Month: June 2008 (Page 5 of 6)

Last week Monday, all us Middle School teachers took a break from our after-school work to eat lunch together. Michele went to “The Farm Store” (which is what she calls local convenience store Royal Farms) to get a wrap. She also got a couple of bags of salty snacks. One of them was Cheetos Puffs. I love Cheetos Puffs. I ate them by the handsful. They were delicious. But they were not at their best. Cheese puff snacks are most delectable when they have gotten stale and aquire a slight chewiness.

Fortunately, there were left-overs. I took the bag to my room, left it open, and let it sit on a student desk. Yesterday, as I finished my grading for the year (Yay! I’m finished!), I tested the puffs. They are perfectly stale! Awesome! I reined in my desire to consume the whole bag so that I could enjoy the delicacy a little each day. I think I have enough to make it through the next four days of meetings.

Good thing I have something nice to look forward to.

Sometimes when I make large purchases, I do lots and lots of research. I check to see what the best deal is and which bells and whistles I might need. But sometimes when I make large purchases, I just do it quickly because choosing can be agonizing. Yesterday was the second kind of situation.

Last night I went to Best Buy to look at computers. It’s probably the worst place to get a computer from, but it was close by and I was anxious to have a computer. After browsing a little, I called Lloyd at Customer Service. He gave me lots of advice, most of which I didn’t take because it required planning or work or waiting. I did hear some of what he said though. I didn’t get the first computer that caught my eye. It was a Dell that looked kind of like a Storm Trooper. Lloyd said I shouldn’t get that one, so I didn’t. My next choice was a computer that was a tiny Hewlett-Packard. It looked more like Darth Vader. Lloyd didn’t exactly tell me not to get it, but said I could get the same features for a lot less money …but it would require planning or work or waiting.

I got the small HP. It’s so cute! And after all, I think that’s what I’m looking for in a personal computer anyway.

My computer at home will not turn on. I have a few skills when it comes to computer diagnostics, so I tried a few things. Then I called Customer Support, otherwise known as Lloyd. He gave me a few ideas.

Nada.

I think my computer is done for. I’m now trying to decide if I want to take it to a computer guy and pay $100 for him to diagnose it, or if I should just get a new computer. It could be that the computer guy would just have to replace something, and for $150 or so, I’d have a working computer. Or it could be that I would pay the diagnostic fee, only to be told that my computer is unfixable, thus increasing the cost of a new computer by $100.

I think I’ll just get a new computer. It’s what I can do with the funny money that George Bush is having the government print up for me. I don’t like the trade-off: the dollar is devalued, and I get a new computer. But at least I can use the internet to read all about the economy tanking because of the stupid government.