technical difficulties=a short blog

so today > > > milo has sabotaged my computer>

i was sitting here minding my own business<> milo jumped up onto the couch next to me and flopped his cute little head onto my computer keyboard> he does this often enough that i have taken photos of it> i probably should have made him move, but instead i said to diandra< "look at milo! isn't he cute?"

and he was. and then, a mysterious message popped up on my computer screen. a message that i didn't really understand. so i clicked "ok" and continued eating my chicken nuggets... because, you know, just because i didn't know what it meant doesn't mean it wasn't ok. my computer wouldn't prompt me to click on something bad, would it?

well, maybe not bad exactly. but certainly quirky. because suddenly my computer was doing all sorts of goofy things. every time i went to another page on the internet, it opened a new window. you would not believe how many windows i had open at one time before i figured it out! and whenever i hit a non-letter key, it would type the shift character (which is why there are all those arrows at the beginning of the blog--those are supposed to be periods and commas.) and then suddenly it stopped doing that!

i am very confused and very frustrated. i've tried everything i know to fix this problem, but there is a strange icon at the bottom of my screen that says "filter keys" which i am sure is the key to my problem, but i don't know how to turn it off! and so i am probably going to have to have help. fortunately i am meeting with my computer wizard james tomorrow night. he will be able to help me.

and i can't wait to see his face when i tell him, "my dog did it..."

the electronics revolt!

so today . . . this may be a very short blog. it is totally up to my old laptop computer.

yesterday i connected my computer to my photo printer/scanner/copier to continue scanning negatives. i hit the "scan" button, only to get a message that said something like, "your computer is woefully inadequate for this task. it is out of room on it's hard drive. how could you not know this was coming?!?!? why do you keep trying to stuff more information on it??!?! it's full, i tell you, FULL!!! CALL JAMES RIGHT NOW!!!"

ok, it didn't exactly say that, but that's what i heard.

i knew it was going to eventually be an issue. last week i defragged the hard drive to make more room, but i knew it was a very short-term solution. however, when i defragged, i realized that for some insane reason my computer's 160gb hard drive was divided into two parts! and i could apparently only access one!!! i immediately texted james, my computer wizard. he said he could fix it for me so that i could use all the space (thank you!) but he would need my computer for a day or two.

gulp. a day or two? would that mean, like, overnight??!?! because really, i'm not sure i can do that...

i continued scanning negatives--until last night. that's when my precious laptop refused to accept any more photos.

houston, we have a problem...

i took my computer to church with me this morning to work on a music project for the band. after church i talked to james about my hard drive issue. and he said, "oh, you have your computer with you? i could just take it now. then i could get it back to you in a couple of days." what?!?! oh nonononononono! i was not ready to be computerless just yet. i needed time to adjust, time to plan. i have things to do... i found myself involuntarily moving my computer out of his reach. "do you have your power cord?" he innocently asked. yesssss! i did not have my power cord with me! "oh, no, i guess you can't take it now," i said. "i'll have to get it to you later, when i have the power cord." panic temporarily averted, but i knew i was going to have to give it up. eventually. because i needed james to work his magic, and he needed time in which to do it...

i came home, burned some cds, played on facebook for a while, checked my email, and then said good-bye to my fifth appendage for who knows how long.

and so... i am blogging on my old laptop. the reason it is my old laptop instead of my current laptop, is that the keyboard doesn't always work. sometimes some of the letters refuse to show up unless i press them 459 times--and sometimes not even then. which is why i am not sure how long this blog will be, because at any moment the keys could stop working...

in fact, i am amazed that it has let me write as much as i have, because today my electronics appear to be attempting a coup. it actually started this morning with my phone. i tried to send a very important text during church, but my phone refused!! (ok, i know i shouldn't be texting during church, but i HAD to find out if someone was going to be playing the drums with me at the end of the service. because if i didn't have a drummer, i was considering faking a sickness and going home. because really, the last song was going to be that bad without a drummer...) and then i tried to text diandra after church, and my phone still refused. and THEN someone left me a voicemail and when i tried to retrieve it, my phone acted like it didn't know me--it wanted me to give it a password and record a new message . . . AND THEN when i received a text, the sound was all wonky.

i think my phone is feeling it's age, because rollie and diandra both have new cell phones, which makes mine feel old... and it is clearly not happy about being the senior citizen of our little electronics family. but that is no reason to punish me! i love my phone--i don't know why it has turned on me...

but that is not all--oh no. while i was sitting here trying to blog on a six-year-old temperamental laptop, and keeping a wary eye on my phone (who i don't even know anymore!) the TIVO started acting weirdly. i wasn't even watching a recording! i was watching live tv and it kept pausing and stuttering, and i wasn't doing anything! i wasn't!! (i know you don't believe me, but it is true!!!)

i don't think it is a full moon. i don't think aliens have landed. but all this electronic misfiring on the same day makes me wonder, just a little bit, if perhaps something has changed in the atmosphere... or maybe the government is finally trying to take control of my electronics... or maybe i am dreaming... now where did i put my totem...

let's all say thanks!

so today . . . let me just start by saying, my friend james rocks!!! he battled the killer computer virus until all was normal again . . . although he said he left it on my hard drive in case it had captured pieces of programs i use that would then be unusable if he completely deleted it. and then he said, "so, you could send it to someone else . . . " and then laughed. maybe a little nervously, as though he was thinking, "uh oh! what have i done?!" i thought he knew evil julie, but maybe he forgot about her until he saw the gleam in my eye. evil julie is secretly thrilled to know that she is in possession of such a weapon . . . i now amuse myself by compiling a list in my head of possible candidates with whom i might share . . . bwahahahaha (for the uninitiated, that is my evil laugh.)

since this is wednesday, i was going to repost the blog i wrote on myspace about the last time james helped us with a big computer issue. but first i thought i should make sure i hadn't already done it, so i searched my blogspot archives, and there it was. shoot!! (sometimes i really miss my brain . . . ) so i'm not going to re-repost it. albert would kill me. ("what? now you are reposting blogs you have already reposted?!? how many times am i going to have to read the same blog over and over and over again?? write something new! i'm not as old as you are! i remember what you have written--especially after i have read it twice!!" i take this abuse from him because he is my oldest blog reader--i don't mean his age, i mean he was one of my first blog readers, back in the myspace days.) i am, however, going to put the link here, just in case you missed it the first time. albert, don't click on that link!

and i know you are all probably getting tired of hearing me say how wonderful james is, but the truth is, without his help i would be sitting here twiddling my thumbs and you all would be staring at old blog posts, longing for the days when there was something new to read.

i told james how grateful all of you would be. i told him i was sure you missed reading my words just as much as i missed writing them. i told him i was sure you would all send him expensive gifts . . . but then i realized i would have to give out his address . . .

so instead, i am inviting my loyal readers (all 13 of you, plus anyone else who reads but isn't a follower) to write a comment thanking james for the service he has done to the blogosphere by enabling me to continue throwing my words out there. and then, in a week or so, i will email him this link so he can read your comments. because james is not a loyal reader--he is just my virus-slaying, computer fixing, patient, helpful, funny, partner-in-crime friend.

thanks james! you rock!!!