It's the End of the World as You Know It...

Ok, so here’s the deal, my laptop (supplied by my employer) is kaput. The BIOS started report SMART errors about a month ago, but I didn’t worry about it too much. I never got any errors while using it, so I just backed everything up and figured eventually I’d get them to send me a new drive.

But then it got worse: the LCD started going crazy. It would randomly fade to a sort of greenish, off-white color. I could usually get it back to normal by moving the lid around a bit. It was acting like the connections were going bad in the hinge, but it just kept getting worse and worse. I was really afraid that the cable would just give up completely at some point. Yesterday, it got to where I couldn’t reliably work on it at all.

So its about to head off back to Austin, likely never to return. Hopefully I’ll get a replacement soon, but probably not for a couple weeks at the soonest. Instead I’m tied to my desktop now.

Mind you, my desktop is one hell of a machine (again, its worked-supplied). But I had grown into the habit of moving around to various positions around the house to do my work. My favorite spot was sitting in the recliner in the living room. It was a lot easier on my back.

See, I’ve got a bad back. I’ve had issues since I was in high school, roughly, on account of my bad posture, but it all got much worse when I was in a bad accident in my mid-twenties. It’s usually not a big deal, but something I did about a week or so ago messed it up again pretty badly. It feels approximately like a mild pinched nerve. Anyone who has ever had a pinched nerve in their back will know that even a “mild” one is not fun.

So I’ll be limiting my time in front of the computer to strictly what is necessary to get my work done and the occasional checking of email. Of course, maybe it will mean I’ll be more focused when I am sitting here. We’ll see.

I figured this was as good of an excuse as any to finally update this blog. Ever since I set up my del.icio.us posts, it seems as though the automated portions of the blog are overtaking any semblance of human presence around here. I’ve got to make sure that isn’t the case, of course!

So, I’ve got more to say, but I’ll save it for tomorrow’s post. Yes, there will be a post tomorrow. You can count on it.