I'm using Ed’s computer. Mine wasn’t booting up properly. I’d get a screen that included a line that said something about imminent failure. And if you pressed the F1 key, the boot would continue and all seemed well. But this kept happening. I thought it was time I discussed this with my expert and called Cee at her shop as soon as we got back from our hurricane haven on Wednesday and a Spanish speaking woman named Maria answered. I apologized and tried again and got Maria. And her sister, who is better with English got on the phone and said that the no. I am using has been her sister’s no. for 10 years. I looked the shop up on line and it listed the number Maria kept answering. I had about decided to just to there but tried the number once more, and got the shop. Now that is eerie.

Cee said, after I read to her what the screen had been saying (which I laboriously copied down word for word) that I should shut down now, immediately, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, or be at risk of losing everything – programs, data, etc., because it was warning me that my hard drive is about to go kaput and the more I used it, the worse it would get. And, of course, nothing is backed up. Today, an odd piece of equipment that I found in a box somewhere and put on the table to ask Ed about, turned out to be a back-up drive. Well, sheesh. But no point in pushing the envelope, so I’ll bite the bullet with my computer shut down all weekend. And yes I am having withdrawal symptoms. So Monday, I lug the tower in to Cee’s shop and take a book because it will take hours as she flits from project to project. Or I can leave it there and go away and go back when it’s all done instead of hovering hoping all will be well in a short time and I can load it up and take it home. Several hundred dollars later, if she replaces the hard drive.

Also, my cell phone, an old model that doesn’t do anything smart, that I inherited from Ed when my old phone got dropped beyond repair, isn’t charging. I have changed chargers twice and it still won’t charge. Ed says I should take it in to Batteries Plus and get the internal battery changed. Well, I can try that, or I can join the 21st Century and get a smart phone and join the plan I got for Ed when I bought him a smart phone because there will be a discount for an extra phone. Maybe I’ll do that. It will be a learning curve. I’m kind of leaning in that direction because it is seductive to do all the stuff that can be done assuming, of course, that my brain cooperates.

Any suggestions? Should I go the distance and get a smart phone?

xx, Teal