urbandruid

Yes indeedy, I have. Goes like this: I've been having a problem off and on with my DSL lately, in that it keeps crapping out on me for a few hours, then coming back. It did it once Wednesday afternoon, and again today. I spent almost half an hour on the phone with my ISP, most of it involving long pauses and "hold on, let me check this" or "just a second, ma'am." Long story short- the line's okay on their end, I don't feel like going out and checking the outside line here at the house (it'll be fine too), and since they already replaced one blowed-up modem for me, I have to pay for the next one. I can get a refurbished one, which'd be cheaper, but still.

So I told the guy I'd think about it, and call them back later. And I thought about it, and thought about it- and while I was thinking, I thought, hell, let's give the poor modem a break. Turned off the surge protector, thereby cutting power to everything on the desk, modem included.

Spent a few hours cleaning out crap in the office/spare room. Come back, fiddle around with computer. See red internet light. Swear, shut down laptop.

See red internet light turn GREEN. Reach over, feel top of modem. Modem is nice and cool. Modem was HOT when it was not working. Hmm. Hmm.

Modem stops working in the afternoon, when it's hot. Starts working again when it's cooler. And it's always hot in my room- I keep the door closed so Sam won't come in and play with my power cables.

Hmm. I think the modem might be getting a chill pad of some kind, 'cause I can't afford to keep replacing these things. Besides, I like this modem, it's cute and shiny.

So. This one's coming to you from Galen, my shiny new silver MacBook Pro laptop. he is very shiny and new, has a TON of memory, and I do mean a ton (~260 GB, and that's after I started loading software and all my music.)

I love this thing.

I have, however, learned several things I thought I'd share.

( Computer stuff )

In other news, I really should be in bed already, but I'm not actually all that tired. Probably has something to do with the phone waking me up at 9:00AM Wednesday. I decided that was too early, so I went back to bed, and got up at, um, quarter after 1:00. ...Yeah. I'm going to be hating life next week when I (ugh) start back to school. Which I don't really want to think about. I'm starting to get a little bored now and then, so probably starting back to classes is a good thing, but I swear, sometimes I hate winter break. I just get used to having time off, and they want me back.

Or maybe it's the fact I spend half my 'vacation' doing holiday stuff with my family, which sometimes isn't all that, ya know, relaxing?

And I so wanted to be in London this semester. Campus is going to seem pretty bleak when I head back, and I don't think that's helping my mood any.

Ah well. It's 3AM now, I suppose I ought to go at least try and sleep.

Just when I thought things were going alright, when I'd started to be able to see again...I thought I'd gotten almost back to normal just in time to enjoy what's left of my vacation.

No such luck.

My laptop has developed a very strange and frustrating internet-related error. If I'm online for more than five minutes (and sometimes a lot less) a Windows NT error restarts my computer. I don't run Windows NT; Gateway installed it on the laptop, but I've been cheerfully ignoring it for most of a year. Now for whatever reason it's decided it wants to come out and play, so I've got to spend my last week of vacation fighting with my computer.

Windows is such a nightmare, I swear. I could almost be seriously nostalgic for Windows 98- but it had issues, too. Damn Bill Gates! It's all his fault anyway. No human has a right to that much money. Unless it's me, or someone who'll share with me. :)

Bought a very crappy pair of reading glasses at Wal-Mart in the power my doc prescribed- word of advice. Don't buy reading glasses at Wal-Mart. I thought it was just me having eye issues at first, but Mom tried them and got a headache, so we've decided that they just suck. So I'm back to using the high-powered readers I had made back when I was trying contacts. I'm starting to think the doc is right, and they're too strong, but at least they work and I can live with them- which means, in theory, I should be able to muddle through school if my new glasses aren't in by then.

School. August 18. It seemed so much farther away a week ago. Now it's almost here, I don't feel like I'm ready, and I'm a bit scared. New classes, buildings I've never been to before- and vision I'm still getting adjusted to.

I'm writing this from the desktop computer in Mom's room, which is the only other computer we own I can work with right now. Her laptop would be easier to use, and I could use that whenever I wanted, but I can't get it at an angle where I can see the screen right now. So that's out.

Have been checking the Urbandruid pages for lack of anything better to do. I've discovered that a couple of my sites, namely the Star Wars fic and the Stark pages, have overlarge graphics; you have to scroll sideways to see the whole thing. Not that anyone cares; I'm still the only member of the Stark fanlisting, and no one's submitted anything to the fic archive, either. As for the Star Wars fic, well, there's absolutly no decent content on that site that can't be read at the main fic site.

Still, I'm feeling like I ought to do something about those sites. Maybe I'll just give them both splash pages with disclaimers stating they were designed on a laptop.

I'd forgotten how much I dislike using other people's computers; how much I'm used to having everything just so, those little quirks I've developed.

Trying to catch up on my friends list, but it's slow going, between the eyes, overpowered reading glasses, the HP fic drabbles that seem to be taking over said friends list- oh yes, and the fact that this not being my computer, I could get thrown off just about any time now. Though she'll probably let me finish what I'm typing first.

Anyway, it's not that I'm ignoring you guys, just that I'm having issues. Life issues, eye issues, and computer issues.

Damn you, Anna! Why must you pick this week to be such a bitch? *glares at laptop*

In slightly more cheerful news, I seem to be able to come up with titles again- now if only I could write!

Hmm. Maybe if I do something funky with the colors in Word...