So my Labor Day weekend would have been wonderful since I got to see my good friend Johnny (read his account of our glorious fun) but instead the gods decided to once again balance out my good fortune with some bad. My computer crashed.
I spent all day yesterday trying to troubleshoot the error messages. You know the ones. A BSoD (blue screen of death) with numbers like 0x000000C2 or 0x000000A5 and of course everything I read doesn’t really help. Every time I thought I had fixed the problem there seemed to be a new error message or number. I won’t bother you with the details, but after shedding some tears in a Best Buy yesterday because they refused to let me exchange the wrong memory card (which they finally did exchange by the way, just to try and get this crazy woman…namely me…to stop crying) and then being on the phone all day today with Dell, I finally got to the point where they said it was the motherboard. Then after another hour of waiting to be connected to the guy who was supposed to set up a time to come out and change my motherboard, I finally talked to Kurt.
Kurt has renewed my faith in Dell. Before I talked to him I had decided (and will actually probably stick to this) that I will never let another friend buy Dell. Horrible tech support. Non-communicative. I could really go into it, but I won’t. But Kurt, wonderful, beautiful Kurt, listened to me. Really listened to me. He asked the right questions, he explained why he was having me try a few more things, he described what he was looking for, and within 15 minutes he figured out it was the original memory card that was bad. Not the ones I had been buying. Now my computer works again and they are sending me a free memory card. Thank god.
So I ask again, was this to balance out the spectacular days I had on Thursday and Friday? I was on such a high and then this happened and I haven’t cried so much in one day for a very long time. (There was more to cry over than just my computer, but I’m sure I would have been more apt to yell instead of cry if it were just that.)
But as I’m writing this I’m looking over into my sister’s kitchen (my sister who’s couch I’m sleeping on) and I see this glass on the floor in the corner. A glass that has been there for about three weeks or more. Underneath this glass that is turned upside down, is a spider. A big scary spider that my butch lesbian ex-army combat helicopter pilot sister was too scared to deal with. And so am I. We are so pathetically afraid of spiders that we have trapped this poor thing for almost a month and neither of us want to acknowledge it’s still there. So maybe it’s karma. Maybe my lack of compassion for this spider is what led to my computer crashing. Hmmm… Our mom was here last night and she always took care of spiders for us when we were little (never forgetting to include a “I can’t believe you girls are such wimps” kind of mumble under her breath) so we asked her if she would take care of it since she was here. She just looked at us like we had to be kidding.
Alas, the spider is still here and my mother won’t take care of it, probably as some statement about us being adults now or something. Do you think I could ask the Dell Tech Support guy to take care of it? I’m starting to feel guilty.
I’m pretty sure the poor thing is either dead or starving by now. Good Lord Katie, I’ll come over and take care of it for you. (Or you could just slide a piece of paper under the jar and take the whole thing outside, I’m pretty sure he’ll be too exhausted and disheartened to leap at you as you remove the jar.)
I am, however, sorry to hear about your computer troubles.
I will kill that poor spider on G.P. since my ex left me for a pussy of a man who runs screaming like a little girl at the sight of spiders and other bugs. I onced witnessed him standing on the couch refusing to come back into the room until I flushed the spider I had killed and tossed it in the trash since it might not really be dead and attack him later. If only I could have been so lucky.
On Aaron’s page you said you were close to Gandhi, but now we know you’re closer to Pol Pot. Killer!
Missed you at radiohead, but I’m glad Kurt helped you fix your computer 🙂 Can’t wait for you to come visit in November…
Katie, just turn on the vacuum, flip over the glass, and suck it up with the vacuum hose. That is what I used to do when Scott was traveling to Yuma. I am sorry to hear that your computer crashed.
My opinion of you is now officially shot to hell. I thought Katie Toft wasn’t afraid of anything. I have never been so disappointed in another human being in my entire life.
So are you coming to visit, or what?
Well not now! Now that you’re so disappointed in me! 🙂 I can handle rodents, reptiles, nasty crap, but not spiders. There is something about all those spindly legs. Eek.
Spiders didn’t ask to be born as spiders….
Lenny? Is that Lenny as in “love your hair, hope you win” or some new Lenny?
Mmmm, spiders. You haven’t lived until you’ve felt one crawling around in your mouth, then sliding down your esophagous, stopping to bite every few inches until your throat swells and you can’t breath. This experience is now part of my shock therapy program for people with arachnaphobia.
You mean there’s more than one Lenny ? – and I thought I was the only one….
I guess I’ll have to confess to being The New Lenny….the one who’s intrigued.
When I first moved into my fancy loft apartment in Atlanta, the first thing I noticed was a huge black, very hairy spider with a tan tattoo on it’s back. I think because I screamed so loudly that I turned on the Fire Alarm. I don’t know where that spider is to this day. Can’t wait for you to come visit Katie!
If Susie doesn’t get to saving you and Maddie first, I’ll come over when I get back in town. I live with a spider chicken myself. I won’t name names but a certain someone always makes me save her from innocent eight-legged beings.
Oh Katie my dear, I am so with you!! I absolutely HATE spiders. I have so many stories I could share… but I will spare you. My philosophy is this… if a spider would like to frolic along outside eating other insects and minding it’s own business, I say, have at it little spider man. BUT… when the little bastards dare to come into my personal space, they must die. That is it, no negotiation. I don’t know how you kept it alive in the jar for so long… I would have had nightmares of the thing getting loose and taking revenge on me! Good luck with spidey, glad your worm is gone.
Oh, and PS… don’t forget the little bastards travel in twos, keep an eye out for the other one.
PSS… that picture is scarying the crap out of me and I am going to have nightmares about it.
KT, whenever I move into a new place, I make a deal with the bugs within. They are welcome to stay and live and prosper as long as I never, ever see them. It usually works. I’ve only seen two spider in the 1.5 years I’ve lived here. Maybe you need to have a talk with the critters at your sisters.
Um, that was from me.
You know, in some cultures spiders are considered a great delicacy. They wrap them up in leaves and cook them over an open flame and gobble ’em up. Of course, that’s tarantulas, but hey, your spider looks almost as big as a tarantula anyway.
Go on, try it. You know you want to. Redeem yourself in my eyes for this sissy girly blog post. Eat the spider. It’ll probably taste like chicken.
Actually, it would taste like crab… spiders are related to the crustation family. 🙂
Tobey’s dad says that spiders are the sign of a “healthy” house. I don’t like them much, but (being completely politically incorrect here) girls are supposed to shriek and get up on chairs when the critters come out. It’s when men start behaving badly about them that I start to wonder what all the fuss is about!
Wendy! Why on earth did you have to tell us that spiders travel in two’s! I have to live here you know? 🙂 (Katie, do you want to update everyone or shall I?)
I’ll update them. New blog post on the way.