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Last weekend all was right with the world or so it seemed. Tennessee’s Tax-free holiday was in full swing. We knew better to attempt to shop in retail stores and malls. Our experience taught us the only way to survive the weekend hassles was to shop online. This is what we did, precisely in a peacefully…unhurried..from the comfort of our home shopped!
By Saturday evening, we nearly bought everything we wanted ‘tax-free’. We adjourned to the living room to watch a movie with that all is right with the world sense. Before long our relaxation gave way to bedtime. DH was putting some things away in our junk room make-shift home-office when I came into the room.
“Why is it doing that?” he wanted to know.
“Why is what doing that?” I looked around.
“The computer,” he pointed.
“Oh,” I exclaimed, “it looks like it rebooted itself. There must have been a power glitch….no, that can’t be it. We have the computer on battery back up. Let me get over there.”
The black screen revealed the scary words, NO BOOT MEDIA….SELECT PROPER BOOT DEVICE. My first reaction was that it was some sort of helpful update that came through changing the boot sequence. I restarted the computer, once the Dell logo appear I selected F2. All I needed to do was to select the hard drive as my start-up priority device, but why isn’t my hard drive listed?
That’s when it struck me like a …
that we had some sort of system failure and more than likely a major hardware flop. There is a slight possibility it could be software related with our desktop being only 2.3 years old. This shouldn’t happen! There is no clear reason why we should face such a disaster this soon. In the past, our hard drives have always demonstrated their intentions with fore-warnings omitting weird sounds. This was a definite sign something is ready for the big electronic graveyard in the sky. The thing is, our system can’t see the hard drive and that’s no laughing matter!
On Monday, I spent several hours on the phone with Dell Tech support. They basically instructed me to do what I already knew to do before leaving me with the final option to remove the hard drive to perform a test to see if the problem is the hard drive or faulty cable. Both options are easy to fix or God forbid a bad motherboard! There’s no fixing that!
Replacing the hard drive or motherboard will be expensive fixes for sure, but it doesn’t put my mind at ease. What else is on its way out? At this point, all I want to do is a data recovery and then worry with the crisis at hand. This will be a project for DH and I to tackle hopefully this weekend, as I just can not move that heavy tower to take the panel off. sigh
This isn’t the first time I’ve danced this tune. Every time I swear, “If I can only get my data off and our system going again, then I promise, promise, promise to make routine copies of all of my important files!” Sadly, each time I make a liar out of myself. Oh sure, in the beginning my priorities are on track, and then all of my good intentions go out the door after a few months. The truth of the matter is I don’t think I’ve backed off any of our files in over a year.
My computer upset has left me nearly paralyzed. This is why I haven’t been visiting Blogville much this week. First off, I’ve been too tied up to do anything other than figuring out our options and second, we are now down to one computer for DH & I to share. “Oh, NO! A one-computer family!” Remember the day when that’s all most of us had?
Time on the net is a bit of crunch, but I’m confident things will be back to normal before too long and I swear, “If I can only get my data off and our system going again, then I promise, promise, promise to make routine copies of all of my important files!”
What’s the joke? Oh, I see you’ve heard that one before. I get that, really I do, but this is NO Laughing Matter! This brings me to my T2Q.
- Do you have a backup schedule for your important files or do you do a complete system backup?
- Where do you store your data – external hard drive or on cloud storage?
Now that you’ve had your laughs, why not visit Miss Jenny and the rest of the Alphabe-Thursday classroom for more homework assignments of the letter ‘L’ and while you’re hopping around, be sure to play along with Miss Amanda in her latest edition of Thursday Two Questions.
This week’s writing prompts had me just a bit stumped leaving me with the sense of, Which do I choose? rolling around in my brain all for about 30 seconds before settling on this one….
What’s for dinner Mom? Describe a meal your Mom cooked that you dreaded eating growing up.
Growing up in southern West Virginia, I lived in poverty. I wouldn’t say we were in a dirt poor poverty situation. Things were financially tight, but that was normal for many hard-working families in the 60s and 70s in rural coal mining communities.
There was one time, though which was particularly rough for us. Daddy was a coal miner. Now, I don’t know if he was out of work or if the union was on strike or what the problem was. The only thing I do remember is the limited dinner options my mom could make at no great expense to feed a family of six, which seemed to consist of pinto beans and corn bread or fried bread. Sometimes, she made fried potatoes to go with the meal.
Night after night after night, we ate this. I was never one to complain and I don’t believe I actually uttered a single word of disapproval for what we were having because in fact, I was really grateful. The only option other than having the pintos was to do without, but even young I knew to appreciate what the Lord provided and for the blessings of my mother to make do with what little we had.
From those early years, I secretly vowed, “When I’m all grown up, I’ll NEVER eat pinto beans again!” What a foolish to thing to declare, but that’s part of being human. It’s funny how your perspective changes on things, especially things which you didn’t like about your childhood. In truth, many of find comfort in these very things, like I do now with pinto beans and cornbread. This is one of my favorite country-style dinners to fix from time-to-time, and on the occasions I fix this then a warm feeling washes over me, as if I’m remembering a simpler time or a time that’s forgotten.
Thinking about the one meal I most dreaded eating as a child reminded me of a post I pulled together about a year and a half ago called: Three Cheers for Pintos! Perhaps, you’ll what to read it as it sorta falls into line of Mama Kat’s writing prompt and summarizes these sentiments I shared with you today.
Are you in a writing slump? Can’t think of where your next post is going to come from? Looking for new direction? If these questions are floating around in your head, then let me point you toward a fun, creative meme to help get your writing mojo back into groove. Join Mama Kat! Each week, you’ll get 5 writing prompts to build one fun and creative post from each Thursday. So, what are you waiting for? Get over there and join the fun now!
Don’t fret, I promise to see you soon despite my computer problems. That being said, please don’t shy away from leaving a comment. I won’t let my technical difficulties get in the way of visiting you!