Freaking technology So. Good morning. I've been screaming for like TWO HOURS. OK, not really. But I really really REALLY wanted to. Do you want to know why? Are you sure? Because it's not just one reason, but a couple. And they all have to do with machines. Two of which are "high tech," which means they cannot be operated by normal people. Or maybe just by me. First things first Let's start with the basics, shall we? A couple days ago, I turned off the air conditioner. See, fall has finally arrived. (Maybe it will stay this time, I don't know.) But ever since I turned it off, there's been air coming from the ducts. Hmm. Puzzling. I mentioned it to David a couple times, but he didn't seem concerned. He said he thought it was supposed to do that. So I dropped it for the time being. But two days later, it was still doing it. And not just coming on and going off. It was going every time I checked. When I got home from work last night and noticed it again, I knew there was something wrong. But it was midnight so I couldn't do anything about it. This morning when I woke up, it was still going so I called my dad. I had to leave a message. I came downstairs and started messing with the buttons. I shifted it to heat and the hvac clicked on. I shifter it back to off and it went off. Magical, ain't it? But the ducts were still spewing air. There's another setting for the fan -- auto or on. It was in the on position so I slipped it to auto. Nothing happened. I shifted it back. Still nothing. Hmm. I decided that maybe auto is a better setting. So I slipped it back. About two minutes later, the air stopped coming out. Wow. I fixed it. At least I think I did. For now anyway. The music is killing me I hooked up my iPod the other day to shuffle around some music and add something I'd just gotten from iTunes. I started iTunes and it nicely told me that I couldn't put any purchased music onto my iPod. Maybe it gave a reason, I don't know. See, this is why technology and me don't get along really well. I usually have David deal with that stuff, but he's been working a lot lately so I decided I better try to figure it out myself. But every time I thought I'd figured out the problem, the computer fooled me. Finally, after feeling triumphant over the hvac, I decided I'd have another go at the iPod. David said I probably needed to just update iPod software. Which sounds easy enough. But I'd never updated software. I muddled through finding the right update and downloading it. Then I was kind of lost because I guess it doesn't just magical update itself. Ooooh no. You have to do more stuff to get the update to... er, update. I found some instructions on Apple and followed them. I was very impressed with myself. Until. I'd found the updater and started it, but it said it didn't have a fireimage of the iPod. Whatever that is. Then I remembered seeing something come up that I made go away. That was probably the screen I needed. HOW DO I GET IT BACK!? So I thought I'd fool the computer and restart it. Because that always works, right? Yeah, maybe for you PC people. But the Mac? No, no. It's not so easily fooled. In fact, I think I heard it laugh at me. The nerve. I restarted and the same thing happened again. The problem with the computer is that you can yell at it and curse it all you want, but it just does not care. I knew I had to either a) walk away before my blood pressure increased so much that I just passed out (Does that happen?) or b) keep at it and figure this thing out already. So I started messing with stuff in the menu bar, which didn't really help. Until I found the install button. I didn't have very high hopes because it was the same command that I'd been clicking on in the dialogue box. INSTALL. (Really, what's so hard about that!?) But it worked. I don't know why or how, but who am I to question these things? iPod? All updated. Purchased music now to be enjoyed from ear buds. The one thing I can't fix myself -- the problem started 6 years ago Our email at work has been down for two days. The. Horror. The thing is, there are two servers and the latter half of the alphabet is on the server that went down. I knew changing my name would haunt me at some point in my life. I used to be the third spot in the alphabet. All through school I left bad for the poor schleps who were lower in the alphabet. They always got the shaft. And then. Then I got married and changed my name. And now I'm 15 spots lower. So now I'm one of the poor schleps. It was always in the back of my mind, but I thought since I wasn't in school anymore that it wouldn't really make much of a difference. But I knew that one day, one day it would get me. I'm just a little surprised that it took 6 years (that's how long we've been married). That was just long enough to get comfortable about it. Conclusion To summarize, it's been an interesting kind of triumphant morning but I'm still just annoyed. AND I have to go to work later, where there is probably no email. And I think I have PMS.