Gave Up Posting for Lent

This is my first post in more than a month. Last year, I gave up the elevator for Lent, and I almost, not by choice, gave up my home computer for Lent this year. (Actually, for this year, I've given up my sanity. So far, I'm doing well at it) Anyway, about a day after my last post, my PC died, for no apparent reason. It just sat there like a big ol' paperweight doing nothing. My immediate panic was about tax records on Microsoft money, and my checking account balances. Then, of course, I couldn't indulge my recent addiction to Facebook. We finally remember that, our son had purchased the extended warranty when he bought us this computer a year or so ago, so I was relieved to think that I'd be back in business after a quick, and free repair. Free, yes. Quick, not so much.

We returned the computer to Best Buy's "Geek Squad" for repairs. Turns out, the Geek Squad doesn't really fix anything. They ship everything to their "repair center", which, I now presume, is in another solar system on the planet Romulus. They tell us it will take 3 weeks or so. "Three weeks!" we exclaim. They give us this look that says, "and you think we don't hear this 9,273 times a day?" So we were excited when they called TWO weeks later and said our computer was back. (See, I think they tell you three weeks so that you think they're wonderful when it's "only" 2 weeks).


We became less excited very quickly. Thank goodness we thought to ask them to test it out in store, because when they did, what happened was.....nothing. Still dead. As dead as they day we dropped it off. So, the friendly-ish "geek" promised to send it back and have it "expedited".


Two more weeks passed. No computer. I called and was told that the "repair que" showed that parts had been ordered. I informed the clerk that two weeks seemed like an awful long time for a returned repair that had supposedly been "expedited". He ever so helpfully offered to have the matter "escalated". Not sure what THAT means, but I was pretty sure it meant I still had no computer, no access to Microsoft Money OR my addictive solitaire games.


A few more days went by, and since our computer had already been "expedited" and "escalated", I wasn't sure what to expect next. Excommunicated? Ex calibrated? Exonerated? Anyway, happily, the "que" showed that it had been shipped.


One month later, the computer is back, all data intact. The checkbook is balanced. Taxes aren't paid, but my excuse is gone. And I can get back to the really important business of working on my Pathwords score on Facebook.