My weekend adventure with technology (aka I built a thing)

So, on Saturday morning a calamity struck my little corner of existence: my laptop died. I don't mean the “oh it just needs to be plugged in longer” death. No, I mean that even though it was plugged in the battery wouldn't hold a charge. It went from 73% to 42% to 3% in a matter of twenty minutes. Nothing I did stopped this inexorable decline. And since my laptop no longer runs if the battery isn't in it (or dies), it was pretty much pointless to keep trying to make it work. Monstrosity is five years old, so she outlived her projected life by at least a year.

As you can imagine, this left me feeling a little panicky. My laptop was my life. It held all my writing, it was my only way to talk to friends and family, and it was my main source of entertainment. I was really stressing because, well, computers aren't cheap and I didn't have the money to get a new one.

I asked a few people for some help and was given $400 to get a new computer. That didn't sound too bad to me, since I already had the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Keyboard and mouse were bought when the keyboard on my laptop started failing. The monitor came with us when we moved.

So, my husband and two of our roommates headed into a larger town than we live in now and went to the electronics store. It was huge. We were there for over an hour and we still hadn't seen everything by the time we all hurt enough that we needed to get out of there. We plan a return trip at some point in the near future.

Leaving our roommates to wander on their own, Himself and I wandered over to the computer section. We were greeted by the absolute worst salesman that I've had the displeasure of meeting. He asked us if we needed something specific. We said we were just looking. He proceeded to hover over us and when we did ask him a question he didn't know the answer. So we left him there and headed elsewhere in the building.

Himself and one of our other roommates suggested I try my hand at building a computer. I was terrified. I mean, I know how to turn it on, turn it off, and run various pieces of software. I never even gave a thought to learning the hardware side of it. But we priced out the parts and it proved that it would be within my budget to do it. So with their help I picked out a case, a motherboard, a power source, and a CPU. One of our roommates was upgrading his video card, so since it was still a good one I got his used one.

So, after we got home, the roommate upgrading his computer and I headed out to the shop where there was more space to work. As we got started, I realized I had no clue what to do. I managed to get the motherboard in but that was where I stalled out. I didn't know where to plug stuff in. So our other roommate came out to check on us. With his help, we got my computer built. He ended up putting the CPU in because of how fragile it is, and he got one of the little connections I couldn't quite get set in for me too.

Once it was done, I brought it inside and set it up on the table we're using as a shared desk. I plugged it in and turned it on. Or at least I tried to. It sat there, not doing anything. By that point I was frustrated and upset that it wasn't working. Since it was late Himself suggested I go to bed and work on it in the morning. Since it was late I agreed with him.

This morning it still didn't turn on so I was struggling with it. I looked to see if anything was unplugged inside and there weren't any signs of loose cables. So I put it back up on the desk. Himself came in and flipped the switch in the back. When I poked the button again my computer booted right up. I remembered hitting the switch last night, thinking it was in the off position. I guess it was in the on position.

Once I got the computer up and running, I grabbed our Windows 7 disk. I popped it in the DVD drive and…..nothing happened. It wouldn't run. So Himself got in and pulled the hard drive out, fixed the issue with the DVD drive and plugged the hard drive back in. Then it worked. I got Windows 7 installed. If you've ever done a fresh install of Windows 7 (or any of the Windows incarnations), you know how long that process is. I got Windows loaded up.

Then I needed to get it hooked up to the internet. Since I don't have a wi fi card, we plugged me in hard line into the router. Behemoth, as I've named my new toy, wasn't registering the ethernet port. So I tried putting in the drivers using a USB stick. Behemoth didn't register the USB ports either. The roommate who gave me his video card came in and asked me if there was a disk with my new motherboard. If there was, it would have everything I needed. I'd seen the disk but hadn't thought much about it. I went out to the area where I'd put the box I'd put all the manuals in and opened it up. Sure enough, there was the desk.

So that got put into the computer and lo and behold, I had a functional computer with an internet connection. But since I wanted Windows 10, I went ahead and upgraded to that. When that finally finished (and it was a long wait), I had to install all of the programs that I use. That was easier, though it was still time consuming.

Now I have a working computer. It's an interesting situation being on a regular desktop rather than a laptop. I've been on a laptop for the better part of five years. But it's nice too. I got a 1 TB hard drive this time, which means I can put a whole lot more than I already have on there. Who knows what I'll use the space for, but I'm sure I'll find something.

I still need to transfer the stuff from my old hard drive to the new one. I was loaned a little doohickey to do it with. I'm going to ask for help with it since I have no clue what it's supposed to do. I was upset when I thought I'd lost my work over the last few days since, like a moron, I didn't back it up to Box or Google Drive. Then I remembered what Himself has had me doing. I e-mail him status reports, including copies of what I've worked on. I was able to retrieve my most recent edits, which made me happy.

So, I have a new toy that I can upgrade as I need and not have to buy a complete new device unless I want to. I can just switch out parts. That is also a relief. Computers are expensive. But that's my adventure over the weekend. It was not something I want to repeat any time soon, but I learned a lot about computers so it's all good.

Dream house

One of these days I'm going to have my own place again, with my own fridge and freezer. I don't mind sharing. It's just that there are a few things I'd like to do that I'd need more space for. One of which is making large quantities of food and freezing leftovers for later.

I enjoy cooking for the most part. But there are days where I just don't want to stand over the stove. Popping something in the microwave is easy. So is going out to dinner. But the microwave option, unless it's leftovers, is expensive and full of salt because you're buying prepackaged. Going out to dinner is expensive and possibly full of salt as well. Neither of those are good options if you're trying to eat a little healthier.

I would love to have a crock pot again. Make large crock pot meals and store the leftovers. Or make a huge pot of soup or stew. Or make my chicken enchiladas. I make a lot of food with those enchiladas for two people to eat.

I saw something go around Facebook a while back that I know I shared but it's going to be next to impossible to find it on my feed again because of the fact that it was a long time ago and I've made a lot of posts and shared a lot of things since then. But it was 45 crock pot meals to put in the freezer. Everything was all set. All you had to do was dump them in the crock pot with the liquid needed for the recipe and you were done. Everything was all prepped ahead of time. I'd love to be able to do that too.

I must sound like I'm complaining, and I may be a little. I like my roommates and couldn't ask for a better option when we needed to move in a hurry. But it's a nice dream to have one's own home when one has spent the better part of three years sharing a home (and a bathroom) with other people. (Two years in Kuna, one year in house of hell, and 4 months in our current situation).

If I could have my dream home, it would have three bedrooms – one to sleep in and two for offices. A big kitchen with a gas range and oven. It would have one of those French door fridge/freezer combos as well as a chest freezer somewhere else, maybe the garage. It would have a good sized pantry so I could can and store food. The living room wouldn't have to be that big, but large enough for a nice couch and a recliner or two. Maybe a TV set with satellite TV, though I really don't know about that. Himself and I have lived a long time without TV and there are only a handful of things we'd like to see that we can't find on Netflix.

In the kitchen, I'd have a large collection of pots and frying pans. I'd have a crock pot, an electric skillet/fry pan/whatever you call it, a grill pan, and a Kitchen Aid mixer. I'd have storage space for all of my ingredients for things, and I'd have room to bake and cook without feeling cramped. My appliances and the sink would be stainless steel and I'm still debating what I want for counter tops. I'd have a good set of sharp knives too. I won't need that many dishes, since it's still just the two of us.

I'd like a nice sized backyard where I could keep a dog. I'd like space in my living room to put a cat tree so Reidar and possibly a second cat could climb and be comfortable. In the master bedroom I'd like a huge bathroom. One with a separate tub and shower. I'd like the tub to be a Jacuzzi or something similar while I'd like the shower to be big and have multiple heads.

I want to be able to put in a vegetable garden somewhere in the back. I'd love to be able to have fresh vegetables straight from my garden. I want a three car garage with room for two cars and the third area for storage. Also as I said have the chest freezer out there.

How about you? What is your dream home like? Do you live in it? Or would you like to own it one day?

Moving Adventures, Part One

My former roommates gave us the boot, telling us we had to be out by May 1^st because Crazy's dad was moving back in. He's taken a job here that should start in June. We scrambled to find a place. Our finances did not qualify us for a regular apartment, there was a waiting list for the low income apartments, and we didn't have any alternatives for places to go.

So we went to Craigslist. There were several requests for roommates. Most of them were for single roommates. We found a few that didn't specify and I called and emailed several people. For the most part, we were told no couples and/or no pets. Even though I have a letter from my doctor that forces landlords to accept my cat as my companion they were reluctant to take us.

Then we found one which was very sparse. There wasn't much to go on but we decided to contact the person anyway. We went out and took a look at the house and room. The house was a little battered but repairs were on the way. Some of the things were broken but again repairs were on the way. It was a small house, built back in the 60s.

The room for rent was smaller than the one we lived in but it was a little cheaper and away from Crazy, though we would miss Nice. We got to meet one of the guys in the house. He was the one who wrote the ad and he's technically the owner. It's his family's house. He's lived there all of his life. He seemed pretty easy going and his description of the other two guys living in the house were pretty chill.

Himself and I asked about Reidar, if we did move in what would be the pet deposit. He said no deposit because he had a few stray cats that wandered in and out of his house. Himself and I went home to discuss it. We took a few days to wait for more responses, and to discuss what the landlord/roommate said. One of the major benefits was there was no property management company which meant no credit/rental check. This was important to us.

We called back and asked a few more questions regarding the prorated amount since we only had enough for the first full month and the deposit. He agreed to let us split it up for three months. We thought about it for another day and then called him back and told him we'd take it. We took him a money order for the amount and started moving in.

H is for Heroes/Heroines

Let's talk about heroes and heroines.  Both of the personal varieties and those that we create for our novels.  Heroes are there to give us hope.  They give us something to believe in outside of ourselves.  I think Skillet gave the best definition of a hero in their song, appropriately called "Hero".

A hero (or heroine if they're women) is someone who looks beyond himself (or herself) to help others.  They move beyond their own lives to touch the lives of other people.  They make the decision - whether it's consciously or subconsciously - that they're going to do what others can't/won't/are afraid to do to help others.  This is what makes a hero.

There are reluctant heroes, especially in fantasy and science fiction.  The first reluctant hero to cross my mind is Garion out of David Eddings' Belgariad series.  By the time of the second series, he's kind of gotten used to the whole hero thing.  But in the first series, he didn't want to be a hero and was actually very whiny about it too.  In Ender's Game, Ender was a reluctant hero.  He didn't want anything to do with fighting and ended up helping save the universe from a terrible threat.  I'm not as familiar with reluctant heroines, but if there are any out there please let me know.  I'd like to read more books where the hero/heroine AREN'T aware of their destiny or are trying to fight it.

My protagonists - my "heroes" and "heroines" - are all hopelessly flawed individuals who end up fighting those flaws in order to help others.  In a way, they also help themselves because they're forced to rise above who they are to accomplish what they need to.

So what are your thoughts on heroes/heroines?

Sunday 'fess up...HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY WEEK

Hello my lovelies!  Boy has Anni had a good week.  Very busy, very stressful, and very LONG - but still good.

I did a lot of overtime this week.  It made for some long days.  I got a couple really good days in the fitness center too.  I'm working on trying to make it in 3 days a week for my regular workout and one class as well.  So 4 days a week in the fitness center.  I haven't consistently managed it yet but I'm trying.

We got our car paid off.  We get to go get the title on Thursday.  This is one less bill for us to pay.  Although we'll have a new car payment soon enough.  We need two cars.

We've also gotten all of our court costs from our nightmare paid off.  All I have left is my traffic fines and my reinstatement fee.  Then I can legally drive again.  YAY!

My biggest news is in regards to my writing.  I FINISHED ROUND 1 REVISIONS ON ONLY A NAME!  It comes it at 348 double spaced pages and 95,677 words.  I am really proud of myself.  Now it's going to sit and gather dust for a few months until it's time for round two of the revisions.

We've got a line on a 3 bed 2 bath trailer that we could possibly get into by the beginning of next month.  This means we'd have an office as well as getting out on our own again.  We've got our fingers crossed on this one.

Going forward, I have some big plans.  I've got a bunch of writing projects I want to play with.  I'm also going to start posting stories on my WordPress blog.  I'll be posting Magic Mondays - high fantasy, mostly my Aleran stuff but some random bits as well - and Freak Fridays - my paranormal and urban fantasy stuff - on WordPress.  Writing Wednesdays and SFU will still be posted here.  On the SFU posts I'll link the posts from earlier in the week on my WordPress blog.  I'll also post them up on Facebook and Twitter.

Vlog is posted as usual.  Added my story links & some video links as well as the vlog this week.  Enjoy!  If you read my stories, please leave me comments so I know someone's actually reading them?  Please?  Thank you!

Deirdre's Legacy
A Murder of Crows
Mama's Angels

Winter sucks...and so do the holidays

Before I get jumped on about how the holidays are "wonderful" and are the time of year to "be with one's family", let me make one thing clear...I DON'T HAVE A FUNCTIONAL FAMILY.

I come from a very dysfunctional background.  The only members of my family who give a DAMN about me are my husband, my oldest sister, my oldest sisters 3 kids, and one of my brother's stepdaughters.  Everyone else would be very happy if I fell off the face of the planet.  They sure as hell won't be spending the Christmas holidays with me.  I have 3 other nieces and a nephew out of my brother and other older sister.  They're not talking to me either because their parents aren't.  So the whole "Christmas is a time for family" bullshit pisses me off.

My husband doesn't have any family to spend it with either.  His sister is married and moving to the Netherlands - and hates us for not following her and my mother-in-law to Texas like good little sheep.  His parents are divorced.  His dad is in Florida with his new wife and has nothing to do with us.  His mom isn't talking to us either, much for the same reasons as his sister.  Long story about the move from Washington to Texas with us stopping in Idaho.  I might even share it some day.  Not today.  I'm already in a bad enough mood as it is.

What makes the holidays even worse is the emphasis on kids.  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE kids.  I want kids.  I desperately want kids.  I can't have them.  Not capable of having children.  And because of the state of our finances, and the fact we're living in a 3 bedroom house with a total of six people sharing very limited living space, we can't adopt.  We haven't been in a position to adopt for a long time, and I don't see that changing any time soon either.

But having the fact that I DON'T have children shoved in my face at every opportunity by people around me sucks.  My workplace did something where co-workers and managers could nominate families in need and everything would stay anonymous but gifts would be purchased based on what the nominees who were chosen needed/wanted.  I nominated a single mom on my team at work because she's putting in overtime just so she can pay rent and buy groceries.  I also know she was chosen.  I'm glad because this means she'll get some help for the holidays for her and her three kids.

I ALSO know, due to having overheard a conversation I probably shouldn't have, that I was nominated for help because of the fact I barely break even most months on bills even with both of us working.  We don't have much in the way of appropriate work clothes and it bothers my boss (in a sympathetic, not nasty way) to see me wearing the same worn out work clothes day in and day out.  He nominated my husband and me because he felt we too could use some help.  He was told by HR (and this is the conversation I got to overhear since I sit right next to his cubicle) that because we don't have children WE DON'T QUALIFY FOR THE COMPANY'S HELP.  Their whole goal is to help "families in need" and because we don't have children we don't count as a family.

What the FUCK ever.  I'm not upset because we didn't get chosen.  There are a lot of people who need help more than we do.  It's the REASON we weren't chosen.  Because my husband and I don't have kids, we're not a REAL family.  That's what pissed me off about the whole situation.

We've had a lot of snow dropped on our heads.  I almost didn't make it to work alive yesterday because people around here don't know how to drive with snow on the ground.  I'm grateful my husband does because he's the one driving and he kept us safe yesterday.  I half jokingly asked my boss what would happen if I called out for today because of road conditions.  He said, "The company doesn't care if you can't drive in. If you don't have any more sick time, you'll be fired for calling out."  I just stared at him.

"You mean they'd rather you DIE because of bad weather conditions than call in because you can't make it to work?" I asked.  He just nodded.  He looked as upset as I was.  Apparently he got an email from the center manager telling him that if anyone called in because of the weather, and if they didn't have the time to cover it, he was to tell them to swing by when they could and get their stuff from security.

When I was told I had 3 planned days left and I needed to use them before the end of the year, I jumped on the chance to take today off.  I also have a 4 day weekend next week (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon).  I need the time off so I can get some writing done.  I also need the time away from the "YOU RUINED MY KIDS' CHRISTMAS!" from parents who have NO concept of managing personal finances.

I'm doing handmade Christmas gifts this year.  I'm knitting hot pads for dinner tables, glasses cases (pretty much everyone who's still talking to me in my family wears glasses), and trying my hand at a purse.  I'll probably scrap that one in favor of the easier presents and do the purse for a birthday or something.  I don't know.  I'm at the point where I don't even want to do Christmas presents.  Just send everyone a Christmas card and call it good.  It's not like they don't know how hard hit we've been in the last several months.

*sigh*  It doesn't help Twitchy (the roommate who owns the house) has a house full of people right now.  They've been here since before I got home from work last night.  They were loud and obnoxious all night and I finally grabbed my Benadryl and took four of them to get to sleep.  (Two doesn't work on me anymore. I've used them as sleeping pills way too often in the past 9 months.)  Apparently my husband went out and ranted to one of our other roommates - his best friend Parker - about the whole situation because HE was pissed off by it too.  Also about the fact that he was told he couldn't say even a quarter of the stuff he wanted to say in response to Twitchy's younger sister and her two boy toys' bullshit.

My husband and I both have to worry about random piss tests for drugs and alcohol.  It's part of life right now for us.  Twitchy's younger sister's boyfriend SPIKED MY HUSBAND'S SODA.  It was just a damn good thing he noticed and spit it out.  The boyfriend thought it was freakishly hilarious, even more so when he found out the consequences if hubby got caught drinking.

The two boy toys also set off my "creep meter" big time.  I didn't even get a good look at them before bolting for  the bedroom.  Twitchy was rather offended by the fact I didn't stick around to talk to her and the others hanging out.  My husband reminded her I suffer from social anxiety.  Twitchy's response? "But these aren't strangers!"  My husband pointed out that to me, since I didn't know anyone except Twitchy's best friend, they were.  There were four people I didn't know (and three I did) drinking in our rather small dining room/living room area, being very loud, and two of them set me off so bad by just being in the same room that I ran for it.  Yeah...not going to stick around for that.

Twitchy asked me if I was going to make my white enchiladas tonight.  I told her only way I was making them is if the house guests were all gone.  I'm not leaving the bedroom while they're still here.  She got all butthurt and told me if I couldn't handle her family being here then maybe I should learn to get over it.  I wanted to smack the shit out of her but I restrained myself.  I told her that since she was so inconsiderate to NOT pay attention to the fact that she has FOUR ROOMMATES and that she's inconveniencing all of us with her house guests, why should I care about her being upset I'm not making one of my all time best dishes to serve them?  They're not my house guests.  They're not my friends.  And after that shit last night, I don't trust them.

Winter makes me all kinds of moody.  I'm not a summer or winter person.  I like spring and fall - it's neither too hot nor too cold, and there's always something pretty to look at.  The only pretty thing in winter is the mountains and it's just too damned cold to go outside and enjoy looking up at them.  Inconsiderate roommates and nasty ass bitches at work piss me off.  Not having anyone I can trust to rant to aside from my husband (who's already heard all of this, by the way) wears me down.

My husband and I hit a very rough patch about 2 years ago.  During the intervening 2 years, I've lost almost all of my so-called "best friends".  There are a few people who've stuck with me but I hate whining to them all the time about life because I'm sure they've gotten sick of hearing about it.  Just like I'm sure all of you, my dear readers, are probably tired of listening to me whine on this post.  So I'll stop here with this.

Just be aware that I am VERY moody at this time of year and you may get another rant post or two.  You may also get to see the first draft of a new short story I'm working on (not ranty, not anti-holidays, and NOT fan fic...LOL) if I ever get it done.  Heading off now...hopefully they'll all shut up enough my sound canceling ear phones will do their job and I can focus on writing.

Why am I up? (Artists vs. Writers...Break Room edition)

It's barely 4 am.  I've been up since 3:30 am.  Why am I up?

It's simple: I need computer time for my writing, and I don't get it after work.  Downside to only having one computer.  One of us has to take their time in the morning before work (we leave together since he's my driver...and we have similar schedules).  The other gets it when we get home.  Given that I'm usually really tired after work, it works out - although personally I think part of the reason I'm so tired is the fact that by the time I go to bed I've been up for 16-18 hours.

My roommates asked me why I'm doing this.  "You've got a pen and notebook.  Write that way, and then on your days off write on the computer.  He doesn't get up until late afternoon anyway."

They've got a point, but I made another one: I need to do research.  Half the time I spend online is because I'm doing research on one topic or another.  I'm getting a good starting point for when I finally pay off those pesky library fines and can start checking out library books again.  Once I do that, I'll probably still spend quite a bit of time researching because, frankly, the internet is a lot faster and easier on the budget than driving to the library twice a week.

That got me thinking: what exactly is it a writer does?  We got onto a discussion of art vs. writing in the break room one day because one of the art students was working on her research paper, and I was working on the notes for the WIP.  One of my co-workers made the crack that writers have it easy.  "All you do is sit down, put words on paper, and voila! You have 'art'!"

I get up early, do my research, write between calls and on my breaks long hand at work, and when I get home I'm STILL working because I'm revising notes, editing manuscripts, and going over my research from earlier in the day/week.  I've talked to writers from the NaNoWriMo group who routinely get into fights with SO's because they don't understand this drive to write that we all share.  Even outside the yearly torture in November, they spend hours during the week writing.  Most of those like me who work in jobs where they can write in their spare moments do so.

Others actually travel to the places they're writing about or using as references for their work.  We put a lot of effort into our "babies", and then when we're done we ruthlessly chop our "babies" down and then send them out to be further ridiculed by those in authority.  When we FINALLY get someone to take our "babies" seriously, we end up having to do more chopping and tweaking until it's time to see them go out into the world to be introduced to others who we hope will love them as much as we do.

When I explained this to the co-worker, she just snorted and made another crack: "Artists still have it harder than writers."

I don't think we have it easier or harder than anyone else.  We just do what we do and hope for the best.  Both artists and writers are like that.  We're no better than each other.  We have our different mediums, our different artistic styles, and we all have different ways of seeing the world.  We take those different views of the world and turn them into works of art - even if they're only works of art in our own eyes.