This is becoming a "Once-Every-Two-Months" thing... I guess.
Greg Says...
Hey Y'all, what's the good word? I'm once again writing from the good ol' "Caddy-Wex" library, because I'm yet again having computer issues. A little over two weeks ago, my computer started acting up, it would shut down for no apparent reason while I was using it to check e-mail or surf the web. I would unplug it for a few hours, then plug it back in, and it would work fine. I was worried about it, and planning on taking it to a repair shop to get looked at when it shut down one day, and would not start back up, even after being unplugged for a significant amount of time. I consulted a couple of friends at work, who seemed to think that it was possibly a smaller issue that I could fix myself (with their help and supervision, of course), so I didn't take it to a repairman (hoping to avoid the costs), and waited for a day to look at it with my co-workers.
The biggest problem has been my schedule. I have not worked the same shift on back-to-back days in probably the last 3-4 weeks. Such is the nature of my schedule when we get into the spring/summer, when the powers-that-be tend to "borrow" me a little more often to cover news shifts, in the thought that high school baseball, softball and soccer aren't a big enough deal to justify a 5-day sports week for me. It's somewhat frustrating from my standpoint, but I understand the reasoning behind it, and I've been dealing with it for years now, so it's not too difficult to adjust to.
Anyways, long story short, my computer troubles seem to be more challenging than originally thought. It now looks like my motherboard or hard drive may have failed, with is not exactly a heartening thought. I'm not exactly enamored with the idea of having to go new computer shopping again. I just bought this one about 4 years ago with some tax refund money, and my hope at the time was that it would last until the point where I could replace it for the sake of upgrading, not out of a need for a functioning model. How can something that expensive, only last for four years? It's not like I use it for a ton of things. Just basically to listen to some music, and surf the web. It's highly irritating.
On the other hand though, it's been somewhat relaxing as well... I've honestly enjoyed not having a computer constantly at hand. I've been doing a ton of reading with my newfound free time. It's been really nice. Plus, with my infrequent visits to the library lately, I've even found, and checked out a couple of books to read as well.
Adding to my anxiety is that about a week and a half before my computer started acting up, my car gave me a tremendous scare as well. I was finishing up a Saturday night shift at work, and I went out to my car to head on home (it had been a long day, and I'd gotten badly sunburned shooting high school baseball, to give you a bit of context on my mood at the time), when I started the car up, and tried to back out of my space, I heard an awful dragging/scraping/grinding noise coming from the back of my car. I initially feared that I had a flat tire, and that the rim was grinding through the parking lot. So, I got out, did a walk around the car, and discovered that all of th tires were properly inflated. So, I got back in, backed up, and tried to drive away, only to continue to hear the accursed noise coming from the rear of the car. I stopped in our driveway, got out, and that's when I noticed the very distinct marks on the parking lot, you could tell that for some reason, the rear tire on my passenger side was not turning, and so when I tried to move the car, it was just dragging the tire along for the ride. The marks I was seeing in the parking lot was the rubber I was scraping off of my tire onto the parking lot. Well, one tow truck call (and $87) later, my car was at my mechanic's in Cadillac. With it being a Saturday though, I was marooned until Monday when he'd come in to take a look at it. Now for the crazy part... he took a look at it on Monday, and FOUND NOTHING WRONG with my car. NOTHING! My only guess that that perhaps in hooking my car up to the tow truck, whatever was locking the wheel up was jarred loose or something... Anywho, that was a whole lot of worrying over nothing. And, I guess when the tow is the most expensive part of car trouble, that's not a bad thing. And since this incident, I've been driving my car with no noticeable issues (knock on wood), though it might be time to start thinking about going new car shopping as well.
As if these two headaches weren't enough, my mom has been adamantly on my case for the last two months that I need to buy a house (apparently I'm made of money, and just didn't know it). She wanted me to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit that the government was offering. I tried to tell her that I wasn't ready to buy a house (I don't even know if I'm ready to deal with trying to buy a car, for crying out loud), but she wouldn't take no for an answer... She was bound and determined. She called a banker in T.C., who got in touch with me, and got some of my financial info to get me pre-qualified, then she contacted a realtor in Cadillac, who called me last week, and insisted on setting up a meeting. This was not my idea of fun, and I've been dragging my feet through the entire process, because I honestly am not (in the least) interested in buying a house. I realize it was a historically great time and opportunity to buy a house, but with my finances in the sorry state that they were in, I could not bring myself to take on an extra responsibility.
Thankfully, it seems like the time for this credit has passed, and the pressure over the last week or so has greatly subsided, so hopefully that's the last I'll have to deal with that for a while to come.
On to happier news... I have a new roommate, his name is Ben, and he's a CMU alum who's going to be working as a producer/writer at the station (though it's unclear which show he'll be assigned to). He's a big sports fan (especially hockey), so I think we'll get along quite well, which is very exciting for me. Not to mention the reduction in rent costs, and bills, which should hopefully allow me at least the opportunity to think about playing golf once or twice this summer.
Outside of that, I'm incredibly excited for the season 4 premiere of "Burn Notice" which is coming up a week from Thursday. I've been talking to all of my co-workers about it, and they're honestly probably getting a bit tired of it to be honest.
Anywho, that's the bulk of what's new with me. I'll talk at y'all again soon, but now it's time to hit the grocery store for a few items before returning home, and watching last night's episode of "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on tape!
Have a Good One, and Thanks For Reading!
Hey Y'all, what's the good word? I'm once again writing from the good ol' "Caddy-Wex" library, because I'm yet again having computer issues. A little over two weeks ago, my computer started acting up, it would shut down for no apparent reason while I was using it to check e-mail or surf the web. I would unplug it for a few hours, then plug it back in, and it would work fine. I was worried about it, and planning on taking it to a repair shop to get looked at when it shut down one day, and would not start back up, even after being unplugged for a significant amount of time. I consulted a couple of friends at work, who seemed to think that it was possibly a smaller issue that I could fix myself (with their help and supervision, of course), so I didn't take it to a repairman (hoping to avoid the costs), and waited for a day to look at it with my co-workers.
The biggest problem has been my schedule. I have not worked the same shift on back-to-back days in probably the last 3-4 weeks. Such is the nature of my schedule when we get into the spring/summer, when the powers-that-be tend to "borrow" me a little more often to cover news shifts, in the thought that high school baseball, softball and soccer aren't a big enough deal to justify a 5-day sports week for me. It's somewhat frustrating from my standpoint, but I understand the reasoning behind it, and I've been dealing with it for years now, so it's not too difficult to adjust to.
Anyways, long story short, my computer troubles seem to be more challenging than originally thought. It now looks like my motherboard or hard drive may have failed, with is not exactly a heartening thought. I'm not exactly enamored with the idea of having to go new computer shopping again. I just bought this one about 4 years ago with some tax refund money, and my hope at the time was that it would last until the point where I could replace it for the sake of upgrading, not out of a need for a functioning model. How can something that expensive, only last for four years? It's not like I use it for a ton of things. Just basically to listen to some music, and surf the web. It's highly irritating.
On the other hand though, it's been somewhat relaxing as well... I've honestly enjoyed not having a computer constantly at hand. I've been doing a ton of reading with my newfound free time. It's been really nice. Plus, with my infrequent visits to the library lately, I've even found, and checked out a couple of books to read as well.
Adding to my anxiety is that about a week and a half before my computer started acting up, my car gave me a tremendous scare as well. I was finishing up a Saturday night shift at work, and I went out to my car to head on home (it had been a long day, and I'd gotten badly sunburned shooting high school baseball, to give you a bit of context on my mood at the time), when I started the car up, and tried to back out of my space, I heard an awful dragging/scraping/grinding noise coming from the back of my car. I initially feared that I had a flat tire, and that the rim was grinding through the parking lot. So, I got out, did a walk around the car, and discovered that all of th tires were properly inflated. So, I got back in, backed up, and tried to drive away, only to continue to hear the accursed noise coming from the rear of the car. I stopped in our driveway, got out, and that's when I noticed the very distinct marks on the parking lot, you could tell that for some reason, the rear tire on my passenger side was not turning, and so when I tried to move the car, it was just dragging the tire along for the ride. The marks I was seeing in the parking lot was the rubber I was scraping off of my tire onto the parking lot. Well, one tow truck call (and $87) later, my car was at my mechanic's in Cadillac. With it being a Saturday though, I was marooned until Monday when he'd come in to take a look at it. Now for the crazy part... he took a look at it on Monday, and FOUND NOTHING WRONG with my car. NOTHING! My only guess that that perhaps in hooking my car up to the tow truck, whatever was locking the wheel up was jarred loose or something... Anywho, that was a whole lot of worrying over nothing. And, I guess when the tow is the most expensive part of car trouble, that's not a bad thing. And since this incident, I've been driving my car with no noticeable issues (knock on wood), though it might be time to start thinking about going new car shopping as well.
As if these two headaches weren't enough, my mom has been adamantly on my case for the last two months that I need to buy a house (apparently I'm made of money, and just didn't know it). She wanted me to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit that the government was offering. I tried to tell her that I wasn't ready to buy a house (I don't even know if I'm ready to deal with trying to buy a car, for crying out loud), but she wouldn't take no for an answer... She was bound and determined. She called a banker in T.C., who got in touch with me, and got some of my financial info to get me pre-qualified, then she contacted a realtor in Cadillac, who called me last week, and insisted on setting up a meeting. This was not my idea of fun, and I've been dragging my feet through the entire process, because I honestly am not (in the least) interested in buying a house. I realize it was a historically great time and opportunity to buy a house, but with my finances in the sorry state that they were in, I could not bring myself to take on an extra responsibility.
Thankfully, it seems like the time for this credit has passed, and the pressure over the last week or so has greatly subsided, so hopefully that's the last I'll have to deal with that for a while to come.
On to happier news... I have a new roommate, his name is Ben, and he's a CMU alum who's going to be working as a producer/writer at the station (though it's unclear which show he'll be assigned to). He's a big sports fan (especially hockey), so I think we'll get along quite well, which is very exciting for me. Not to mention the reduction in rent costs, and bills, which should hopefully allow me at least the opportunity to think about playing golf once or twice this summer.
Outside of that, I'm incredibly excited for the season 4 premiere of "Burn Notice" which is coming up a week from Thursday. I've been talking to all of my co-workers about it, and they're honestly probably getting a bit tired of it to be honest.
Anywho, that's the bulk of what's new with me. I'll talk at y'all again soon, but now it's time to hit the grocery store for a few items before returning home, and watching last night's episode of "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on tape!
Have a Good One, and Thanks For Reading!