My Computer and I

My computer and I should have the best relationship ever. We spend more time together than a married couple who are partners in business with a home office. I do my best to treat it kindly. I show my appreciation for its many talents on a daily basis. Yet, like a spiteful friend, it turns on me on occasion; it really hurts when this happens. Yesterday was one of those times. We were working together seemingly without any qualms with each other, and then, it turned on me without warning. In the little tray at the bottom right hand side of the screen where the running programs are shown, a new little icon appeared. What caught my attention was the fact that it was flashing. It had the shape of a little computer with tiny yellow balls on either side. After I realized my buddy was not declaring its gender, I clicked on the icon for identification purposes. What I received in return was a message that is was trying to make contact with the IP host. For the last two weeks, I have been getting any annoying message on the Internet stating that my connection was reset by the host and I had to try again. This was consistent across platforms. The same issue arose with Firefox, IE 8, Outlook Express, and my Incredimail program, so I could presume that it was not software related. So, I had to break down and call my cable company to have it checked out. After listening to three minutes of instructions in Hungarian, I was finally informed that to speak to an English speaking operator, press 7. The last time I called it was 'press 8'. I think they change this periodically to confuse me. I pressed 7 and a lovely apologetic voice told me that all reps were busy and though my call was important, I could press 2 and leave a voice mail message and they would call me back. Being an untrusting soul with these promises, I waited...and waited...and waited. Five minutes later, I did get an actual person who asked for the usual information: my account number, the account name, the account address, my mother's maiden name, my place of birth, religious affiliation, political bent, phobias that have been cured and those that I still suffer from, and so forth. I really should record all of this information to do an instant playback whenever calling a company here to save my breath, but I never remember once off of the phone. The rep asked me to hold on while she checked my modem. I did and she did. She advised me that the modem was in perfect order, but there may be a problem with the IP, so she had to get someone from that department to check it. She asked for my phone number, the last bit of data not provide earlier so they could call me back after they checked it. When I asked how long this would take, claiming I did not want to be held hostage all day, she said within two hours. In the meanwhile, another glitch came about. The batteries in my cordless keyboard died. Now, I did have fair warning, since slamming a key ten times before getting any results is usually an indicator of something. Did I have spare batteries on hand? Nope! Ron was headed to the store, so this was put on the shopping list. Meanwhile, I tried every set of four AA batteries I could find fearful that the cable company would call back and need for me to navigate in the Network Connections or some such place. No batteries worked. One hour later, the phone rang; it was the cable company. Before the gentleman could say a word about do this or do that, I shared my dilemma. Although sympathetic, he said it did not matter since the IP was fine. It seems that it is my router that is causing the problems. They did not provide the router so it is my issue. Ugh! I hate having an issue. Ron returned with the batteries, so I thought I was set to go. The keyboard did not work. I repeatedly hit the reset button on the control and the back on the keyboard, but nothing happened. I uninstalled the software and reinstalled it. Nothing. Using the computer in the kitchen, I looked up troubleshooting for cordless keyboards. I had followed the instructions implicitly, yet still without positive results. By now, I was fuming. Buying a new keyboard was not on the agenda for the day. Ron had gone for a nap, so I decided to wait for him to get up to see if he wanted to go with me. Without a keyboard there are limited things you can do on a computer. I felt helpless and abandoned by my good friend. Pouting, I went to read the book I had started. After two chapters of being absorbed in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, I had an epiphany. The keyboard has a different antenna from the mouse. The reset button I had been hitting was the mouse reset. When I reset the correct antenna, the keyboard kicked into action.

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Computer Store Shopping

Balazs called the computer store today to see if the computer was ready. They said it was ready, but he said they sounded dubious about it. We decided to try an outing there anyway. Across the street from the store, they have another store that only handles laptops. I had made the decision that since the university was not going to supply my office with a computer to use in the classrooms, I was going to do it myself and went to look at what was on offer. The first issue was getting an English keyboard. This narrowed the selection quite a bit and when we came to some decision of what would be the best options, they had to call and see if it could be fitted with an English keyboard. The salesman called, but they would have to call him back. We went across the street to pick up the desktop and returned. Still no answer. We went for coffee and returned an hour later to learn we had success. The model I wanted was available with an English keyboard; they could have it by Monday. However, it Windows is extra and only in Hungarian. I handed him my disk and code that I had just retrieved from across the street and we were set. Balazs mentioned earlier that he had a bad feeling that they had forgotten to return my disks or to install the WiFi card or both. Neither bit of his premonitions were were welcomed thoughts, but when we did find the disks in the box, at least he would have been 50% wrong in his predicting skills thus far. He carted the computer home for me so I did not hurt my back again. We set it up, found the WiFi card and all was going swimmingly when the electric went out. One minute later it is on again and we start again, but after three minutes of configuring, boom, no electricity. A minute later, let there be light and there was light and we said this is good. Turn the computer on, work away for a short time when darkness yet again. Primal scream number 48,475. We changed the outlet that the computer was plugged into. Started it up. Windows was corrupted. It would not start in normal mode, it would not start in Safe mode. To fix this problem, install the original Windows disk and press R for repair, was the message on the screen. But you don't understand, my disk is at the other computer store to be put on the laptop. I don't have it. The screen flashed "Your tough luck buddy boy". Personally, I think computers are getting to damn smart for their own good. Balazs was off the mark with his premonitions of the reasons for disaster, but he must have sensed something was going to happen and it did. So the new computer is sitting there as useless as its predecessor did until Monday at the earliest. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

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