It was tax-free weekend here in western NC, and we had been babying along our 8-year-old computer, the one with 64MB memory, until we could do our patriotic duty and stimulate the economy without supporting the government TOO much. After working all night Thurs. night, I came home, changed, and the J-Man and I headed over to Best Buy. It's amazing the difference in our 2000 Gateway and what was available. It was almost overwhelming. We settled on an HP tower, and Samsung monitor, new speakers, wireless mouse, and a stack of CDs so I could finish backing up the files on The Dinosaur.
It went downhill from there. Best Buy sold me the wrong printer, which I exchanged when I went back to pick up the computer. The floppy port on the old tower was damaged, so the program I bought online to download onto a floppy to erase the hard drive won't work. Nor can I transfer info from old floppies to new CDs. The cord to connect the monitor to the tower is too short. Staples gave me the wrong cord to extend it, so it had to be returned. Radio Shack didn't have what we needed, either. Another 18 mile trip to Best Buy, who is out of extensions, so I had to pay $43.00 for another cord, which shouldn't have been necessary when one pays over $500.00 for a computer monitor. Samsung is going to hear about this.
There is no manual for putting everything together or making sure all the parts are there. I assume the Geek Squad didn't repack it, because all that was available was a CD--which cannot be played until you actually put the computer together, now can it? Then, when I finally get it all figured out, we are missing the Ethernet cord, which is why I cannot get internet service. I had to use the old one. Another Geek Squad oversight? Or HP?
In the meantime, DD is having a meltdown of her own. She left work for the last time Fri. evening, got 3 hours of sleep that night, and the movers had her completely loaded up by 10:30 Sat. morning. By 4:30 that afternoon, they had unloaded everything and she was all alone in a new town, new place, with three anxious animals, less than half the living space she has had for the last 4 years, an apartment full of boxes, and no toilet paper. She called me in tears. She was considerate enough to leave a roll of paper towels, hand soap, and her last roll of toilet paper at the house for the new tenant, but the previous apartment dweller exhibited no such courtesy. She couldn't even get to the kitchen sink to get a glass of water. And she had no idea where the nearest grocery store was.
To me it seemed like a perfect time to meet the neighbors, ask to borrow a roll of toilet paper and a glass of ice water, but she didn't feel up to it. Afraid of getting lost and leaving the menagerie alone for hours while their hot, sweaty, exhausted owner tried to find food, she didn't want to get in the car and just drive aimlessly around. So would I please google some directions for a Target or Wal-Mart or Kroger's or something? I would love to--except, of course, I didn't have the right cord to hook up the computer, much less the right cord for internet service myself.
So she moved a few boxes, got water for the animals, found some baby wipes and just went to bed without eating. I felt so bad for her.
Sunday looked to be a little better. Come Sun. morning, I had the computer hooked up, had internet service, and she had the coffeemaker plugged in. I gave her directions to a couple of different places, and she was set to go. Then she stepped out the door for a minute to set some boxes outside--and locked herself out. For three hours she sat in her car, which was unlocked, in a pair of flipflops, shorts, and borrowed T-shirt, courtesy of a dog-walking tenant, until someone came to the office and could unlock her apartment. DD said little Bella, the chihuahua, cried because she could see her momma outside, but couldn't get to her. No cell phone, nothing to read, not having eaten since noon the day before, all alone outside a box-infested abode less than 24 hours before starting a new job--sounds like a bad soap opera.
Once she got in, she phoned me to ask me to tranfer money from her savings to checking to cover the moving check, then made her way to a TGIF for lunch, a Target for supplies, and by the time I left for work last night, all was looking a little better. There was food in the kitchen, the cats were exploring boxes and empty bookshelves, Bella was happily chewing on her toys, and DD's bathroom and bedroom were all ready for her to function today.
Except for a bad night at work, which I won't go into, things were beginning to settle down.
The weekend was over.
5 comments:
Oh, wow, you had an awful weekend all the way around! I hope your daughter is getting settled okay in her new place. As horrible as it is to be locked out of your house, but in the first 24 hours when you don't know anyone with your dog locked inside crying out to you is pretty bad. It can only get better, right?
Hi, Stephanie, what a weekend you had. Your poor daughter, I had to laugh; I was locked out of my apartment several years ago when I moved in. I had the keys to get in, but the door wouldn't open and it took an hour for someone to get me in. I can certainly empathize with her. I can also relate to computers: I absolutely detest getting a new one for all the reasons you went into. Glad you finally got it all fixed. Hope this week goes well!
Oh! I just wanted to get in my car and drive up to DD's to give her some help then drive over to Best Buy to give them a piece of my mind.
Grr.
Well, glad it's over and hope next weekend is much, much better for both of you.
What a weekend! That kind of stuff is so draining, isn't it? I'm glad that you finally got your computer up and running.
I hope things start to go smoother for your DD. I can't imagine how stressful so many changes at once on top of unexpected mishaps can be. It must be hard to have her so far away.
WAS there a full moon??? Mon night was hell at work, Tues night was hell with the MIL.
we didn't have trouble with our new computer except Best Buy trying to charge 50 bucks to install Microsoft Office. For goodness sake allyou have to do is put in the disk and follow the prompts....they seems rather peeved when I said I didn't need Geek squad for that thank you anyway.... But I think the reason we didn't have troubles is that we bought everything HP as a set.
Poor DD, it was nice of her to leave those things in her apt, but most folks don't...I always take TP, paper towels and a couple other necessities in my car in a bag (not a box) so that they're in hand when you get there.
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