Jun
23
I’m back.
Well, technically I never went anywhere; my computer, however, did go somewhere, but it was more of a metaphysical journey than an actual one. Perhaps last week’s belated offering of The Dimmer Switch can explain it better:
Yes, my laptop is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker.It’s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It is an ex-laptop. But! I still have my wife’s laptop, right? That’s what I thought last week, right up until it stopped working for me about two paragraphs into last week’s offering on Wednesday night. Oh, it would work for a little while… sometimes twenty minutes, sometimes three hours, but eventually it failed without fail, leaving me in a computerless lurch. I’ve never felt so cut off from the world than I did right then, no computer to deliver me instant news, instant messages, instant entertainment. How bad was it? I actually had to use the yellow pages to order a pizza. What is this, the 1950s?
After many days of tinkering, I finally figured out the issue with the wife’s computer late Sunday afternoon. I had to go to the office earlier today, so I picked up my spare work laptop and brought it home (I did check a work email from home to justify the need as work related). After some searching into the problem, I discovered that the culprit behind my wife’s computer’s ailment was… the RAM chip I removed from my old laptop. I’m sloshing by on just 212MB, instead of a Gig, but at least it’s running.
On Friday we went to Kings Island, formerly Paramount’s Kings Island, which was the end of the week destination for my daughter’s MS Camp. We didn’t have to meet her there until 5pm, but since we bought a full day’s admission we took Mags over around noon so she could ride some rides. She’d never been to Kings Island, so it was quite an experience for her. We spent five hours in Nickelodeon Universe (formerly Hanna-Barbera Land) where she rode everything we would let her, including one I probably shouldn’t have.
There are two roller coasters in the kiddie park of KI, one’s a tiny little thing, the other has some teeth. It used to be called The Beastie which was a kiddie sized version of The Beast (the park’s marquee coaster). It’s now called the Fairly OddCoaster, with the only reference to the cartoon show being the ride’s name and the fact that the coaster employs both a green and pink coaster. We sat and watched it run a few times and she told me she wanted to ride it.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I should’ve known better, but knowing her she would’ve thrown a fit if I didn’t take her on it. So I did. She was fine in the line (I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to ride it. “Yes,” she said.), and she was still excited when we got into the car. Going up the hill she was fine, but down the hill? Well, to say she freaked is an understatement. She screamed bloody murder. I kept trying to comfort her the best I could on a creaky wooden coaster going 40mph. She never cried, but she came pretty damn close. Funny thing is, later in the day after we’d picked up her sister, she insisted on riding it again.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Second time? Pretty much the same result. She screamed, but she wasn’t as freaked out as she was before. Now all she talks about is going back and riding it again. She has no fear.
(I on the other hand was 17 when I rode it for the first time.)
On the second trip, I purchased the photo of us going down the first hill with her screaming, mostly because it’ll be damn funny to show to people when she gets older.
Well, besides fighting with computer issues and cleaning a few stalls, that pretty much sums up the weekend. Enjoy your Monday, hope to see you Tuesday.
This is sad news, my brother. I too lost my companion of more than 7 years in my iMac. His departure was more unexpected, much like John Ritter’s.
My sympathies to you and your wife, who now must apparently give her CPU up for the Dimmer Switch, the kids, dogs and horses.
If you have rodents in your house (intentionally), I have no sympathy for them.
ps: I can’t seem to leave a comment on the Dimmer Switch site…I feel inadequate because of it.
re: commenting, I don’t know what’s going on. It should allow comments from people who’ve already commented before, so I don’t know why it’s doing that. It seems to mark everything as spam for some reason. I’m using Akismet which seems to think everything is spam, although I do get a lot of spam…. over 41,912 spam comments/trackbacks in the past month!. It’s possible I’ve got it set at too strict a setting.
i checked later, it’s the first comment that saved (yay!)
SO, if what you say is true, my clever comments (+or-) will be saved forever. instead of being lost forever.
Thanks for your concern and prompt attention to this matter.
I have also just been catching up on your horse/mulch/Wii blog entries. Clever words, my friend.