Things you can learn at 3:00am when you should be sleeping

I have trouble sleeping.  Not just sleeping, but also staying awake.  At times, I fall asleep with my head on my keyboard.  I usually fall asleep in moving cars (fortunately only once while I was driving), and I tend to doze off when visiting people or sitting.  The only time I don’t fall asleep is at night. 

Since my mother, age 88, has always gone to bed around four am and gotten up around six, I think this may be something in our DNA.   She has been observed falling asleep twice while standing.  Perhaps we were the watchmen/women for the tribe of cavemen we belonged to.  It was up to us to keep sabre tooth tigers at bay.  Now, all it gets me is angry snorts from the dog, who also refuses to move over when I finally am ready to sleep. 

I was recently put on a CPap machine.  (Officially, I wake up 7 1/2 times an hour and 80 times during REM sleep.  And, we wondered why I remembered my strange dreams so well!)  The machine really worked for about two days.  Then, I turned the heat up for the water a notch and slept great for about four days.  I’m up to five on the heated water thing and am thinking by 10 maybe it will just boil my lungs and I can sleep. 

Anyway, here I sit, having reformatted my computer yesterday and with barely anything on it, but the internet, and I am learning so much.  What did you learn, you ask!  Oh, come on, pretend you care even a little bit.

1. There is a reason people find these cute names for their blogs.  Anyone who uses their real name eliminates all the fodder that their family gives them for blogging.  I mean, when you name it Braindebris, you don’t have to tell anyone who Braindebris is (It’s my daughter by the way, but don’t tell anyone.)  But, naming your blog savanvleck, kind of ruins the anonimity you want for telling on your relatives.
2. This is for the times when you realize that Facebook has educated you to the fact that you are staunchly liberal and the rest of your family loves Sarah Palin, and that if your sister asks you one more time, to declare your love for something, you are going to…..  Frankly, I think I am exempt because I, obviously, was stolen from the Gypsies as a child. 
3. Why can’t we have two Facebooks.  One for people who want to stay in touch with other people and see pictures of their children and another for people who are looking for radishes for their imaginary farm?
4. When you format your computer (and since I have done this like every three months this year, I should have known this, but, when you do, you lose your favorites and stay up till 3am searching for things like, “Librarian+Seattle+Blog” to try and replace the bloggers who must be your real family because they laugh at the same things you do. 
5. Of course, since it is 3:00am, after you have spent three hours searching, you realize that you blogged about the science teacher who blogs a fascinating science fact every day (Mr. Barlow’s Blog) and have a link in your own blog to him.  I imagine I might have realized that sooner at 3:pm. 
6. My computer, a Dell Inspiron 1545 (who before I trash talk Dell, I will say, has the most awesome customer service on the face of the earth) has many flaws.  See numerous previous posts for those rantings.  But, the most irritating one I was left with (warranty is now up) is that I type over 100 wpm and for some reason the cursor jumps around all on it’s own.  So, I will be typing away and realize that the cursor is now two lines above where it was and I am typing stuff in the middle of another sentence.  Well, this format I did the smart thing and I downloaded new drivers for the touchpad, first thing.  It has not done the jumping around thing all day.  Fingers crossed!
7. That I still do not remember how to post links well on WordPress.
8. Well, folks, that wonderful little pill I took two hours ago is starting to work.  I guess it is time to fight the Chihuahua for the bed.  Sweet dreams in your REM sleep. 

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Hey, I’m one in 93 million!

During a five hour cell phone diagnostic phone call with Dell, for my new Inspiron 1545 laptop, I was told,

“Why don’t you just get on high speed.  Only 10% of the population are still on Dialup, you know.”

This was probably in response to my “I’m returning this laptop, and placing it !$^%$%@^.”  No, not really, I try to be polite, until they drive me to the point where I am so frustrated that I begin to yell.   The good news on that is that I did not have to walk my treadmill yesterday as my heart rate surged numerous times during my five hour conversation.

My problem: Computer, external modem and AOL worked fine when I got it.  I went on WiFi and came home and dialup will no longer work.  Called Dell, their one intelligent tech, who is apparently on vacation, got me up and running again.  Dialup worked.  Then, I went on DSL, at library, and I have not been able to get on dialup since.

At that point, they had me over to a supervisor, I spoke to no less than five supervisors yesterday (and they say the government is full of waste),  who again has me uninstall and reinstall AOL, for the 752th time.  And, refuse to listen to the fact that I could get online with my external modem when I bought the machine until I went on WiFi at daughters and then they walked me through the fix and it was again working, then I went to the library and got on DSL and that was that. 

He then proceeded to blame the problem on what I tried to do to fix the problem.  Obviously, Dell technicians do not know that step B follows step A.  It was broken first, you idiot, or I wouldn’t have been trying to fix it.

So, this morning I decided to see just how many people are still on dial-up.  I mean, although it is good fun, starting it up and going and doing the dishes as it starts and then pushing a button and going to dust as it goes to the site.  I wouldn’t know what to do with all my free time if I were on high speed.  I might have to scrub the floor.  Plus, I am one of 93 million Americans, or ONE-THIRD OF THE COUNTRY, who do NOT have high-speed internet in their homes, and so thoroughly enjoy it. 

And, Mr. Dell Technician, that is 35% of Americans and NOT 10%.  So, how bright are you?  35% of US Internet Still on Dialup  And that is according to the FCC. 

The upshot is:  I have one choice.  I am supposed to reformat my computer to restore it to Factory state.  Then, at home I am to set Internet Connections to Dial Default.  But, when I go anywhere near Wi-Fi or DSL, I must change Internet Connection settings to Never Dial or it will again get corrupted and I will have to reformat the computer yet again. 

Hmmmm, now what if my neighbor gets WiFi???  That puts me at risk for again having to “restore my computer to Factory state” as I might not have had time to change my settings before they go on WiFi  and my computer picked up their signal.

First, I really do not believe that would work.  I’m sorry, I took a college Logic course and this just misses on so many points. 

I am sure I face a future of reformating my computer every week when I come home from the library.  Or, just giving up. 

You’ll have to excuse me, I am off to inform all my neighbors that they must warn me if they get Wi-Fi so I can change my settings.

Right after that, next time I go to the library, I shall try to figure out how to get this blog on RSS.  I haven’t a clue.

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Another excuse for a long absence.

Apparently, after going on the internet on my daughter’s luxurious high speed, at Christmas, my new Dell computer, with Windows 7, came home and went on strike and said,

“No Way. You can cry. You can stomp your feet. You can install and uninstall aol a billion times but I am NOT going online dialup with AOL.”

The computer has spoken. I took it to the library to gently cajole it into AOL on high speed. NOPE! Well, on high speed it was okay but it was not fooling around.   Even after I downloaded AOL 9.5, I brought it home and it resides in a loop.

It says, “AOL will now install. ….”

Then, it says, “You need to restart your computer.”

Then, it says, “AOL will now install….”

Then, it says, “You need to restart. . . etc, etc, etc, over and over and over.

Anyway, even my desktop wasn’t working for about four days. I think it was too cold in the house. Maybe that’s why everyone was complaining, “IT’s TOO COLD IN THE HOUSE.”  Despite which I have a $400 heating bill.

So, that is where I have been, that and at doctors and hospitals, as husband continues his month long battle with pneumonia.  

Next post, the joys of letting a doctor dig in your eyeball.  Not for the squeamish.

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