2012-10-10:

Thus far. Let me tell you why. Indeed, revel in my misfortune and become happier.

It started innocently enough. Went to the ABC sale on Sunday. Got some really neat stuff for my various collections, and some useful things too. Played some Borderlands 2, all was right with the world.

Oh, and game Saturday went fine, we furthered the plot and a bunch of fallen angels got beat up. Can you dig it?

Monday. That was when the trouble started. I did a morning appointment because it was "Columbus" day so the banks weren't open. Aldi probably was, but I do things all at once, darn it. In any case I made nothing though I did two jobs. Let me tell you why.

The one lady had just moved, and didn't have everything unpacked apparently because she didn't have her monitor power cord, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Her DSL wasn't working where she had the machine, and I couldn't even tell you where that weird sticking out of the wall phone cable even came from, though I tried to find it. She didn't have home phone service so we couldn't just test it that way. So I left there having done nothing but waste my time driving and standing around. Thanks. 

The other was Bert and his "Well it's working fine now" problem. Haven't heard anything since then, so I guess it's still working. 

I did reach the roof guy, and set up an appointment for Thursday morning, so that was good at least.

Then Tuesday showed up. This was going back to the insurance claim guy because while his program worked, it would not talk to the remote server. The tech support people said it must have to do with Win7. So I came up with the bright idea of virtualizing XP and installing it there. So I did. Same error.

So I poked around the install CD, which is terrible, by the way, and found a ccomm folder. "ARRRRR! What be this?" I thought to myself in pirate, which I often slip into when I'm ready to make someone "walk the plank." I installed it, and lo-and-behold his communication error cleared right up. Thanks 'o tech support dude who, upon calling to do the initial install because I couldn't figure out your crappy CD who answered "is there anything else from here I need to install?" with a negative. You lied. And I hate you. I had to figure it out myself because I knew something strange was going on, two different "machines" getting the same comm error? Very odd.

The only other one went fine.

It was Wednesday that took the cake, which was a lie, left it out in the rain, and I'll never have that recipe again. First was the BSOD I narrowed to the SSD I installed in March of this year. Great, it lasted seven months. Of course she has no back up, though I thought I had set something up for her like that. I got some stuff off, but some folders it would not only not read, but act like the drive died just from opening them. She got very, very lucky because the one document she was working on and wanted to email to someone was one of the ones I could get off. So now I have to get a replacement for that, and set her machine back up for free, because it's still under warranty. And I look like an idiot because the drive I got for her died so soon. 

Thanks Corsair.

Then an OS X 10.6 install, which went smoothy but slowly. I had downloaded the 10.6.8 updater at home (to make mom's machine) and still had it, so I brought it over to save time downloading it. It gave an "unknown error" when I tried to install it. Great. So I just left it downloading the update and hoping it worked out.

I go home to grab a bite to eat, and all the traffic lights in Webster are off. Getting inside, yup, the power is off. I went to the basement for something and smelled something burning. Weird. Checked everything- there's no power to anything, what can be burning? So I have a cold lunch rather then the hot one I expected to have, and called the sandblasting place to try and walk them through their sending email problem. They've got something weird going but I couldn't see it (no power) so I told her I would call back thursday. Just as I'm about to leave the power comes back on! Yay! Wait, better check the basement- OH GOD WHY ARE FLAMES COMING OUT OF THE UPC UNIT?????????!!!!!!!!  

So I hastily unplug that and (after letting it cool down) throw it out in the breezeway. Smells very nasty down there now. Checked to make sure the new phone system was working, huh, no dial tone? *checking* *checking*

Great, seems my almost brand new (and expensive) little phone system thing is dead. I can power it up, and log into it, but it acts like there's no phone (it just rings and rings and doesn't pick up) and I can't call out. Super, so that's dead too. Went back to the old answering machine.

Next job was just a set up, so that went smoothy. Early for the next one so I sat and typed this up, and that brings us to the present. 

Tinker is doing fine, Squeaker is still afraid of him or whatever. Just runs downstairs if I take him up there. Won't come up the stairs on his own. Better make friends you guys, you're stuck with each other. 

How's your week been going?

And now I'm home, and found out my Hackintosh power supply is dead. At least that's an easy fix. How did that get past my UPS? It's supposed to insulate me against that sort of thing.

NOT A GOOD WEEK.

Maybe it'll balance out by the new metal roof estimate I get tomorrow being really, really low. And take half as long as I expect, and he'll bring a pony for me to ride while he works. Yeah.

Two for tomorrow, My Buddy, selling him a camera for $10.00 (hardly worth the time to go out there) and seeing what sort of machine some guy wants. (Again, probably not worth my time)

Friday is totally booked with 4. Could not sell anyone on tomorrow afternoon.