I have a few backlogged blog entries to make, and here is the sequence of events detailing why they were delayed:
1. Thursday January 22, 2009 – Allie’s 6-month birthday. Lots of picture taking occurred.
2. Friday January 23, 2009 – my laptop screen dies in the mid-afternoon. Connecting it to an external monitor shows that the laptop itself is fine. I drive to Best Buy, stand in line forever, only to have the Geek Squad (f*ckers!!!) tell me that a) my laptop warranty ended November of 2008, and finally they come around to say that they don’t fix laptop screens. Please call someone else. They suggest a company. (Don’t even get me started on how angry I was that I drove all the way to Best Buy to have them give me this bullshit. What kind of Geek Squad doesn’t fix laptop screens?) So I get back in the car, call Vin and he gets me the repair company’s number. I call them, they are open until 6 PM Mondays to Fridays and they ask me to bring the laptop and power cord. Of course I had left the power cord at home since the last time I went to Best Buy they made me take the power cord home while they sent the laptop back to HP for repairs. So I drive all the way home, pick up the power cord, find out that Allie is refusing to drink milk from her bottle and is getting very cranky. Then I drive back the way I came (past the Best Buy – could have waved to the effing Geek Squad) and 12 miles further to the laptop repair place. I get there at 5:30 PM, drop off the laptop and power cord, and drive back. All this while I am worrying because even though I had defrosted milk for Allie to drink she had refused the bottle. But I did call for Indian carry-out and picked it up on the way home. I get home around 6:30 PM and Allie has refused the bottle all this while. And she is cranky and upset by this time, although Vin coped very well with her.
3. Saturday January 24, 2009 – I cannot blog about Allie’s half birthday conveniently as I can’t sit at Vin’s desktop and nurse Allie at the same time. And since there is no laptop to amuse myself with, I have to find other things to do while nursing Allie. Enter the Sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. Plus it starts snowing. Begin internet withdrawal.
4. Monday January 26, 2009 – Allie has her 6 month check up. All is well. It remains below freezing and snows then ices then snows some more, just to spite me. It stays below freezing (and the snow lingers) until almost two weeks later.
5. Tuesday January 27, 2009 – we are snowed in. The ice has frozen solid (about a 2 inch layer or so) on the driveway, and about 6 inches of snow falls on top of it. High temperatures in the teens (-7C or so). We have plenty of food and drink though, but it is an annoyance. I have been selecting and prepping Allie’s 6 month birthday pictures over the last few days. For the reason, see item 3. Finally post Alie’s 6-month blog having worked on it in the evenings on Vin’s desktop after Allie has gone to bed.
6. Wednesday January 28, 2009 – computer repair place calls with an estimate of cost to fix the much missed laptop. They believe it will be the following week before the repairs will be complete because a part has to be ordered.
7. Thursday January 29, 2009 – still snowed in on my birthday (I will not swear I will not swear). Luckily Vin, Allie and Lily cheer me up throughout the day.
8. Sunday February 1, 2009 – Superbowl Sunday. Vin shovels for 3 hours and finally is able to clear the driveway. Weather is still frigid. I was not able to create a birthday blog entry for Yope (sorry, bro) but did manage to send him an e-card on time.
9. Monday February 2, 2009 – MORE SNOWFALL!!!!! I HATE SNOWWWW
10. Thursday February 5, 2009 – receive phone call from computer repair place. Repairs done. Come and get it. Bring your money. Temperature finally starts going up!
11. Friday February 6, 2009 – temperature well above freezing. Snow finally begins to melt and we are able to get out and go to pick up the laptop in the mid-afternoon. This time we all went (except for Lily).
Anyway – the laptop is back. I am ecstatic and still catching up on blog reading, facebook, even email. I missed all my shortcuts, favorites and the convenience of having something productive to do while Allie nurses/naps on me. But, all’s well that ends well. Except now I have lost all respect for the effing Geek Squad and Best Buy. Grrrrrrr…
Many apologies to Cavebaby and Aunty Kambing. I will post some of the pictures I took of Flat Cavebaby in Ohio in the subsequent make-up and late blog entries.
Also very sorry for the late replies to emails, and also I meant to enter the forum photography competition but of course all the pictures were on my laptop and the closing date was January 31st. Oops. Sorry guys. I’ll participate next time.
