What can I say? It has been one of those crazy weeks. We’ve all had them. You know, when whatever you do is interrupted by something else.
As we were getting ready to leave for one of our workshops in the mountains of western Virginia, the intercom rang, and I heard Arnie on the other end asking for help on his computer.
So, I headed across the back yard from my office to the house and upstairs to Arnie’s office. I sat down and crossed my legs as I am wont to do. Suddenly, the computer started to shut down. Woops! I realized that my foot had dusted the restart button on the computer. Arghhh!
Fine, after all, Arnie doesn’t reboot his computer overly regularly, so it was probably about time. Well, it was just a little more than that. There was an ominous little clicking as it went into an endless loop of rebooting. I know I am known as The Barefoot Contessa, but I didn’t realize it involved such crazy feet! I shut the computer down, this time on purpose with my index finger, and started it in safe mode, which was no safer than before. We experienced the same loop. I tried pressing F8 and F10. I even went into set-up mode. All to no avail.
Desperately, I called our computer guru who can usually figure things out when I have failed. He has learned that if I can’t fix it, it is usually a major problem. It was. The hard drive just up and died. Deader’n the proverbial Mackerel, although why that poor Mackerel was chosen for this expression is beyond me. Sure, it was probably ten years old, so we really could not complain, but these things never happen at a convenient moment. Murphy decrees that they occur when you have little time to spare.
So, I start the long, frustrating, and laborious exercise of finding a new computer at a price I am willing to pay, especially in this wonderful economy we are all “enjoying.”
Meanwhile, I am answering BCPA queries, chatting with alumni on this or that subject, giving advice where asked, making sure the bills are paid before the next workshop, giving MooseCat a major brushing (I could knit a sweater from what ended up in his brush), doing the laundry, changing the cat box, opening the mail from when we were away, designing a new form for the new financial program I recently got so I could get out an estimate for a new client, you know, all those day-to-day tasks that we all perform in one way or another.
When we were in the mountains, we had no cell service, and Internet service, while fine, would not allow me to send messages out from my e-mail program. That meant that I had to cope with web mail. Yes, I know a lot of you are used to web mail, but with several e-mail addresses, I find it laboriously slow, as I have to log into each address separately. That meant that when we returned home, I had to catch up on e-mail and try to purge the Inboxes as best I could.
In the midst of all this, I am trying to update our website and give it a more cohesive look. No, it isn’t ready yet, but hopefully tomorrow or the next day, Murphy willing. At least I got all the booklets printed out for our next workshops. And after much research, I did find a new computer that my guru will help me set up. that should help me achieve some semblance of sanity.
And I mustn’t forget the Orphan Works bill about which some of you may have read. It sounds innocent to those who aren’t actively involved in the creative world, but to those of us whose lives depend upon our photography and copyright, it has been challenging. I shan’t take space here, but if you are interested, go to our ASMP chapter’s blog for more on this issue. As the chapter’s current President, I am supposed to appear at least somewhat informed, so I did additional research on the subject to try to gather information into one place where photographers could get a synopsis of the issues.
Yes, it has been a crazy week, a busy week, probably more than most, but as I sit here in my airy office, sipping the last of my glass of red wine, I amazingly reflect that it has also been a week of accomplishment. And I have next week to look forward to. We head to Maine this weekend, and I can’t wait to show both Arnie and our students all those wonderful places that I love and know so well along the coast. My DeLorme Atlas is ready, and so am I!