THE DAY THE WORLD DIED

On January 12 my world came to a screeching halt. The day began as it usually did. I checked my food calendar as I normally did. My computer decided it was time for an update. I decided to watch TV while the updates updated. Then the unthinkable happened. The computer died. I tried everything I could think of to bring it back to life. Nothing worked. Dead became deader with every trick. Finally there was nothing but a black screen.

My facebook friends descended on my daughter. My daughter descended on me. With no car and limited funds, I had no way to communicate with anyone but the kind lady next door. My bills, generally paid online, waited if they could. If they couldn’t, I went through automated phone prompts until the voice or voiceless on the other end of the line took my money. I pulled out the free phone book that was tossed in my driveway some months ago. It seemed to be less than worthless for my needs. I couldn’t find a doctor for my computer. Well, I could find some but not what I was looking for. I don’t need another series of phone prompts just to find out they lost my baby. By the end of month #1 with no computer, I got a netbook. The kind lady next door drove me up to Walmart. The only netbook they had was an Acer. Acer and I have a history. My first desktop was an Acer. I wore all the letters off its green keyboard. I continued the history.

I got excited. With a new toy I’d be ready to talk to the world again. Not so fast, girl. I plugged in my USB modem and nothing happened. (Well, a little something happened but it’s not worth talking about.) At least I had solitaire.

Two weeks so of playing solitaire and trying unsuccessfully to communicate with the people on the other side of me, a miracle landed in my mailbox. A computer repair shop opened up less than two miles down the road! I talked Mary, my neighbor who seems to be the only one on the block who’ll cart me around. She’d take me there. She’s used to running when anybody calls so I didn’t have to wait that long.

Turns out my hard drive died. My old USB modem wouldn’t work with Windows 7, the OS on my new netbook and the one that would be installed on my Dell laptop when the ‘puter doctor got the new hard drive and brought it back to life. Getting the new modem proved to be another problem.

Stuck watching TV pinned me into watching political stuff as the LOP (Least Objectionable Program) most of the day. Somewhere between watching Republican candidates exhibit their stupidity, liberal talk show hosts forgetting how to speak, and Food Network, I found my way to get a new modem. I offered to give Mary at least enough gas money to get us to the Verizon store (about 12 to 15 miles round trip) and off we went. This is the United States of America. You can get anything you need for cash!

I’ve been online for almost a week now. Mary’s been without her cable TV and phone bundle for nearly the same time. We’re both waiting for money in the mail. Once I get mine, I’ll pay for a ride to the bank. By then she should be OK. Maybe I can introduce her to my favorite produce store on the way home. It’ll be good to see Top Crop again. Hope she likes it!