Candice's LJ

So, on Monday, Brett e-mails me because Snow White, my former iBook now in his possession, had died. He'd accidentally opened iChat, it froze and wouldn't force quit. So, he restarts, the apple screen comes up, the little timer spins, then it would shut down. Over and over it would do that. So, he e-mails me in a panic asking if I can come over and try to get it running again, and I said I would. Then, I realized that it's a laptop, I don't need to go to it, it can come to me, so, I tell him to bring it to the house.

He brings it over, along with the DiskWarrior disk I gave him, that he never used. I run DiskWarrior, but it stalls, telling me there's a disk defect. So, I resort to TechTools. I run a surface scan, which ran overnight, and there are disk problems, there are directory problems, there are so many problem that weren't there when I gave the computer to him.

I've been working on this computer since Monday night, and I believe I've finally managed to repair the disk. However, I think the system is fried, and a lot of files are missing. I'm able to connect Snow White to my Macbook, and the drive appears on the desktop, but I can't find his photos, I can't find a lot of the applications that were there, and I can't find most of the system files. I do have a headache from all the damn stress.

So, I have to rebuild his computer. I have to reformat the disk, reload the system and the software, and I have to teach Brett some basic computer maintenance. He's had DiskWarrior for as long as he's had Snow White and he never ran it. He never backed up any of his files, he never backed up his hard drive. He never even bought an external drive or DVDs to back his computer up to. This is the second computer of his that's died. The first one is just sitting next to his desk taking up space. At least this one can probably be brought back.

Once it's up and running again, first thing that will happen is I will be taking Brett to Fry's, and we will be getting him an external drive to use to back up his computer. Then he is going to back up his computer, and set up an automatic weekly schedule, so if his computer goes south again, at least his data will be preserved, and he can spend his time getting it up again, and he can have the headache that goes with it.

It occurs to me that most people who use computers don't really know how to maintain their machines. It's an area of computer illiteracy that no one really thinks about. They may hear stuff like backup your data or run disk utilities, but so many people don't know how to do it. I don't think they teach classes in how to keep your computer from exploding for regular folks. I know I never saw that kind of class offered in all the computer courses I've taken.

Brett is now all moved into his new apartment (after a week long move). It was a lucky coincidence that my mother just happened to be on vacation in Aruba the week of the move, as she let Brett borrow her minivan which made moving large quantities of boxes much easier than it was just using his Escort.

After 10 years in one place, Brett had accumlated a lot of stuff. I mean a lot of stuff. He decided to thin things out, and ended up throwing a lot out. That took a lot of time away from the actual move, which meant we would be hauling stuff from his old place until pretty late at night (10-11 pm).

So, now that the moving's all done, the settling in is now under way.

Since he's not very techically inclined, I was tasked with setting up his computer on Saturday, so he can stop coming to my place to use my internet access. Since his phone jack is nowhere near his desk, I had to run the wire for his modem from the jack, along the wall behind the entertainment unit, behind the large mid-60s era record cabinet he got from his parents, behind the couch to his modem. So, once the stretching, reaching, moving of tables and furniture to get the line around and plugged in, I turn on his modem, and get the blinking red light of doom. It should have been green. So, after a few minutes of it not turning green, I got another wire and ran it from the jack to the modem.

Still red.

I finally suggested we call the phone company to check his DSL account status. So, after going through AT&Ts extremely annoying automated customer service process, he finally gets a live person in tech support, who quickly figures out the problem. When Brett moved from NoHo to Northridge, he had to get a new phone number. He thought when they assigned him the new number that they would also switch his DSL account to his new number. No such luck. It turns out his DSL account is still assigned to his old, now unassigned, number. AT&&T didn't automatically redirect it, he needed to tell them to do that when he got the new phone number.

Oopsie.

It turns out that tech support couldn't make the switch, it has to be done through the orders department. Only problem is, the orders department isn't open on weekends. So, Brett won't get his home internet access back until Monday (hopefully).

EDIT: They'll reactivate his DSL on Thursday. Yeesh, why do they need until Thrusday to do it?

Well, I did manage get one small thing accomplished, I finally bought a much belated birthday present for the_ogre, that he'll get when I visit the Bay Area in a couple of weeks.

The HMB forgot we had a date last night, which is an achievement considering we've been getting together every Wednesday night for years. This whole boyfriend thing is really starting to get annoying.

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Brett has always had low energy. He doesn't get enough sleep at night, and around 9-10 in the evening, he's usually on his way to zonking out on the couch or the floor. He's been like that for years. I just nudge when the snoring gets too loud. I used to tell him maybe he should get some exercise, try to build up his energy level, but of course he hated that idea.

Anyway, the past few days he's also noticed how thirsty he's been lately. I suggested he see a doctor, cuz that's a symptom of diabetes. Both his parents developed diabetes (though not until they were in their 60s; Brett's 41), he already knew he was at risk. Well, he finally talked to his mother about how he's been feeling, she said he should see a doctor, and he listened to her. He went yesterday and, what do ya know, he had an elevated blood sugar, and they think he may have type 1 diabetes. They've started him on medication, and he has an appointment this week with a nutritionist to work out a diet.

The HMB now has to lose weight and eat healthier. Until he gets accustomed to a new lifestyle (and probably not even then), being around him will not be a pleasant experience. He's already complaining that now he has to give up food with flavor. More home cooking and a lot less fast food. He's pretty pissed about his situation right now. Can't say I blame him, but I hope his being pissed this time doesn't do what it usually does and make him stubborn and not want to change anything.

Well, I still have a boyfriend. I got an apology, too, but it's not so much that I forgave him as it was me not really caring to sustain the anger. It's not worth it. Besides, I'm a fairly unforgiving person. There are things I can set aside to keep things smooth, but I rarely forgive. I didn't forgive him. Why forgive someone when they knew what they did was wrong when they did it? So, later they feel bad about it. Well, boo-fucking-hoo. The time to feel bad about doing something you know is wrong is before you do it. Then maybe common sense will tell you not to fucking do it.

He's being rather nice. The possibility actually exist that something got through the blond sensibility shield and stuck. Despite the duel handicaps of being both blond and overeducated, he does have a passing familiarity with the notion of common sense.

But you can't tell by going outside. It's cloudy in the morning (June gloom in July) and in the low 80s in the afternoon. The only indication so far to say it's summer is the allergy attack that's kicking my ass right now.

Brett has a cold right now (oy vey, all I need is a sick blond on my hands) and he's been a real pain. He doesn't handle being sick very well. He complains a lot about being sick, even though I already know he's sick and really don't need to hear him complain about it yet again. He should know by now he'll get no sympathy from me. It's just a damn cold.

The only thing special I did for the 4th was get a new flag to replace the one the Santa Ana winds ripped to shreds, which, I suppose, was a pretty appropriate way to ring in the 4th.

It's been raining lately. I rained most of last week, took the weekend off and came back Monday. I let the morning weather dictate my ride, so I biked to work. It was raining pretty good on the way home, but I was half naked for that ride anyway, so it's not like I minded. I don't really care what the weather is going home, since either way, when I get home, I'm just gonna take my clothes off and jump under a warm blanket, so why care if it's raining or not?

The rain got Brett, though. He dozed while he was driving yesterday and hit the back of a truck. He has some front damage, not severe, but it's not he's in a position to pay what insurance doesn't cover, or get a rental while it's getting fixed, cuz he's broke and has shitty credit.

Oh, well. Nothing I can do to help but listen to him bitch about it. Thrill!

I'm getting testy with my boyfriend. I suppose I should preface this by saying Brett is a shitty housekeeper. Things in his apartment get cleaned under 3 conditions:
1. I clean it
2. He cleans it because I make him
3. He cleans it because the grime finally got to him.
(It takes a lot for the grime to finally get to him.)

This weekend we spent another Saturday night in watching TV, which I wasn't particularly bothered by this time, since I wasn't paying attention to the TV anyway, I was reading.

Brett wanted to watch "Oklahoma!" with Hugh Jackman on PBS, which was fine with me, since I wasn't paying attention (I'm not an "Oklahoma!" type of girl). I get up to get something to drink, and there aren't any clean glasses. So, I wash one out and am about to set it on the counter when I realize that Brett's kitchen is in desperate need of some cleaning, so I start cleaning it. I cleaned the countertops, sink, stovetop, put the clean dishes in the dishwasher away, and loaded the dirty dishes. It took about 30 minutes, and when I was done I made my drink and sat down again.

Well, I expect to get a thank you for cleaning someone elses mess. Instead, he got up, got his jacket and keys and said he was going to the store and he was sick of me doing everything except watching what was on TV. I should have said, "oh, piss off, you know I don't like watching musical theater on TV," but instead, I told him to buy some cleanser (he didn't). So he leaves, and I turn on Sports Center. He comes back with some groceries, and I still don't get a thank you.

Anyway, today, I call him on it. I e-mail him saying that if the stuff I do when I'm around him is so fucking distasteful to him, I'd be more than happy to take my leave of the field so he can find some dumb bitch more to his liking.

All that to say I finally did got a thank you for cleaning his kitchen. And an apology for his ingratitude.

I'm still not satisfied. He's getting a great big box of underwear for X-mas.