grown Up Stuff

I have had a deluge of things that need to be fixed around the house lately. The laptop - I am very pleased to say - is better than ever - and thus not on the list. I am on the couch enjoying the hell out of it. This weekends treat was my washer is broken. Well...technically it works it has just been washing the floor with every load it washes. Oh, Joy. Oh, Rapture. Repair guy returns tomorrow with the new pump. Hopefully the floor will not open up and eat the washer & dryer. Or the cats while they eat.

Things a grown up has to take care of.

Back on the Couch

When the nice guy came to fix my laptop it wouldn't fix. It seems multiple things were wrong. So he chatted with Dell and they sent him a ton of stuff to replace in the 'puter. I gave the laptop to the nice guy and he returned it today. It works. I am back on the couch with my laptop and I like this function of having the laptop. A lap and something on top of it. I am optimistic that these new repairs will take. The next option is a whole new computer. But i like surfing the net on my couch. I read far more of the blogs and bulletins out there. And Newman likes the laptop too. It puts me on the couch. Newman territory. He is curled up next to me holding his head so that when I type his head gets rubbed. Of course when the laptop wasn't here on my lap, Newman was. Maybe he has been sabotaging the computer.

I will be glad when this month is done. It has been a long long one.

The Damn Laptop

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had an extended warranty on my Dell. Usually I don't do these things but I must have been smart enough to remember my previous laptop experiences. I had my laptop repaired all courtesy of Dell about 10 days ago. The nice man came to my house. And it worked! For 5 glorious days it worked. Then it just wouldn't turn on again.

I have chatted with Dell again today. They have made me take it apart and are going to send someone to work on it again. I offered to send it to them. But they like sending the guy to me. So I will get yet another mother board. I hope this takes care of it. I miss my laptop. I took it for granted.

The lost month of may

Eeeekkk....a month has zipped by and no post from me! I am sure that all ten of you who read are thrilled to see a new entry. And you are probably on the edge of your seats wondering where I have been.

I have been working insanely for the past month. And also dealing with the loss of my damn laptop. It stalled about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I was certain it was just a temporary coma as it miraculously turned on and I smartly downloaded all pictures and files onto disks. No, I don't regularly back up. Yes, I do know that I am supposed to do so. Yes, I do know how incredibly lucky I was to revive the patient long enough to get the most important things extracted from the brain. Like pictures of real estate. and friends. and pets. and tax shit.

I have not yet taken the laptop in for diagnosis. Work has been so hectic that there has been little time for it. Selfishly things have been so stressful that when I had a free hours of time - I wanted to do something else and I was concerned I couldn't handle the news. On Wed, I had the laptop loaded and dressed to meet the Geek Squad at Best Buys. I stopped for lunch with some friends. One guy gave me great hope for the return of my laptop. He told me to try removing the battery and using the power cord directly. If that doesn't work he suggested finding the itty bit hole and rebooting with a paperclip. Thus far the first suggestion did not pull my little guy back from the darkness. I confess that I don't see the little pin hole and haven't tried that one yet. Am I prolonging the inevitable news of full on loss?

I have desktop - which I am using to deliver this blog. It has served me incredibly well for the past 5 or 6 years. It is a little slower than the laptop and doesn't let me sit on the couch or porch to type but it is reliable. This is the third laptop I have had in my life. The first 2 were Toshibas and they promptly died without much warning and the loss of all information AND both about 2 years after purchase. Certain that a Dell would not be like the Toshibas - I tried a laptop again after 4 years of solitary, yet dependable desktop useage. My plan was to use both and I did. Mostly I traveled to the couch or the front porch to work on the laptop. Wireless is amazing. And upon ocassion it traveled with me to various places outside of my yard. But the Dell, if it is indeed dead (still clinging to hope), lasted 15 months. WTF? I don't understand what it is with me and laptops.

I am beginning to think that I have some sort of magnetic field that kills laptops and cell phones. I used to go through those like crazy. All though those I dropped a lot - the laptop has never been dropped. The Blackberry - not my favorite phone - has served me well through the dropping. We will celebrate 2 years together in the late summer.

So, I will return to my blog with or without the laptop. I will hopefully find some exciting things to share with you... like my new painting...or the new attic decking recently installed...or an up and coming yard sale planned for Jessica. Oh, so many things are happening in June!

Laissez-Faire

I just watched Enron the Smartest Guys in The Room. I confess I snoozed through part of the documentary, nonetheless, it was really a great watch and horrific at the same time. At times as I was watching it, I thought if this was a fictional movie who would believe it? I wouldn't. I would think that certainly with the eyes of the SEC, investors, analysts, employees, accountants, shareholders, auditors, etc that SOMEONE would figure it out and or report the crimes being committed. It is astounding what they did and the number of people involved in committing the crimes and/or covering up their deeds. For me what I find so completely unforgivable is the employees AND retirees who lost everything. Not the traders or most of the executives - not so worried about those guys - but the people who really didn't have a clue what was going on or were completely dependent on their salaries and their retirement funds from Enron. The middle class folks I worry about. I wonder how they will handle their retirements - particularly those who were in their retirements at the time it all happened.

Since about the age of 24 or maybe 25, I have been slightly obsessed about retirement funds. I don't know where this need to be fiscally solvent in my seventies emerged from but it just is in me and I accept it. I don't anticipate any expenses in my retirement actually coming from social security so in my head I don't plan on those funds being there for me. If there are funds from SS for me, then I will get a boob job or a butt lift or something crazy while I am tooling around with my blue hair in some hot convertible.

The movie reminded how strongly I feel about adults being responsible for their own selves in all things. I am all for everyone having the right to manage their own retirement funds. This includes the funds used to put into 'our' social security. I would rather be responsible for myself. But I know that our funds are really paying for folks who are in retirement now because they were told there would be SS for them.

Laissez Faire has always seemed like a really great idea to me on most things - from a state level to a personal one. Let me keep my money and save it my way. If I screw it all up, my fault. At the very least, I would like an option. An option to do it my way.

sleeping Duo

sleeping Duo
Originally uploaded by heighlo.

Dynamic duo....snuck in and took this before they could pretend they didn't like each other...

Saturday at the 'Pie

8pm - 485 & the orphanage

485 - Leigh, Bill, Adam & Duke

the orphanage - Leigh, Bill, Adam, duke, Katrina, Dewb, Sean

COME CHECK things out - it is some good fun and only $5 for the whole night!!!! Stay for the 9:30 show too - Einstein Meets Elvis. AND at 11pm is Knucklebones - Atlanta's Improv Mixer! Come play or just watch and this one is free.

www.jackpie.com for directions to the Relapse Theatre on 14th Street. See you Saturday!