It's been a...singular Valentine's Day so far.

Of course it's a work day, so I was sitting at my desk doing work things when lunchtime rolled around. We had rain yesterday, with temps in the 60s, but a cold front roared through last night (about 3 a.m., James reckoned) and the shades started to flap and the temperature plummeted. Not sure what the high was today but it wasn't more than 45°F.

After noon the clouds cleared up and when I took Willow and myself out for a walk during lunch the sky was a brilliant blue bowl overhead, the kind of blue that makes you cry, it's so beautiful. A few wisps of cirrus clouds here and there only accented the blue. We went all the way around the complex, including into the cul-de-sacs, against a very brisk wind. It made my cheeks red and my nose run, but I was nice and warm in in my winter coat from Rhode Island.

During the rest of my lunch break I finished up James' Valentine card. I simply had not found one I liked in weeks of looking, except for one that sort of struck my fancy at BJs, but I never went back for it because I had the idea to make him one. I think I was remembering Addie Mills' fantastical Valentine from Addie and the King of Hearts, which is described in the book as "layer upon layer of hearts, made in alternating pieces of red paper, lace doily, tin foil, red glitter, white glitter and red velvet, with white and red ribbons laced all through it. the bottom heart was the largest, with each one on top progressively smaller..."

I didn't end up with a masterpiece like that. :-) I used red and pink foam hearts, two double layers upon one big one, with decor in more paper hearts, gold and white glitter, gold leaf pen, heart stickers and other stickers. Not as neat as I wanted it. Ah well.

Anyway, after lunch, back to work.

One thing I miss about the house I grew up in is the baseboard heating. Forced-air heating like we have here is so dry in the winter. Since I'm always washing my hands for one thing or the other, they are constantly dry in winter, and the static electricity is something fierce. I keep giving myself shocks on the light switches, and worst of all, on the computer, every time I wear my slippers, which is often since I don't like to keep it really warm in the house. The thermostat is set at 67°F and my feet are always cold.

Well, the computer thing was becoming a problem. No matter what I do, I sit down and when I touch the on button or the mouse, I'd get a shock. Most of the time this completely locks up the computer and I have to reboot. You can see I'd be worried about frying something on the motherboard.

About an hour before I was supposed to shut down from work, I visited the bathroom. I came back. I touched a light finger to the mouse scroll button. Zttttt! Visible spark of electricity. Mouse freezes up. Nuts.

Rebooted the computer.

Ut-oh, mouse pointer still frozen.

Reboot again. I am sitting at the desk. I don't even let my feet touch the floor. I spin around on the chair, get a book. When I touch the on button, I still get a shock.

Naturally, the mouse pointer is still stuck. Ironically, the right mouse button works.

So I shut down. Again, and unplug the mouse. I figure if I can boot up again, then shut down, maybe the mouse will come back (hope springs eternal).

When I reboot with the mouse off, the computer comes up in safe mode. It then proceeds to re-install everything, including the motherboard components, the hard drive, the CDC-ROM... It then reboots and everything is okay except of course there's no mouse. Weird, weird, weird. At this point I call James and ask him where the ground bracelet gets attached. This is a gadget you wear when you are repairing inside a computer. Part goes around your wrist and the other end has a gorilla clip that you attach to the frame of the CPU case, so you don't shock the motherboard or your RAM accidentally.

So I put this on and reattach the mouse. No go. I have killed my nice Microslop scroll mouse. I plugged in the USB mouse that came with my work laptop and am using that until the weekend when I can buy a new mouse. I have the ground bracelet still attached for work tomorrow.

Good thing I wasn't using the laptop from work. I would have killed a government mouse. :-D

I don't mind working in stocking feet, but my toes are cold, dammit. :-)

So here I am waiting for James. His gifts are all wrapped and sitting on the hearth with the card. He's stopping somewhere to get supper on the way home. Not sure where, but he's already..wait, there he is. Bye.

[Five minutes later: Oooooooooh, dinner from Red Lobster!]

Labels: Addie Mills, computers, Valentines Day

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:45:00 PM

Comments:

First of all, love the title. Nice "Casablanca" parody. ;)

Second, ouch about the mouse. I have baseboard heating in my new place, and I still have static electricty, though not to the point of frying anything, thank goodness!

Third, I'm glad you and James had a nice Valentine's Day. The only chocolate I ended up having was leftover M&Ms from Christmas and I also had to work, but my Mom sent me a home-made Valentine card. I watched the really cute parody of 60s romantic comedies "Down With Love" while eating my "leftover soup" (ie, throw any leftovers into the remaining chili).

# posted by  Emma : 9:05:00 PM

 

Must be different kinds. Our house was never dry. We had a dehumidifier at one point and it used to collect a gallon of water in no time at all.

# posted by  Linda : 11:00:00 PM

 

I had problems with static electricity a lot when we first moved to Colorado. Our keyboard sat on it and we touched it to ground ourselves. Oddly, haven't had much trouble in recent years.

# posted by  FiveAcres : 11:07:00 AM

 

Have James make up a little grounding pad for you to touch after you sit down and before you touch anything computer related. Loop a thin bit of wire around the ground post on an three-wire electrical plug, or connect it internally to a three-wire plug from Home Depot) then wrap the bare end of that wire around something metal like a lamp base near the computer, or solder/crimp it onto a square of tinfoil you slip under the mouse mat with an edge showing. Sit down, touch the metal, and your electric personality should be tamed!

Jerry

# posted by  Anonymous : 2:38:00 AM

 

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