The Moral Of the Story Is...

Back up all of your files IMMEDIATELY. I learned this the hard way.

I went to get on my laptop yesterday morning and all I saw was a calming blue screen. This was not good. I turned if off then on again and got the same screen. It was a little less calming that time. So I called Mr. D and told him what I saw. He asked if I'd turned it off and on again. I said I had and he asked if I was sure. Feeling a little irritable I sharply reminded him "I know how to turn off a dang computer!" Then for his entertainment, I turned it off and on again. Same screen, even less calming. So he said, "I don't know what to tell you." I called my brother.

He asked if I had turned the computer off and on again. I said yes. He asked if I was sure. What the...? "I know how to turn off a damn computer!" I snapped indelicately. Then for his entertainment, I turned it off then on again. Same blue screen, now more enraging than calming. "Sounds like your hardware's shot," he declared.

Noooooooooo.

I took it to Best Buy and thankfully they did not ask me if I had turned it off and on again. Instead I was told that my computer didn't even recognize that I had a hard drive. I asked if that meant that all of my files were gone. He said, "maybe." I said, "don't say maybe! Maybe is bad! I have files I haven't backed up yet. No maybe!"

He pulled out my hard drive and found that my files could be retieved. Yay! Then he said that I could get a new hard drive and have my files trasferred to it but he was pretty sure that the mother board to my laptop was shot. Boo! He said he could do a diagnostic test that would cost me $70.00 but if it was the mother board he would have to send it out for repair that would cost around $400.00.

Let's do the math:
New hard drive $80.00
Transfer fee $80.00
Diagnostic fee $70.00
Mother board repair $400.00
That comes to roughly $630.00.
I need my computer. I need those files. My classes start Monday.

I bought a new computer and called it a day.

Anyone Up for Thumb Twiddling

I'm in an unfortunate phase of my existence right now called "Two Weeks Until School Starts". It's when there's too much time to do nothing but not enough time to start anything.

I can't really devote myself to the next book because I'll have to put it away just as the creative juices are flowing, which will cause constant pining through the semester when I have to be focused, but I can't stand to do nothing.

Maybe I can take up dust collecting.

Random Rant #1

Good eve'n dear readers,
I would like to share a new segment of "It Seemed Like A Good Idea..." called Random Rant. I hope you enjoy the program.

In this first installment of Random Rant, I would like to introduce you to the aggravation called Finding Home School Curriculum. As you may or may not know, I home school Eeny, Meeny, and Miney (Moe still comes and goes as he pleases) and it's going pretty well for us. I would not recommend it for everyone but if you are commited then it can be a very enriching experience.

However, there is the question of finding educational programs you want to use. There are programs available that have everything all together, every subject, lesson plans, tests, workbooks, the whole shebang. Those can be really wonderful but it also means that you are devoted to one program, even if you don't like the format across the board. I see the value in boxed sets but I don't choose to go that route.

I have chosen the piecemeal or Frankenstein route. This program, as the name suggests, is created from several different programs. I have one for Math, one for LA, a different reading program and a fourth for Social Studies. I have not found a Science or History program I, even a little bit, like.

Here is my dilemma. The Science programs I have been able to find are extremely secular or extremely christian. Now before anyone raises a ruckus, I have no issues with christianity as I myself am christian, I just want a happy medium and no one seems able to accomplish that.

There is also the problem of content. As in, if I want to see what is IN the book I have to BUY the book. I have spent more money than I care to admit on books that had lovely blurbs but were crappy out of the box. So short story long, I will never buy another book that I can't look at first. Well duh, you're probably saying to yourself but it's not that easy. Not every curriculum is available at the local bookstore. A lot has to be gotten online.

So I will continue my search for Science/History programs I can live with. Until then...we'll go to the library.

This concludes the first episode of Random Rant. Have a lovely evening.

007: The One Who Got Away

I like James Bond movies. I like the action, the adventure and the inventions. The puns are painful but I'll even take those but what I can't stand about them is all of the...It's James Bond, you know what I'm getting at. If she has legs and wears a skirt, he's slobbering all over her and she is completely willing to be slobbered on. So I was thinking- what would happen if one time he wasn't able to "close the deal"?

I'm not well versed in spy lingo or trinkets and I'm not sure I could even use his name if I wrote a book but here is my Readers Digest version of the story I would write if I could.

We see James Bond rescuing the heroine from certain death. It's a very close call and the adrenaline is pumping like a ghetto blaster. They sit on a cliff and watch the bad guys evil hideout burn to the ground. He says something pithy and goes in for the kill but just as he's about to plant one on her, she throws her hand in front of her face (so he's kissing her palm) and says "Listen. I'm grateful and all but I'm not that kind of girl."

This is an unxepected turn of events. As a matter of fact, James can't even think of a time when someone said no. He's not even sure what the word means. However, it only stops him for the moment. "After the next close call, she will be putty in my hands," he thinks confidently, but after that next close call she still resists his advances.

He is perplexed. He runs through all the smooth moves he's used in the past but can't figure out where he's gone wrong. "I'll figure it out eventually," he decides.

After the third close call he still can't get what he's after and he becomes obsessed, creating life threatening situations just so that he can rescue her. All in the hopes of breaking her will.

She gets engaged and then marries his arch rival, a squirrely agent from accounting and he is shattered. He starts drinking himself into a stupor every night, loses the keys to Q's lastest gadget laden porshe, stops shaving and showering until at last we find him, passed out in his Lazy Boy in front of the t.v., fat, uncoordinated and depressed because of the one who got away.

I think it would be a best seller.

You Don't Have To Be Sick To Be Nauseous

I resubmitted my manuscript this morning. The willies that accompanied that first submission came along for the second. I can't believe how much my poor melon is throbbing. Thankfully I'll be starting back to school soon so I'll have something to keep me busy while I wait to hear back.

As with the first submission, I sent one copy and then had one coil bound for myself. The girl who bound the first copy, bound this second one too. She asked if I was sending the book to be published and I told her it was a resubmission. She said she thought she remembered binding the first one and then she got excited and said she'd like to read it if it gets published and then commented on how excited SHE was. Oh my gosh!!! That just made my day. It also pushed me over the giddy edge.

If this is how I feel just submitting it, I'm going to be a wreck if it gets picked up!

Blurb #1 for PUSH

Kale Carson and her brother have been subjected to the crazed rantings of their delusional stepfather for years, but when she starts seeing his intentions in her own mind she thinks she might be crazy too. When an unlikely friendship provides a chance to escape, Kale believes she is finally free but an unexpected tragedy pulls her back into his grasp. Suddenly, Kale finds herself on the run with a man she just met, trying to stay out of her stepfathers reach.

Tell me what you think.