Just kill me now, part 2

Ever have one of those days? The kind where, if you found the Devil himself sitting in your living room, you'd tell him he's wasting his time, because your soul's already been claimed by your electronics, and then offer him a beer?

OK, so maybe my day hasn't been quite that bad, but I still feel like Harry Dresden*. Electronic gadgets are failing me right and left, and The Gods are kicking me around a little:

* While trying to get some of the backlog of email out of my in-box, I somehow managed to screw things up for that application - BUT NOT THE OPERATING SYSTEM - and was trying to fix the problem when my laptop died. (See below.) This happened because after 20-plus years of using one particular email app, I switched to another less than a year ago. I was an autopilot and didn't even consider that the current app might not respond to having files moved like the old app did. Old app let me do that and then rebuilt the DB automatically; OTOH the new app pukes when files get relocated, no rebuilding (automatic OR manual) possible, so I was trying to figure out how to put things back where they came from when I got the BSoD. (See below.)

* I've located one, and only one, model of Bluetooth adapter that's guaranteed to work with my 'puter. It's non-returnable unless it abso-fraggin'-lutely does not work, at which point the seller will be stuck with it after assuring me it would work.

* Less than three hours later, my laptop (yes, the one I just shelled out $50 for a Bluetooth for, so I don't have to constantly search for the damned usually-missing-in-action specialized cable for data transfers with my phone) gave me the Blue Screen of Death after the computer place had closed for the night. We all know that BSoDs are fairly common . . . except I'm using a Mac. They don't have BSoDs. It won't even load the OS in "safe" mode. Conclusion: it's fucked. Which means I'm fucked, and not in a way that I'll enjoy.

* While trying to access this blog via my new cell phone, I discovered that I can enter titles, but not the body of a post. That's about as useful as tits on a boar hog. At least I can read some of the folks in my blogroll on it when I get bored sitting in traffic.

* I also discovered that somehow while trying to catch up on the blogs I routinely read via said cell phone, I must've hit something I didn't mean to, because all of a sudden I got a "you have flagged this blog as offensive" or some such bullshit. I now owe Shadowfax at Movin' Meat an abject apology.

* And just to keep life interesting, Blogger resisted my efforts to access my account, saying I was entering an incorrect password. Now, I may not have a lot of brainpower after deciding dinner was going to consist of Pinot Grigio and not much else after all the unhappy horseshit with the laptop and the cell phone (and BTW, Alltel's browser SUCKS and I don't have the option of using another one), but I do know my password. Upside down and backwards. In my sleep, even. I could probably remember it even in circumstances where I might not remember my own name, address or phone number. So I know damned well that I didn't mis-enter it FIVE OR SIX TIMES IN A ROW on two different devices. (Oh, and if you're wondering how I'm posting now, I commandeered what's may be the oldest computer in the house, depending on what Techgeek's hauled home for parts lately. Why? It fucking works. Newer technology is great, but only if it doesn't shoot you the bird and die. This thing is almost a dinosaur in computer terms, but it's been fairly bullet-proof, if not easily transportable.)

The good news of the day: Techgeek's finally home and I can turn him loose on the laptop and go deal with other things. Like a sinkful of dirty dishes . . . and way too much dirty laundry . . . and (gods help me) the litterboxes. (If you want to talk about seriously nasty, you might just find a picture of them under "evil" or "devilspawn" in the dictionary.)

And I got a love ya but we want to talk to him call a few minutes ago from a bunch of friends partying at Gulf War, wanting to say happy birthday to Athos - who is halfway across the country on a business trip. *sigh*

Update: Techgeek's pretty sure the problem's with my laptop's hard drive. The machine can't see it at all. So now we get to see if (a) we can cancel the Bluetooth adapter I already paid for, and (b) how much it's going to cost to get the laptop fixed, if it's even worth fixing at its age. Techgeek could pull the drive in an Intel machine, but mine's an older PPC with the drive in an odd place and about a billion screws between it and whoever's trying to access it. I'm hoping against hope that there's a way to at least retrieve the info off the drive. There's a lot of stuff there I'd hate to lose that hadn't gotten transferred during a recent back-up attempt. That was one of the things I was going to try to finish this evening....

I know I've been bitchy/whiny lately, and for that I do apologize, but this is my space to bitch, whine, complain and heap sarcasm upon the truly deserving. I'm not as bad in real life. I can put on a good public face and smile and be polite to people I'd really like to tell to go to hell. (Or most of them, at least.) I've just reached my tolerance limit for some things. I need a vacation, not that it's going to happen. I need a new job, too, one where I'll make enough to pay the damned propane bill and still be able put gas in my car, but it's same song, second verse on that score.

Although I suppose I should be grateful I still have a job. Not sure how long that's going to last, though, or if I'll get laid off before I get fed up enough to walk out. They're not paying me nearly enough to put up with some of the crap that's been going on for much longer than I've been there. Athos runs a division with more people than my employer has in the entire company, and he's said flat-out that if people behaved that way in his group, they'd find themselves out of a job in a hurry. Too bad my employer doesn't seem to care that certain long-time employees are doing nothing but hurting his business. Tends to lend some credence to the rumor I've heard that he's looking to sell the company after less than two years.

*Addendum: It finally dawned on me that some folks might not get the reference. Harry Dresden is a wizard, and magic does not combine well with electrons. His mere presence can fry a computer or a telephone. And every light bulb in his apartment. That could be inconvenient, were he unable to light candles without a match....