Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhh!

What is it about having a written piece finished and ready to bring up to the library to post on the blog that gives me computer problems?

Sure, the computer problems don't happen every time I've got a completed blog entry on my hard drive, but it seems like every time I do have computer problems, there is a finished piece a-waiting that I then can't access.

This time, I think that it's primarily (but not completely) some kind of video card issue, given that the screen went dead in the middle of watching a DVD, and that subsequent attempts to use the computer have seen the video fail during the start-up process. No video, and no sound either.

When I opened up the computer to see if maybe the video card had come loose, or if the problem was something else that I could both spot and fix, I noticed that there were several things that looked like they should have been connected to something, but that weren't. And then there was that other thing . . .

I borrowed my dad's phone and called my brother-in-law. "Hey, computer-repair monkey? I have a question -- when you put my computer together, did you happen to install a dead mouse?"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there was a dead (presumably electrocuted) rodent with it's jaws locked around a bundle of wiring. What. The. Fuck. ?.

(Turns out that my brother-in-law hadn't installed a dead mouse, and was just as astonished as I to hear of it's presence. Or so he said.)

Sadly, he doesn't currently have time to go through it and figure out what's what and what's wrong. Neither does my brother, who took it anyway, and figures that he'll look at it "when he gets time". No computer for me for who knows how long.

So instead of getting to read the rare optimistic and uplifting post today (two topics: karaoke and girls -- actual specific girls that make me think I might not be doomed to eternal virginity and even more eternal loneliness), you have to read me bitching about my fucked up computer.

[On top of which, I somehow managed to overdraw my bank account by about $35. Leaving me $96.00 in the hole after overdraft fees. It'll go deeper before I get my check on the first. "Yay" (he says sarcastically.) This means no trips to Darklady's Wonderground up in Portland in the immediate future, either. Kill me, kill me now.]

Well, maybe I'll get some reading done. I hear they've now got these things called "books" that are like e-books or web fiction, but on sheets of paper that are all stuck together. (Weird.)

Monday, October 4, 2010