In which the word of the day is: Argh

[rolanni]

The day started well.  We met Traveler-in-Journalism Deb Krol at Selah Tea for elevensies and a chat.

After our visit, Deb took off Bar Harbor-way, to pursue her journalistic duties.  Steve and I did a brief tour of Main Street, stopped by Children's Book Cellar to talk with Ellen, and at Barrels, where I bought a salt-and-peppermill (filled with sea salt and peppercorns).  Social business taken care of, we hit the grocery store and came home to lunch.

Whereupon things commenced in to falling apart.

Steve had kindly set up an Archers Beach Store under the Hyperspatial Boardwalk Shop, but felt it needed stock.  Cafe Press being. . .Awfully Annoying to work with, and Steve the one with the close-in deadline, I took it upon myself to get a couple of things up on the shelves (you can see them here), and by the time I was done with that, and had dealt with some emails of -- ahem -- a startling nature, my brain had kindly forked over with what had gone wrong with yesterday's writing, and offered a solution.  I love it when my brain does the heavy lifting for me.

I therefore retired with Number Ten Ox to the couch in order to concentrate on Getting It Right This Time.

And that's where things went Really Bad.

Ox came on line, and many things happened at once.

First, Windows felt it incumbent upon it to give me a Very Stern Warning about Dropbox, and how it wasn't a Safe Program. (Look, Windows is the unsafest program I have on any of my devices, so -- pot-kettle-black, all right?)  By the time I won that argument, Eset was scolding me because it hadn't updated its virus databases in Forever (by reason of Ox having not been in use for that long), and by the time I got that sorted out and put away, I was greeted with a pop-up box cheerfully informing me that Windows was formatting Eset.

Um, eek?

I turned the computer off.  Turned it back on.

Eset has vanished, leaving behind about a dozen esoterically named files in the library.  Frantic, I look everywhere, but it didn't even show up in the list of programs to UNinstall.

Yes, Windows eated my virus protection.

A brief pause for disbelief, followed by a case of strong hysterics.

Teresa Carrigan on Facebook, and Steve, here at Storm Central, got me sorted out by reminding me that I could re-download the program from Eset.  I found the email confirming the license, and. . .Eset is back on the job, and I?

Am exhausted.

Technology, children, is not your friend.

Tomorrow -- couch, computer, Words In A Line, dammit.  Preferably Good Words in a Line, but as long as they're all pointed in the right direction, I'll be happy.

Comments

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

Oh, I resonate with this. I am limping along with an old (8 years old)Dell computer, running Windows XP 2002, Service Pack 3, hoping to stave off spending big bucks for another couple of years. I fell for the YouTube warning to update my Internet Browser from Version 7, and went to Version 8 (because 9 is only if you have Windows 7 or Vista). Now I have trouble printing and doing anything in a hurry. Yes, I've compressed and degragged the disk. And my IT support (son-in-law) is on an 8 week camping adventure with family, currently somewhere in Boogaloo Wisconsin, if I heard my daughter correctly. So I can confirm technology is not your friend - I'm locked for hours to my computer chair, reading the paper and your short stories while waiting for reboots, after the dread "this task is not responding" ....Sigh.

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

hmm, dropbox keeps snarking at me too. I just make sure I copy the files out (but not deleting them) and the error message goes away

have to admit, there are times when gmail is gold, and keeping track of reg keys is high up there

[redheadedfemme]

I feel for you. My computer recently froze and could not reboot, and I had to do a System Restore. After that I had to reinstall a whole bunch of stuff, and my Pandora desktop app still does not work. I'm just babying the bloody thing along for another few months until I can buy a new one with next year's tax refund.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how exhausting technology gone awry can be.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

This comic (http://www.goominet.com/unspeakable-vault/vault/440/) from the unspeakable Vault of Doom may offer explanation. The gods of the code were telling you that the stars were not alligned properly.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

There is definitely a specialist demon supervising computer tech. Now we need a patron saint to exorcise the bastard.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

It's true, technology really is friendly ... until those dratted demons get ahold of it. Or Yehudi ...*shudders*

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

May I suggest that perhaps you might find the folks at PCWebDoc.com useful? They can do computer repairs/cleanup over the web for you, their charges are reasonable (tell them you're writers; there's a discount). I swear by them.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Oh, so noted! Thank you!

[drammar.livejournal.com]

"Computers allow us to do in a few minutes what used to take hours -- if they will only shut up and let us do it!"

I'm delighted that you did Carousel Tides mugs. I collect mugs that mean something to me, and I'm really going to enjoy this!