On the Importance of My Computer and My Toilet

Please forgive my absence. It just hasn’t been very blog-worthy around here lately. We’ve been experiencing technical difficulties, and what knitting I am doing is for the children inside my sister, and I don’t want her to see it until it’s given to her. Last weekend I went to South Dakota to spend some time with The Fam’ and my cell phone wasn’t working, so I couldn’t remote blog. I also did not remember to take a picture of the Baby Albert I made (it was tan with copper teddy bear buttons. Very cute, of course.)

[Update: My father just sent me this:]



Then this past week I have come to an impasse with my computer and realized that drastic measures were in order. After moving files from the main hard drive, uninstalling old programs, increasing RAM, defragging (about 20 times), clearing temp files, checking the disk itself for errors, disabling system programs, eliminating nearly everything at startup, and a few well-timed threats with complete replacement, I determined that it was time to pull out the big guns and do a system restore. Take off everything I need, reinstall the original software, then slowly put everything back. Fun times. Last night I started the process, and it took well into the Late Night Shows to get Windows fully updated. Thankfully the software provided by the phone company with my DSL modem worked perfectly and efficiently. It is now a matter of installing new and uninstalling old and then replacing the old files. Slow going, but so far, it’s working. I’ve had the computer for about four years, so I shouldn’t be surprised it was a little messed up in there.

I explained to someone today that my computer is to me like my toilet; if it’s not working, I need to work on getting it fixed. I am just as bothered when my toilet isn’t working as when my computer isn’t working (I do have two toilets, to put it in the proper perspective). And the internet is like the water in the toilet.

Good news: I finished nearly an entire baby hat while watching the progress bar slowly inch from left to right all evening.
Bad news: The hat is kind of big. I also made some socks that are kind of big. I seem to be laboring under the impression that my sister is going to give birth to Two-Year-Olds. Which is doubly unfortunate for her, since there are two of them. Oh well; I figure I can just make a bunch of stuff in whatever sizes, and as long as it’s gender-neutral it can be worn by whomever it fits at the time. Babies grow, right? And really, it’s a crap-shoot trying to guess what size they’ll be during which season. No sense in fretting over it.

So that’s my excuse. Knitting continues apace, but is secret until received. And the computer is almost fixed, so blogging should continue shortly.