The Internet Returns

Aaaaand we're up and running again. Woot!
I guess the router just got old and died. We called the DSL people and they rushed out a replacement and it started right up so we're good.
I haven't forgotten the travelogue - it's in the works - and our project in the back yard is almost done - we're waiting on a few more pictures.
Is it sad that I have nothing to report after five days without Internet? You know how some people are SO! AMAZED! at how much stuff they got done when the cable/Internet/TV etc. was broken?
Not us.
Either the Internet doesn't matter or we don't do that much in the evenings on a regular basis.

This is me, connected again.

Curses

Just stealing a quick second here at work to let you know my Internet is broken - has been since Wednesday - but should be fixed by tonight or tomorrow.

I know you were crying in your pillows.

This is me, unconnected.

This Would Have Been Lengthy

I wrote an excellent - if I do say so myself - thoughtful, well-composed, balanced post in response to Newsweek's article this week The Mormon Moment. It was long and complex and really one of my best works.
Then Blogger ate it. And I can't get it back.
And now I am annoyed at Blogger and upset at Newsweek which is not a good place.

This is me, apologizing for deficiencies in the machinery.

I Think Something Is Missing Here

Does anyone know what might be wrong with my laptop keyboard?
When I type anything - the program does not matter - I will hit the key the letter is on but it won't come up on the screen. I have to go back and correct each and every sentence.
Not to say I am a perfect typist in any sense, but I hit the correct key more often than it looks like.
It is not always the same keys either. Sometimes the space, sometimes the punctuation, sometimes not.
It's a little frustrating. Does this sound serious, or does my keyboard just need a serious cleaning?

This is me and it's made me look inept when I comment on blogs.

Pitiful

I really hate it when I can't find a program install disc I KNOW I have and it's not where it should be in the filing system and I need it to recover some information from one of the times my computer crashed this last year and it's irritating and I can't download a copy from the all-powerful Internets because the company has ceased to support the program any more and all the shady websites have errors during the installation process and after it's taken an entire day or three to find this all out Tarzan buys me another copy so I will stop complaining and then I find the original disc somewhere I SWEAR I've already looked at least three times.
GAH!

This is me and I'm annoyed.

Static Free

And we're back.
My new hard drive came today and I am so proud to tell you that I installed it and the new operating system all by myself. This may not be big news to the young things reading this but I belong to the generation who did not touch a piece going into a computer without a haz-mat suit with an anti-static coating, do the anti-static dance, make the anti-static sacrifice and even then it might not work right so the best thing is to let a professional do it. It's quite a leap in my skill set that I was able to remove the old hard drive, take off the plastic handle thingy that lets it slide in and out of my laptop, attach the handle to the new drive and put that back in my machine.
I was awesome.
Then I installed Windows 7 and I have got to tell you, I don't see that great a difference. Yet. I did get a new security program - McAfee is SO last season - and I'm hoping I won't have to reinstall anything in six months. We'll revisit that in time for Easter.

This me and I'm back for now.

Re-Installation Fun & Games

That was a long and arduous process.
That Google error I mentioned on Friday? Turned into a very large problem, what with finding and deleting certain items that were preying on certain vital items, like my desktop access and my Internet drivers.
Enter the blue screen of death.
In the end it became a bigger problem to fix the missing pieces than to just reinstall my operating system. Fortunately this time I did not have very much stored on my computer that needed to be retrieved before reformatting my hard drive. What I didn't count on was not having the right drivers on my re-installation disks to get on back on the Internet and get all the updates that are necessary. Skip ahead to my getting on Tarzan's computer and trying for three hours to get the first of six drivers to download to my flash drive so I could connect and fix everything else.
In the end it did - obvi, since here I am - but starting at 11am this morning my computer has been restarting itself non-stop installing updates. One hundred and ten updates thus far. I am sure there will be more.
In the down time though, there has been quite the flurry of activity. People in the hospital, the kittens, my computer issues, Dancing With The Stars. It's a madhouse over here.
All will be posted on in a timely fashion - although the finale for DWTS is tonight and we will all know tomorrow I will finish out my commentary. No worries there friends, no worries.

This is me and that's a lot of updates.

Google Out

Is there something wrong with anyone else's Google? The page loads just fine and the search gives me what I want but when I click on a link - only one click mind, I'm not one of those people who still lives in the double click world - I'm directed to another, COMPLETELY different, site which is usually trying to sell me something, or to another, less imaginative search engine.
What is going on here? I have had a few brushes with the blue screen of death lately and I'm wondering if it messed up my web browser somehow.

This is me and that's just weird. Annoying and weird.