checking in
The "rule of three" struck with a vengeance this weekend. One broken van (brakes, presumably now fixed) and TWO broken computers.
I'm now on Steve's work laptop, but I don't have time to check email and flist, so if you're expecting me to get back to you on something specific, try calling me. :) I expect to be totally out of the loop for several more days, because Andrew's machine needs work first (he needs it for school) and it's being a persnickety beeyatch. Which is to say, a new hard drive didn't really solve anything, just restored it to its pre-failure level of frequent freeze. He needs a new machine, but immediately he needs to get his schoolwork onto a more stable format than hard-drive backup. And that means it actually needs to run without freezing for more than 15 minutes at a time (followed by a 2-hour reboot. Yeah. 2 hours.)
Ours looks like a more minor problem, probably the power supply.
In non-hardware news, the cabin is sold, we got the last of the stuff we want out of there yesterday, and Mom has the check. She and I drove up Saturday night in a horrific downpour. I had made reservations at the Days Inn, because I knew I couldn't handle sleeping in the cabin and she's been sick with bronchitis anyway so I didn't want her in the damp either. Got to the Days Inn around 9 pm only to discover that their power was totally out. In fact, it was a miracle I saw the roadside sign (I'd never been there before) because there were no street lights or anything. Just my headlights catching it, and then my driving around what seemed like a warehouse parking lot in the dark. (Actually, just the hotel's several buildings and a bunch of parked cars all looming up at me in the rain-slick darkness.) Apparently all of Tannersville, East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg lost power during the storm -- including the state university. (THAT must have been fun.) So our first hour in the hotel featured candlelight and no running water. But at least it was less primitive than similar circumstances at the cabin would have been (since it probably was without power too.) We never did get hot water service restored, unfortunately (apparently the storm shorted out something in the hot water heater for our hotel block), but since we literally were just spending the night, then heading off to a day of cleaning out, it didn't matter too much that we were grubby. Steve met us at the cabin Sunday morning, I took a carload of stuff and left because the mildew was killing me inside and the pollens/leaf molds were killing me outside, and all of us were home by 4:15. Yay.
Regarding the West Wing, those of you who are dismayed by Santos' seemingly terminal blandness may take cheer from the following: He's not nearly as bland as you think he is. In fact, he is a polyamorist. And Helen's fine with it, though the voters may not be (!). Hence the need for supreme discretion, and the image micro-management such as he's now getting from Team Josh which is making some of us snore with boredom, and/or contemplate voting for Vinick.
I know all this not because I am a highly trusted campaign adviser, but because HE'S IN LOVE WITH MEEEEEEEEEE!!!! OMGOMG.
(In my dreams-of-last-night, anyway. Also of the in-my-dreams department: we can all deal with it just fine. :D)
Also? He's a doctor, and so is his sister. And he's not really Jimmy Smits, but Enrique Murciano. So there.
I'm now on Steve's work laptop, but I don't have time to check email and flist, so if you're expecting me to get back to you on something specific, try calling me. :) I expect to be totally out of the loop for several more days, because Andrew's machine needs work first (he needs it for school) and it's being a persnickety beeyatch. Which is to say, a new hard drive didn't really solve anything, just restored it to its pre-failure level of frequent freeze. He needs a new machine, but immediately he needs to get his schoolwork onto a more stable format than hard-drive backup. And that means it actually needs to run without freezing for more than 15 minutes at a time (followed by a 2-hour reboot. Yeah. 2 hours.)
Ours looks like a more minor problem, probably the power supply.
In non-hardware news, the cabin is sold, we got the last of the stuff we want out of there yesterday, and Mom has the check. She and I drove up Saturday night in a horrific downpour. I had made reservations at the Days Inn, because I knew I couldn't handle sleeping in the cabin and she's been sick with bronchitis anyway so I didn't want her in the damp either. Got to the Days Inn around 9 pm only to discover that their power was totally out. In fact, it was a miracle I saw the roadside sign (I'd never been there before) because there were no street lights or anything. Just my headlights catching it, and then my driving around what seemed like a warehouse parking lot in the dark. (Actually, just the hotel's several buildings and a bunch of parked cars all looming up at me in the rain-slick darkness.) Apparently all of Tannersville, East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg lost power during the storm -- including the state university. (THAT must have been fun.) So our first hour in the hotel featured candlelight and no running water. But at least it was less primitive than similar circumstances at the cabin would have been (since it probably was without power too.) We never did get hot water service restored, unfortunately (apparently the storm shorted out something in the hot water heater for our hotel block), but since we literally were just spending the night, then heading off to a day of cleaning out, it didn't matter too much that we were grubby. Steve met us at the cabin Sunday morning, I took a carload of stuff and left because the mildew was killing me inside and the pollens/leaf molds were killing me outside, and all of us were home by 4:15. Yay.
Regarding the West Wing, those of you who are dismayed by Santos' seemingly terminal blandness may take cheer from the following: He's not nearly as bland as you think he is. In fact, he is a polyamorist. And Helen's fine with it, though the voters may not be (!). Hence the need for supreme discretion, and the image micro-management such as he's now getting from Team Josh which is making some of us snore with boredom, and/or contemplate voting for Vinick.
I know all this not because I am a highly trusted campaign adviser, but because HE'S IN LOVE WITH MEEEEEEEEEE!!!! OMGOMG.
(In my dreams-of-last-night, anyway. Also of the in-my-dreams department: we can all deal with it just fine. :D)
Also? He's a doctor, and so is his sister. And he's not really Jimmy Smits, but Enrique Murciano. So there.