Computer woes

My PC has a nasty virus. Do I pay someone to remove it (since my attempts have failed) or be glad that I only paid $300 for it? If someone charges me $100 to fix it, I'm hosed. I don't know yet, but I'm thankful daily for my Macbook Pro that I have for work. I can get online wirelessly and do whatever needs to be done, while I ponder what to do with the cheap-o PC.

Lisa asked about the battery life of a Macbook, since I have one, too. I explained that I've had it over a year, and it's fine. Then, I unplugged and watched to see how long it would run. Not nearly as long as it used to. Hmmm. I asked co-worker B about the cost of a battery, and he had a suggestion.

I was to unplug it, and let the battery die. Completely. Then, I was to wait 5 hours before letting it charge back up. That should help. OK, no problem. I was at work, so I unplugged and went back to work. It died at 11:15. I planned to come home and plug it back in, so I could surf in pleasant bliss.

I got home, and came to a VERY nasty realization: My power cord is at work. It's 40 miles away. WAAAAAA! No surfing tonight, unless I spend time on Kevin's PC. (Mines dying, remember?) OK, so he's being kind enough to share. No problem, right?

Wrong. Holy heck! This is painfully slow, and I can't use the keyboard very well, and the mouse isn't optical, and DANG! This is a PITA! While I was complaining, I told Kevin that I was going to post about how horrible this fate is. I asked if he'd be upset if I griped about his PC. He said no. Not at all.

But.

But I needed to stop and remember my first PC. My mother-in-law (you know, Grammy!) gave it to me. I was running Windows 3.1 and had issues pretty frequently, but I LOVED that thing. We lived 150 miles away, but I could talk to Mom as if she were right there with me.

Later, we got another computer. My brother built it for me and shipped it via UPS. For years, my girls would see a brown UPS truck and say, "There's the guy that brings computers!" I had windows 95 now, and felt that I was up-town! It was so cool.

Eventually, I decided to open Kevin's eyes to the World Wide Web, and I learned how to network. Now, we had TWO computers! Wow, just like rich people! The only thing was, we shared a dial-up connection. We would be in the same room, surfing the net, and laughing about the fun we were having.

I would click on a link, then leave the room, fix a glass of iced tea, check on the girls, go back into the room, and the page would just be done loading. If one of us wanted to see something, we'd shout out, "DON'T CLICK ON ANYTHING! I GOTTA SEE THIS!" It was painfully slow, but we didn't know. We'd never had hi-speed internet before.

Now, as I sit in my home that I am NOT renting, and surf on one of 3 computers, because the other two have issues, I am repentant for complaining about the speed (or lack thereof) of Kevin's PC. With no power cord for my beloved Mac, and a horrid virus on my PC, I need to count my blessings.

I will read ya'll journals later. I will accept facebook gifts later. I will view images of my beautiful granddaughter later. I will watch some TV and remain thankful for the fun that I can usually have online. And tomorrow? Yeah, I'll remember the power cord.