She’s ALIIIIIIVE!

Hellooo.  Helloooo in there!  *knocks on puter screen*  Yes.  I’m still alive.  I’ve made it to the library for the first time in about a month, I guess.  Have had to spend MOST of that time deleting junk emails.  Grr.

So, IF, in fact, anyone is still stopping by here to read this stuff, here’s what’s happening in SC.  We are all well, except for Jacob, who has had his first EVER case of strep in his life.  Penicillin is MAGIC, I tell you.  We have visited family, met our new niece/cousin, Olivia.  Adorable.  We have had the fabulous dance recital.  We have started a little girls’ book club.  (We are reading Everything On A Waffle)  The bathroom leak turned out to be a way too loose gasket of some sort.  Tightened up and 75 bucks later, we’re good to go.  SHWEWW!!  Big Red has had some issues (new tires, new starter #2, weird noises resolved), but she’s still running and that’s all that matters!  We have enjoyed some company at our own home and, OH YEAH, and we have acquired yet another pet.  This one for Emma.  A guinea pig she has named Zippy.  I’d post y’all some pics, but I’m still WITHOUT A HOME PC.  This will be resolved SOON because it is killing me.  Just suffice it to say that he is adorable!!  And pretty mellow.

I REALLY want to type more, but my incredibly patient children are still very patiently waiting for me.  I miss y’all and I’ll be back soon…or die trying!!!

News from the library

“AAAArrrrrgggghhhh!” ~Charlie Brown

Please hear my Charlie Brown-esque vocal stylings from wherever you are out there.  Oh the pain. 

I had like 150 emails in my inbox today.  Granted, most of them were crap, but still, they have to be deleted.  And that takes time.  I have a limited time on the library computer so I am not getting to blog walk.  I have no idea what is happening in everyone’s lives.  I. Feel. So. Disconnected.  sniff sniff.  Please know that I am missing all of you and hopefully, I will be back online regularly soon.  I am currently having bigger fish to fry, as there seems to be some mysterious leak from the kids’ shower.  Moola may have to go to a plumber instead of Mr. Gates.   Seems as though I’ll be visiting the library a bit longer.  I retrieved my dead tower from my Geek…and it is sitting there, sadly by the computer desk.

Meanwhile, we had a lovely Memorial Day weekend.  Doing pretty much nothing, which is great by me.  We went downtown to visit the local farmer’s market, which was fun.  We cooked out.  We took a bike ride, visited the pool.  It was good.  The weather was nice.  Hubby and Jacob went fishing yesterday and it seems that the Ospreys were catching all the fish.  Which was good consolation for Jacob…if you can’t catch fish, at least you can see some really cool birds…ospreys, great blue herons, egrets, etc.

Our Iowa house closed last week.  SO YAY!!  The kids finished their dreaded end of the year standardized torture…er, testing, last Thursday.  So aside from the dead computer and the mysterious shower leakage, we had quite a bit to celebrate…gotta keep it all in perspective, ya know!

As I sit here, I have received a call from Jacob’s assistant (trust me, I wouldn’t have answered my cell–which is on vibrate, by the way–in the library if I didn’t see that it was HER!), who has told me that Jacob is “done” with field day.  You’d think the kid would love having a day where he doesn’t have to sit in class or have much homework to speak of, but NOOO, he hates field day.  It means competition and that means personal angst for my boy.  So, it looks like my computer time is going to be shorter than usual. DANG.  The boy comes first.

I bid you all a fond farewell, until my next library outing.  Might even get back here again this week!  We’ll see about that.

My blue has turned to black.

"Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it." ~Alice Walker

 

 

Okay, I think I’ve recovered sufficiently since Monday afternoon to be able to discuss this with you now.

 

It seems that my computer has died a sad, slow, terrible death. 

As have all my iTunes and my digital photos from the last year and a half. 

Hard drive: Dead. 

Motherboard: Dead. 

 

GRIEVE with me, people!!!

 

My Geek says he can build me a new tower.  I say, I can probably buy a new machine for what he’s asking to rebuild my old one.  The Loser that I am, never backed up my hard drive…my friends Bill and Jim are cringing right now–many others of you are as well–but probably because YOU haven’t backed your stuff up either and the thought of it strikes FEAR into your hearts!  My Geek also said that perhaps a power surge is the culprit.  (We did have some bad storms last week)  Yes, I did have my ‘puter on a surge protector, but my Geek says that a surge protector alone doesn’t necessarily do the trick.  Yes, Bill, it was the dreaded KERNEL_STACK_whatever_you_said message.  I just want to bang my head against the wall for not having backed up my stuff.  And then cry because of the stuff that is gone.  Rest assured it will not happen to me again…at least the "losing all my stuff on the hard drive" anyway.

 

It’s really strange though.  It’s like someone has actually died.  I have walked around in a fog for the last two days.  It’s been really depressing.  I’ve been trying to decide if I should tell my Geek to rebuild it or just give me back my dead tower.  I don’t know.  Haven’t decided.  Either way, I’m getting my dead hard drive back and I’m going to let my brother see if he can retrieve anything off it.  My Geek says he has tried several avenues of retrieval, but to no avail.

 

So, that’s the latest on that front.  My advice for ALL OF YOU today…Get yourself a thumb drive or an external hard drive TODAY and back your crap up.  Do it.  Don’t delay.  Don’t let this happen to you.  UGH.

 

On a brighter note, the library is my new hangout.  One can do some serious people watching here.  There are some sights to see, let me tell you.

 

Thanks in advance for your condolences.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to: Joell’s new computer fund.

Love to all my people.