January 28, 2003
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One of the little aphorisms of the culture I grew up in is that adversity is good for us–builds “character”, whatever that is. I’m not sure I agree. My agreement would hinge on definitions: of “adversity” as well as of “character”. My beloved old fart says I’m twisted because I welcome challenges that he would definitely characterize as “adversity”. The way I see it, he’s soft and lacks some of my coping and survival skills because he had a relatively easy life.
By the time my kid woke up Friday morning, I was coping with the adversity of a crashed hard drive. Singly and together, the two of us went through all the troubleshooting and diagnostic steps we could, before accepting the situation. With “acceptance” that our computer was down and would need some expert care came a few minutes of reaction as near to panic as that kid and I ever come.
One thing that clued me to our deranged mental state was my observation that we’d begun trying to assign blame for the occurrence. Of course, we blamed the old fart–and why not? He has the technological touch of death, just like Niels Bohr had. He was the last to use the machine Thursday night, and he turned down the little space heater in this area when he went to bed, leaving the temp in here below the specified operating range.
Doug and I finally shook off the blame game and focused on getting the thing fixed. I found an ad in the yellow pages: the Computer Doctor, “We can do things others can’t.” It was the only business listed there that mentioned data recovery. Even now, after he’s become a family hero, the doc remains just a pleasant voice on the phone to me. He was out on a house call when I delivered our CPU to his home, and was out on another call when I went back to pick it up.
He replaced our old 15 GB hard drive with a new 40 GB drive, with no loss of data. The new one seems to run a little more noisily than the old one, but that could be the resonating effect of the metal file box the tower is now sitting on. That’s to raise it higher above our cold and drafty floor. Somehow, we’ve upgraded to a newer version of Outlook Express, and my personal links in IE were rearranged into alphabetical order, but otherwise my friend here is unchanged… except for that extra 25 gigs of storage.
I may recover… who knows? I can’t deny that I missed this guy. It was hell having to use the old PlayStation with the small-screen monitor because Doug was on the PS2 in couch potato heaven. That was such a hardship that it drove me away from gaming and I got some real work done. Now, in addition to the amethysts I showed here a few weeks ago, I have picked out pairs of lapis lazuli stones, aquamarine, celestite, citrine, rose quartz, and I’m working on jade now. That leaves only the garnets to be paired before I start turning the stones into earrings.
For me, getting along without the computer for four days wasn’t the hard part. My regular readers know how much I hate going to town, even the little town of Wasilla just 50 miles away. The Computer Doctor lives in Eagle River, on the edge of Anchorage, two hours away from here. Friday evening, I ended up coming home in the rush of commuters and weekenders fleeing up this valley from the city. The first leg of that trip, between Eagle River and Wasilla, was bumper-to-bumper at 70 MPH. Monday afternoon’s solo trip (Doug was with me the first time.) wasn’t nearly so bad, but plenty bad enough. I’m glad my ‘puter and I are home and free.
Last night, as soon as Doug helped me unload the groceries (I’m not gonna “waste” a trip to town without getting fresh goat milk, lemons, etc.), he brought in the CPU and connected it to this growing pile of peripherals. I had flopped on my bed and was unwinding when I heard the glorious beeps and boops of the modem dialing up our ISP. The kid was still on here when I went to sleep, but a bit later I was wakened by Greyfox’s voice asking if he could get on for a few minutes to check email before he went to bed. Now both of them are still asleep and it is my turn at the keyboard.
Now that I’ve brought Xanga up to speed, I’m off for a wee Poppit! fix, before I get back to sorting little bits of jade into pairs.
Comments (19)
…horrah to your coping and survival skills – you made your way back!
MuSe
Welcome back. You’ve been missed.
OH THANK SPIRIT, you’re baaaaaaack!!! I missed you alot! Okay, now can you PLEASE try and email me every day to remind me about that thing we talked about? I think of it every day and then I end up getting sidetracked and lose my motivation…..puuuuleeeeese! I’m as bad as YOU! Heh
Maybe worse…okay, worse….lol…..hugs to you 
are you making jewelry??
adversity keeps me from being lazy and insular.
Welcome back, SuSu, to Xanga and your home. What a nest you’ve built.
Missed you!
adversity makes serial killers, too.
i think an appreciation for adversity — as stupid as that sounds — is what is important in building character. That’s the difference in the resulting character of Ted Bundy and the resulting character of Victor Frankl. One had it tough, got some bad breaks, so he murdered to get even and to get an orgasm. The other man faced extreme adversity, at death camps, and his spirit rose from that.
Oh, and semantics aside… we all can agree pretty-much on what good character is, can’t we.
Soooo glad you’re back!
mmm jadeee
Glad you got her all fixed up…. and with a bigger belly to store things in… yippee!
I would love to see some of the earings you make
Glad your computer is all better.
I love the words “lapis lazuli”- I could just say it over and over, it’s such a pleasant name.
Welcome back – I’ve missed you. So glad your puter could be fixed and didn’t have to be trashed. Would love to see pics of your earrings when you get them going. I was just sorting through some of my supplies today – need to get my ass in gear!
Yay, I’m glad you got all your data back, too. Too often everything disappears when your drive crashes.
Computer problems suck! Glad yours are better.
Hey – is there an good online source for beads that you use that you can recommend – one that has all the basics in every color imaginable and isn’t too expensive? Thanks.
Technology. Pah.
Glad everything’s up and working again. My “little old Auntie” has a saying about adversity “I know God won’t give me more than I can handle, I just wish he didn’t trust me so much…” I know it’s kinda goofy, but sometimes it makes a good mantra:)
-M
I am amazed at where you live, and I try to see it in my mind. I hate traffic. I live in an odd pocket of Los Angeles, I don’t commute, but I even hate driving to Pasadena. I can imagine the horror of city commuter traffic, compared to the sylvan setting you live in.
I knew computers didn’t like to be hot, I never thought about them not wanting to be cold? I guess if cars don’t like it, why not pcs. What is the low end running temp?
I hope you are super careful with space heaters. My father was a NYC fireman (I know, now they are “firefighters”) and we were constantly reminded about the evils of space heaters and extension cords!
Is your main heat propane? I spent a Winter in the woods in NY, and I was on propane, and scrap wood!
WhooHoo!! New toy!!! I bet the extra storage space is very cool, eh? Anyway, glad your back, and safe. Your daughter was very cool, and relayed the message on her site. She’s a sweetie! Take care, and congrats! Love,*HUGS* and Pax~Z
“….The way I see it, he’s soft and lacks some of my coping and survival skills because he had a relatively easy life….” psssssst…Kathy?…it’s because he’s a guy… (comment late…no one sees the inflammatory statements…lol….)
I think I’d die without my computer. Having my on/off button break was trauma enough. Oh and the blame game… Ha! Thought I was the only adult still playing. Nice to know that misery loves company in that area.
pah..off to the store….will be back to read the rest later…..