The Week That Broke.

Today is Friday, May 21, 2019. This past week, everything broke. Well, not everything. Just 3 major items that cost me upwards of $2000. First, my desktop computer was going all funky on me. I couldn't get it to come on. It tried and tried, but couldn't until about the 10th try. You can imagine how frustrating this might be. After unplugging everything for 15-20 minutes, then plugging it back in, numerous times, with no positive results, I finally called Tim The Techman at Staples, in Nags Head. Tim is wonderful. Brought in the desktop. Tim ran diagnostics. Took care of whatever problems. Said it was fast, working good. Took it home. Same thing happens. Call Tim. He tells me to bring in the monitor. I do. Monitor is bad. Not the computer. So I get a new wide screen monitor for about $300. I go home, lick my wounds, and wait for the next salvo. It comes within two days. My laptop. I turn it on. Get to my sign-in screen. It accepts my password. I get to my desktop .. and ... NADA. Nothing happens. I try to hit the Windows icon to get to Shut Down, but nothing responds. I have to power down by the power button or pulling it out from the wall. Then, of course, when I go back to turn it on, 30 minutes later, (after pulling out every wire, and tugging out the battery, just to make sure) just in case the TIME makes a difference, I get the black DOS screen with the white lettering telling me Windows Has Not Been Shut Down Properly. NO SHIT! So I take my laptop to TimAtStaples. And he runs diagnostics and then some. Mr. H. bought the laptop for me January 2008 - for my birthday. Ticky, you were there! This is May 2010. Mr. Hawthorne bought a 2-year warranty, right? Yes! I find the extended warranty and hustle my ass down to Staples and my beloved Tim. NOW, my thinkin's that the extended 2-year warranty is appended to the manufacturer's 1-year warranty. That would seem logical, n'est ce pas? Mais non. What? You dint know I spoke fluent French? The 2-year extended warranty runs concurrently with the manufacturer's 1-year warranty. Bottom line. I got nuttin'. Go in to pick up the laptop. Tim's still running a dozen or so programs on it and finding stuff out. And it's all running fast. Turns out my hard drive is bad and VISTA Operating System is the culprit. VISTA is eating up my hard drive and killing it. Bottom line: I buy a new laptop. With Windows 7. I hated Vista. Tim transfers everything from my old laptop to my new one. Approximately $800. For EVERYTHING. I'm leaving Staples and Tim asks me, even though the hard drive has crapped out, am I excited about having a new computer. Hell, YEAH, Tim! I'm of the age when new appliances excite me. A new lawn mower??!!?? Gettouttamyway!!!! Now you know how deaths happen in threes? First, my monitor. Second, my laptop. What next?? That would be my water heater. Kaput. So, Rodney The Plumber comes. New water heater and installation. $600. I told Rodney to save the big box the tank came in. My children could play with it. Make a club house. Paint windows and shutters and window boxes and flowers on it. When the children were in elementary - middle - high school - college, every time Daughter would have a sleep over. which was a lot, she'd find an appliance box and make an ATM for a Monopoly Game. It had slots for the different denominations of cash, slots for the Chance and Community Chest cards, slots for the deeds, slots for the houses and hotels. It was quite elaborate. Daughter and her friends would work on the box much longer than it would take to play a game of Monopoly. Good times. So I told Rodney to leave the box on the deck. I'd let my babies play with it. And play they did.

Whoot! Puppy play time !

Now tell me you didn't smile. I must say, I love my life. That said with a broad smile on my happy face.