Real Life Horror – Windows Unable to Start or My Misadventures in Hubbing

I own a laptop which operates Windows 7. It has two USB ports, far less than what I require. Frustrated with swapping devices in and out and trying to get them recognized, I purchased a ten port hub on eBay, which arrived yesterday. I liked the wall mounting option because of my small desk area. And the price.
I unwrapped it and plugged it into the powerstrip and connected my keyboard, mouse, printer, and then laptop via its special cord.
The horror begins.
My HP went black screen of nothingness. Needless to say, I unhooked everything and began to act like I was locking up inside myself. All the work I have done and failed to back up raced through my mind like the matrix green and black screen on speed. My brain began to overheat. Three keys glowed on the laptops keyboard, but no startup. I turned it off and began my plans for panic attack.
After my boyfriend – hereby known as Magic Finger of Hope – pushed the power button, it finally spit out something about thermal hibernation. We let it power down and set to cool.
I read reviews on Amazon (post purchase of USB hub) to find out that it A)Does not support Windows 7 and B) Can possibly BACKFEED POWER.
Oh good. Backfeed as in distributing power to things that do not need it. Maybe that was why the battery was acting as nuclear reactor. I might be dramatizing a bit. Only a bit.
Hot lil laptop plus writer deadlines plus Meri equals you-haven’t-seen-crazy-yet-beeches.
So, I am in “this may take several minutes” stage of startup repair mode. Oh, dear Lord please save my files.
For all of you readers (all seven of you) DO read reviews BEFORE you purchase anything that connects to the multihundred dollar device of your favor. Just do.
Oh my God. A new screen. Let’s hope it doesn’t contain the word fail!

Okay, recovery process has begun. File backup first, then restore. Wish me luck, loyal fans!

UFO turns out to be house

Ever see a sky so beautiful that you must take a picture? That was just how this pic came about. What I wasn’t expecting was the appearance an odd, unexplained shape seeming to be located in the sky.

original cropped image

I am decisively not a UFO sighting believer, at least not the aliens-are-running-Area-51 variety. I must admit that considering the vast amount of space, and galaxies and stars within, there is less chance of the planet Earth housing the only life in the universe than of this pathetic little blog landing me a pulitzer. To clarify, that means slimmer than slim. But that doesn’t mean that our little unidentified airborne blotch is anything other than an unidentified object, minus the flying. Oh, what the hey. Let’s zoom just a bit.

Dorothy?

Well, it looks to me that it is nothing less than a flying house. I knew that they were remaking the Wizard of Oz, but in my area? Man, special effects are really getting lifelike.

Now that we’ve solved that mystery, we can rest easy. Until next time.

Merideth Grue

Necessity calls to question…

For my first post, I bring you a find from a recent excursion as captured by my Samsung phone cam. The place of business providing such inspiration shall remain unnamed. Let’s just say I needed to use the facilities once there.

Some questions arose as I was passed this gem, which is none other than a bathroom key attached to a skimmer. Most recognize the skimmer as a common kitchen utensil used to, well, skim objects from their liquidy surroundings. As the business end was extended to me, I promptly did a reach around and pinch-gripped the topmost part of the handle, all while fully realizing the level of desperation to which my day had sank.

Note the word “restroom” written in permanent marker across the skimming end of my key to salvation.

Oh! Of necessity and questioning. Anyone should understand the need to make a public restroom key easy to locate, or less difficult to – umm – retrieve. At which point the skimmer became a necessity in the bathroom key’s continuance remains unclear. Who first suggested the utility of such a pairing? Why was I still touching it as I was considering these and other things?

I may never (want to) know.

By the way, you may wish to turn your device’s shutter sound off before taking any in-bathroom photos. This action will belay those post bathroom visit leers you may receive otherwise.

Merideth Grue