of them.

Shelley said...

Rick - You are absolutely right about backing things up and flash drives and all. The thing is that when I tried moving or copying the folders to a flash drive I found that I needed a much larger memory...also, some of the picture files were corrupted, so I stopped doing that. I will try it again. As everything is now on an external drive, I'm guessing it's safer than it was in my computer, but it is still the single copy, so I will need to figure out what needs backed up...tax files & photos, definitely... Now we're off to buy a cable that will connect the ancient, barely working printer, to the new zoomy computer. It's not easy being frugal...