johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
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you are the wind beneath my whinge
This is an FML entry, so please don't waste time reading it. I don't have people to talk to, and I just need to vent a bit. I hope your getting set for a great holiday season, and are staying safe in this wild winter weather.
Nastiness #1. The toilet got clogged, or maybe the sewer did. I saw it happening after I flushed, and turned off the water just before the bowl overflowed. Then I went into the kitchen to wash my hands, not knowing that running water down the kitchen sink would make other water back up into the bowl, pouring across the tiny bathroom floor, getting under the wall and cabinet under the kitchen sink and spreading out across part of the kitchen floor. It was like the Olympics of not good. And when I tried bailing things out so I could use the emergency plunger I bought, the only place to go with stuff was into the bath tub I haven't used in ages.
That was days ago. It still won't flush, but the water in the bowl eventually drains out until there's just a bit in the bottom. I figure it's a combination of all the expired canned vegetables I ran through the garbage disposal eight and nine days ago, or the kleenex I used as a substitute for a while. It's really unsettling to be washing a few dishes in the kitchen so I can make breakfast, and hearing filthy water bubbling up in the toilet because of it.
So, at some point next week I have to have the place prepped for the landlord, and I'll hit him up for a new hot water heater and to have the sewer snaked. The living room still looks like hell since the air mattress died and I tried using pieces of a recliner and things so I could get a bit of sleep.
In other news, my computer almost died Saturday afternoon. There had been a problem when I got up Friday night. I was doing stuff on the Internet, and everything froze. I tried shutting things down with a right click, but didn't get the option, and ctrl alt del didn't do anything. I swear that the little Firefox icon on the bottom tab turned black and ominous. I powered off, and had a heck of a time getting it to reboot, but it only took maybe five or ten tries. It didn't seem to be running right, though.
Fast forward a bunch of hours. I had a bunch of things open, and was listening for X Factor to start while doing research on the WADA (world doping agency website). As you do. Everything froze again, big time.
I powered down, things went South, and on each attempt, things got worse. It went to check a partition or something, and deleted some files. Later on it couldn't even find my disc drives, or the CD drive. I was tired, and stress has been accumulating, and I was ready to just give up. I tracked down that 7 inch TV I bought a year ago but never use because I can't get reception here in the basement behind a hill. I cleaned off the DVD player that had been useless since the TV died years ago, hooked it all up and got Wedding Crashers playing for some noise.
It was an obstacle course, because I had the TV plugged in to an extension cord stretched from my left, with the caller ID also plugged in and stretching away from me with the phone line. The DVD player was on my right, plugged into a stretched extension cord from that side, and the cable from it to the TV went across my lap.
After 3 calls, I got through to my sister so I could get my brother's number. He just got to the gym when I called. He said a few things, but it was past my bed time and a lot was already messed up. I messed with stuff for an hour before he got home, even though basically nothing was working. I gambled on some kind of fail safe restore, which at least got it to accept I have hard discs, but then it was no longer using my wireless keyboard, which I didn't realize right away.
I had to keep getting up and climbing across the wires so I could power off the computer, then to the far side of the desk to power on, then quickly back across the wires to start hitting f5 and f8 really fast, over and over, not knowing that my keyboard wasn't even working. I finally got to the point where I was at a screen where I could select my CD drive to boot, except that I couldn't arrow down to it. I tried new batteries, double checked the USB connection, and stuff when my brother called back. Luckily I still had a malfunctioning old keyboard I could use, I spotted the Holy Grail of Safe Mode for about 2 seconds, and after FOUR freaking hours of agony and despair, I was back looking at the photo of The Four Musketeers on my desk top.
I got some security software running, and headed off for a very few hours sleep, as Livejasmin had 24 hours of ejoy scheduled, and it sounded like I'd get to spend a day with member type access after peeking through a foggy window for a couple of years.
My brain wouldn't turn off, so I barely slept, but I got up for the LJ thing, which turned out to be lame. Members get to do stuff they'd normally have to be super members or something to do, but for me it's a couple of minutes of "entertainment" on the hour.
I went to JTV to watch an archive of the X Factor final, and someone had thoughtfully left a comment - the only comment there, saying who had been voted off. That was sorted, then.
I tied running a free online scan of Panda anti virus, but gave up after 6 hours and 25% completion.
Early the other morning, I happened across a feed of a thirty year old version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. I'd seen it before, and remembered liking it, some years ago. He was on a coach shortly after he got to England, and I thought that his surroundings looked just like the courtyard at Harlaxton Manor. Then the camera looked off into the distance, and I was sure I recognized Belvoir Castle. I checked IMDB, and sure enough, it was filmed at the castle and surrounding area. I spotted rooms I had been in, and the story was heartwarming. My sister called right as the final celebration started. She wanted info about the unemployment benefits extension - she'd heard a snippet on the news that said it was good. I got her off the phone, and tried to enjoy the last couple of minutes of the film, but the mood was killed. I did a quick Google and saw there was some agreement on a one year extension of benefits, but nothing for me and my millions of same boaters. I called her back quickly, then got off the phone to be depressed. I could have had a nice few hours if I hadn't answered the damned phone.
I used a free movie pass to go see Morning Glory, strictly because Jessica Simpson tweeted about how nice Rachel McAdam's butt looked in underwear. I expected tons of panty scenes, but later found out that the three seconds or so was in the movie trailer. It was an hour and a half of yawns with a hundred year old Harrison Ford underacting. There were ten almost decent minutes at the end. But I had mostly gone so I could sit in a comfy chair in a heated room for a couple of hours, so score. I was the only one in that tiny theater (there are 15).
Friday I headed over with another free pass, looking for a comfy seat, a heated room, and a toilet that flushes (next time I'll probably add a shave and a sponge bath at the sink). I saw Love and Other Drugs, which was better for Jake Gyllenhall fans than for Anne Hathaway ones. Basically, I was disappointed with her nudity as much as the mediocre film. It turns out that she doesn't have a lot of features I find attractive. As in, she could do her next film without a single stitch of clothes, and I wouldn't bother to go unless I heard the plot and writing were terrific. Oh well.
We haven't had the blizzards that are hitting a lot of the country - haven't had but a few flurries, as a matter of fact. But temps are going down into the deep freeze starting...Now!
I spent a bit of time this week trying to straighten people out at the cycling forum, using facts and logic. They really hate that, and much prefer snap judgments based on a third hand rumor. I'm still living the bi-polar lifestyle of a possibly former pro cycling fan, hoping that Contador is innocent, and found to be so, while waiting for Lance to hopefully be charged with a Christmas list of crimes. I've set aside cash to buy one large can of beer for each circumstance.
I should never have let my sister get my hopes up for unemployment benefits.
2:44 a.m. - Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010
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