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Monday was a mad, running around, kinda day. We were up early to get to the first of a series of dental appointments for 8.30am - an unspeakably early time for the school holidays, especially for a teenager. Thankfully there was only one child to kick out of bed on time, as the other had been farmed out to Grandparents! Silver linings...
On the way there we got turned around because of a nasty looking road accident - I really hope the guy being loaded into the ambulance is going to be OK. Despite the diversion, and roadworks, and heavy traffic... we still made it to the appointment on time. Finally,the braces are off Child-number-one. The improvement in his face shape, and the smile, is fab. He's growing into a very handsome young man, I just wish he could see it.
Then we had 6 hours to
Shopping was done, a film was watched - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, very good - food was had, and plenty of time was spent just being together. Mum and Son. We don't do enough of that. Note to self: Make that happen more often!
Once we'd been back to the orthodontist for his retainers - which made his gums bleed and jaw ache - we headed home.
I turned the computer on.
It turned off.
I blamed a power glitch, not an uncommon occurence here.
I turned it back on.
It booted up, loaded emails, and turned itself off again.
Hmm.... Check the fuse box and other appliances - no issues.
I turned it back on, again.
Booted up fine, loaded stuff. After about 5 mins, it turned off.
Uh oh.
That's my work, emails, websites, writing files, family pics... Before anyone yells, "BACK-UP" at me, I know. Some was backed up, but not everything. Importantly, the one file not backed up and accessible from anywhere other than the desktop hard-drive was my current work-in-progress - the next generation of Portal stories. I've been working on it for a while, and recently got back into the habit of writing every day. The characters were back in my head, the words were flowing.
Then they were locked away in a box under my desk that wouldn't open long enough for me to find them!
I swore at the thing, dug out my laptop and swore again at the lost passwords, missing software that needed to be installed, and the barrage of updates the thing needed. But I got online and could at least catch up with some of my work.
Tuesday morning... the desktop was still refusing to work, so I took it to a repair shop. They promised to take a look, it was probably the fan tripping a thermal cut out, but they'd let me know by the end of the day.
The moral of this? The fan is fine, just filthy and clogged with several generations of spiders, webs, dust, hair, and other detritus from 2 houses, several furniture rearrangements, multiple desks, at least 3 sets of major building works...
Umm, folks? Take the side/back off your computer regularly and clean the thing. When I pick it up tomorrow I'll be asking how to do that.... Oops.
Sliver linings though: The computer is fine, no parts needing replacing, a small bill, and all my files and pics are fine.
