July 6, 2015

Electronic Angels?

Almost immediately after posting my last blog post, my laptop went on strike.

Everything slowed down.

Lots of spinning circles.

Emails took forever to send, often requiring me to reboot the machine and open only my email application in order to get them out of the drafts folder and into the sent folder.

The hard drive was spinning at 100% despite essentially nothing being accomplished or run according to the task manager.

I limped along in this frustrating state when I could and my phone when I couldn't until Thursday afternoon, at which point, I decided that the Universe was telling me that I actually *had* to observe the July 4th holiday.

So, I set my out of office, sent some warnings to some folks who might otherwise expect that I would be responsive, and headed up to the mountains, where my cell coverage was so spotty that I couldn't really even check email on my phone.

I had 3 days of nothing but real world direct interactions with humans (other than some texting with my family).

I did the super-hilly-intense in the heat and humidity 3+ mile loop from the cabin every day.  I jumped in the lake.  I read 3 books.  I slept 10 hours a night.  It was glorious.

I was, of course, a bit concerned about returning to the real world.  I couldn't continue in this electronic dark after the holiday weekend, no matter how much I may wish to do so.

So, I ordered a new computer that arrived today.

Interestingly, while my old machine was still broken and slow last night, today it appears to have recovered.

Perhaps the electronic gods just wanted to make sure I got a good vacation (and I did need to buy a new laptop, so that's not upsetting even if the old one isn't truly dead).

Weekly mileage: 15.42.  All in the heat, hills, and humidity.  Most of it super slow, some walking.


2 comments:

L.A. Runner said...

I'm a teacher and when our server goes down at school, there's a mass panic! Secretly I get kind of relieved at not having to answer one billion emails a day. LOL! Glad you got a new laptop. That's fun.

bt said...

@L.A. Runner -- the new laptop will be much more fun when it is set up and updated and ready to go (several hours into the process now). I'm *very* grateful the old one didn't die completely and that I can use it in the interim as I install a bajillion operating system and security updates plus all my applications, etc. I always forget how much work this stuff is -- just another reason why working for a large entity can be nice. If you are luck enough to have one, hug your IT person and/or say thank you!