Why I HATE computers!

And love gardening

[Webwork]

I hate computers because when I fix them I have no idea what I did.

Really.

I was watching a YouTube video when my PC froze.

Okay, I can deal with that.

What's the universal computer "repair"?

Reboot.

So I reboot and get a floating box on my monitor that says: "Check Signal Cable".

#*$!? Did YouTube break my signal cable?

Okay, let's see, how do I check my cable? Is it loose? No. Did I just melt it? No, can see signs of melting? Maybe if I disconnect it and reconnect it?

Argh.

It's time for another session of Mystery Repair Process:

-reboot again? nope
-whack everything, literally, and reboot again? nope, whacking rarely works with electronics, but it's still worth a try
-swap out monitor? nope
-swap out monitor cable? nope
-swap out video card and reboot? nope
-swap out ram and reboot? nope
-check that all connections are seated correctly? nope
-attempt to load video drivers without a monitor working? nope
-disconnect everything possible, fiddle with all motherboard seatings, shut down all power, pull all cables including the power cable from box, reconnect all cables . . pray . . hit the on button.

Voila! The monitor is working again! I'm a computer repair maven!

Do I know why? Not a clue.

I celebrate, for a moment, and for a moment my wife is happy that I am happy. She entertains the thought that her husband knows what he is doing and can fix anything . . then she returns to listening to the gardening show on morning radio because, in her words "That's what I fix, so I need to listen".

I think it's time to take up gardening again.

I'd rather fix broken tulips.

[King_Fisher]

Computers get viruses.

Tulips get aphids...KF

[tbear]

I'm with you webwork.
At least aphids are logical....

[Webwork]

To a horticulturist flowers are likely far more mysterious than computers, but my relationship with flowers is happily superficial: I buy flowers because they're pretty and make people happy, I buy them because they're colorful or smell nice, I like digging holes for them and getting "real" dirty (which requires real dirt) and helping the flowers along after I adopt them from a garden center that gave birth to them, I like spending time watering them - the best "do nothing duty" that God or nature ever invented - and I like cutting long stem flowers and bringing them inside so I can enjoy them when I can't be out in the gardens.

I've never been so endeared to a PC.

I've also never felt a strong urge to pulverize a flower.

Can't say the same about certain PCs. ;-P

I've saved a few particularly nasty and troublesome PC's for the day when I visit DigitalGhost and ask to borrow his sub-orbital PC launching and target practice device.

Kaboom!

That has to feel good. ;-P

[edited by: Webwork at 2:24 am (utc) on Mar. 23, 2008]