I'll Tell You Where I've Been

Slacker I am not. Today began quite normal. I planned my blog post of the day over coffee. I would have had one for you to read on Christmas day had I not been up to my earlobes in holiday hoopla. So armed with whit beyond words and a cup of brainjuice, I opened a new document. I typed and typed, and let me tell ya, it was really good stuff, brilliance if I don't say so myself. I got a bit carried away sharing my tales and before long, I was on page two.

My screen became dark quickly and I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to plug my laptop back in. I repositioned myself and my laptop near a plug. Then something went terribly wrong. A message on my screen said, "Switch to AC power or change battery." Hey! I just plugged it in! What the hell?

I unplugged and replugged. I relocated again, plugged in again. Same message. I disconnected both of the wires from the AC adaptor, then reconnected them. Same message. Can I get a what the fuck from the congregation?!

My plug was fried and my battery didn't even have enough juice left to shut down. Monday morning on hold with tech support, now that's a good time had by all, not. I finally get a real person on the phone and I know I pressed 1 for English but this dude did not speak it.

Because of the obvious language barrier we had from "Hello." I spoke slower and louder. I don't know why I thought that would help. "Pl-u-g NO w-o-r-k no m-o-r-e! B-R-O-K-E."

I was able to give him the serial number and find out it was still under warranty. I had two choices, a) mail the old one and wait for a new one to arrive (4-6 weeks) b) drive to an authorized service center.

"W-h-e-r-e a-r-e t-h-e s-e-r-v-i-c-e c-e-n-t-e-r-s?"
"No centa for 100 mile you address maybe more."
"W-h-e-r-e?"
"Iowa."
"Dude! That's the wrong state. I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!"
"Iowa."
"A-D-D-R-E-S-S?"

After he gave me the phone number and address to the service center I called. I asked a nice lady in Iowa if she could tell me if there were other locations, perhaps one in the same fucking state I was calling from. She told me of two but both were farther away than Iowa. I asked for directions.

One and a half hours later I got there. The kids were completely entertained with Drop Dead Fred, which they were able to watch on their dad's portable DVD player.

We stopped for lunch and headed back for another hour and a half ride. It was nice getting an extra day off of work but three hours in the car is not my idea of fun.

Because I lost the original post for today, I'll come up with cliff notes and post them here in a little while.