Status Report

I did not blog at all this weekend and my PC/Internet time was pretty low as well.

Saturday was pretty typical with the normal chores. I had already cut the grass so that was on less thing I had to worry about. By the time I was done with my chores it was about noon or so, so I ate left overs and worked on my Sunday school lesson while I waited on my wife to get back from aerobics and shopping.

We had plans to go to Mickey and Mary's house on Saturday evening. Mickey's laptop would not boot and every time he tried, tit would blue screen and then reboot on its own. None of the boot options would work (safe mode, debug, command line, etc) and I was getting worried. I have never run into anything quite like that before. Mickey's biggest fear was that he had not performed a real backup yet and he had owned the laptop for three months. He had a lot of work data that would be very hard to recreate. I had to get his data off the drive.

I ended up booting to a Linux Live CD and copying the data to a external USB drive. We spent most of our time troubleshooting, trying to get the machine back without losing data and without reloading Windows. We managed to get all the data but we had to reload Windows. Now I will credit Gateway (the manufacturer of the laptop) with a painless reload of Windows. While it took a while, it was complete.

Now while I was in the middle of this, I received a phone call from our help desk in Dublin. The guy who was on call was not reachable so the Dublin group called someone in Europe who gave them my mobile number (I do not publish my mobile number since it is not paid for by the company, but a few people have it for emergencies), so he called me asking for help. I was not in the position to help him (30 miles away without my PC, stable internet connection, or contact info, as well as the fact that I was knee deep in a PC recovery that needed to be done ASAP). I did manage to give him a lot of options and told him he that if it became very serious I could possibly help in a couple of hours. He never called me back so I figured all was well, but I knew I would hear something Monday.

With the PC issue taken care of, my wife and I went home very full (it was just pizza and salad, but the coconut creme pie we had for dessert was just fantastic) to walk the dogs. We had been gone for five hours and the pups were ready to walk and potty.

Sunday I got up and got ready for church and Sunday School. The lesson went well (it was on Samson...he was a ornery thing) and I chatted with a few people before service started. I grabbed a seat next to Mary (Mickey's wife) and saved one for my wife. Mary was flying solo since her hubby got called out earlier in the morning (I am so glad I got his PC up and running) and would not be able to make it to church. The praise band started and my wife had not shown up yet, so I kept my eyes open for her. After the sermon was over, I got worried (no cal, no text message, etc) so I got up and checked to see if she was in the nursery volunteering. She was not there, so I called her mobile, but there was no answer. I started to walk out to see if her van was in the parking lot and before I got there, I saw her chatting with a woman we know...the wife of one of the trustees. It appears he got called out as well this morning. What is the old saying, "No rest for the wicked"?

After the service, I checked on my wife but she was still chatting, so I drove home. She would be home soon enough...at least that is what I thought.

I got home and let the dogs out to use the bathroom and I changed into some shorts and a t-shirt to keep cool. It had been warm and had not rained in a couple of days so the air was getting rather hot. I switched on the TV and watched a sermon being preached in Florida...the sermon was on gossip. I watched it until my wife called to let me know she was on her way. I looked at my watch and it was almost 1:00 PM..we were let out of church at 12:00 PM and I was home by 12:15 PM. I guess my wife had a lot to say or the other woman did...not sure which.

When she made it home, I put up the dogs and then we headed off to grab a quick lunch. We were both very hungry and did not want to wait. We decided on Taco Bell and it was pretty good for cheap food. We ate and drank our fill then went home.

My wife decided to listen to her mp3 player, so I watched some MMA that had been recorded for me. It was from the Pride organization in Japan and it was not too shabby. While the announcers voices got on my nerves, the guys really were talented.

After a couple of hours of that, we fed the dogs and let them out again. I was getting hungry, so I took some grilled chicken and made wraps with them. To season them, I used some of the Indonesian hot sauce one of our missionaries gave me. It was hot, but the effect was odd...my head and face tingled. The effect was similar to a B-12 tingle but hot. Very odd sensation.

After dinner my wife and I watched a little TV (Discovery Channel on ancient Egypt). When that was over, I took Little Man for a walk and talked to my mom until my battery died. With a dead battery and a hot tired dog, I returned home. With nothing left for me to do, I went to bed. I wanted to get all my rest since the following week would be busy.

I got up with the alarm and walked Little Man. I cut my routine short since this is my early week as well as my on call week. Not only that, I will be flying solo since my TL/colleague is on vacation. I have never had to do this yet, but I should be okay since I do have info available for me if I get into a pickle. Of course being by myself means I have to get home as soon as I can because I will be avbai

I almost forgot...today I started my regiment a little differently. I am now drinking decaf coffee to see if I feel any better drinking it instead of the high octane stuff. I have decided to cut down soda (I drink 1-2 a week now) and go to decaf coffee at home.