Back in January I bought a new computer. My old one had outlived its extended warranty and was crashing quickly.

I admit to being a bit of a computer geek. Newer, faster, bigger, better is always fine with me.

It was a nice upgrade from the old one.  I was pleased.

So… mid-August and my new computer dies.  I was not pleased.

I faithfully back up everything so I wasn’t panicked.  The biggest hassle was I couldn’t de-authorize a lot of programs.  It’s a pain having to call everyone up and get new install codes.  But… I brought it back to MicroCenter for repair, hoping for the best.

August 19th I got it back. A new hard-drive.  Goodbye programs.  I spent the weekend reinstalling programs, making those pesky phone calls… Hurricane outside but all was dry inside. We had weathered the hurricane with no major problems. A bit of water in the basement and lots of limbs and leaves – but we never lost power. We were feeling extremely lucky.

And then Sunday night the computer dies, again! Deader than a doornail. Without the ability to de-authorize the programs I had just spent hours re-authorizing.

Oh well…

Back to the shop on Monday and back to using the laptop.

And then on Wednesday – in beautiful weather – sunshine and blue skies – the power goes out. Phone call to PECO and the recorded message states the power will be back on September 2, 2011 at 2:40pm.

2:40pm. I love how precise they can be.

In the meantime, we have the iPad and the phones. We’re not without outside communication.

The power went off just after 5pm when I was starting dinner. It was going to be a Frozen Chinese Night. Pot stickers, shu mai, Thai egg rolls, fried rice… We have the propane cooktop so we could cook – but the egg rolls needed an oven. The gas grill worked just fine and  we had a lovely candle-lit dinner.

PECO surprised us and the electricity came on a bit after noon, yesterday – 26 hours earlier than expected. We were pleased.

And while we were busy being pleased, the phone rang – MicroCenter was calling me to tell me my new computer was dead. Because it was less than a year old, they bought it back from me at full purchase price and I was off to get another. Oh boy. More programs to install and more phone calls to make. “Hi. Yes, I know this is the third time in a week I’ve installed the program. The other two installations were on a dead computer.  Really.  Don’t you just hate those weeks where you keep getting your computer back and it keeps dying right after you spent all that time reinstalling programs?!?  Hopefully I won’t have to call you again any time soon.”

Ya do what ya hafta do…

So… with about half of the programs back on and email configured, Victor took pity and cooked dinner tonight – a chicken stir-fry with corn noodles.

He marinated the chicken breast in Soy Vey Veri Teriyaki Sauce and then cooked it up with green peppers, green beans, brussels sprouts, peas, bamboo shoots, and a couple of chile peppers.

It was soooooo good! I really like the corn spaghetti noodles. They are just different enough to be fun. And perfect for you wheat-allergy and/or gluten-free-types.

I’m about a third of the way through the re-installation process. Hopefully by Monday…..