Back at the keyboard…

At last.

My laptop died. Not just the BSOD, but the No Screen of Death. No backlight. No power etc. Not sure what really happened, but it took forever to fix. sigh…

Work has been slow. Good thing, as I’ve been having to use the training computer at work for my workstation while my laptop was fixed. This thing still has Windows on it. XP, but… only because our A+ training software needs a Windows machine. I felt like I was stepping back in time. After using Ubuntu, it was like driving with your grandma. Slow, plodding and doesn’t always go where you want it to. (sorry Nana!) It made me really appreciate Linux.

Then I got sick. I got the flu. Ugggghhhh….. I hate throwing up. I hate being sick. For the first few days when I wasn’t in the bathroom, I was asleep. I know George called and Mom came by, but what we said??? No clue. I just knew that Gatorade appeared out of nowhere and Mr Clark wasn’t crying to be fed. So, someone had to of been by.

By the time I started feeling better, I realized that it had been eight days (!) since I’d last stepped out the door. Called George and asked him if he really needed me, or could I take a few more days off. I just couldn’t see me coping with work yet. Plus, no voice. A squeak, a rasp, but no voice. George teased me about trying to sound sexy on the phone. If I could have reached through the phone, I’d have thumped him. I settled for telling him to hit himself for me. He laughed.

He also said it was fine, and by the time I got back on Monday, my computer should be working. Huzzah!!!! What they didn’t tell me until I got into work on Monday-Groundhog day!- is that they had switched me over to Fedora 10. It had been so long since I’d been on my laptop, that at first I just thought it was that… But then I noticed some subtle differences. Like when I went to switch to a second screen and the CUBE Flipped!!! It was so cool that I shouted! George and our new tech Dan came in to see what all the noise was about. However, they both had such cheesy grins on their faces that I knew something was up. Apparently, Dan lost a $3.00 bet. He figured it would take half the day for me to notice. George bet 15 minutes. He was closer. 19 minutes.

It is really cool. I like the new features and oh my is it fast. I feel like I’m doing 90 mph on the highway in comparison to the training computer. Oh I am happy. I even forgave them for springing it on me.

Well, I had better get going. Today looks like it will be busy. Our favourite client still calls at 9am to tell us a joke. George’s latest angle is to have one ready for him. Only 25 minutes to find our joke of the day!

Hump Day! Plus one…

Well, I started this last night. Then my sister called. She lives in Texas, and I hadn’t talked to her in about three weeks.  Her hubby is a dork. Nice guy 70% of the time, but that other 30% dumps her life in the proverbial pile. I told her she needed to go on a vacation without him.

I’m halfway through the first week at my new job and I almost think I get it. I’ve got the files almost straight and even managed to print a document off of the printer in my office without technical assistance! I know that sounds silly, because I’m the “office manager”, but I had never seen any of this equipment before last week. Plus, between the phone ringing, all the techs asking me for stuff and digging through the mess on my desk, I feel like I really have accomplished something.

Tuesday was an adventure. Kevin went out on a call and his truck broke down. Just stopped. He was out on one of the county roads that is famous for spotty cell phone coverage, but managed to ‘die’ right in one of the few spots that actually did have coverage. I took the call, wrote down where he was and went to give the info to George. He was on the phone. I should have known by the look on his face that I was in for trouble. George pulled the keys  to his truck out of his pockets and handed them to me while mouthing the words, “Go get him.” Geep!

So, I went out to the beat up Nissan and headed out to Kevin. I got to him just as it started to rain. This wouldn’t have been bad, but we needed to get all of the tools and equipment out of it and into the Nissan. Did I mention it was raining? Or that I was wearing a light summer skirt because it was WARM when I got dressed for work? sigh… We were both soaked in about five minutes. After we got everything transfered, we locked his truck and headed to his job. I hadn’t expected to go with him!

Funny bit is that I knew the family we went to see. The Garcia’s are a nice couple. She works for the local chiropractor. It was a general service call. Their computer had stopped working and went into Safe-mode. Kevin was going to do a general diagnostic run. I originally thought that I’d get to just visit or sit in the truck. Oh no… I got to be jr. geek! gl33p! I learned that even the “professionals” call that bright blank screen the Blue Screen of Death! We did all sorts of system checks and installed some Open Source software. I recognized it from my computer at the office. Thirty minutes later, we were heading back to the office.

We barely got in the door before Kevin was telling Jake and George how well I had done. What? He went on to say that I was very teachable and would make a fine tech. I just looked at him like he had three heads.  Tried to explain that I’m so not a tech and didn’t think I could ever be as good as they are. They just laughed and smiled. I went back to my office.

Yesterday, I took a long lunch so that I could go to my nephew’s 8th Grade graduation. He is a sweet kid, just not real street savvy. Spends too much time playing computer games. It was really neat, as the whole school gets involved. I loved the kindergarten kids throwing confetti!

Well, my lunch break is over and I have to get back to work now. I’m going out with my parents this evening. Wheee!