Friday, January 19, 2018

And THEN the Computer Died (...rest in pieces...)


And life became a lot like this...quickly.

A year or so ago my friend, Laura, and I deliberately took a day and experimented with absolutely no electronics for the day.

It was the LONGEST day of my life...until this week.

On Sundays I usually catch up with friends and the boys on the phone...so I used my last day on the phone saying

"I'll go out and get minutes next week"

Yeah...

So Monday came, and after the ice and snow storm the transit wasn't running...

Monday night came and the computer (...which had been on the way out for quite a while...certain things no longer worked on it but I limped it along on life support...) died.  Completely.

"It's dead, Jim...Pass the Ketchup."

Dead.

And I found myself wondering by Tuesday how long I could lay in the house DEAD without being discovered...lol!

The transit didn't run on Monday...then Tuesday...then Wednesday...

Tommy, my friend, neighbor and fellow gear-head across the hall made a trek out and brought me back some dry cat food...as Shelby was out.

Both John and Angie waited to have virtual morning coffee...I was a no show...and could not call them to let them know.

On Tuesday Loretta and I had planned (REAL) Coffee and Brunch at her place...once again I was MIA.

Finally Rita stopped by Wednesday evening with overripe bananas (...and I made us the best banana nut bread...) and I borrowed her cell to call a mutual friend , Barb...asking her to email Chris.  Saved by overripe bananas.

By then both James and Nicole were really worried and ready to drive over to see if I was okay...having not been on FB for a couple of days. 

Chris let everyone know what had happened that night, and not to pay the ransom..I'd escaped.  

LOL!

He removed my hard drive and by the next morning had transferred all my data to a used (but in GREAT shape) Toshiba laptop that he had, and didn't need anymore.  He is going to cannibalize the old machine for any salvageable parts.

And I was sooooooooooooooooooooo grateful!

The rest of my week (in a nutshell)

Recovering all my account information proved much harder.

Most of the accounts had been set up in 2011 or prior.  Everything was on auto-log. No need to remember passwords...well...until yesterday.

OMFG!

To complicate matters all accounts were attached to 2 different emails. Neither of which I had access to (passwords)

BREATHE

It quickly became a mobius strip of Account Recovery.

Seriously.

"We will send your reset information to X account"

That won't work...I can't access it.

"We will sent your information and password to Y account"

No good...can't get into that one either.

...sigh...

The NSA doesn't protect their information as closely as a few of these sites, I might add.

Finally I realized sorting most of the mess relied on getting into at least one of the old email accounts...focused on that aspect...finally got in...used it to access the other...and most of it fell into place after that.

Just an FYI...eBay and Pintrest are two of the worst to try and recover accounts...whereas the BANK was the easiest...WTF???

But most of it is sorted now...and the rest won't be missed.

And I NEED a drink!





 Needless to say NOW all my passwords are written down...lol!

Survived the ice storm, snow and extreme cold...enjoyed a visit by Nicole (and Aiden) yesterday...and some good chocolate and Ghiradelli Salted Caramel Brownie Mix that she surprised me with...and I will be baking Sunday!

So amazed...she has dropped from a size 24 to a size 12 now. Looks and feels great! Down 70 pounds since October.

She is such an inspiration!

Looking forward to the warm up in the coming week...and soon The Superbowl

It is down to

The Patriots

The Eagles

The Vikings

The Jaguars

(...okay...basically The Patriots and whichever team is left to play them..lol)

Wouldn't mind watching a Pats-Vikings game.  On their home-turf...the Vikings might even pull it off!

We will see.

 And a sure sign of a Trump Presidency

People (primarily teens) are taking






(...seriously...are you stoned or just stupid????)

and you had to appreciate the quick wit of my  DS friend, Robert, in Texas who quipped

"Now with Downy Dipping Sauce"

Yeah...I have the BEST friends...lol!





Teens eating (or biting into) a Tides Pod and videoing themselves.

Since the chemicals/detergents these can make you very ill and can even be fatal...it is possible the situation may sort itself quickly.

PSA:  People...STOP EATING LAUNDRY DETERGENT!!!!

(...just shaking my head...)

Settling in here and hoping to start Virtual Sydney sometime tomorrow-

More anon...