… was a complete washout. I spent the entire day struggling with technology in some form or another. A USB port that had been working perfectly well up till yesterday around noon, and into which was plugged my external hard drive, decided to malfunction (yes! I show as a drive! no! there is nothing on me!). At first I thought my external hard drive (you know, the one that holds everything as a backup, plus all my music?) had given up the ghost, so that’s where I focused my attention once I recovered from the heart attack. After a couple of hours I discovered that it was the USB port creating an I/O problem. The tower won’t recognise the USB hub I own, so I had to juggle my peripherals. (Six. I have six things that require a USB port. There are only three ports that function now. Oy.) Then I tried to get the printer my dad had sent home with me to work, with zero luck. There were power issues (no matter where I plugged the damn thing in it wouldn’t turn on) and when I finally resolved that (by, erm, hitting it) I discovered that it won’t print anything. Oh, it thinks it’s printing, but nothing appears on the page. Even when the ink cartridges are full. Even after cleaning both sets of contacts and the ink intakes on the printer itself.
I did cross other things off my to-do list, but it was the kind of day where there wasn’t enough accomplished to account for the energy invested, and the grr of the hardware issues mightily outweighed the minor relief of crossing things off the list. So I got exactly no work done, other than sending an invoice for hours worked so far on the local freelance project I did before I left for Toronto. The boy’s thirty-eighth month post is late as a result. I can’t return a book to Amazon because I can’t print out the return form; I’ll have to beg Scarlet to print it out for me tonight.
Rawr. And gnarr.
The boy and I are running errands today. Wish us luck.
Luck!
Best of luck!
If you feel like coming over with him on Friday, just let me know tonight, okay? I’d love the company.
This sounds like Reason #1001 for why it’s a good idea to use a Mac. We have none of that stuff. None. I have a modem, a keyboard, and a printer on my desk and nothing more under the desk except cables. jAnd they always work. Always. Umberto Ecco, the Italian novelist, wrote an entire essay on how using a PC is like being a Protestant because you have to figure everything out yourself, while using a Mac is like being a Catholic, since everything is figured out for you. This may be true, but when it comes to computers, I guess I’m willing to be a Catholic…..
Bev, I’d love to believe that Macs never have problems, but I have a friend who uses a Mac and she has to take it into the shop at least once a year for various issues. If/when I ever get a Brand New Computer and Peripherals instead of hand-me-downs from friends, then I’m sure things will work a lot better. For now, I’m using a five year old printer and a seven year old computer. My problems have less to do with the PC and more to do with age and hours of use.
My Mac is fabulous… until it isn’t. Like all computers, the older she gets, the more problems she has.
I’ve never had the hair-tearing, teeth-gnashing problems as my PC-using friends have, but when poor Cleo has a problem, it’s usually a big, expensive one. :P
Sorry to hear about your woes. I feel your pain, at least a little bit.
Much luck!
I was a Mac devotee for over ten years before becoming tired of their constant crashes. I’m now the proud owner of a PC laptop. The Mac is in the other room, waiting to be reformatted.
Have you checked out the recent deals on PCs from Tigerdirect.ca, by chance? We’ve bought from them, and their service is pretty good.
Ooh, no, I hadn’t. I look stuff up there all the time, and I have friends who have bought from them. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Any time!