An Early Birthday

I recieved the most delightful kind of voicemail from my Father a few weeks back. He had a practical yet loving tone to his voice like he always does. He said I'd be recieving a package in the mail from him, that I should look out for it. "It's for your birthday...or Christmas, or whatever's coming up next," he explained. So great!

Well, it was the most lovely of gifts. A usuable, wished-for gift I would never have gotten myself. It was a new camera lens. And it's the shiniest, most handsome piece of glass a person could lay their eyes on. The point is, I like it.

Here is the result of the first trial run:

Back In Business

It was difficult to find a computer service store to help me out in my moment of need. Because um, uh….. I use a PC. In Silicon Valley. Homeland of Apple. I am an outcast, misunderstood, perhaps even unliked. I live amongst Mac People. Accordingly, no self-respecting computer nerd would be seen tending to a PC here. That kind of transgression could seriously damage a reputation.

I generally use Yelp.com for any local business needs where I don’t already have a favorite/reliable merchant. But Yelp had nothing. There were ample reviews of the various Mac service stores but listings for the PC stores had only 1-2 reviews (a major Yelp red flag).

Ultimately, I performed a simple google search for stores in my area. I found a small, locally-owned shop that had an informative website and reasonable prices. I couldn’t find single review of the place anywhere online. My gut told me it was the right place though, so I delivered my sputtering PC a few days back.

Small was really an understatement with regard to this store. It made up a sliver of a stripmall that ran the whole block long. The inside was poorly lit with a mish-mosh of computer parts (some used?) lining the walls. Just past the counter was a door to the backroom. When I entered the store I could see a group of four men chatting there. This room had a whole different look. It was bright, filled with bins of wires and motherboards. The men were young to middle-aged, invariably overweight, and totally geeked out. There was an audible buzz which I can only assume was the plethora of appliances, computers, and monitors demanding power in that small area. I knew I had chosen the right place.

I picked my computer up today. When I stepped up to the counter to pay though all the wrong words came out. I quickly mumbled a comment about how I must have been experiencing a touch of dyslexia. Andrew, who was effectively the epitome of a computer geek, simply smiled and swiped my debit card. After a few moments though he said, “Yeah, I’ve got that too.” I looked up puzzled. “I’m always mixing up certain letters and numbers, it’s really bad.” “Oh,” I replied, “well it seems like your pretty good at fixing computers anyway.” “Yeah, I am,” he admitted. I signed the receipt, scooped up my computer, and wandered toward my car. When I looked down to locate my keys though, I noticed this sticker to my utter delight:

Apparently, I needed to tap into my dyslexic side a little more seriously if I had any hopes of healing my computer. Because ever since I plugged it in and powered it up, its been working like a charm!

Bleak, Things Are Looking Rather Bleak

You might have noticed that its been slightly longer than usual since I last posted. Forgive me for a moment while I share a few of the reasons why:

1. Apparently Jon from Long Beach discovered my debit card info a few weeks back and decided to start his Christmas shopping early. Camera accessories, swimming gear, and motorcycle parts - clearly its going to be a good Christmas at his house.

2. The folks at the Bank of America call center are very cheerful but not nearly as helpful.

3. Shortly after Jon finished his Christmas shopping, my computer was attacked by Satan Himself (a virus).

4. It turns out that McAfee Antivirus Software is not familiar with Satan Himself.

5. Dell Computer Support has been officially %100 outsourced to India.

6. It turns out that the only way to get rid of Satan Himself is to reformat the hard drive of one's computer, reinstall the operating system and start from scratch. How refreshing! It's like spring cleaning, only less dust and more suicidal thoughts.

7. I, depsite generous support from my Brother and Father, am not very good at the steps outlined in reason 6.

One week later, hours of my life gone forever, and my computer continues to sputter, choke, and generally function half-heartedly. It is rare that I feel so deeply defeated at 11:43pm on a Saturday night. But folks, that's my reality.

I'm giving up. My computer has earned itself a trip to the computer store. I will pay the 79$ and never look back. This is for the sake of my sanity

Accordingly, you might not hear from me again for a while. Until then, watch out for Satan Himself and Jon from Long Beach.

Update On The Mane

Mostly, it is unruly.

Sure, Geese Are Nice!

More Of The Girls!

My Sister-in-Law/Justin's Lover/Heather, despite her size - rather small - has got hops (below)!

Lovely Ladies (below).

Spencer's Lover/Jenn wandering about Crissy Field (she's in the red jacket!). Wish I had captured the whole shadow of the tree...think it would have changed the shot (below)!

One Cloudy Day

I simply couldn't keep up with the sky. Every moment was a new image - gray, blue, massive cloud cover, little wisps. Oh the delight of my soul!