Experts: Put kids in back seat of car

Well, okay, if you say so...but I gotta wonder how they’re going to reach the steering wheel and pedals when Daddy’s all passed out down in the floorboard.

GOOD MORNING!! GOOD DAY!! GOOD AFTERNOON!! WHATEVER!! What a fun and educational meeting (but I’m being redundant, now aren’t I!?) I had this morning. Actually, these little exercises aren't that bad, but it's just so ‘me’ to complain about meaningless stuff.

Such as, say, our Internet connection being down half an hour, an hour, two hours, all morning, ALL FLIPPING DAY leading to this little blurb not getting posted until now, this afternoon WHENEVER. The guy from downstairs tells me that they pulled the plug to keep the Mr. Fixit worm from getting in. (The one somebody unleashed after the last malicious worm, to go around and try to fix the holes but which wound up being worse than the original. Road to hell and all…) If any of you have been desperate to contact me, and are puzzled as to why I have not been my usual prompt self in answering or thought maybe Chet the E-Mail Boy had kicked the bucket, well, this is why.

And then there was the mysterious “Wizards of Redmond Anger-Inducing Error”, which shut down my computer entirely—working along happily, click, fade to black, then a nice helpful blue screen with red and white ASCII text from back in the Olden Days, informing me of some sort of foul distemper and imbalance of humours which had gripped my machine, and recommending that I chant the otherworldly “Ctrlaltdel” incantation. Or just try to keep working. Whatever pleased me more.

I hit the Any Key, and was dumped back out into the Forest of Word, which had been clearcut and otherwise rendered unusable. I carefully read the entire Windows Operating Manual, then hit the power switch. The computer guys tell me not to do this, as it really screws everything up on their network. Whatever. “Turn it off, turn it back on again” works 99% of the time. Which is actually an order of magnitude more reliable than the operating system. According To The Guy Downstairs, I am in for a vigorous upgrading tomorrow in which I will receive the wondrous Windows 2000. I can barely wait.

Even though at the moment I have an operational computer, it’s been very hard to do without the Internet. I really like having some connection to the outside world, virtual though it may be. Otherwise, I have to interact with the real live people here, and a high percentage of them are Insane-Americans. Which makes that interaction somewhat less than rewarding.

Anyway, I really need not to worry so much about that and exercise my carpal tunnels by typing up the thrilling and thought-provoking minutes. I’ll check in with you in a bit after while later much later tomorrow?

If I’m not passed out.

posted by Terry at 1:50:00 PM