Lightning, Pink and the Disruption of Routine

Never, as they say, ask what else could go wrong. We had a thunderstorm  roll through here on Friday and, as I was standing in the kitchen, there was a clap of thunder so loud that I literally jumped about a foot. No power outage but I quickly realized that my CenturyLink modem had been fried. So no internet connection or TV. My neighbor stopped by a bit later to tell me that he had seen the lightning strike Mimi’s big hole in the backyard. (Mimi has since taken the fifth when questioned about said hole.) Anyway, by the time the CenturyLink tech arrived on Saturday, I had identified three lightning casualties: the modem, the cable box connected to the bedroom TV and an older model Roku player connected to the bedroom TV. The first two were replaced by the tech. A replacement for the Roku player should be here in a couple of days. All good. Right?

Reveling in the return of my internet connectivity, I sat down with my laptop intent on doing some catch up. A short time later, the color on the display started to go wonky. And then it turned pink. Really pink! Uh-oh. I had had enough of technical malfunctions by that point so I shut everything off and picked up a book.

Yesterday, I spent a little time online to see if I could find a fix for the pink screen of annoyance. Unsuccessfully. Then I decided to try hooking the laptop up to a small TV that I keep in the guest bedroom for my mother to use once a year when she visits. And hallelujah! No pink on that display! So I can now use the laptop again but not in the way that I’m used to.

I love WiFi and wireless connections. When I write or work on photo art, I usually do that stretched out on the sofa with the computer on a lap desk. Now, or at least until I decide to take the laptop in for repair, I have to sit at my desk. Yes, I know there are much worse fates than sitting at a desk. I have to get used to the wired concept again and perhaps schedule some time at the desk for regular writing sessions. We’ll see. It’s a whole new routine. In the meantime, my posts here may be rather intermittent until I get that routine established.

But I can use the iPad to keep up with your posts and will start working on more catch up today. (No, I cant do serious writing on it because I hate that virtual keyboard. Why? I just do.)

So that’s my story as of now. And I will not ask what else could go wrong…