Monday night, quietly doing some web browsing, catching up on various blogs when all of a sudden the screen went blank. I've been having some problems with my AC adapter which hasn't been charging my laptop battery at times so my first thought was something alomng those lines. Looking at the back of my machine my suspicions were confirmed, the adapter had somehow become disconnected and as my battery wasn't charged the machine had switched off. PHEW!!! I was dreading another computer crash. So I pushed the adapter back into the machine, pressed the power button and let out a sigh of relief as the screen came to life again. No worries, I'd soon be back on-line but I would need to get something done about the faulty adapter asap. So we're ready to go just need to click on the AOL icon and I can get back to my blogs. One problem though, where are the icons? I'm on the start up screen, my background image is showing, a picture of fish made out of leaves that my youngest made a few weeks ago, but still no icons. In fact nothing except scary looking green fish. So I restart the laptop, go through the same process and get the same result again. And again. And again. Now I'm starting to think that it's a bit worse than I first anticipated and I'll need to reinstall all my software and operating system just like the last time. Luckily I still had the software discs handy from the last time I had problems so I inserted the Dell disc and after a wee whizzing noise, nothing. At all. A slight flicker of the cursor and then nothing. So I tried the AOL disc. Exactly the same. Whizz, flicker, nothing. By this time I know something is seriously wrong and after trying a few more discs and getting the same results I did what I always do. Turn the machine off, make a cuppa and by the time I've finished my tea the laptop will somehow be back to life. Of course it wasn't so I tried a few other things and eventually I got the laptop to do a diagnostic test which revealed it was a hard drive problem. There was nothing else for it but to turn it off and wait until the morning and phone the Dell helpline. Tuesday morning I'm up bright and early and straight on the phone. After 3 attempts the woman on the other end finally puts me through to the help desk. 5 minutes later my debit card is £30 lighter just for the guy on the other end to even speak to me. 25 minutes later and after doing exactly the same test I had done the previous night, the engineer finally tells me that my hard drive is basically ... f*****d. Not in those words obviously but to the same effect. I was then informed that Dell could resolve the problem ... for £180. As I've said before, I really can't do without my laptop so I really had no choice but to pay up or else look at buying a new machine. Just as I was thinking of taking the latter course of action the engineer explained that the £180 included a new hard drive as well as an engineer coming out to install the hardware as well as all my software. It was sounding a bit more promising, then he told me he would send the engineer out the next day. So if the thought of being back in cyberland within 24 hours wasn't tempting enough he then hit me with an even better incentive. IF I was to take out a 3 year warranty there and then, it would cost me £140 and that still included getting the laptop repaired the next day. I thought I was hearing things and asked him to repeat the offer and sure enough, if I took out a 3 year warranty I would be charged £30 less than if someone just came out to fix the machine. Sothe debit card was hit for another £140. Anyway, true as their word the engineer arrived at 11.30 this morning, installed a new hard drive and my software and also replaced the AC adapter as well. So, I'm a bit out of pocket but glad to be back online so soon.
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On Tuesday, while the laptop was out of order, I took my youngest daughter Lauryn into town. There were a few things we were getting for her and this was as good an opportunity as any. For the last couple of months she has been reading a bit more than usual which of course we try to encourage. She has not long turned 6 and at the moment her favourite books are the 'Horrid Henry' series. It's easy enough to go into the likes of WH Smith and buy the full series but we've taken a different approach, one that suits me, Lauryn and my wallet. Yes, father and daughter have been scouring the local charity shops where so far we have managed to find 10 books for her. I'm pretty sure the search is as much fun for her as the actual books are. To see her wee face light up when we find a book or two in among piles of other books is far more rewarding than buying her a pile of them from any bookshop. So first stop yesterday before getting the bus to Irvine was a couple of charity shops in Kilwinning. The first one is pretty disappointing to be honest. We got her a couple of books the first time we went in but it seems they are more interested in clothing and furniture than anything else. Also this is the only charity shop I've been in so far that doesn't have ANY cds. Straight across the road is another, much smaller charty shop and this is where the SCUM comes in. Again there were no books for her but while she was looking I had a look through the cds. There was nothing much of interest but it is very cheap and as it's so small I don't really like walking out without buying something. So with 7 cd albums, 2 singles and a book I approched the counter and paid my £3. Yes, all that for £3. Ok the cds weren't great but they were all in mint condition and as I had no laptop, the book would help pass a few hours when the kids went to bed. Anyway, while the lady behind the counter put my purchases into a bag I overheard one of the other assistants telling a customer how the shop had been burgled a few nights before and the culprits had stolen a full jewellery display (at least I think that's what was kept in the glass case) and the collecting tin from the counter. Now I hate thieves. I don't think I've ever stolen in my life, definitely not since my pre-teen years when I think I stole a 2p lolly just to show off to my mates but there are times when I find it hard to condemn someone down on their luck from stealing a pack of sandwiches from a supermarket or a crime of a similar nature. I know the likes of Tesco and Asda moan that there is no such thing as a victimless crime but it's hard to take sides with a multi-million pound business over a hungry homeless person. Anyway, that's a different thing altogether but surely no-one can side with the SCUM who would rob a charity shop. Here we have a shop smaller than the average terraced house where a handful of women give up their time to volunteer a few hours a week to maybe raise enough pounds to help a cancer sufferer make the best of their final days and some scumbag destroys all their great work for the sake of a few quid. It really does make me sick to think of it. On hearing the rest of the conversation it became apparent that the shop wasn't insured against this kind of thing either which makes it even worse. How must those ladies have felt when they turned up for work that morning and noticed that they had been burgled? The lady who was speaking to the customer just shrugged her shoulders and said 'we just have to get on with it'. I hope the police also just get on with it and catch the scum responsible. I also hope that if those responsible or any of their relatives ever catch the dreaded disease there is still a hospice for them to get help from. It certainly will be no thanks to the scum responsible if there is.
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Right, now that I've got that off my chest here's some music. From the charity shop mentioned I bought (one track from each at bottom). ...
Ash : Oh Yeah (single)
The Thrills : So Much For The City
Space : Spiders
Paul Simon : The Rhythm Of The Saints
The Bravery : S/T
Orson : Bright Idea
Toto Coelo : I Eat Cannibals
Kylie Minogue : Slow (single)
The Good Button : S/T
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8 Ball Quick Fire Pool
Used to work in a charity shop myself and was disgusted by how many times someone would shoplift from us, not to mention the number of times I'd arrive in the mornings to find a window kicked in. Had to deal with a couple of break-ins too, where after not being able to steal much the shitheads settled for trashing the place.
ReplyDeleteSome people are just pure scum.