By Irene Conlan -
Sunday morning is my time to leisurely work on this blog. I like to put a new article in each category, find a video that fits the topic of the weekly radio show and take my time to enjoy doing it.This blog is my “baby.” (Not literally but figuratively – I have two sons and three grandsons, one puppy and share an old dog with my son).
Sunday this didn’t happen.
Sunday morning I got up, got my cup of coffee and bottle of water and wandered into the office, trying to wake up enough to begin working on the blog. I looked at the clock. It was 5:30 a.m. – a “normal” time for me. I heard a noise, and doing something I never, ever do, sat the bottle of water on the computer table. The noise turned out to be the puppy and in the excitement of the moment the bottle of water went flying and landed on the computer. It was one of those slow motion moments when you know what is happening and have no ability to stop it. Too late, I grabbed the bottle, turned the computer upside down to drain out the water, and sat down in disbelief while the puppy bounced around happily at my feet.
I spent Sunday looking at computers and trying to decide what to get.
After a Monday spent mostly at Best Buy (and no, this isn’t an endorsement) I got home at 5:30 p.m in the evening in the 110° temperature with the new computer and the dead one. The files had been transferred to the new computer and I was supposedly “good to go.”
The evening was spent loading programs and a few minutes ago (of Tuesday a.m.) I did the last (I hope) thing – I installed the printer. Email works. Programs work. Internet works. Skype works. Printer works. And I have a brand new, super fast, shiny new and very DRY computer.
I try always to look for lessons and I will share some of mine with you for this little episode.
1. NEVER, regardless of what is going on around you, put anything liquid near your computer.
2. When you tell the Universe that you need a new computer be a bit more specific about when and how.
3. Look at a measurement, if you can, of where you have improved and where you still need to do work.
If this had happened even ten years ago I would have gone ballistic. I would have berated myself for being “so stupid” and I would have let that spiral down into a gigantic pity party. I would have been angry at myself and perhaps some of those around me who had nothing to do with it.
This time I caught myself in the middle of the first, “How can you be so stupid and careless” thought and turned it into “It was an accident. Just deal with it. You can handle this.” Best Buy rattled me a bit because they kept changing the time frame – first there was “no wait” to transfer the data (this was before I bought the computer) and then it was “an hour and a half to two hours.” and it turned out to be six hours before I got the computer after the purchase. In their defense, they did a beautiful job and all my files are intact.
I was really discouraged at first because this is not a good time, financially to get a new computer. Many of you can identify with that. But on the way to the story, I decided to rejoice in it. A NEW computer. Wow. A NEW computer. I really needed it. I really WANTED it. Yippee. A new computer! I made it a time to appreciate the new computer and all those other wonderful things I had in my life. It totally changed my attitude and my energy.
And today? Today I feel like a little kid who got the shiny new bike or the longed for WII for Christmas! I have a shiny new computer that is super fast, all set up and ready to go.
I won’t share with you where I still need to work but I will say, I’m pleased with my progress. I was upset but not ballistic. That’s major progress. Today I am delighted.
Now I have to get back to playing with the new bells and whistles on this magnificent new computer.
