Modern Inconveniences

I am so dependent on my computer that I kind of feel guilty about it.

Last Monday my motherboard up and quit working-- if you know anything about computers, you know it can't really work without a motherboard. Of course, we didn't know that was the problem at first; my computer just started having minor problems (the mouse wouldn't work, then it wouldn't connect to the internet, then all the usb ports quit working) and then finally, it refused to turn on for me at all.

Terence rebuilds computers as a hobby, so when he got home he tackled the project right off the bat. That first night he was able to figure out that my motherboard was the problem, and he replaced it with a spare one from his collection of computer parts. It was a temporary fix; now my computer only boots into safe mode. Basically, that means that my Windows program is not working quite right. At first I was just relieved that I could access my hard drive and get to all my programs and documents, as well as get on the internet. My life is seriously hampered without those things-- I use my computer for bill paying, writing stories, researching anything and everything, buying things we need, doing family history, reading my scriptures, and communicating with all my friends and family (so I can feel connected to other adults, despite my phone phobia!)

But . . .

In safe mode I can't have any sound. I can't play videos. I can't print a thing, not even convert a Word file to a PDF file. And I realized this week how utterly helpless I am without these things. M couldn't do her spelling projects. I couldn't finish up any changes to Corizen Rising (which has to be converted to PDF). I couldn't print a confirmation when I bought our Disneyland tickets (and for some reason I never got the email confirmation). I couldn't print out the flyers I wanted to send out for activity days.

Terence hates to see me so distraught. The man has been obsessing about how to get my computer up and running perfectly again. Most nights this week he has stayed up all night trying to figure out why my computer won't boot completely. Yesterday, reading through page after page of technical bulletins from Microsoft, we finally figured out that it's probably because the replacement motherboard isn't exactly the same as the one that died. But the solution to that brings up a host of other problems, all of them pricey to solve. Now Terence is haunting Ebay, looking for my exact motherboard and making offers on them, which keep getting rejected. Apparently, the motherboard I had is either a really good one or is in high demand because they sell for quite a bit more than we want to pay.

Frustrating.

And it frustrates me even more because I feel like my life shouldn't revolve around a computer. But apparently it does.