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July 20, 2000 |
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I get a frantic call from Aileen
today. It seems as though her computer is acting up. More to the
point, it refuses to boot properly citing some sort of a corruption error.
Sorry, I can't remember precisely what the error was. Okay, technically,
she called me yesterday, but I suggested she try a few things before we
continued trying to troubleshoot through the phone.
As it turns out, her hard drive seems to have gotten some bad errors and
they were bad enough to have to re-install windows. I've seen this happen
from time to time. You have to remember, some years ago I was a
test engineer. I got used to seeing machines crash and crash pretty hard.
I also had several machines to work with, with as many as eleven at one
point, if memory serves me correctly. At home, I now have four computers,
not counting my handhelds. You might say that I'm a bit of a
computer person. The upshot of that is, that I don't really have much down
time, and although losing one computer may be a bit of a pain in the ass,
it is almost never catastrophic. There was one time when I lost
about two years in e-mail, but that's about the worst of it.
Aileen on the other hand, was not as accustomed to seeing computer problems
and this was the only computer which she had, I can certainly understand
her apprehension. After spending some time with her on the phone, I was
able to get her machine working again. It wasn't perfect she had lost a
few things, but they were minor and her machine was back in working order.
She still had some work ahead of her, but at least the panic was over. We
both sighed in relief.
I promised to call again to see how her restoration was going.
By the time I got off the phone, it was pretty late… about 6:40pm and there was no way that I could make my kickboxing class. Bummer. I stayed at work for a bit longer while finishing up what the immediate problem at hand. Ordinarily, I would've simply gone to do my cardio routine on the treadmill, but I there was an errand I needed to do and I wanted to get it over with. The USB adapter that I had gotten only a couple of days before, was being particularly stubborn on my computer and simply didn't work properly. I'm sure it works fine on most machines, just not mine. It was at home, however, and I had to run home to get it.
Once I got home I decided to take a quick shower. Not that big a deal really, except that the total time took longer than I had anticipated. As for the USB adapter, I collected all the documentation, and CD, and the actual item to return and put it in a bag. I was running late; I sped to CompUSA but to no avail. I arrived at 9:01pm; they closed at 9pm. There's someone out there laughing, I know it. I can feel you pointing your fingers and laughing. [Shut up, already…]
I went to Hooters for dinner, because it was right down the street and because it is my regular Thursday night dinner spot. I did what I normally do. I grab one of the free SeattleWeekly's that are stacked near the front door. Then, I find a chair in close proximity to one of the television monitors, where I could watch the scores scroll by at the bottom of the screen while tuned to ESPN. Finally, I order my dinner when the waitress arrives.
"Ten wings - Hot! Curly fries. Coke. Thank you."It has become a bit of a ritual. I've become friends with a number of the waitresses. One of them, Kealy has even shown me pictures of her daughter. I remember when she was pregnant nearly a year ago. Her daughter was wearing a swimsuit and sitting on a tiny surfboard on one of the pictures. I simply cannot make this up.
July 20, 2000