5050 Sick, both me and laptop

Saturday, January 30, 2016

So, let's see, I've got almost a week to cover. 

I don't remember much about Monday.  See?  That's why I have to update frequently here, or I just lose days.  The week before, my back had been bothering me a lot.  A few days I had worn the back brace, but by Saturday I was just carrying it up and down stairs with me in case I needed it.  By Monday there were just a few ouches when I moved wrong, and that's about all I remember about Monday, --- except that Monday evening, late, I started coughing.  A dry cough.  Every few seconds. When I went to bed I was afraid the cough would keep me awake, so I put Vicks Vapo-Rub on the soles of my feet under socks, which is supposed to stop coughs, and has always worked before, but didn't help this time.  All it did was keep Jasper off the bed.

Tuesday, Daughter, Nugget, and I went to a nearby Peruvian restaurant, Inkanto, on route 35 in Hazlet, for an early dinner.  It was very good, I recommend the place.  I was still coughing.  I didn't feel sick.  I described it to Daughter as feeling like there was a popcorn husk stuck far back on the back of my tongue.  That tiny spot of irritation that just won't go away.

Tuesday night, my soft palate got that hot burny feeling.  Uh oh.

Wednesday I woke up to body aches all over, hot dry throat, stuffed up nose, pounding headache from side to side above my eyebrows, and sneeze sneeze sneezes, in between the coughing.  A lot of phlegm, but it was nicely clear.  From coughing so much, my belly and ribs hurt when I coughed.  Maybe a slight fever, not enough to worry about.  Still, the worst part was the feeling of impending doom.  I can't emphasize that too much.  It was obviously just an ordinary cold virus, a head cold, but I felt like I was going to die.  It wasn't in my chest, but I was so afraid I was headed for pneumonia.  Doom!  Doom!  Morbid doom!  Tomorrow I will be dead!

I filled the bathtub with the hottest water I could stand, climbed in, and read a book.  Did that in the late morning, and again in late afternoon.  I figure if the purpose of fever is to kill invaders, I'd help it along.  I did feel better for a short time after each soak.  But still, doom!

Bed early.  Slept well, because the sneezing and coughing seemed to have lessened. 

Woke Thursday feeling a lot better.  Still headaches, still stuffy, but my body felt a bit better, and the hot spots in my throat had cooled down.  Spent the day wandering the internet and reading stuff.

Friday, just yesterday, I felt absolutely wonderful!  I was going to live!  My back was not only all better, but I'd never before been so pain-free all over, an unusual state for me.  I haven't felt this well in ages!  No stabs, no aches, no burning spots in my thighs.  My legs were even listening and obeying when I spoke to them.  My nose was running, lots, that thin stuff that dribbles down your upper lip and drips on everything before you can get a tissue up, but hey, I'll take that. 

Today, I woke to a very dry burning nose and throat.  Sigh.  I guess this is the second phase.  Friday was just a tease.  Lots of phlegm in my throat, thick, nasty pale yellow-green-gray greasy grimy gopher guts.  I've spent the day snorking and choking to get it up, down, and out.  Dry coughing a lot again.

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As if that wasn't enough...

I rarely shut down the laptop.  Every night I disconnect from the wifi and then just close the lid.  In the morning, I reconnect, it asks me for my password, and then torques back up to where I left off the night before.

This morning, I opened the lid, and nothing happened.  Light blue screen. 

I waited.

Nothing.

I waited some more.

Nothing.

I closed the lid, waited a few seconds, and opened it again.  This time I got the hardware Toshiba logo, and the spinning circle. 

I waited.

Nothing more.

I made breakfast.  Ate breakfast.  Made instant coffee.  Drank coffee.

Still nothing more.  Spinning circle on Toshiba screen.

I pressed the off button, the laptop turned off, I waited a few seconds, then pressed it again, and it started.  Got the Toshiba screen, then my usual sign-in screen asking for the password, gave it my password, then, slowly, gradually, a windows screen came up --- but it isn't mine.

It's acting and looking like it has never met me before.  Half the icons on the left side are missing, and there's no rhyme or reason to what's left.  My widgets on the right are missing.  There was an icon for Firefox, so I started that up, but Firefox acted like it had never heard of me and wanted me to set up a new account.  When Firefox started, all my bookmarks are missing.  All my settings are missing.  Same with Goggle. 

I was able to get to my Yahoo and Gmail email accounts, so I'm not dead in the water.  There's that, anyway.

I don't know a lot about how PCs work, but if this were big iron, I'd say my directory has been corrupted.  I'm beginning to suspect that after I closed up last night, Windows decided to update itself, and got interrupted partway through.

Back to the friendly service guys on Monday, I guess.  I still have my little notebook, or note pad, or whatever that thing is, but it's annoying to type much on, so if I disappear for a while, it's the laptop that's in the hospital, probably not me.
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5049 Snow Spider Queen

Sunday, January 25, 2016

The Nugget tried to make a snowman in my front yard, but the snow, although heavy, wasn't sticky and wouldn't roll.  So she pushed some together into a mound, and her Daddy got a solid chunk from the side of the street for on top, and she made a spider. 

It has the proper number of legs.  Note the crown.  It's a queen spider.
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