A Strange Day

Do you remember the children's story - "Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"? Well, mine wasn't quite as bad as all that, but it was one to remember - or forget. The more I think about it, it wasn't really all that bad - it was just hectic. OK - OK - so get on with it! Anyway, on Monday of this week, our heater went out. And that was really not so bad at all because the weather was really quite pleasant in the first part of the week. But we had been watching the weather and Gary Lezak was telling us that Wednesday was going to be a day of dramatic change. We have one of those home appliance repair insurance policies so we decided to go ahead and call. The repairmen came (which cost us $50) and discovered that the main circuit board was fried - that means it was not working and it wasn't going to work! The bad news was that they didn't have one in stock so they had to order it, and it would take 2 days for it to come in. Now remember, this was Monday, and Gary Lezak had been telling us on the TV weather that cold weather was on the way by Wednesday. I could envision us spending one cold night on Wednesday before they would come and put in the new circuit board on Thursday. Anyway, we told them to order it.

Now, for today - Wednesday. I came downstairs early this morning only to discover that my computer screen was telling me that something had gone wrong - terribly wrong! I tried to re-boot - nothing. I frantically looked for the windows disc (of course it was nowhere to be found) - and so I tried to boot again - nothing. More searching. More frustration. I took a break for a bowl of cereal and went back and tried to re-boot again. Have you ever noticed that we think that we can somehow sneak up on a computer and catch it off guard and it will do something that it has refused up to that point to do? Well, my computer is MUCH smarter than that and again - nothing. By now, it's 9 am. I called the in home computer repair people - no answer! I called again - no answer. It's 9:15 and I called again - no answer. So I found the phone number for another in home computer repair company. I called them and got an answer right away - a technician would be at my house between 12:00 and 1:00 pm.

That isn't the best news, but it's a start. I was scheduled to teach my preaching class at 4 pm and I still had some preparation to do. This was going to be interesting! I pulled out my laptop and did as much as I could (and that was very good!). Finally, at 1:20 the computer guy that was supposed to be here between 12 and 1 showed up. He worked and worked and couldn't figure out what was wrong. After running many diagnostic tests, he reported, "Your memory is bad."

I could have told him that, but then I figured out he wasn't talking about me, personally, but instead about the computer's memory. Then he followed up with, "The bad news is, I don't have a memory card with me (and he thought MY memory was bad!)." He said he would have to go by one and come back. Now mind you, I'm paying this guy 30 bucks an hour for him to drive all over looking for a memory card! He offered to let me go, but it was going to cost the same if he sat here and waited on me or if I sat here and waited on him. I opted for the latter, because in the mean time (while he was discovering the problem), the heating guy (remember him?) called and said that he wanted to come and put in the new circuit board (good news at last!), so I had to stay here and wait on him.

So the computer guy left, and the heater guy came. While the heater guy was working, it was really beginning to turn nasty (weather wise - that's ice on the camera lens) outside. I was glad we were going to have heat tonight. Now remember, the clock is ticking (at $30 per hour for the computer guy), and I need to get ready to teach class. I have to leave by 3:30 to be ready for a 4 pm class. Finally, the computer guy comes back - part in hand (and a bill for 80 bucks!) Oh, by the way, remember that home appliance insurance thing? Well, the circuit board and the installation are covered in that so the heating guy is down there working and I don't have to worry about paying him another dime!

Computer guy installs the memory - then discovers that the bad memory had created problems with the configuration of the computer - I have NO IDEA what that means other than my computer still didn't work and the clock was ticking and the weather was quickly deteriorating. To bring this to a close - the computer guy finally got my computer up and running and the total bill came to just under $300!! He left the house at 3:30. I left the house at 3:31 - leaving behind all the papers I had spend hours grading - papers I needed to give back to the students who had worked so hard on them.

I arrived at the school and the sleet or freezing rain was beginning to make things seriously dangerous. I parked went into the school, found my students, and promptly sent them home before the driving conditions became even more hazardous. I turned around and headed home. The trip that normally takes about 10 minutes took closer to 30 - but the computer guy was no longer on my clock so it really didn't matter.

Now, I am contentedly sitting at my newly configured computer with a good memory - at least the computer's - and writing this blog. I think I'll stop and get some rest.