The Way Bad Bad Day (with Happy Ending)

So this morning I set my alarm for 6AM because I've been lazy all weekend and have been procrastinating on a project. The idea was I'd do some morning stuff. Return my friends car (I borrowed a car this weekend and needed to return it to their neighborhood) Then walk home from there and dig in on the freelance project. It didn't go that way. It was a bad day.

I've reduced what happened down to detail friendly bulletpoints. (Yes its still long... Sry...)

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- Woke up this morning at 6AM because I have that project due.

- I step out of my bedroom and see my 'ball chair' is deflated. I check for and find a leak. There's a small hole in it. It's donezo.

- I get out my old chair which has an annoying squeak to it that I can't fix no matter how much WD-40 I use.

- I make coffay. I drink coffay. My coffay stays warm because I have a coffay warmer hotplate thingee on my desk.

- Around 7 AM I'm poking around on the computer when the screen all of a sudden goes blank. Everything just shuts off. No blue screen. No freeze. Just. Off.

- I turn it back on and nothing happens. All the computer does is acknowledge the electricity. I turn it off. Then on. Then off. Then on. Offonofofofooonfoofff...

- I freak out and call my computer geek friends. Because it doesn't even boot to anything but a blank screen they all agree that it's serious. No flashing cursor or nuttin!

- I try booting to my new Windows 7 disk. My computer ignores the disk. I pop the disk out and freak out. I have a serious computer problem. It's not Windows 7.

- I feel fortunate to have done a major backup recently.

- After 20 minutes I smell something weird. Slightly metallic.

- I see that after I popped out the Windows 7 disk I put it smack on my coffee warmer hotplate thing-- which was still on. This disk is now very hot and slightly warped.

- I mentally punch self in face. 2x. I killed that disk if I need it later.

- I unplug the computer, open it up and blast away at the dust. There's tons of dust. Tumbleweeds. Oops. I now have dirty allergy face and it doesn't fix the problem.

- I realize I have to bring my computer to an actual place to get it fixed. (The dust cleaning was the extent of my hardware repair skills).

- I am happy that I still have my friends car that I borrowed for the weekend. I yank all the wires out and take the computer to the car.

- I google on my phone local computer repair shops and call everyone leaving messages. I drive to one that's like 4 miles away. It's out of business.

- One guy calls me back and says he can come over to my place at 1PM. I'm slightly relieved-- but now the problem is becoming more real.

- I drive home and decide to bring my computer back inside before looking for a new parking space. I park near a hydrant with my hazard lights flashing. I head upstairs with the computer to drop it off.

- Three minutes later I find a $115 ticket on my friends car. I see the meter man person. I chase after him and beg him to not give me this.

- I nearly cry in front of him. He doesn't budge. He says he can't undo the ticket. I beg more. He says he can't. (I think that's gotta be a standard lie. The public can't find out that they can undo tickets. Maybe?).

- I realize that my computer might be dead. That the project I'm working on might be cancelled. My ballchair is popped. And that I just snagged a $115 ticket.

- I yell 'F--k! F--k!' while looking for a spot. I put the ticket in my mouth and consider eating it.

- The guy in the van behind me gets mad because I keep slowing down while looking for a space. I'm driving badly.

- He leans on his horn like a jerk. I put down the window and give the guy in the van the full-fisted finger. Out of character for me.

- The van guy is now tailgating me way close as I look for a spot.

- I get scared I gave the finger to a van guy. I was already having a bad day. I didn't need it to be worse by getting hit with a tire iron. Or taken somewhere in a van.

- I park the car and walk home. It starts raining. (I laugh out loud this).

- I wonder why god is mad at me.

- Computer guy shows up at my apartment. Immediately seems like a nice guy who knows what's up.

- He starts poking around in my computer and agrees ' it's not good...'

- I find out that I'm out of warranty with Velocity Micro (the computer manufacturer) by three weeks.

- Computer guy tells me that I shouldn't have three powerstrips daisy chained to one outlet.

- Computer guy tells me I should buy some decent powerstrips if I'm gonna do that. Not the CVS crap. He keeps poking around at stuff.

- I ask him if my Windows 7 disk might still work after it's been heated up on a coffee warmer and slightly warped.

- I ask him if he knows how to get out of parking tickets.

- I tell him I've been playing Left for Dead 2. And ask if that could crash it. He doesn't know what that is.

- I give him water. And offer chocolate.

- An hour later he discovers that my internal power supply thingee device is fried. Along with some RAM. He suspects I had a surge. But my motherboard is ok. It's good news!

- I'm amazed that there's such a thing as a 'power surge'. I assumed it was a paranoia scam by the powerstrip people.

- He replaces the power supply unit thing and the RAM and charges me a fair amount. He tells me he runs this website about jogging/running and gives me his card.

- NYCRUNS.COM<<

- He asks me if I run. I slap my gut and say no. I think about making a joke but can't think of one.

- He leaves. A fair deal. It was sort of nice doing business in a way that seemed good all around.

- I promise my computer I won't daisychain powerstrips.

- I promise my computer that I'll blast dust out more often.

- I pet my computer like a dog as I plug everything back in.

- I promise the freelance job person that I'll have stuff to em tomorrow.

And I stare at this screen after typing this up with gross dust covered allergy face. Hundreds of dollars of ticket/repair costs. A warped Windows 7 disk. Yanked wires everywhere. A popped ballchair. And a dust covered floor. And feel fortunate to feel fortunate. Because I know how much worse it could have been if my computer crossed over to the other side and died. Instead of just loitering in limbo and then coming back to me.

And if by the end of the day-- things are basically the same as when the day started--- It just ain't that bad of a day.

Ok bye!

tOdd

-- Here's a picture of my ballchair, ticket, and power supply thingee...

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Warning: Some comments below may annoy you or make you roll your eyes...

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