"Farewell to My Gateway Computer (a love story)"

When I started this blog, I could never have imagined the support I would get from all corners of my life. And, naturally, success breeds imitation. You may have heard of a rival blog in the making, "Greg's Got Mediocre Ideas." Greg, a friend of mine with a name that conveniently rhymes, may or may not have the backing of a puppet regime that is seeking to overthrow me as queen of my small little blogosphere. To this, I say I welcome the competition. Competition always brings out the best in me, as many of you know first-hand, and I think good competition makes one better (although Greg apparently has mediocre ideas, so I may have spoken too soon on that).

Part of Greg (and the puppet regime's plan) to shake my dominance is to target one of my most loyal readers: my Aunt Trishie. Though related to me by blood, I know she makes a point to check my blog regularly, and even stuck with me through the long winter when I was not regularly updating. So tonight I have a treat for both my readers and for my aunt: a guest post from my aunt herself. This post serves a two-fold purpose: one, as a shameless plug to prevent a loss in market share to Greg's Got Mediocre Ideas; and two, as I think this is perfect material for this blog and I feel like I have been in many similarly frustrating experiences.

To preface this story, my aunt received a Mac for Christmas to replace her computer that she had had for over a decade. With that, I give you "Farewell to My Gateway Computer (a love story)".

So, back in March when I finally set up my iMac and got high speed internet I cleaned files off of my 10 year old Gateway computer (with - what was at the time a state of the art flat screen computer) and hastily unplugged it and left it in the corner of the room. I went on-line and ordered a CD rom that wipes the hard drive so I could recycle it at Staples ($10 to cover handling is all they charge). Big plans....but never got around to it for months. The gigantic "tower" became a footrest when I watched TV. So I finally resolved over the 4th of July weekend to somehow plug it all in, run the CD and take it to Staples. So I pull out the whole mess of stuff, figure out how to out it back all together (because I threw away all the original manuals) and get it up an running on the floor - during the massive heat wave mind you so i am creating a drag on the nation's electric grid. I play one final game of solitaire (once again that used to be state of the art gaming) and put in the erase CD. Asks for an activation code - darn! The activation code includes the letter "a".....forgot the "a" button on the computer does not work.

So I shut down the computer, eject the CD, find a CD of the files I cleaned off the computer and open a file with a word containing the letter "a", delete all letters in the word except for the "a" and copy. Close file, eject CD, somehow need to reboot the computer, put in the eraser CD and go to enter the activation code and "paste" the letter "a" that I copied. Somehow the reboot made me lose the letter "a" when I went to paste. Okay-do the whole thing again. Get it to work and now I follow the menu. Blah, Blah, it goes along, downloads the file and tells me to press a key so the computer will reboot and start the erase process. Press the button, it reboots and then gives me an error message that a file is missing! AAARRRGGHHHH!!! Unplug everything, put it to the side. Send a message to the software company with error message. Weekend is over- my dream is not yet realized.

Got an e-mail back from the software people on how to fix the problem the next day. Determined, I hook everything up at about 9:30 at night after I get home from work. The fix involved invoking the F1 key as soon as the computer starts......took me a few times to get the timing right and I am now in some weird DOS like menu. I had to try it a few times (even resetting configurations as I somehow totally screwed up the computer). Got it working YEA!. Message comes up the drive is being erased....it appears that it will be done in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Okay, I go and brush my teeth and come back. Time looks the same....OH NO it is going to take 2 HOURS!!!! It's about 11pm and I need to go to bed. Eject CD, unplug the computer and go to bed.

This weekend, I pull out the whole computer set up and let it run - it works HARD DRIVE ERASED! Today, I took it to Staples - needed two trips from the car because the tower is so freaking big! It's hot and I am sweating. Brought back the tower, monitor, mouse, keyboard and those big speakers! I sign a document and I am done. They were running a special and there was no handling charge. Small victory! I walked out and never looked back....however, the Gateway will always hold a small place in my heart, right next to my 1989 red Ford Probe!!!

The Height of Laziness

You may get the impression, based on my infrequent blog posts, that I am an extremely busy person. To that I would say that this is partially true. I am, in fact, terribly occupied with being extremely lazy. Last night I was sitting on my couch in full view of my computer (although most things are in full view in my apartment, being that it is just one room). I couldn't even motivate myself to get off the couch and go type out some thoughts. It's not like these posts take me hours. Although the creative process can be somewhat draining....

I have had several thoughts in the last few weeks that could have easily made good blog posts; now I am forgetting all of them. So let me start with a thought that has been bearing down on me for the last few weeks: the Peeps diorama. You may recall the valiant effort put forth by Janelle and me for the Washington Post's peeps diorama contest and how cruelly they shunned our creative genius. No matter. We've kept the diorama, showcasing it prominently on my bookcase. It actually has become part of the landscape of my apartment - those peeps look about as fresh as the day they came out of the package (which is a testament to why I never eat them). But it is hard to wake up every day and be confronted with your failures - literally and figuratively. The diorama sits directly across from my bed, so that one of the first things I see in the morning is the scene. So now the question becomes....do I keep the diorama, or do I throw it away? Janelle and I are impartial judges on this subject....that diorama is our baby. It is sad, though, that I don't live in a world where my awesomeness at diorama construction is appreciated and recognized by the masses; is that too much to ask? I'd also like to live in a world where such a skill is highly prized and insanely profitable.

In other apartment news, I have recently undergone an expansion of my kitchen gadget collection. I did purchase a blender for my birthday, which has been a godsend. However, the red blender does not match the red toaster, even though they are made by the same manufacturer. To further complicate matters, I finally broke down and bought a tea kettle - my hotpot from my intern days was starting to make me worried I was going to burn the building down - and that, too, is a red that doesn't match (it actually has these sparkles in it, which I don't particularly care for, but I got it on Amazon, so what can I expect). This nonmatching red color appliances would normally be enough to send me over the edge under normal circumstances, but given that my kitchen is probably 3 square feet, it adds another level of anger because they are in such close proximity. Other kitchen gadgets recently acquired: a chopper and a yogurt maker. The chopper is also a story in and of itself - I accidentally ordered a mini version and it came and it looked like it was made for lilliputians. So I returned it to Amazon, spending money on postage. My mom graciously bought me a new, larger size one. Well I went to use it last night, and no offense Mom, but I was sorely disappointed. Maybe I wasn't using it right (although that is difficult, because all it is is a simple push motion), but it cut nothing. Which is bad for me, as every time I seem to pick up a knife I cut myself. Also, I don't have the patience for julienning, so I was hoping that would take care of it. On the yogurt front - no news there yet, because I haven't officially tried it. But I am very intrigued.

This weekend Vince took me to Mamma Mia! for a birthday treat. Obviously, I died and went to ABBA heaven. Editor's note: This was my second time seeing the show live (and fourth if you include the movie). Afterward, we trekked out to the Wegmans in Virginia and it was awesome. Period. I am still living in the Wegmans bliss. Tons of goodies, for not more than I would normally spend on groceries. Seriously, I think I am still riding the high. This Wegmans had a seafood bar - you could order seafood prepared to order, and while you wait you can have a drink.

I have been having massive ADD tonight - reading my book, doing law school stuff (finally), eating, checking Facebook....I think I am going to try and make banana bread because my bananas are ripe for the taking! Still hoping to get to make crepes this week....Vince is out of town this week so I'm having a food vacation for myself!

UPDATE (ten minutes later): Banana-bread making foiled by lack of butter.