Computer down

That's it. My computer is down. I've never had such troubles with a computer. When I was a freshman in college my Compaq wouldn't start up so the "help" guy on the phone said I needed to completely restore my computer: wipe everything off. I thought my life was over. I made him stay on the phone with me until I was through with the whole ordeal. Well, until the stupid fire alarm went off and we had to leave the building right in the middle of the restore.

This time I had a friend from church come over. Normally I call my good friend in Houston and he and I can get through it together. Not so much this time, the problem was a little deeper. So BJ came over and ran a bunch of scans and such. He was here for two hours and this was right after he was at work all night (he works the graveyard putting out computer fires all night). It worked for a while but then a day or two later, nothing. I had enough time to back up all my music, documents and pictures. There was so much more like fonts, bookmarks, noiseware, etc. that I'm sure I lost, but I got the bulk of it. Saturday I decided to do a system restore. My heart was beating a mile a minute. It still wouldn't start up at all. So I took it promptly to Best Buy. Ugh. He sent it right home with me and told me to run the restore a couple more times and if it didn't work then I should bring it back. I'll spare you the rest of the details and just tell you that I'm surprised it didn't implode. Not only did the diagnostics on the hard drive and graphics card come back wacky, the mother board isn't doing so well either. So they had to send it out to the really high tech guys and it will be gone for 2-4 weeks!!!!!

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to walk into the blue room (where we keep the computer) to check my email or whatever, instinct. I keep thinking about the pictures that are just waiting for me on my external hard drive to be edited (and I'm sure Amanda is on pins and needles). It's just so frustrating. Normally I can figure out what's wrong with it, but this was SO far past my abilities that I had to take it in. Good thing it was still under warranty.

In the meantime, I've let the house go. Completely. I feel so bad for Chuck (Aaron doesn't know the difference) because he's come home every evening last week, home for the weekend and then yesterday again after he was on-call. And he doesn't have to say anything to me. I know it's a crazy mess. I'd share a picture with you but it's utterly too embarrassing. Currently I'm waiting for the Formula 409 to work on the under part of the stove (under the burners) because something horrible was spilled under there. But let me just say that about every 5 minutes or so I gag a little just with the smell. The smell probably isn't that bad but just with the way my stomach has been the last TWO MONTHS, it's not a good thing to really smell much of anything. I'm still getting sick every now and then. Thank goodness it's not as much as it was. The worst is when Aaron wakes up in the morning with a dirty diaper. Enough said.

But, on another news front, I've joined a local gym. Can I tell you how much it pains me to do that? As a former personal trainer I should be creative and think of all kinds of ways to torture myself for free. And really I can. But I'm too lazy, just like everyone else. I just don't have the motivation around here, plus it gets me out of the house. So when Chuck comes home on the weekends I spend an hour or so there when he's home. It's been very nice, lifting, biking, walking on an incline and even running a bit. I remember last time I got to a point when I ran that I felt like Santa Clause, I felt like I had a bowl full of jelly shaking. It felt really weird, it felt like something extra was in there. Kinda funny. But I'm not at that point yet. I weighed myself yesterday at the gym and compared to the scale at the clinic, I'm 3 pounds less. We'll see when I go in for my check up in two weeks.

Another news front, I believe Aaron has started transitioning into the terrible twos. He just whines all the time, wants what he wants, doesn't want what he doesn't want. I need to get a new strategy, just ignore him (especially when we're at home). However, it comes in waves. And when the waves go out it seems like he's an angel. Monday night he was playing with a bucket of toys, he decided he wanted to play with his Legos. But I told him he had to put away his other toys first and then he could get out the Legos. HE DID IT! All by himself. It was bizarre. Then he played with his Legos and when he was done he started putting them away, ALL ON HIS OWN. Then, not only did he put them back in their container, he put the container on the shelf!! It was amazing. He got animal crackers for that! But just keep in mind that most other times he doesn't do anything I ask. The big things right now are coming when I ask him to come to me and holding my hand in the parking lot.

On the last news front, things are moving ahead with Chuck's fellowship. He's applied to programs in Denver, St. Louis and Portland. During the week after Easter he's headed to Denver and then St. Louis for interviews at both of those programs. And while he's gone he should hear from the program in Portland about whether there's an extra position for him or not. So we'll see...

This is a just a news flash: We will not be finding out the gender of the baby. We have officially decided that it will be a surprise for all. So don't ask :) I've decided that the whole "it makes it easier for people to get you stuff" is just an excuse to know what it is. We really don't need anything since Aaron is so little and we pretty much got things that were gender neutral anyway. But I figure that's why stores invented gift cards.

Thanks for stinking through with this (if you did). As a reward, here are a couple videos I got on youtube before the crash of 2010. I actually have a lot to share with you, so maybe I'll get ambitious and hook up my external to my laptop and add more.