Computer Blues

Be Thankful For What You've Got

Frustrating day.  Frustrating couple of weeks - I've been sick, and I've been having work computer problems, which always frustrates the hell out of me.  For some reason, Friday the 2nd my ID card (without which my computer is a brick) suddenly froze up and decided to stop working.  No problem, except that I can't just call the tech guys and have them remotely fix it, it has to be fixed at the District office.  And of course Monday, I come down with the plague.  Coughing fits, fever, snot building up in every orifice - your basic grotesque mess.  I think if I had tried to enter the downtown corridor, they would have instituted Godzilla measures, complete with helicopters and calling out the National Guard.

So, anyway... by today, I'm finally down to non-contagious levels of disgusting and make it into the office.  Still coughing, still weak as a kitten, but at least I'm not going to give it to anyone else at this point, and I'll be able to get my computer up and running.  Sure enough, after waiting an hour and a half (I get there at 6, they don't open the security office until 8, but fortunately, they owe me a favor), it takes all of 2 minutes to unlock my card, and I'm back up and running.  For four hours.

See, my laptop computer is close to end of life (it should have been replaced 2 years ago, but you know... budget cuts.)  For the past couple of months, it's been getting forgetful - it forgets that it has wireless capability whenever it gets jacked into a LAN server, and I try to take it back home and start it up again. It's almost like trying to talk to Bomb 20 from Dark Star.  Today I spent close to 2 hours trying various fixes suggested by the guys from our IT department, to no avail.  Hell, Lee (who is a total sweetheart, and knows my medical issues) even offered to come over and look at it on his own time.  And of course, at this point, I was dead tired, frustrated, close to breaking down, had Moose crawling up on me licking my face (he's a salt junkie)...

Fortunately, I've got my emergency back-up husband Kevin, who is a wiz with computers, and who was willing to come over and look at it for me (and Robyn could tell I needed some talking down from the edge of the cliff), so they agreed to come over after work, and I went and took a nap.  I find it works better than most solutions when things get to that point.  Of course, when Kevin and Robyn got here, and I booted the computer up, it worked perfectly, first try.

So...  things I'm grateful for.  Good friends at work and at home, who are willing to offer help, even when the help I need might just be making it through to the next day.  A husband who understands me and lets me sulk when I need to, and a puppy who won't let me sulk alone.  A forum that I can pour all this frustration out into - it's a little like lancing a wound.  This way, the puss won't stick around and fester inside me.  And music - that song up there has got me through some bad days.