Computer Problems

Yesterday I had this great post in my head.  When I got a minute to sit, I turned on my computer and was about to log into this blog and then I heard it.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

At the time I did not know what it meant but it didn’t sound good.

I logged off my computer and went to restart it and I got a black screen and a request to load a disk …

Oh, oh.

This I now know is the black screen of hard drive death.

While I hadn’t experienced it myself I was only aware of the blue screen of death.  I had no clue that there are screens of  any other colours.

A quick call to a techie friend and I was brought up to speed.

I. AM. NOT. IMPRESSED.

I bought this computer brand new in August!?!  I still have my old laptop that I bought 6-7 years ago refurbished and it still works.  It’s slow but functioning.

I had to do a search for the bill, but I found it.  Took my laptop and the bill to Future Shop only to be told by the service guy that he will send it out to Toshiba.

REALLY!?!

I can do that myself.  WTFrench fries!?!

My first call to Toshiba was not fruitful as I did not have the laptop in my hand.  But the person on the other end did tell me where I could take it.  Turns out there are 2 places close by.

Lucky me.

After a quick walk to the car, I called back Toshiba to get the necessary paperwork and a recommendation that I take it to the official service depot not one of the authorized dealers.

Well, OK.

So tomorrow before I go to work I will drop off my laptop.  The estimated time to fix is between 7-10 business days.

No this is not the end of the world as both Princess and Diva have their own computers so I can easily get online.  It is however an annoying inconvenience.

Ahhh first world problems!!!

More than a week

Really?

So long since I last wrote on this blog.

I sincerely apologize.

We have had this huge project at work and it seems to have taken over my life.  I have worked more that 50 hours last week and have to work again tomorrow.

I am by no means complaining.  But man, I can’t wait for this project to come to completion.

I hope all is well with you.

IWIW – 04/11/12

I can’t remember as it’s been that kind of week whether or not I have ever mentioned my bonus child.

Princess’ BFF seems to have taken up residence in my home most afternoons.  I don’t mind as she is a very good influence on my children.

Today she cooked dinner.  It was very nice to come home to a meal I did not have to prepare.

Yesterday, in addition to helping Princess make cookies, her BFF my bonus child also inspired her to wash the dishes.

What does this have to do with my wants?

I have always wanted a helpful daughter.  One who would cook and tidy up after herself.  Now it seems that I have one, only I didn’t give birth to her.

 

Moving furniture

Princess came home this afternoon to complain that she needed the internet and I hadn’t bought the long cable yet.

So that got me thinking about how I was going to move the furniture.

Originally I was going to move the TV to where it was before but as I was driving home I thought I would try moving the TV to where the computers are and vice versa.

To tell the truth, once I bought the kids their computers they were put in a corner of the living room and they stayed there … for the past 3 or 4 years.  I can not tell you the last time I vacuumed behind them.

A few dust dragons were slayed tonight.

I have a L shaped living room/dining room.  I think it might be more square than L shaped.  Anyhoo, I moved the TV to the corner where the two outer walls meet.  In order to see my TV, I put my couch in the middle of my living room.

My back is to the entrance of my living room.

I do not like it.

I will leave it like this for the time being.

After the fact it occurred to me that I should have taken pictures.

Ahhh hindsight.

On a side note, I came home to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  Apparently when Princess has no internet she finds other ways to entertain herself!

If it’s not the internet …

It’s the home phone.

Princess & Diva returned home tonight.

While they were away I did not get to move around the computers.  So they were not happy with me.

Future shop had cable for $50/50 feet.  I’m not sure how many feet I need but I do know I will need 2 cables if I go that route …

Just before bedtime, Diva tried to call one of her friends only to learn our home phone is not working.

Another call to Rogers.

The CSR informs me that I am not the only lucky person without phone service in my building.  The good news is that it should be working by the morning.

I think I need to speak to the board and the building manager about what it would take to get the equipment upgraded.  This is ridiculous.

Yesterday

My internet decided it was not going to work for me.

Confession Time.

*raising right hand* Hi.  My name is Sunny and I am addicted to the internet.

Acknowledging it is the first step right?

So I tried unplugging my modem and plugging it in again … and again.  No luck.

So I took a deep breath and called Rogers.  Rogers and I have not had the best relationship as evident here and here.  The CSR tried a few options but they didn’t work.  Resigned to a day or 3 without internet I braced myself for the reveal of the next available appointment with a technician.

It was my lucky day, I was on the phone at 11:30 am with the CSR and he told me he could get me a tech before 2 pm … SAME day.

Whoo hoo!!

The tech told me what I already know.  The building needs to be updated and that will not happen until my building management and Rogers get on the same page.  While he did give my internet a dedicated cable it wasn’t enough to make the signal constant.  His suggestion was to move my modem closer to the cable jack and that would be enough to make the signal stronger.

Since I have a slight addiction, I tried what he suggested and it worked.

What this does for me is constant internet.  What this means to my kids is that they no longer have internet on their computers as they were plugged into the modem.

My options are:

1. Buy 2 internet cables long enough to run around or over my dining room to reach my kids’ computers
2. Buy 2 wireless cards to plug into their computers
3. Move the furniture around to bring the computers closer to the modem for free

I don’t know about you but I will be trying #3 first.

Today I have to take my Aunt to Future Shop so she can look at televisions.  While there I will price out cable and wireless cards just in case I am not impressed with my free fix.

I love Stat Holidays

Good Day.  I don’t have to work today!!  Whoo hooo!!

Considering in the past 4 days I have worked 33.25 hours.  Having today off feels fantastic.

I had plans to go to my cousin’s house in Kingston.  It’s a 2 plus hour drive away from home but my schedule doesn’t seem to allow it.

Princess and Diva went to visit their Dad but unfortunately he can’t drive Diva to her gymnastics class so I will.  Because the class is in the middle of the afternoon, this does not allow for me to travel unless I am going to go after.  And for that to make sense to me I would have to sleep over.  But I want to be home Sunday as I still have chores that aren’t going to take care of themselves.

Oh well there will be other week-ends.

 

Money vs Time

Gas is going up by 4 cents tonight.  4 people have sent me text messages to let me know.

I had a 1/4 tank of gas when I left work and thought I should put some gas in my car before it gets too low.  The line ups were insane at the 2 gas stations I passed so I gave up.

As much as I would say I like to save money, I like to save time even more.

My tank holds 55 litres when bone dry (which is never).  So the most I would be saving is $2.20.  Hardly seems like it’s worth sitting at the gas station for 10+ minutes.

I used to buy gas at Costco.  When their gas station first opened it was on average 6.6 cents cheaper than most gas stations.  Over time the difference between Costco and the other gas stations dropped to 4.4 cents per litre and the line ups grew.

I like saving money. I know that over time $2 here and $2 there add up.  BUT man to sit in a line idling for 20+ minutes, while burning gas, to buy cheaper gas seems counter intuitive to me.

I don’t drive enough to justify spending the time lining up to buy gas.  Lately I have been going almost 3 weeks between fill ups.

What do you do, spend the money or spend the time?

Verdict

The spinach lasagna roll ups were/are fantastic.  I paired them with salad and garlic bread.

Princess brought her BFF home after school.  She decided to stay for dinner.  Both Diva and the BFF had seconds.

We have left overs so that will be tomorrow’s dinner.

I will spend time tomorrow pondering what Wednesday’s dinner will be. Oh wait I have a ton of leftovers in my fridge.  That will be dinner for the next few days.

WSR – 03/31/12

Mar 25
$100 Princess Margaret Home Lottery (I play every year)
$10 tip for dinner out with my Mom

Mar 26
$75 sticker for my license plate
$80.55 oil change and new headlight
$9.81 pizza for dinner

Mar 27
$5 tip for dinner out with a friend
$10.57 milk & oatmeal

Mar 28
$200 Ottawa school trip for Princess
$40 gas
$70.75 groceries

Mar 29
$47.58 furnace filters and cookie press

Mar 30
$11.07 lunch with Princess
$7.89 sushi dinner

Mar 31
$10.26 lunch for Diva

Grand Total:  $678.48  Lawd have mercy!

I just did my Net Worth calculation and despite going way over budget this month, it still increased!!

I spent a lot of money on food this month.  More so that I should have even without being away for 10 days.  I need to stay out of the grocery stores. So I am going to attempt to eat out of my cupboards for the next 2 weeks.  The only exceptions milk and fresh produce.

I haven’t planned what we are going to eat for the whole week yet.  I am trying to re-instate “Meatless Monday”.  Tomorrow’s dinner will be spinach lasagna roll ups.  I got the recipe from Budget Bytes.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Friday was my baby’s 14th birthday.  So I took her out to lunch just the two of us.  Usually the 3 of us go to dinner but this year she went out with her Dad, his wife, their daughter and Diva instead.  Saturday she went to see The Hunger Games with 2 of her friends without parental supervision, a first.  Today we went to my Dad’s to celebrate.  She said she had a great birthday week-end.