How to Free the Ties that Bind?

I’m sitting at the public library trying to figure out how to unplug my power cord, which is wedged between the wall and the side of this carell, without involving the guy on the other side of the divider who has somehow entwined his cord with mine, and has neglected to push his cord all the way into the socket. Crap, I hate interacting with other people.

My LOLcat

No cat in the world can get her nap on as fast as this one. She jumped up in my lap, meowed, and stretched out on Bernard asleep.

Bernard Hits the Sauce

So I took a huge gamble and bought a $10 power adapter from Amazon. To my surpise, not only did I get the right kind, it is an actual Dell adapter.

The battery light came on as soon as I plugged it in! I went into setup when I booted him up, and saw that the battery is being charged and am getting no more annoying power configuration messages.

Keeping my fingers crossed (when I’m not busy typing!)

Hoorah.

Service Pack 2 installed. I now have iTunes on board! Now let’s write!

Fun with Windows

I’m currently caught in a seemingly endless cycle of Windows updates and software upgrades. I can’t get the service pack I need unless I have the correct version of IE. I can’t seem to upgrade IE without installing that service pack first. Arg! Speaking of which, am I gonna have to go to the pirates for this one?
So while Bernard is pretending to fetch updates I think I’ll write for a while. But wait, Bernard is busy updating his lazy ass. Arrg!

The Big Shop

I don’t really do a Big Shop anymore, but we had fun. My son got to ride in the Big Cart.

The Towel (unpublished post from 1 Dec 08)

was completely and utterly thrown.

Last Friday, the washer got plugged up. It was a sneaky-bastard Good Night Pull-Up that smuggled itself into the wash via a pair of size four Spider-Man pajama bottoms almost a month ago. It succcumbed to the massive centripital forces imposed on it by the spinning drum, and it vomited about two gallons* of bloated sodium polyacrylate and white cellulose all over a huge load of laundry, and despite my best efforts I was obviously unable to clean all the muck out of the machine. Eventually, actually on Friday night, the drain hose was violently forced out of the outlet on the back of the machine, which gamely tried to fill up and finish the cycle even with a two-inch hole in its ass, thereby flooding the utility room and part of the basement.

Fortunately, my husband had come home for a week-long visit, so he was able to sweep water while I manipulated the Shop-Vac. Together we managed to make the carpet completely worse, and then called it a night. No writing– duh.

I haven’t mentioned the scavenged animal carcass that my Australian shepherd routinely brings me bits or even quadrants of, and the time I’ve spent trying to locate the unfortunate critter. (I eventually found some of it while mulching the leaves in the front yard with the riding mower, which finally stopped smelling the next day.) This has often entailed a washing of the aforementioned dog, whose kennel is in the master bedroom.

I’d had enough. I’d tempted Fate and she bitch-slapped me into oblivion.

*There’s about a half an ounce of filling in a dry Pull-Up, but it will to its level best to consume 3.5 cubic feet of water before it gives up.

Portable Computer: The Photographical Essay

Meet Bernard

Bernard’s screen was not, in fact, broken. Proving that he is, in fact, a complete wanker.

But Wait, There’s More!

7:30 AM EST. Migraine, hour eleven. As soon as its over, I have to write about the Pre-crastination Project, my cat Pye, and the wild mustang that is my NaNo Novel.