The Computer Situation

When S & I first moved in together, we decided, in our limited financial situation, that a computer & an ISP were a fantastic idea. We'd have web access & a brand-spanking new PC - what could be better? We were both ignorant about computers - hell, I still am - and didn't do much research beforehand. The prospect of a new toy was too much. We signed up for one of the first deals we came across, a set-up thru Gateway, complete with CD burner (oh the joy!) and primitive 15" screen. No matter, it was on its way.

Within the week, I went to the UPS station to pick up the three boxes, replete with the famous Holstein print, and trucked them home where they were met with glee by S. We stayed up late that night, setting up the computer in its new home on a broken-down work table in the living room. He put it together, I called the ISP & chatted with a friendly man who guided me through the process flawlessly. We were thrilled. I had never ever owned anything so high-tech before, much less gone out and purchased it!

The purchasing. We, in our extreme stupidity & the aforementioned financial situation, decided to take advantage of Gateway's loan program where we were charged only a *gulp* 27% interest rate. Things went well for a while, the payment wasn't a big deal.

Then things started going wrong with the computer. The CD burner died. The screen blew up. Gateway said that only one thing could be replaced at a time, so we'd have to send back the components one at a time, which in theory, really sucked. We had no time for such shenanigans! We have a whole worldwide web to browse! I started out reasonably enough by calling them and explaining the problems with the computer. They sent us a new burner drive thingie & we thought, fine. We rootled thru S's parents basement & came up with an ancient monitor, so no need to screw around with the lack of screen for the time being. We tried to install the new burner in vain - it, too, was a piece of shit. I called Gateway to bitch, and I can't remember exactly what I said or what was determined, but it ended up I thought not paying the bill would be a grand idea because I am a vengeful person & why should I pay for a POS computer that they wanted to take their sweet time fixing & sending us bogus parts for?

You can probably imagine how that turned out. Several years & a slew of collection notices later, we ended up paying for the damn thing anyways. It's hard being so stubborn sometimes.

So, soured on the thought of a new PC & shucking out the bucks for a new pile of useless chips, we continued on with that FrankenComputer for another year or so.

Enter S's brother, Chris, a high-tech geek & music systems expert. He had a Sony Vaio laptop. A splendid little machine, sleek, streamlined, portable. He wanted a new one. Now. At this time Chris was around 27 or 28. Well past the age where his parents should've had any say in his major purchases, but he did live at home when he wasn't floating around the high seas on the high-end cruise line that employed him. They severely discouraged him - I think it was mostly the MIL that did most of the discouraging & DIL just went along because the wrath of the MIL is something to be reckoned with.

Okay - I must digress here for a moment to tell this amusing story of just how fussy (nosy?) the MIL is. While Chris was out on the cruise ship, his mail was still sent to his parents. The mail was then forwarded to Chris at one of the regular ports of call where he would pick it up & deal with it. One day a credit card bill arrived. MIL claimed that it was in a "suspicious" envelope & wanted to make sure her little boy (Chris is easily 350 lbs) wasn't in trouble for not paying bills. She took it upon herself to open this envelope & unfold the bill, which is all it turned out to be. She also read thru his list of purchases, one of which was a $96 dollar charge from a "suspicious" looking company. So, again, she didn't want her little boy to be the victim of credit card fraud, so she called the accompanying toll-free number to discover that it was a company specializing in adult entertainment & novelty items. Surely that must be a mistake! She called Chris at the first opportunity to confront him on the matter. DIL was very against her even making mention of it, thinking Chris was his own man & could do whatever the hell he wanted with his money, but she called anyway. Needless to say, shit hit the fan. Chris was tremendously annoyed & embarrassed that she had the audacity to open his bills and she was disappointed & angered that her son had to watch porn & God knows what else to get his jollies. She was clearly in the wrong, best interests at heart or not, and was eventually cowed by the DIL's insistence that Chris was a grown man & he was on a ship for 10 months out of the year so what the hell was he supposed to do to relieve his manly urges? None-the-less, it was a sore subject for months afterward. All the MIL could say was, "My son's a pervert". (I & my sick sense of what's funny, in one of those financially turbulent times when the In-laws bailed us out, decided it would be amusing to throw Chris down the gauntlet - "We may be deadbeats, but at least we're not perverts!" Being that we share the same sense of off-humor, Chris got a kick out of it, but apparently, to the MIL, this wasn't as funny as we thought it was.)

I must also take the time to explain that, in spite of the over-nosiness, which, in deference to my wishes, she has learned to control, the MIL & DIL are splendid, loving & giving people. I can't imagine any one finer for in-laws, and I say that in utmost seriousness. So, I don't want anyone thinking I don't appreciate them because I really do.

With that said, you know what we're dealing with here. Back to the laptop. Chris wanted a new one - he had to have the updated version - it was his career after all! So he trooped out to the computer-selling emporium & bought a new version of the Vaio, and much to our delight & stupefaction, GAVE us his old one. There was a catch. Mom & Dad could never know about it because if they found out that he bought a new computer after the verbal flaying they dealt him, it was going to get ugly.

Years later, we still use that laptop. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love it when it works, I hate it when it doesn't. The funny thing is, is that the in-laws STILL think we're dealing with that long-defunct Gateway & have tried to give us two of their old computers in the meantime. We don't really care to have a desktop - portable is beautiful. Besides, we ended up taking my mom's old HP when she got divorced because it was full of "bad memories" (I'm actually hoping she takes it back as she's been tempted to do). We thought we wanted a desktop & would set it up in the library/office aka the Green Room, but it still sits, taking up the floor of the Green Room's closet. So we certainly don't need any other computers clotting up the place! They can't figure out our reluctance to take the older but still fine machine that they're proffering. We can't tell them it's because Chris swore us to secrecy, and, knowing the MIL, she'll have something to say if she finds out the deceit of years past.

Not so original

I thought my blog name was somewhat original. But, upon Googling this very title, I see several others with similar names & even one with the exact same name!

At least it's applicable.

Selah.

Barbaro

I, along with millions of other tv viewers & the thousands of people in the stands, was witness to Barbaro's painful withdrawal from the Preakness on Saturday. It broke my heart - such a great, powerful beast brought low due to a misstep. I do admire Edgar Prado - he may call Barbaro a hero, but Prado is a hero, too. It's obvious he cared about the horse & did everything he could to rein the horse in without causing him more injury.

Even tho' I've never set foot on a thoroughbred race track - the harness racing at the local fair is the only race I've ever been to, I've always followed the Sport of Kings very closely & held the magnificent horses that comprise the athletes in very high esteem. I even fancy I'm a decent handicapper - I called Barbaro's win in the Derby & the graceful Bernardino's win in the Preakness (after Barbaro was out of it, of course, even tho' my heart wasn't in it) as well as several others in years past. Also, I'm an animal lover, as evidenced by my feelings for that little waif of a kitten.

Which leads me to the question, is horse racing cruel? I don't think so. It's not cruel unless the animals are mistreated - beaten, forced to run with injuries that could be crippling, so on. Running is what they're bred for, that's what every instinct they possess drives them to do. Perhaps in the days of old there were questionable practices - firing the tendons & so on, but a lot of that has been laid to rest. It's a sport, all sports are cruel to some extent because of the rigors they put on the athletes be they equine or human (dogracing is a whole other ballgame - thankfully the level of savagery that goes hand in hand with that sport has been checked to some degree, but I can't go into that now). But horse racing, what can you say? Shit happens. I'm just sorry it happened to Barbaro.

I must also say that the Jacksons handling of the situation is heartening as well. They could've cashed in on a hefty insurance policy if Barbaro were put down, but instead they're footing the bill for his hopeful recovery. If all goes well, they will recoup that money in stud fees in the years to come. But still, they weren't cutthroat about it, they didn't opt to euthanize him even after such a dire injury - remember, in days of yore a horse with a broken leg was a dead horse. Thanks to advances in veterinary science & perhaps a more humane view of these equine athletes, Barbaro can be saved. He may never run again other than a jog around the paddock, but there are worse things for a hot-blooded stallion to do than breed pretty little mares and while away his days in a grassy pasture.

My thoughts are with the brave & splendid Barbaro & his admirable jockey, Edgar Prado, as well as the kind owners, Roy & Gretchen Jackson.

LONG LIVE BARBARO!

Kitty update

The kitten, which I have dubbed "May" since Mom has vetoed her weird "Weegie" name due to everyone asking, "As in the board?", is doing quite well. The sharp hips and spine are beginning to soften, the sides are expanding ever so slightly. Hopefully the hair will come in time. She is so impossibly sweet I'm going to have a very, very hard time giving her back. Of course, I haven't told S this yet because he'll freak, but, I am nothing if not stubborn so if I want, I will get my way. She is very affectionate, trying hard to climb in my lap on her own until I have to give her a boost, grasping my cheeks with her dainty paws so she can give her version of kitty kisses. And she doesn't use her claws - she's quite the little lady. But still she maintains that peculiar worried expression. She's safe now. No worries, little one.

Mom said if I become attached & want to keep her, she will be glad. As it is, she has offered to take her as early as tomorrow but is worried that introducing the kitty to her current clan will be stressful & perhaps overwhelming in her weakened condition. I assured her May could stay as long as she wants. As long as she stops coming by twice daily to "check on her". I can handle the cat, but constant visits from Mom...... whew. Truth be told, I don't want to give her up quite yet.

Mom certainly rescued her from the street, but I'm the one caring for her during this fragile phase of her life - preparing warmed meals of canned cat food (yeah, spoiled already), making sure her box is clean, that she gets her bubble gum-flavored (who the hell thinks that an animal will enjoy the taste of bubble gum?) antibiotics, that she feels loved & comfortable & warm. She rewards me with love & purrs. It's hard not to get attached!

Okay. So I'm a big cat nerd. What of it? To know them is to love them even if they make you crazy & want to kick them out at least once a day. I'd still take a cat or a dog over a kid any day!

The weekend's news

To ease myself into this whole blogging process, I'm going to bore any readers (run while you can!) with my weekend doings.

For me, it was a fairly busy weekend. Saturday morning was spent patiently standing around the Springhills junkyard with the sort of riffraff they have employed there. I probably stood in the middle of this giant metal-infested mudhole for over an hour while they tried to find a headlight in a pile of junk (they did end up finding it - yay!) and cut the hood & taillight out of an Altima that was sitting mired on the other side of the yard. I've never had an excuse to hang out in a setting like this - it was quite interesting really. Scads of broke-down buses, all sorts of cars in varying degrees of rust & wreck, even one of those little carts that they sell fair food out of. I would've liked to wander around but they probably don't like that- the probability of a customer getting mauled by a rusty piece of equipment or getting sucked into one of the many deep puddles of muck is a very real thing.

The guy that I had to traipse around after asked me where I went to school-the same school as him-and when I graduated. I told him '92, he said, "Oh! You're a lot older than me (thanx, buddy) - I graduated in '96." I didn't think that qualified as a LOT older, but I didn't want to tell the guy I would've easily thought he was 4 or 6 years older than me - he looked rough. I didn't bother to ask his name. They were pretty helpful tho' - when I was paying for the parts & they were running around getting the necessary VIN #s, just about every guy that worked there & a couple of ogre-ish customers crowded into the small office & offered directions to and advice on the inspection process. At first I think they saw a girl & figured I'd be girly and snobby and terrified of dirt and cars. But, I wasn't so I seem to have involuntarily redeemed myself. Cars & dirt are, after all, two of my favorite things. They seemed to appreciate that. So, I need only a couple more things & then we can put that baby together!

I slept like shit on Friday night, so after I came home from the junkyard, I grudgingly ran into the bank & stopped at the greenhouse to get some more petunias for the mom-in-law. My own mom had already deemed her yard too wet to dig in, so we knew we didn't have to do that. When I got home from the greenhouse, I promptly passed out until S got home - he was stuck at work until 4:30!!! But, that gave me time to sleep. He then decided jump on the chance to nap & I got up to watch Barbaro break his leg in the Preakness, which made me cry, then I showered and woke S up. Then we headed out to Pete's & fished for a couple hours. We didn't catch much other than a buzz, but it was pleasant none-the-less. Pete has a bunch of houses out there for swallows & purple martens - the swallows were going nuts! Dive-bombing the water, swooping in close to us, squabbling amongst themselves. It was quite the show. I seriously thought I was going to get hit in the face by one as close as they were coming. Wonder how often they get a swallow-attack in the ER.....

Sunday we got up bright & early to head over to his parents to plant. We ate breakfast at Mixins & then prepared for manual labor. Spread peat & topsoil, planted tons of flowers, mulched, drank beer. You could just TELL that his parents were eating it up. Several of the neighbors came over to check things out & his mom was saying, "It's my Mother's Day gift! They bought all these flowers for me!" She was quite proud. We felt good about it - I'm always proud when I go over there & see how the beds look, so that was very nice. I really could do it for a living. It was funny because one of the neighbors had to load up his riding mower to mow his son's yard & was back with it in a half hour, job completed. Dad-in-law asked him what could possibly be the point of mowing such a small yard with a riding mower & the neighbor replied, "Because he's fucking lazy!" So DIL had to rub it in, good-naturedly, about us coming over to work in their yard. It's rare we're the good kids! Also, Mom-in-law hooked me up with some very cute garden decorations & a couple fridge magnets that are very Margaritaville-ish - I think the kitchen wants to have a beach cabana theme. Everything is heading in that direction - I'm thinking maybe we should just go for it.

We left there, exhausted, stiff, dirty, and came right home to shoot some tequila, drink some beer & numb ourselves to head back out to our own yard! We got two of the beds, a big one & a little one, planted and mulched. We'll probably work on two of the others throughout the week. The day had passed more quickly than we realized so it was about 8 o'clock before we headed back inside to think about dinner. We decided to bake chocolate chip cookies & make tacos. We wanted to get the cookies out of the way first, so we mixed & baked and waited on dinner.

About 9 o'clock, my mom called. Said she was out with her man & they had found a little wanderer and could she bring it to my house for the night? I glanced at S, he sensed something was going on & was giving me the evil eye. "Sure," I said, trying hard not to look at him. They showed up about a half hour later. We didn't bother to cook then because we knew they were coming. Surely they wouldn't keep us that late on a Sunday night! But no. 11:30 rolled around and they were just leaving. Goddammit! Mom is really, really bad at the quick stop-in. She can't do it. This is why I never ever just "stop by" her place after work - I know I'm in for at least an hour if I stop. It's impossible. Anyway, she brought over this kitten - about 4 mos old, I'm guessing, and it had the three of us completely stumped on the gender. Looking at it you'd think it was a male. Upon further inspection she turned out to be a little girl. Mom said they had gone to Buffalo Jack's for dinner & this little creature came running up crying, and of course Mom couldn't leave it. I wouldn't have been able to, either. I could only see her little head when she was holding it, but when we put her down in the spare room, the poor cat was easily only about 2" wide. Gaunt, hairless, starved. Gaunt is putting it lightly. The cat looked like she was on a day pass from Dachau. I was shocked & immediately set about fixing her a plate to eat - strangely enough, she wanted us to pet her and talk to her more than she wanted to eat. She has the sweetest, worried little face, and this morning when I went in to check on her, she looked at me like I was going to eat her - it was almost like she forgot where she was at, but then after a soft greeting from me, she came around & started meowing & loving. Her purr far outweighs her body. It's quite sad that anyone could've passed that little animal by without some display of pity & an offering of food. I'm not a religious person, but I think that anyone who did will probably be in trouble on their day of reckoning.

Then, Mom called this morning. She wanted to stop by & visit the kitten. Of course, she called at 9:20, shortly before I'm due to leave the house. I grimaced & said, yes, come, fine, but I've gotta get ready for work. It ended up I had to chase her out! She just stood around, leisurely chit chatting. Good lord!! I'm obviously doing my hair, obviously already late, and she wants to yip yap. Grrrrr! Then, "Do you want me to stop back by tonight to check on her?" I think she forgot that I've rescued plenty of cats, some of them in worse shape than this little gal. Mom's the one that wanted to feed it deep-fried fish in lieu of a square meal of normal cat food - and she's rescued more than her share of cats in her life. Yeesh. I love my mom, I just think she's bugged out sometimes. The good news is that she already seems attached to it & has dubbed it "Weegie". I don't know why. But, her naming it & showing such affection for it thus far has S's hopes up that it won't be staying with us for longer than a couple days. I'm inclined to agree with this - we have enough cats (for now)!

In the meantime, I hope she fattens up & grows some hair. Poor little nipper.

Also, needless to say, frozen pizza was our fate - at least I can look forward to the tacos tonight!

New to This

Ah - so this is it, the world of blogging. I'll have to work on this idea - the thought of others reading my words & innermost workings is a strange thing. Not that it's all that interesting, but there might just be some folks bored enough to read it.....

Now that my blog virginity has been deflowered, I will return.