I AM a Computer Goddess

Bow before me, I have conquered my computer's guts.

Since I only have one computer and it's a few years old, and I can't afford to just pop out and get a new one, I sometimes have to face my fear of opening up my hard drive and fiddling with something in there. I live in fear of blowing it all up and then I'd be screwed.

Several months ago my CD-ROM drive went wonky and began opening and closing all by itself over and over and over again until it drove me to duct tape it shut. As you can imagine, that's not good. Eventually the drive got tired of whacking itself against the tape and I think the motor burned out which means I've been CD burner-less for quite a while now.

Recently on my grandad's 80th birthday we were over visiting him and he got to talking about his old war stories when he was aboard the USS Daly during WWII and the Korean War. I love listening to him tell these. The idea came up somehow that I could record him and burn his recollections onto disc for the whole family. GREAT idea! Except my burner is fried.

So after a few attempts to buy one at Wal-mart and Radio Shack (but chickening out because it would mean cracking open my hard drive) I had a talk with one of my coworkers who's a bit of a geek himself and he a) told me I could get a burner mucho cheaper at a place like Staples rather than Wally World and b) seemed fairly certain I couldn't fuck up my computer by installing it.

So I held my breath, sauntered into Staples and bought one. I anticipated a long evening spent cursing and crying while trying to fit the drive into place or download some obscure driver needed to run the burner that the manufacturer neglected to include.

But I'm happy to say that after a few false starts while trying to remove the old burner I managed to get it all done in about 45 minutes and it works a treat! I burned a new CD just for kicks and I'm just so damn pleased with the whole process. Now I won't be so scared when the next thing craps out on me.

Lazy day

I feel relieved. I just finished posting in my NaNo blog a concession that I won't be making it to 50,000 words. I wish I could have but frankly, it felt like homework. By that I mean that the pressure to hit a quota everyday felt like I was back in high school with a huge book report hanging over my head. I didn't like the feeling then, and I apparently don't like it much now either. How can I tell a good story if I'm just writing to fill a quota?

Excuses, I know. Justification to make myself feel better for failing at this venture. Meh. It was completely voluntary anyway. I like the idea of it and I understand the purpose of NaNoWriMo to be sure and I think it's great. But it's not for me. But it did force me to think up a story I might actually be able to stretch into a book and I intend on continuing with it - but at my own pace.

So I feel relief now.

Today I spent a guilt-free day with my kidlet watching the original Star Wars trilogy back to back. Was nice :) I hadn't seen those in a while. It was cold and gloomy out today anyway so it was a perfect day to spend all cozy inside.

Yesterday my Grampa turned 80. Blimey. 80. And he still looks marvelous :) We got him a moosh pillow and CD walkman. The other day he was telling me he couldn't seem to find the time to listen to their CDs of Bill Clinton's book because my Gran was always in the room with the CD player working on her jigsaws and he'd been thinking of getting a walkman (or as he called it 'a cd player that you carry around with earphone.' Hehehe.) And the moosh pillow he loves because it fits round his neck in his easy chair and he can relax without his head bobbing all over the place.

Moosh pillows rock btw. We got a couple for ourselves because they feel so good just to squish in your hands. I recommend everyone get one.

Anyway it's getting late-ish and I'm so sleepy. Think I'll head for bedfordshire. Gnight.