Last night after the basketball game (the Lady Lobos won 94 to 38 — ouch!), I checked all my favorite blogs and my email, looked at my calendar by remoting into my office desktop from home. No fires to put out . . . so we all crawled into bed.
This morning, I had some coffee, gave the dogs their chicken wings (mmm – crunch, crunch, crunch), and turned on the notebook that I use at home. The Toshiba symbol came up and then the Windows symbol floated across the screen. Suddenly I was looking at a black screen with blue writing. It read “Fatal system error, system is shut down”, then lots of numbers. Oh, no — you cannot do this to me!
For the past ten or fifteen years, I have used the same computer technicians. They’re like family. I’d call my kids on Sunday morning, right? So, I waited until 8:00 and called Ralph. “I didn’t wake you up did I?” Sleepy voice said, “no, of course not. What’s up? ” I explained what the notebook was doing (or not doing). Ralph lives near me and has all the computer diagnostic equipment at his house. I said, “I know it’s Sunday, but I was on my way to track the dogs, and I go up Eubank. Perhaps I could drop off the notebook and the power cord? Maybe you could hook it up to your diagnostics equipment? I’d be so grateful.” Barefooted, bleary-eyed Ralph answered his door, and I left the Toshiba. I had just renewed my internet security program, so I told him that.
If it’s fixable, he’ll fix it because he is a whiz. Of course, I am thinking the worst — buy a new laptop right before Christmas — shoot . . . how many dog shows worth is that?
Kip and Chase tracked well this morning though, and I’ll get a lot of chores done at the house with no computer to play on. (However, to accomplish anything I must leave the office and go home.) The Lady Lobos play again tonight — it’s a round robin tournament. Last night was Alcorn State. Tonight’s opponent is Idaho State, and tomorrow night is DePaul. GO LOBOS!!! . . .
and go Ralph!
“Malfunction, Stephanie! Number 5 needs input!”
I Hope Ralph can fix it, but I keep picturing the kid from “A Christmas Story” so I’m a little worried …
Oh dear. Go, Ralph, indeed!
After we dropped those books and magazines at the library, we went to Office Max where they had external hard drives on sale. I’ve been thinking I need an extra drive, so I can take all my pics to work. Off-site backup. Yes.
We have an extra drive at home, so everything is backed up, but to have one I can take OUT of the house, and still have one here to do the immediate backing up I do every few days (or whenever I’ve done major work on something)…..
Now I just need to get everything ON the new one so I can take it to work and be safer……..
How long have you used the Toshiba? At my previous employer, we always used Dell. Oh, how I long for a Dell again. At the current organization, we use Toshiba, and well, they have been nothing but trouble. I get the blue screen of death all the time, the graphics fritz out when I plug into my second monitor, and I get applications freezing up constantly… sigh. 🙁 Hope Ralph can get yours going again.
Oh no! I hope Ralph can fix your computer for you. Hope you don’t have withdrawl syndrome while you are without it. I know I would.
Thank you all for the sympathy. Ralph says he thinks he can get the Toshiba going again and if not, he’s sure he can move the files to a new (argh — I was saving money for Nationals) notebook. The pain is reinstalling all the programs. I’ve had this Toshiba for three years and never had a problem — it’s a Satellite Pro. I don’t have an external hard drive, but keep all my photos on flash drives so I can take them to the office and back. I think I better get an external for home and install Acronis.
hey! tell me about those chicken wings…are they raw? i’ve been told they help fight tartar build up. email me ! 🙂