Environmental Control Systems Functioning. Wormhole Collapse Avoided.

Well, I got someone here to work on the swamp cooler this morning. Turns out the problem was simply that the side panels weren't seated right. This is what happens when you have a complete incompetent setting up your swamp cooler. Sigh. The guy politely suggested that, you know, they have a swamp cooler start-up service to get them running for you in the summer. Fifty-five bucks. I'm thinking next year I'm going to be taking them up on it.

The other problem I had today was much more distressing (and considering how hot it's been here the last couple of days, more distressing than not having a working cooler is really saying something!). Actually, it started yesterday. I went to work in the afternoon, leaving my computer turned on, as I usually do. When I got home at midnight, I figured I'd take a quick look at my e-mail, went to wake the ol' PC up, and got... nothing. Or rather, I got a message from my monitor saying, basically, "Hey, buddy, it's not my fault! The PC isn't talking to me!" I checked the monitor cables, cycled power on the computer and the monitor a few times... Nothing. The computer was obviously on. I could hear it working. But it wouldn't speak to me.

I went to bed feeling considerably troubled (and probably wouldn't have gone to bed at all until I figured out what was wrong, except that I had to be awake bright and early in the morning for the swamp cooler guy), and immediately tried it again as soon as I woke up. No dice. I tried hooking it up an old monitor I had sitting in the closet. No dice. Thus, I resorted to the last refuge of the desperate: I called tech support. The tech support person, after ascertaining that, yeah, I'd already checked the connections, told me to unplug the computer and monitor from the UPS power strip and plug them into the wall. Dubiously, I did this... And lo and behold, there came my bootup screen on the monitor! May the gods of computers bless the Gateway tech support people, that's all I can say, since this would probably never have occurred to me to do. I mean, after all, both the PC and the monitor obviously had power, right? Afterward, I tried plugging them both back into the UPS, and they worked fine then, too. I have no idea what the problem was, presumably some kind of temporary glitch, but my relief is deep and profound.

In fact, I'm kind of taken aback by the strength of my emotional reaction over the whole incident. I mean, I wasn't at all surprised by the existence of the desperate monolog inside my head that went something like: Oh, god, my computer's dead. My whole life is on that computer! I'm gonna have to drive to Albuquerque to take it to a service center, aren't I, and leave it, maybe for weeks, and I'm going to have no internet, no e-mail, no word processor... I won't be able to look up information or communicate with anybody or write anything or... Aaargh! And the fact that I was very nearly shaking in what felt exactly like an anticipation of withdrawal symptoms perhaps ought to bother me, but that's not terribly surprising, either.

Here's what did surprise me: I felt terribly worried, not just for myself and my anticipated lack of computer access, but for the poor machine itself. It felt almost exactly as if one of my cats was sick and I didn't know what was wrong with them. I could easily imagine myself at the service center saying, "Oh, Doctor, please tell me, will my poor little Wormhole be all right? I'll pay anything, just make him be all better!" I hadn't realized I'd gotten that attached to the machine. Ever since I totaled the very first car I've ever owned (thus suffering terrible guilt feelings on the unfortunate vehicle's behalf), I think I've made something of an effort not to invest my emotions in machines. Guess it didn't work as well as I'd thought.

You know, while I was talking to the tech support person, she tried to talk me into buying an extended warranty. I told her I'd think about it; in my experience, they're usually not really worth it. But if my heart's gonna stop like this every time poor Wormy has a glitch, I think maybe I ought to consider it, after all...