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Thunder Snow, Crashing Points and Near Normality


Unhappiness is when your back finally heals enough that you can walk, drive and sit without screaming in pain... Sunday morning comes and your driveway is covered with 2 inches of ice. I really don't want to complain though because the ice was part of an amazing demonstration put on by Almighty God. We had thunder and lightning while it snowed. Prior to the snow fall was a bit of freezing rain. When the lightning flashed it lit the night sky so the freezing rain looked like glitter flying in the wind. The resulting slab of ice was worth the price of the light show. However, when your driveway looks like an ice-skating rink, there are choices that have to be made and none of them are good. Do you risk sliding down your driveway in your automobile and hope that your car doesn't slide into the telephone pole? It only helps to have a four wheel drive when some of the wheels can get traction.

Speaking of traction, the other option was to risk putting my back out again by grabbing the shovel and clearing a path. Like I said, no good choices. I decided to be safe but disappointed. I made the hard choice not to attend church. To console myself, I decided to listen to some sermons online. I would have some private worship with John Piper and John MacArthur. That's when I went to my handy dandy computer tried to download a sermon from Desiring God. I couldn't get the website to open so I tried Grace To You. Hmm... detecting a pattern I started to open something else. Of course that would be when my computer crashed. Not a normal "I just stopped working and there's little you can do about it crash" but an "it's impossible computers can't do that!" type of crash. No, really... it was bizarre.

I clicked on control panel and AOL Instant Messenger opened. I thought I made a mistake and tried again. This time I got an error message that my printer wasn't hooked up correctly. Knowing what I was seeing wasn't good, I started trying to get important information off and that's when the blue screen appeared. Before I could scream "no!" a red screen appeared and I was being told that Windows had detected a problem and would be recovering itself. I am not a geekazoid. I eventually will figure out how to get a computer to do what I want it to do but it takes me a while. When your computer is in self-recovery, it is too late. Helpless, I watched as it lied to me.

First lie was when it said it was copying my data files and they would be ok. Next it said I would have to reinstall all programs I had added to the computer; also a lie. Lights flashed, something went whirrrrrr! and then there was my computer telling me it was on Arizona time in 1980. I hated the 80's the first time. I'll take Kentucky in 2008 over Arizona in 1980 any day. When my computer had finished, the only program that worked was mIRC, which was a blessing because the chat channel I frequent there is full of computer geekazoids, the kind that get paid for being Silicon Valley techno savvy.

Only one was brave enough to rise the challenge, though lots of people had suggestions. Micah is a hero. His official diagnosis? "Your computer is really sick!" Now that's what I am talking about! A geekazoid that speaks techno friendly to computer idiots like me and is kind enough to spend hours on remote access trying to recover files for me. I went to bed at about 3:00 am on Eastern time, thank you very much, while Micah played with my computer on Pacific time. He has recovered files for which I am very grateful. Including a pictures, w00t! His only comment to me was "do me a favor and make a back up, regularly next time." What a gem! Little does he know that I will be backing up my back ups and printing all those adorable pictures of my grandson so no blue screen can erase him ever again! As for my computer, it is still sick. It has a hard drive with a fault on it. I think that and the loose nut at the key board were a bad combination.

Today? Today was nearly normal. I managed to get my laptop working so I could take care of some banking and bill paying. I got some housework done. My attitude of gratitude is still there. I am grateful for Micah and his willingness to help. My driveway was icy, but my house was toasty warm. My oldest is recovering and showing much strength and courage. She is incredible. My youngest is so grown up! She and her family just moved into a nice place. It is wonderful to hear her make great choices for my grandson. My doggie isn't limping any more. I am able to walk without pain. Most importantly, I am saved. The worst day here is better than one second in hell.

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