Today I did two things I haven’t done in a long time, and one thing I’ve never done before.

The thing I did that I’ve never done before was spill laundry powder all over the laundry room floor. Very, very annoying. And then the vacuum wasn’t working, so it had to be cleaned up manually. I think there’s still some lurking in corners and crevices.
The two things that I did that I haven’t done in a long time were pack for a trip and muck around inside a computer case trying to get a drive to work. Well, that was after we replaced the power supply.

Yes, I got up this morning and got children to school and husband to train station and came home and turned on my computer, and it started to boot and then stopped and made noises. I’m reminded of a line from one of my favourite films, “Galaxy Quest”, wherein the Signourney Weaver character says, “I remember that sound. That’s a bad sound!” And what was the sound, you might wonder? Well, a sort of popping and then a kind of “fitzzh bzzzzt” sort of noise followed by the smell of burning electronics and a puff of smoke, after which the computer was dead. Which, of course reminded me of another line, this time from “Star Trek”. (I’m a computer nerd, not a doctor! No, wait, that’s not it. It was “It’s dead, Jim!” even though my name isn’t even remotely Jimlike). When I checked, I found that the cable had burn marks and was partially melted in places. I must say, I’ve never seen that before.

So I called Andrew and told him to please buy me a new power supply and a new power cable while he was at it. And then I went and sat in the recliner and meditated for a while before starting to pack. Of course, packing ended up requiring me to do laundry, which is how I made the mess in the laundry room.

I did get the packing finished, I’m happy to say. Still need to get down the sleeping bags (for the kids) and pack some sheets for us to use, but Andrew’s going to be home tomorrow and we don’t have to leave until around lunchtime, so there’s no real urgency on that.

As for where we’re going, well, it’s a long weekend (it’s the Queen’s Birthday Holiday, happy birthday, Ma’am, even though I know your birthday is actually in March), and we’re going to go away for a few days, just because.

I may, if the mood strikes me and I find an appropriate open network to use, post something to Twitter at some point, via my phone (I don’t actually phone in to Twitter because it’s an international phone call). Or not.

At any rate, it was an interesting day.

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