really going off the grid

RIP: Dell Laptop Computer

Born: Nov. 6, 2008;

Died: January 16, 2012

Cause of Death: I’d like to blame Vista, but alias, death was the result of a hard drive failure.

I should shoulder some of the blame; the historical romance novel I wrote for my carry-on tuesday piece was just too much for it to bear.

Hubby and I are not in agreement. I think it should be placed in an appropriate box, and up in the attic until the next electronic drop-off day.

He wants to try and revive it by installing a new hard drive. Yes, Dr. Hubbystein! And, he is convinced in you go into a store and say I have a blah, blah, blah computer, what replacement hard drive would you recommend — he will be charged $100 for the answer as no one gives out information for free. I suspect if the clerk saw a potential sale, the answer would be free.

I won’t go into the gory details of what his trying to bring my laptop back to life entails; “it [won't] be that pretty at all,” as Mr. Zevon would say, and I’ll have to reinstall ALL the software programs that poor departed held dear during its life. I have a backup memory box and I updated it recently, but will need the above mentioned downloads and uploads for my laptop to be repopulated. Sigh.

Hubby doesn’t like change, so he won’t even consider replacing his hunk of junk desktop. The key board is loud, crappy with a mouse that plugs into a usb port on the computer. The search issues meant that he often used my computer for his own research!  It’s so ancient that most of today’s software/programs are too new new, big  and shiny for it’s tiny little CPU/brain.

Any way, I will be even more off the grid than lately. So, to those who passed along awards to me in 2012, I am so sorry I rarely acknowledged, fulfilled the requirements, posted and passed on. My lack of action is not a reflection of lack of appreciation. And thanks for the Congeniality award nomination, too.

And, thanks to all for dropping by. I’m sorry that I haven’t been visiting other folks much lately. I hope to be more visible, blog-hopping and commenting in the future. I’ve learned so much from folks in the cyberverse. I haven’t been facebooking so I don’t know friends’ statuses (statisi?), but I do hope everyone is okay, and hanging in there.

So, my wayward ipod nano, misbehaving cell phone, and his clunky, junky computeroid are holding a wake in the kitchen (the laptop mostly lived on the kitchen table). My other electronics are in agreement:  we should let the laptop rest in peace. I should go join them and raise a glass of something electronic in it’s memory.

Here’s to tomorrow — if today was bad, I hope tomorrow isn’t. And, if today was good, I hope tomorrow is even better. (Annie is back on Broadway — can you tell, lol)

world suicide prevention day

A friend’s posting on facebook reminded me of something I should have remembered. September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. In May 2012, I wrote a requiem post about two people who were suicidal. One went into the woods and blew his head off. None of his friends saw it coming. The other, haunted by mental health problems, attempted a slow and painful suicide by starving himself to death. I don’t know if he died or not – my connection to him was tenuous, but I still remember his “deep blue eyes, showing deep pain and sorrow“.

Please learn the signs of suicidal thoughts and actions so you will recognize them if displayed by friends, co-workers/colleagues, students, neighbor(u)rs, family members; help that person get the mental health assistance that they need. If you are contemplating suicide, please call your local suicide hot line. There are people out there who care; no matter how alone you feel, you count, you matter.