By Kendra Leah, @Writing2Day
My brain is feeling a bit fried as I woke up earlier than usual this morning. Apparently it’s not as fried as my computer which simply refuses to turn on. Thanking my lucky stars that it didn’t die right before my book deadline. It was definitely showing symptoms but I was able to coax it through.
So, what do you do when you wake up in the wee hours of the morning and don’t have a computer to pull you through the fog until you’re ready to be productive? Grab the hubbie’s Surface. I’m looking at this as a sort of test drive to see if I could get used to a tablet, choosing not to pull my hair out over my computer (for the moment). It’s amazing how handicapped I feel as I try to surf the web without my password list. Note to self: about a month ago you said you should print out an updated password list.
It is not until I am without my computer that I realize how dependent I have become on it. I must say, I don’t necessarily like the feeling. I’m not just talking about the first hour of my day spent just waking up with some coffee and catching up on social media and Scrabble games. I had planned on sending out Christmas wishes to extended family this morning (who, by the way, are not on Facebook). Got lucky that Mom had sent me an email so I could have her send me their email addresses. We won’t even talk about the stroke of luck that I actually remembered my password to log in to said email. It took me three tries to log in to Word Press. I was wondering if I was going to discover that Word Press has a three strikes and your out rule! Thank goodness I have been extremely anal lately about backing up the computer (two backup copies of my manuscript, just in case). Work, finances, you name it, it’s all done on the computer. When the computer is down, I really feel like I’m flailing about. Usually the best answer is to just breath a sigh of relief that I will be spending time doing other things and not fret about it.
The death of my computer actually came at a fairly good time. I have been enjoying some down time since finishing my manuscript. Although, I have been doing some work on my website and experimenting with some photo galleries. But in general, I’ve been in the decision making process. I’m trying to decide which novel idea to pursue and going over my writing goals for 2014. The Christmas shopping has been completed after the mad rush to get it done after finishing my manuscript. Trust me, had I not finished my online shopping before now, the computer fiasco would have spelled major disaster!
Back to the good timing of the computer death – it’s Christmas Eve. Santa came last night since we will be traveling on Christmas day. I’m just waiting for the family to wake up so we can open presents and share the day together. My daughter is home and I get to spend a few days with her. Still adjusting to the fact that even though she is on break from school, she has another life away from home. Her new apartment and city are her home now and I will not get to have her for the entire break. Today is just the beginning of getting to share an entire two weeks of Christmas break with my 10 year old son with no responsibilities or deadlines to distract. I am very much looking forward to that and thankful that I can spend that time with him instead of punching a clock.
It was suggested to me recently that perhaps I should get rid of the “Random Thoughts” portion of my blog title. While I appreciated the reasoning behind the suggestion. I named it what I did for a reason. Sometimes a person just random thoughts they just want to ramble about. This is one of those times. The verdict is still out on whether I could switch to a Surface vs. my desktop computer. Really think for web design especially, I need at least a laptop. I must say there seem to quirks about the keyboard that would drive me bonkers. Now I truly am rambling and I think it’s time for a little catnap before the rest of the household comes bounding down the stairs to see what Santa brought.
Wishing everyone a very, Merry Christmas. My the joy of the season surround you and yours!
