Argh! Episode 1

The last week has been frustrating, to say the least. As most of you know, we had some pretty intense electrical storms last week. Well, last Wednesday at about 7:00 am I was surprised by a very loud clap of thunder which, at the time, seemed to happen simultaneously with a very, very loud explosion sound coming from the east end of our house. My first thought was that the house had been hit by lightning. The burning smell didn't help. We checked everything and couldn't find where the smell was coming from and there was no evidence to show us where the lightning hit.

Then Jason said the most ridiculous thing ever, "I think that sound was the computer and I think that's where the smell is coming from."

Of course, there was no possible way my computer had been affected, because I can't deal with that. Eventually, I was forced to come to terms with the fact that my computer is not indestructible. It did smell pretty bad.

Our power was out, so I took it down to work and it wouldn't turn on. While I was there, I pulled the hard drive out and hooked it up to another computer and everything was intact. That's the most important thing - all my photos and videos of the kids and all of my digital scrapbooking stuff are on there. I think I might still be in bed crying if that was fried too. Anyway, I hoped it was just the power supply that was fried. We traded that out and it sounded like it really wanted to start but just couldn't make it. Then I decided it was probably the motherboard too, so back we went to the computer store to see if they had a comparable replacement.

That would have been too easy. Since my computer is now three years old, the parts are all obsolete. I should have known that, but I think I was dreaming a little. At this point there's no point in replacing parts, since I can get a new computer so cheap.

Well, the power was back on when we got home. Apparently, the lightning didn't strike our house, but it did strike the power pole directly in front of our house and then took a quick trip into the house and fried not only my computer, but also my router, my printer (which I bought just two months ago), and the surge protector that supplies power to the antennae for our internet.

It also put my phones out of commission. I felt totally disconnected. They finally got our phones working again Sunday and the internet was fixed today. Hooray! Thank heavens for my crappy little laptop, with the broken CD drive and mouse, that will only take a charge if the cord is placed just so and nobody touches it. It's better than nothing.

If that wasn't enough computer drama, all of this was exacerbated by the modem going out on Saturday at work, so when I went into work yesterday I couldn't even check my email.

We put in a claim with our homeowners insurance, so that should help offset the cost. Fortunately, computers are about half the cost they were three years ago and much better systems. I've been wanting a shiny new computer, and now I don't have a choice. Darn it! Oh well, I guess I'll survive.