Monday, October 20, 2008

I Didn't Scratch Hard Enough

Remember when I talked about superstitions last week and I mentioned that my left palm was itching (which is supposedly a sign that money will be leaving), but scratching it can negate that fate.

And I was scratching mightily.

On Saturday, we took the kids down to the Oktoberfest at Buddy's school. They both had a great time, played loads of games and got some fun prizes. Then we decided to return home.

When I got in the house, I opened up my laptop to check my email.

I think I need to backtrack a bit here: Over the summer, my computer had started looking really psychedelic sometimes. I did some research and discovered that something within the screen portion was going bad and it could be fixed. But, I didn't want to deal with it right away, so I would open the laptop and kind of jiggle the screen until it looked right.

And that's what I did on Saturday, but then I heard a pop. Suddenly, my whole screen was all blotchy. I couldn't see anything.

I decided to take it to Best Buy to see if it could be fixed. Turns out I cracked the LCD, and a replacement cost almost as much as a new laptop.

I asked if there was a way I could retrieve information off the hard drive. I had loads of pictures on there - Sissy at birth, etc. And I wanted all my documents, too. The Geek Squad said they could retrieve the info and put it on a DVD for me.

While they started work on that, I went shopping for a new laptop. I found a nice HP for a reasonable price.

I checked out of Best Buy and came home to upload all my other programs that were on my old laptop and start the process of locating all my blogs to bookmark again.

I didn't realize it until much later in the evening, but I lost all my contacts from my regular email address. That's a bummer, but I'm sure I'll get it all re-entered. Of course, I still have access to my gmail account and didn't lose anything there.

The cool thing about this new laptop is that it has a built in webcam! Imagine the fun we're going to have with that! I can start humiliating myself with the webcam! Why have just stationary cleavage when I can bring on the jiggling cleavage?

I had a little fun with the webcam earlier and when Sissy saw it, she was smitten (with viewing herself. LOL). She kept asking me to open the Mommy and Sissy. Like it was some sort of show or something.

While it has been a pain in the ass to have to gather up all the pertinent information, I'm kinda digging the new system.

Wanna hear the biggest "Now THAT'S Irony!" in the history of mankind? When I got home from Best Buy, I stopped by the mailbox on my way up the driveway. In the mail was a bill from Best Buy and I would have had the card paid off this month! LOL.

Oh well, they were offering 18 months same as cash right now, and I will have this paid off long before that, but STILL. Arrrggh!

All I know is the payments are much less painful than having no laptop and going through computer withdrawal.

I don't know what I would do if I couldn't get my good updates from all my blog buddies every day.

Perhaps I'll even start taking requests from the peanut gallery for webcam shenanigans. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

24 comments:

  1. ...but you DID get a new laptop...

    I'm still stuck with my desktop that I built ages ago.

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  2. i haven't had a new computer in 5 years... that's what happens when you buy a house and lose your job in the same week i guess...

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  3. Did somebody say jiggling???? LOL... And on superstitions what if it's not your hands that are itching??? ;-)

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  4. I'm kinda surprised the Best Buy folks didn't just pull out the hard drive from the old laptop and let you just copy all your stuff over (so you wouldn't lose the contacts etc etc).

    Now that you have the spiffy little camera on the laptop, you should download Skype. We have been using it to have near-nightly free video calls with our daughter in New Jersey. It's pretty cool, and free.

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  5. Bucky - Oh, I'm not complaining. :-) I wanted a new one, but wasn't prepared for it right now... LOL.

    Lucas - that has got to suck. I was laid off in the midst of us trying to buy our first house, but we still had the Evil Twin's income, so it wasn't as dire, but I had a new job w/in 3 weeks.

    Ron - yes, jiggling. Lots of jiggling. I don't know about other itching superstitions - other than "Confucius say: Man who go to bed with itchy butt wake up with stinky finger." And that's one you can take to the bank!

    Dave - I'm hanging on to the old one in hopes I can figure out how to get to the hard drive (technologically challenged over here). Thanks for the info on Skype - I'll have to look into it!

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  6. Skype is really cool. This is what we use to talk to my Brother-in-Law in Afghanistan.

    What kind of laptop did you get? I'm seriously thinking about getting one.

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  7. Perhaps all is not lost. If your old laptop has the correct port, you may be able to plug a regular monitor into the back of it, and then retrieve your lost information. Many laptops, even older ones, have an external monitor port. Check this possibility out first, before you dump it.

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  8. Well, the next time I need something, I am going to Best Buy. I have a think for the Geek Squad. Can't you imagine the fun I could have on a webcam...getting jiggy with it.

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  9. Computer withdrawal - now that's a good term! I shut down my puter last night before Desperate Housewives came on - and I bet I tought about getting up a dozen times before I remembered it was shut down. Old habits die real hard!
    Momma can't live without her puter!

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  10. Rebecca - this is an HP pavilion dv5 - 1004NR - no idea what all that means.

    Greg - we're definitely keeping it and looking into alternatives for me to access the hard drive. It's only about 2.5 yrs old, so I'm sure I can wrangle something.

    Robyn - Your webcam would probably break at your jiggy.

    Momma - I know! I use mine like most people watch TV. I'm always reading something online or paying bills, doing *something*... can't imagine life without it!

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  11. Congrats on your new laptop. I probably should have gone that route - especially when this new monitor cost about 1/3 the cost.

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  12. Heh - recipes and Mompron - welcome to the Glamorous Pages!

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  13. Just ask the Geek Squad for an external enclosure for your old hard drive with a USB connection, which you can then use as another drive until you get whatever you want off of it. I'm surprised they didn't suggest that.
    Here's one that they sell: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8330237&type=product&id=1175389041039
    You can find them cheaper on the Internets, but asking the Geeks for help will assure you that you're getting the right type for the type of drive you had in your old computer.

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  14. Oh, and if they charged you for the DVD (and if you're feeling a little bit feisty and want to alleviate some stress) you can always insist that they credit back the cost of the unnecessary DVD. There's something to be said for the therapeutic effects of expressing righteous indignation!

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  15. kenju - I'm liking it so far. Even with the Vista and all. Seems to be okay. (knock on wood).

    Tiff - I asked them if they looked at my naked pictures. LOL.

    CADude - they actually did recommend that at first, but I don't think they had one that would work w/my hard drive on hand. So, I did get charged for the DVD - and I would complain, but they got my photos and documents off, so I'm happy. It's worth it to not lose baby pictures. :-)I'll continue to explore alternatives for more hard drive mining. Thanks for the tips!

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  16. Yay for HP. Hope you are happy with it. My brother works for HP, so I try to buy their products whenever possible! Webcam sounds like fun. The grandparents would love US to get one.

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  17. I really don't have anything to add as the recommendations and comments given to you area all sound..even Ron's 'jiggly' one ;)

    Not going to get to 'techno' here but just in case something like this would happen again, get a flash drive, 1 gig is more than enough, and copy over your addresses to it. I can send you info on 'how to' if you can't find it.

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  18. A "Flash" Drive, LOL that sounds like more references to the Jiggling ;)

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  19. New computers are exciting! Did you go from XP to Vista? I can't say I love Vista but I'm used to it now.

    When I got my new computer I bought one of those Belkin cables and transferred everything over myself. How much does the Geek Squad charge? I think the cable was around 30 or 40 bucks.

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  20. Gigi - my old laptop was also an HP, which is why I decided to stick with it. So far, so good. :-)

    Efen - I should probably just start backing things up on a regular basis, but I'll look into the flash drive. The Evil Twin has one, but he uses it for his stuff.

    Ron - flashing, jiggling. This dusty old corner of the web just got more interesting! LOL.

    Vinomom - yes from XP to Vista. Getting used to it. I can't use a cable because I can't see anything on my old laptop (to move it), but Geek Squad was way more than $40 (ouch!). Worth it for my pics, though!

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  21. Oh, where to start...

    1. I do TOO comment here :o)=
    (it's just that I don't spend much time online anymore)
    2. Jiggling is for toilet handles and bewbies. Not computers.
    3. Once I used my work laptop as a pillow (in a soft-side briefcase) during a very long unscheduled airport layover. It developed an ever-widening pink streak on the display after that... Then I switched jobs, and the next guy got THAT problem
    4. I have a new HP laptop as well, and love it. Except for the Quick Play program, which has some sort of hotkey I keep hitting by accident. It locks everything up and goes into movie play mode. GRR!
    4a. It has the webcam, but I only used it once, when seeing how it worked. I bet your uses would be more entertaining than anything I could do...
    5. I have an external hard drive with all my music and photos backed up. It's 60GB, and was pretty cheap - tons of room left for my purposes.

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  22. erp, I just wet myself. You said, "jiggling" and "cleavage" in the same sentence.

    I almost didn't survive I'll have you know...

    :)

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  23. Re: Laptop screen

    Laptop screens are pretty easy to replace. I would try taking it to a local computer shop rather than a large chain for this type of repair.

    I know of a safe, reputable ebay seller that sells screens
    http://myworld.ebay.com/dvdsuper999&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID

    You just have to match the serial number off of the screen for a perfect match.

    Congrats on the new laptop though.

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  24. I keep my jurasic cell phone because I'm scared of new technology. I'd have a nervous breakdown if I had to get a new PC.

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