Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Viruses, computer and otherwise


We come to the last few days of the darkest 6 weeks of the year. I've picked up my own bug to complement the one that ended my dependence on Windows.


In the past few weeks I have too much time fixing things that were supposed to make my life simpler. It's an old lesson, and one you've heard before:

An hour putting in a new CD/DVD (yes, too long, I need to speak to Mr. Dell), about 10 hours trying to clean up the Windows before I gave it up, an hour (or 2 or 3) reading and studying up on Linux before making the jump. A small chunk of time sending out password requests to Wikispaces for my class, then learning their policy had changed, an email I missed because the school server was down, so tonight I will spend a bit more time redoing that.

I've spent more time chatting with folks I've never met than I have with family. This is not sane, and I suspect it's not healthy.

I get cranky when viruses use me as the Love Boat, but something deeper than that is stirring this dark mood.

When did I fall into the rabbit hole?

[And the gods just responded--an error code when I tried to post this.]

Micrograph by Dr. Stephan BielRobert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for going to all the trouble Mike. I enjoy tuning in every morning to see the other crazy ones are up to. Since I started reading your blog, I've started sitting in on the AP Science class at our school. Thanks for the new hobby.
-CJ Reynolds
captainawasome.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Been there. here's betting this post adds something: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=652

What stage(s)?
;-)

Sean

Anonymous said...

"Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. `Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) `I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! ...And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, `Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over."

The sun is coming back and you too will fall on a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and shovel it all into the compost pile. Don't dream of the cat, dream of those melons... The worst is almost over.

doyle said...

@CJ
I enjoy writing, and the net does keep me connected to, as you say, "the other crazy ones."

Sitting in an AP science class can be fun--hope you continue to enjoy it!

@Sean
As usual, you hit the mark. Some of us are less capable of balance than others, and I tend to extremes. It's worked so far!

Still, I may print out the graph and stick it over my desk.

@Kate
Thanks for the words!

I'm used to the usual wintertime stress--added pounds and flaky skin serve as my companions in January and February.

Spring will return, as it does. The bigger question is whether my computer will end up in the pond as I grin maniacally at the crawfish using the CD/DVD port as a home.