Monday, March 26, 2007

An Excursion into Electronic Limbo

That's where I was since last Thursday. My screen kept flickering off whenever I turned it on. My trusty computer guy took both it and my computer to his lab to check things out. Happily (?) the computer was fine, but the screen was dead. I cheerfully trotted down to my friendly Internet grocery store, only to discover it had lost its connection. So until last night - that is for four whole days - when computer guy arrived with new monitor (and old computer), I was reduced to scrounging Internets from my friends. It was a very weird sensation, like being set adrift on a little raft with food, drinks, and books, occasionally docking at friends' marinas. It is clear I have truly become addicted to living in the blogosphere, not to mention the SkypeIn and SkypOut contacts with my family.

I found myself agitated. Tried listening to the radio and to old audio tapes. Luckily I am in the last pre-trip week (heading for the USA on Sunday) and have many errands to take me out of the house. I know you'll be happy to know that my teeth are in good condition according to professionals, my prescriptions have been refilled, my knitting projects are complete and delivered or mailed, most gifts have been purchased, arrangements for the dog have been made, dog-sitting instructions have been updated, most bills have been paid, hems have been sewn, and the refrigerator is almost empty! It looks like I'll spend the next five days eating corn flakes and charging all my rechargeable batteries for cellphones, PalmPilot, and digital camera.

And by the way, for any Geek readers who have gotten this far, do you have anything to say about ColdFusion? I think I'm going to be using it for my work project when I get back, and I'll need to become an overnight expert.

4 comments:

Udge said...

Well, I'm glad that you are back online, I'd been worried about you running out of things to do after cleaning the house :-) I can well believe that you were agitated by the loss of your Internets, I think many of us would react the same way (points to self).

Re ColdFusion, I've never used it so cannot speak from experience. The O'Reilly book ("Programming ColdFusion" by Bob Brooks-Bilson) gets very good user reviews, but describes itself as being "for intermediate developers who already have some web programming experience" and is 974 pages long, so it is probably not a good choice if you are just starting out. The Adobe/Macromedia website has a lot of getting started resources that may be helpful. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

If lost my Internet connection, I'd go berserk. When I go on a trip, I experience withdrawal symptoms ;)
How did you ever survive?
Don't know anything about ColdFusion, apart that it sounds like an oxymoron.
Have a nice trip!

SavtaDotty said...

Udge - Thanks for the reference. I agree a 974 page book is not for me. yet. I'll stick with the online tutorials and fora for starters.

Claude - The only thing that saves me from severe withdrawal on my trips is seeing most of the people I usually correspond with by email. That and my brother's laptop:our best visiting times are when he reads the newspaper while I sit next to him and read blogs.

Chancy said...

I am glad you got your computer up and running again. Mine was down a few months ago for over a week and the withdrawal symptoms were bad.

Here's wishing you a fun filled, safe trip back to the US.