When it rains, it pours.

I had some problems with the new internet setup Wednesday night, so I called technical support. The first thing they had me do was check all the connections (even though I had already so done). To make a long story short, I managed to drop my computer about 4" to the floor, at which point I immediately lost power to the hard drive and CD-Rom.

It gets better.

My ego being what it is, I popped the case to see if I could fix the problem (thought it might be a loose cord. The smell of ozone pouring out of the case might have deterred lesser blockheads, but not I, dear reader. I loosened the cord to the hard drive, then wiggled it back onto the hard drive.

I forgot to disconnect the power first.

It wasn't a particularly large bolt of sparks that zapped between the power cord and the hard drive when I began to reconnect it, but it may have been large enough. The power supply seemed dead.

Undeterred by prior idiocy, I decided to plug the hard drive into my back up computer. No response. Dead. Gone. Nothing.

Sigh.

That being the case, I resigned myself to using the kid's upstairs computer for the internet for a few days.

Unfortunately, I had never quite gotten around to updating the drivers on that computer. So, no home internet connection right now.

I called my local computer guru (the one sending me a droolicious laptop), and we talked about options. I decided to get a new case (with attached power supply) -- he owed me a refund of $40.00 on the laptop (I ordered an 80GB hard drive; he bought a 60GB hard drive and told me the 80GB drives just weren't reliable enough), and offered to buy the parts for $40.00 and install for a one hour charge ($50). So, not a bad deal.

I asked about my hard drive -- if we can save it. If I fried the circuits, then I can't save the drive, but I may be able to save the data.

But it will cost me about $1500 (according to my computer guru) and involves physically transferring the platters from one hard drive to another. And it only works about 60% of the time (but you still pay the fee, even if unsuccessful).

Sigh. I have to cough up for it -- all of our digital pictures for the past several years are on that hard drive (I know, I know, I should have backed up my data, but I didn't have a CD-RW on that computer -- I am fixing that problem with the new case).

I had expected my computer guru Friday, but he was ill. No worries. I zoned on the X-Box (SpongeBob Squarepants is darned addictive) and took time out to go with the family for some ice cream.

On the way back, Joe (our youngest) was talking constantly. In a desperate attempt to gain peace and quiet for a minute, Philip (our seven year old) tried the old Mom and Dad trick of "the quiet game".

Joe: " {blah, blah, blah, blah}"
Philip: "Okay, Joe, umm, let's play the quiet game, okay. Let's see who can be quiet until we get home. Whoever talks is out, okay?"
Joe: (two seconds later) "Okay. I'm out. {blah blah blah, blah}"

A classic. Amy nearly coughed up a lung from laughing so hard and Philip (normally pretty sensitive about being laughed at) was rolling.

Life is just so beautiful, right? Had the computer come in (or been working), I probably wouldn't have brought up the idea of going out for ice cream -- Amy was exhausted, and I was tired and my back hurting -- and I would have missed this moment.

Now, I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

Steve

NOTES:

1. I'll be away from the blog for a few days, gentle reader, as we have a major deadline approaching.
2. Curiously enough, I just learned that blogger's spellcheck function does not recognize "blog" as a properly spelled word. Odd, eh?
3. The comments bar will hopefully be up and running again next week. Stay tuned
- posted by MrSpkr @ 07:58