iDiot

So, about a year ago I broke my computer. It was a stupid thing, a drop of some 4 inches with the computer in its supposedly-protective case, but the Fujitsu design (by no means unique) is such that any sharp impact breaks the the thin glass tube used to light the back screen. This was the third time it had happened, but the first time when the computer was out of coverage, which meant pricey repairs.

Soon afterwards, the Lovely Bride needed a machine to access some web sites (her iMac dates from before the millennium). Instead of doing the smart thing (getting a new machine), we chose to slave my broken machine into service. Which means I had to attempt to get the machine repaired (which was interesting, but, alas, a failure), then hook it up to another monitor (which took a little longer, since the monitor in question was also stone-age tech).

And after it was all said and done, the sound went dead. Further mounting frustration. In attempting to make repairs, did I kill something important on the sound card? I checked the various control panels and programs and, as far as they were concerned, it should work. So I felt even crankier about it - not only had I fobbed off a blind machine on the Lovely Bride, but a deaf one as well. It was as if the machine was purposefully seeking its revenge on me.

Then, in the past week, the LB started to hear faint sounds from the machine. Nothing definite, but small pings and sounds from the web sites.

Now I was driven to full-bore madness - not only had I given my bride a busted machine, but NOW it was somehow healing itself and trying to communicate (the other option was that the LB was experiencing dementia, an option discussed and reluctantly discarded). It was a technological ghost, a condemnation of my inability to repair it. So I sat down one more time with my old foe, and strove to figure out what I missed this time.

And it was at that point I found a little disk on the side of the machine, with faint numbers far enough apart that they didn't show up. And spinning the dial, the computer left the world of the mute and rejoined the world (to the tune of Nowhere Man by the Beatles). The Lovely Bride had jostled the dial moving the machine around. Yet finally, I had triumphed over it. And so just for good measure, I got her set up with iTunes as well.

But now I'm angry with myself for screwing up and not catching this sooner. Argh.

And speaking of the Beatles - Here, enjoy this.

More later,