Big Weekend

Rather than post separate entries, I thought I’d explain why I haven’t been around with one.

Visiting Hours

My friend Scott finally freed up some time to see the new place, which he now calls a sweet setup. I’m inclined to agree.

He came out Friday night and got the full tour. Naturally, the four floors of my place were a high point. So far, no one has really had a bad word, but then again maybe they’re all being polite and saving the criticism for later.

He stayed until this morning, allowing us to catch up and even figure out that the nearest theater (in Lowell) wasn’t all that far. Given, it can’t beat the theater just 5 minutes down the street in Northborough, but it’ll do.

Anyway, entertaining makes it hard to keep up with the online life (among other things, read on).

Waterworks

I spent most of the day helping father pull his boat out of the water. Ok, it took all day. My dad didn’t realize that at high tide, the ramp’s slope is really slight and as such, the trailer doesn’t get deep enough into the water to drive up on. That forced us to wait several hours.

I did get a footlong meatball sub out of it, so it’s not all bad, but it did prevent me from doing certain things today (read on).

And the Lights Went Out

So I decided to check some directions while Scott was dropping a nasty deuce into one of my toilets. I opened up my laptop to see the screen blink on and then off. That’s right, the screen died.

Being the troubleshooting wizard I am, I started going through things that would help (hopefully).

1. Shut down and started the computer. Nada.
2. Pressed the brightness keys. Nada.
3. Shut down the computer for an hour while at breakfast. Nada.
4. Reset the PRAM (waited for three dongs). Nada.
5. Reset the power manager. Nada.
6. Connected an external display.

The external display worked correctly, but when I visited Displays in System Preferences, only the external display was listed. Not good. System Profiler implies that the display is disconnected/off. In the words of Andy’s Dad, we are fucked, completely and utterly fucked.

I wanted to take it in Saturday to the Apple Store, but with Scott around, that seemed rude. I waited until Sunday, but I got back really late, so that was out. I’ll have to go tomorrow after work because I can’t live without the mobility. Sure, the desktop is certainly essential, but life sucks without my trusty Powerbook.

I’ll have to hope that I can afford the repair bill (and obligatory Amazon page plug). Oh, and thanks to whoever bought that big screen TV. I love you!