If you know me at all, and some of you do, you'll know that I type well enough. I can spin a good tale, but I am the worst when it comes to making things work in terms of tech. I just don't have that gene. I have the creative gene in spades. I can whip out a poem in minutes if you want me to, and as long as I have pen and paper I can show it. Having said that, if you want me to connect something with a cord or wire to something else that deals with or eventually causes something entirely different to do whatever it's supposed to do because it's supposed to do it -- you're out of luck. That's not my forte.
Let me explain this week's trauma drama when it came to technology and I having another row. My computer, the one I'm sitting at this very moment, decided (all on its own, mind you) not to send a signal to my monitor. I swear, my monitor didn't do a damn thing to the computer. There was no reason for this disruption. It was as if the CPU had heard me talking about replacing it and it just threw a hissy fit. I know my smartphone can hear and see everything I say; maybe even what I'm thinking, but the CPU should not be in the same class of intelligence. The CPU is an HP Elitedesk, and I think I got it about four years ago. Because I don't ever really spend a great deal of money on anything electronic, I wasn't too surprised that after four years it decided to stop working.
My monitor, which is a Dell, told me in no uncertain terms that it was not receiving a signal, and that it was going into power saver mode. I get that. Everything needs to sleep now and again. I did what all people who are like me do in these situations; I found a kid to fix the problem. The problem with that plan is, my kid is 33 now. She's no longer protected by the tech fairies and she couldn't find a simple solution. She unplugged everything, she plugged it back in, we turned everything off, and restarted it. There was no signal. There was seemingly no change. OK, I have six monitors. I'm a trader. I have tech at my disposal, I just don't know how to fix it or make it do things.
When the second monitor did the same thing, and it wasn't a Dell, I decided to bring in the big guns. By the big guns, this time, I mean I took the computer to work with me to have the highly skilled and professional electronic know-it-alls take a crack at it. I didn't want you to think that I shot a hole through the CPU in a sort of "Bubba Shot the Jukebox" sort of way. No, I called Jon and Tom at work, and they were more than willing to assist this particular damsel in her connectivity sort of distress. They are in fact, experts.
You know what happened. Everyone knows what happened. The same silly thing that always happens when this sort of thing happens. You take your car to the mechanic and it no longer makes THAT sound. You take the computer to the I.T. gurus and it not only fires up, it runs faster than it has in months. Thanks, guys, that was great! What did you do? Their answer? They plugged it in and turned it on. No! No! I won't accept that. I didn't accept that. We unplugged everything. We replugged everything. We turned everything on and then off again. We did that! It has to be something else. Well, it was something else.
I took the CPU back home, and I found that old and ancient kid that I store in the other room for emergencies such as this. She was reluctant to assist after hearing that they were able to fire the thing up without any issues. Neither of us could put a fingertip on whatever the issue could be. We dedicated an entire three more minutes to the matter. First, we unscrambled the twisted and spaghettied wires, and sorted those out to make them resemble something useable. Then we used our brains to be sure we were putting the right plugs into the right places, but these plugs HAD been in the right places because my computer and monitor were friends for a long time. Then Laura, the kid I'd stuffed away, told me that she had an idea. This could be good, this could be bad, but whatever; neither of us had anything to lose.
Laura took a swab and cleaned off the connectors. Oh....well, OK. There's that. You know, like when your battery and the cable get gross in the car? Yeah, that. So, after she cleaned the various points of connectivity for every cord and/or wire possible, she shoved the connections with a bit of force to be sure they were secure. We crossed our fingers, prayed, and we turned on the CPU. (I will say that Laura also noticed that I had the CPU upside down, but if that was the problem it could have and should have shut off ages ago. It's been upside down apparently for a minute) BAM! Connection!! What? Yep! That's so me. That's my life. Dusty and needing a good cleaning from time to time, but still willing to shine when treated properly. I'd say I'm so embarrassed but I'm not. I'm happy.
There was about six days between the time the problem started and we got it fixed, so I wasn't blogging. I wasn't searching the internet unless I was using my phone. I wasn't in my room wiling away the hours in hardcore study for Series 66, and I wasn't researching things for the murder book; again, if I wasn't using my phone. It did give me lots of time to sit with the dog and just read my Kindle. Oh, the Kindle!! I love that thing. My birthday came and went, and my son took me to dinner. I'll tell you about that in another blog. I had a great week. There may be something to just unplugging yourself from the world every now and again. Try it sometime. It felt really good!
I know what you're thinking....six monitors? Yes. It really cuts down on the toggling. Call me crazy, but it is a conversation starter.
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