The library computer system network & my day

Well, I guess I should come out and say it: my library software seems to be working. I'm afraid to admit that because I don't want the technology gods to smite me and the computer down in the morning.

Today I had a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng day. The only data I lost was one day's worth but it was the day all the classes had 'library day' so all books checked in and out on that Tuesday was lost. So about 200 transactions were lost.

So, today I went class to class and asked each kid for his or her library books. Lots had books with them or in their lockers and I took those. Then I pulled a fast one on the kids who told me they left them in their residential halls. I played dumb and said, "Well, I don't have a list or a computer in front of me. What are the titles of the books you have out?" and I wrote them down.

Then after I did that, I returned all the books I collected, which was about 150 items. Then I ran an "items out list" and went to the shelves. I went through the list and found about 60 tomes and checked all those in.

Then we put all those books away.

Then I ran another "items out list" and checked it against what the kids said they had out. I found 2 errors of books being checked out that no one claimed. I marked those as lost in the computer and checked all the books out to the kids who said they had them.

I then emailed all the residential parents and asked them to check the halls for random books. Then I emailed specific res parents to tell them what each kid had out and asked them to send the books back with the students either after school today or first thing in the morning.

I also planned this week's art club, went to a staff meeting, entered 11 new students in my patron data base, processed 12 new magazines and replaced 4 days of old newspapers with new newspapers, supervised after school t-shirt painting and unpacked 3 shipments of NEW BOOKS, which was the best part of my day.

Whew!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired.

And this thing better work in the morning or I'm quitting my job and joining the circus or the Peace Corps, whomever takes me first.

Mags

(and from now on, at the end of each day, I'm going to run a list of "materials check out" list! And Once time a month I'm going to run my shelf list!! I never want this to happen again!)

Update 3 on the computer crash

This is hopefully the last post about the computer crash of 2012! Read here for all the drama.

Well on Wednesday I went to work...

And the IT guy called me first thing and had me click a bunch of stuff and nothing worked- I could NOT open the library program at all. He said he would call me back "in a few minutes." Two hours later the IT guy called me back and said he could see information on the server but he can't figure out why I can't get it. Well, gee, neither can I!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He had me click more stuff and when none of that worked he said he could just come over to the library and he would be there in a few minutes.

As my day went on and he never showed up I got fed up and decided to take the day off on Thursday. I spent about 90 minutes lining up stuff so I could take the day off. And about 10 minutes before I went home, the IT guy showed up and fixed it all. In ten minutes. I was out of commission for a week and a half and he fixed it in 10 minutes when he showed up. Allegedly.

I did a bunch of clicking and logging off and on and it seems to work. The bottom line is that he could restore every thing from the library program up to the day of the crash. So I lost just 1/2 a day of information- yay for some things!!!!

But I was fed up and tired of having been giving the run around from the IT department all week. I already spent 90 minutes doing leg work to take the day off. And who knows if I'll log on Monday and it will work or not.

Guess we'll see Monday because I'm not dealing with this crap today,
Mags

* I know this seems sort of blase but I think I'm just so tired of it not having worked for almost 2 weeks, the actual fix seems anti- climactic.

Update 2 of the Computer Crash

In a word:
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The saga continues. Click here to get caught up to now. Go on, I'll wait. I'll be here.

As of today... well, the head of IT called and said he did all he could and the Feb. 23 update will not work because it was corrupt. He said I have to take the 7 week loss and use the last usable update from January.

Okay, again it's better than starting over as if I had lost everything.

BUT!!!

This afternoon I tried to log into the program and it wouldn't open. I got the original error message from last week: the program is gone, doesn't exist, no paths, no drivers, no server, no info. I have no idea what the heck is going on.

I call the head of IT back and of course he doesn't answer so I leave him a detailed voice mail. I let him know I will be at my desk from 11:45 am until 3:30pm and he can call, come over, email me, text me, whatever.

And I heard NOTHING from him at all.

What and I gonna do now? I've cleaned and repaired and made copies. I've prepped several art club activities. I've covered classes for others. I think I might stay home tomorrow. Why the heck not? Because I'm out of stuff to do. This is so frustrating.

Mags

Update 1 of the Computer Crash

When I last left you the word was that I 1) I had a virus/ malware/ trojan on my actual computer than rendered me unable to even turn the dang machine on; and, 2) the kids hacked stuff they shouldn't and crashed the entire library software program, making it disappear and the IT department was trying to retrieve anything- circulation information, patron info, materials info but it looked like ALL OF THAT WAS GONE!

Over the weekend I got the call that the virus was contained and removed and I would need to create a new password when I logged on Monday. As for the library software.... well, they were still "working on it."

So, at work today, I had high hopes, like that little ol' ant. When I got to work and went to turn on my computer, the tower was gone. Well, that's a new development because I was told all I had to do was log on with a new password. I called IT and they had to get my tower to see if the library software was a problem on my computer only or network wide and they would return it "sometime this morning." Okay...

When I finally got my machine back, and the idiot tech guy spent 20 minutes trying all the different cables, I could go online and check my mail and all that seemed normal. The library software was still being worked on, I was told.

Later in the day the head of IT called and said for me to try to log in the library stuff. He said he found a back up of all my library info from January 20. I logged on and there it was. The problem was that ANYTHING i did between January 20- to now was gone. Any books I added or deleted from the collection were gone, all circulation records were gone, all new patrons added or old patrons were deleted. BUT the upside is that I don't have to start from scratch. I printed a list of materials that the computer indicated were currently checked out and I was going to start fixing the mess when the head of IT called and said he found a backup from Feb 23 and if I could wait another day, he would update the library software with that back up.

Well, HECK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can wait a day. If he can make the Feb 23 update work, then I lost only 2 days worth of information. Only 2 days as opposed to 7 weeks. (But yes I know that 7 weeks is better than starting from scratch...)

I'm patiently waiting to see what happens tomorrow. Will they or won't they be able to make it happen!?!

Mags

Bad to worse

Yesterday I wrote that my entire library program was probably gone (deleted) and that my students were the one's who deleted the whole thing, either on accident or on purpose.

Would you believe that it went from bad to worse yesterday afternoon?

When I got to work on Thursday morning, the library program was still deleted. I was told that "they were working on it" but it didn't look good. They hadn't found the software yet anywhere on a server or the network. They said the entire backup file was even gone. THE BACKUP FILE WAS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, then. Well... So...

I spent the day doing paperwork. I repaired a pile of books. I cleaned the cupboards. I straightened shelves. I did filing.

I was in the middle of making a list of new books to order and I clicked on an author's website and sudden my computer went nuts. Our virus program lit up like a Christmas tree, blinking red, that I had a virus. I got a bubble that there was a virus. All my programs shut down and weird icons popped up on the screen. Then a window opened that looked like everything was being deleted. I called 4 IT guys and the forth one told me shut my computer off and to click nothing. I did.

Finally a different- the newest and most inexperienced IT guy came to the library and looked at my system and confirmed I had a virus. Well duh. And he said he would have to go back and do some checking to see if he could figure it out.

As of 5pm yesterday, the new IT dude couldn't find my computer even on the network's list. Oh gee, nice. And the computer dude with experience is at home sick. And the new guy is really rude, I just want to add, as a by the way.

So I get a call today and they manage to find my computer, and get rid of the virus; the experienced IT guy was back today. It looks like the author website was contaminated and the virus was not linked to the kids destroying the library software, which, there was no word on yet. Gee, that's great.

(when ITSam was there, he had given me unlimited rights on our network with no filters. I wonder if they figured that out since they had to fix me?)

I'm not so much a fan of technology right now.

I'm not worrying about this crap until Monday because what can I even do today, right?

Mags

Gone baby gone

Yesterday was not a good day. Oh shit are the only 2 words that come to mind.

Yesterday afternoon, the program I use to operate the entire library froze up. Weird technology stuff happens all the time, right? I try to do all these fixes and none of them work. I do the ultimate and shut my entire system and machine off and start all over again with a reboot. Only this time when the software opens and I click on the tab marked "circulation" I get an error message. As a matter of fact, I get an error message over and over and over again on each tab I click.

I call the school system's head librarian to see if she knows what's up. I tell her the error code and she flips out and tells me to call the software company's tech support. I call tech support and they tell me the error code means 1 of 2 things:
1- human interaction has screwed my system up
2- the system needs rebooted from our server or our network.
And what does the error code mean, you might be asking. Oh... well... the error code means that the library program has been removed/ deleted.

Yes, you read that right. GONE. G.O.N. E. As in no longer there. As in ALL the library data has been deleted, removed, vanished.

As in all records of books, of the patrons, of the circulation history, or patron holdings, EVERYTHING is gone. All I have are the books on the shelf. There is no record of them in any system anywhere.

Oh. My. Fucking. Shit.

This means that if our IT staff can't find the program on the server or on the network, then I have nothing. I will have to hand enter each and every book, one at a time, all over again. I will have to reconfigure all the software and the settings, enter all the patron information as well as the books.

To make matters worse, once I told my principal what happened, he told me that they caught kids messing around with the program and he thinks they might have deleted it when they got caught doing what they weren't supposed to do, and they accidentally deleted the library stuff while deleting their own stuff, trying to cover their tracks.

We called the IT department at work and they are seeing what they can do. They're trying to see if it exists on a server or network somewhere.

I can't even fathom what will happen next...

Mags

Computer suckage

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last blogged. I have no idea what happened. Actually, I do know what happened and I'm so sorry. After a month of vacation and then going back to work, and getting off work at 4pm and home by 430pm, my day feels shot. Getting back into the groove to cook and clean in just a few evening hours and then having time to blog doesn't seem to be jiving.

My other big issue is that my laptop seems to be dying a slow death. It can be one for 10 minutes then shut itself off. It can be on for an hour before it does. No one seems to know what's wrong. So all the evenings when I would crash on the couch and grab my trust steed of a laptop are now gone. I have no money to replace my trusty steed so now I have to... well, to hell with the analogy- I can't easily blog.

And that SUCKS!!!!!!!!

I've vowed that since it's my weekend to be the receptionist at job number 3, I'm going to write several post and get them scheduled.

The other part that sucks about the slow demise of trusty steed is that I can't easily respond to lengthy emails nor can I read blogs at my leisure. Ugh! I have no idea how I'm going to resolve this issue!!! Steal a laptop, maybe?

Other than computer issues and trying to get my back to school groove on, I'm also trying to get Mac ready for school, which emotionally seems draining. In all honesty, other than being exhausted at the end of a work day and feeling like doing nothing except be a slug, I'm really not sure where my week went...

I vow to do better. I said that last week, I know.

Maybe this time it'll actually happen!

Mags

A chair that was and a lounge that wasn't

It's really weird to start blogging on my laptop again. I have the Windows & Operating System and Word 10 and the Firefox---- none of which I know how to use. I literally didn't blog yesterday, not because I didn't have time, but because all the "new" scared me and just wore my brain out. If I had one of those new at a time and then figured it out, and then the next one, etc I might be okay but all three new at once, I just ended up frustrated and pissed off. So I didn't do anything. Then I thought I couldn't go 2 days without blogging unless I was dead or something worse, so I figured out enough to get here. So here I am.

After all that I feel like I should have something amazing and astounding to say but I really don't. At all.

I could tell you that yesterday morning Curly and I went rummage sale-ing and it was awesome. We got some really good stuff. I got a couple shirts and a tea cup. I found a bunch of books and a pretty cut glass bowl. I got a 6 foot long mesh bag thingy and I'm going to hang it in my room and keep scarves, hats, mittens, and the like in it. I got 2 DVDs (21 and National Treasure 2) and an oil bottle with a stopper.

There is a rummage sale story. I can tell you what I didn't get: an antique, pale pink and gold chenille and velvet chez lounge. I didn't get this beautiful and comfortable piece of furniture with the oak trim, hand carved scroll work, and lion's claw legs because a fellow rummager was a royal BITCH. Oh yes, she was.

I looked at it and sat on it and contemplated and talked to the proprietor of said sale. Then I called ITSam to get an opinion, and some money. Then I went to pay the guy for it, to write a check, when his adult son said it was sold. The son was working with one woman and I was working with the father and there was confusion. The father, I think, was going to make sure I got it since I was just adjusting my funding and securing a truck to get it. The woman got snippy with all of us (down right rude, actually) and then had it carried to her car immediately. It was not a pretty sight. And I didn't NOT get said chez lounge.

I was not happy but I got over it. Just made me mad. I was the first one and the first one gets dibs. We just confused our rummage sale hosts. But she's the one with the lounge and I'm not. Such is life. But damn it, I LOOK like I a siren who belongs draped across it and she looked like... a lump who couldn't glam if her life depended on it, in her gray ugly too small sweat pants in public, her Harry Cary Coke bottle glasses, and her 80s feathered perm- what the hell was SHE going to do with a belong-in-a-bordello chez lounge?

Reminds me of when I was a kid and the neighbors across the street had an auction. I was about 11 or 12 and it was the first auction I had ever been to in my life. I bought 2 pink velvet barrel chairs with Queen Anne legs. For $6.51. I was bidding and I was counting my change and I hollered that bid and everyone around laughed and the person bidding against me stopped and I go the chairs. So my friend Jenny and I carried them home, one at a time. I think my parents about had a cow. I thought they chairs were fancy and elegant. My parents thought they looked like Ms. Havisham cast offs! Never mind that the back was loose on one and dad had to reinforce a leg on the other. Never mind that when I sat on them, a *pouff* cloud of dust arose. Still, I put them in my room and sat on them for years.

Sometimes a sale is just a sale, other times it a furniture adventure!

Maggie

I now know what 'OS' means!

OS means "Oh Shit I have a new operating system that I have no idea what I'm doing when I use it!"

ITSam installed a new Operating System on my computer as part of the process of getting rid of the Trojans/ Malware.

It looks totally different and I have no idea what I'm doing or where anything is. Not only does it look different but stuff is in different places.

Sam is also a hater of Firefox as a browser and he just restored all my stuff in The Big Blue E. I hate the Big Blue E. I've used Firefox since it was available and it was on computers at different places where I've worked so I've mostly used it... basically forever. I went ahead and installed it and it too is completely different! I can't find anything there either. (And it pissed ITSam off that I loaded it, too.)

I'm hoping to get more familiar with it all weekend and I do know it makes me sound like an old fart to complain about new technology. I guess the new Windows is great (is it & or * or (? Hell, I don't even know the NAME of my new OS!) and I'm lucky to have it but I hate it when I have a routine of things I do when I log on. Now I can't find the stuff to even do it.

I like knowledge and usually change doesn't scare me, but for some reason this all just irritates me.

Maybe my whole life just irritates me right now so this is just one more thing...

Maggie

Two issues

Issue 1:

During my second week of Weight Watchers, I gained .2 pounds. I did everything I was supposed to do, exercised, didn't cheat, ate the right foods, ate my veggies and fruit, cut back my sodium, drank tons of water and planned meals so I could spread my points out correctly and I still GAINED weight. That's bullshit and I hate it and feel crappy.

Issue 2:
My computer is still being operated upon but should be up and running tonight. I had to get a new hard drive and a new operating system. Then he cleaned the old hard drive and isolated the viruses/ Trojans/ malware and is slowly re-installing all of my pictures, documents and music. It took 4 hours to install my photos and about that long for the music. So, I should be up and ready to go again tonight and be able to blog from my own computer rather than doing it briefly on break here at work. Ugh!

Maggie

Computer Down!

My laptop computer at home has 3 Trojan Horses. This, apparently, is bad. I won't be able to blog from home until it's fixed (Hell, I won't be able to do ANYTHING on it until it's fixed!). And, uh, yeah, I, uh, asked ITSam to fix it. Otherwise, it would cost me $30 an hour to hire someone else. He's trying to get back into my good graces so this might help him, and me, at the same time. He's hoping he can just clean it off, whatever that means.

Otherwise, if he can't, the alternative isn't that wonderful. He'll have to dump all my documents, music and pictures onto an external hard drive and then wipe it clean and then reinstall all my stuff. That sounds... bad. He did say it that happens he can put in more memory and RAM and gigs and.... well, I stopped listening so he said if that happens he can update it, which is good. He said if he puts in a new hard-drive it should last me 2-3 more years.

Yes, I realize how that makes me look to have him do all that, but I don't care. All's fair in love and computers.

It's funny because mac's computer went dead over the weekend as well. His power cord stopped working. We decided it was a bad sign when sparks shot out of the tip of the cord.

I hope nothing happens to Daddy-O's computer since Mac and I seem to be doomed.

The lesson here is to back up EVERYTHING and always make sure you have a friend (or a guy who wants to apologize!) in the computer business!

Maggie

Random life crap outta my brain

The movie Fast Five came out. It has Dwayne Johnson AND Vin Diesel. This could help or hurt me. Doesn't make sense? Remember my confusion? If not, click here....

My friend Photographer has a very dear friend. Her very dear friend is beautiful and has money, an excellent job, and a PHd. She's sexy and silly and just what most men consider to be a "perfect catch." She met a guy who is as handsome, well moneyed, well connected, as she is. They met in Oct. '10, got engaged at Christmas and are getting married in May- as in next month. Everyone thinks it's wonderful and romantic. I think of doing that and people think it's crazy. Is it me, or is it connected to the rich and beautiful?

And, following the above thread, why can't I meet a guy who is rich and handsome and smart?

And also following that thought process, it could be when Photographer asked me how it was going with ITSam, my response was , "fine." Not in that snotty woman "fine" way, but her follow up questions led me to say "boring." Oh god. I called my boyfriend boring. Maybe I was just having a bad day? Because he's really nice and would do anything for me. And I'm at an age where I need to settle down and stop gallivanting all over the world on search of adventure. Right?

And speaking of Sam, the email server went crazy at work this week. All sorts of stuff was happening: people could send internally but not externally, people couldn't get their emails, some could see they had mail but couldn't read messages, some could receive but not send at all... just a variety of weird stuff. He's been working on it for days, and last night he didn't get home from work until 11pm. So while all this is going on, I had one person yell at ME over it. I don't think she'll ever get her email back again; Sam was pissed that someone would have the nerve to say anything to me, let alone yell at me about it. Also, I had a weird issue with mine. I could sent internally and externally. I could receive BUT I couldn't read my externally received emails. I could see them sitting in my in-box and who they were from but the content wasn't there. Furthermore, I could receive internal emails and some I could read and some I couldn't. He told me that since the entire campus was having issues, he didn't even want to hear from me. And he said my issue was the only one like it on campus. He called me his "little anomaly". Awwww, shucks. He's so sweet.

So, when Mac is an evil asshole, is that my fault since I did most of the raising of him?

Maggie

Random Sunday thoughts

I've been dreaming of buying new clothes. I even think I finally have achieved a professional look I want to carry on. So now, if I could get some money I'd go shopping. I love trousers and with heels, and blouses with cardigans and either necklaces or scarves.

Mac wants to see Arthur. I hated the first one and just do not like Russel Brand. Has anyone seen it and thinks it's worth taking him to see?

I discovered that if I open my blogger dashboard using Microsoft Explorer as my browser and I write and publish a blog post, there are no spaces where I hit the enter key to signify paragraphs. It makes the post one huge, giant paragraph. Another reason I hate Explorer.

I had a fight with ITSam yesterday- long story- and am considering ending this romance. XRayGIrl said if we were married would it be worth divorcing over and it just might. Anyway, when I get up this morning my computer and my wireless won't work. Is that a sign? I hate signs.

And then Mac came downstairs and before I could even open my mouth to ask him if he knew how to fix the computer, he held up one finger and said, "Mom, hold that thought. I'll fix it after I pee" and he did. Ha- to hell with signs!

I have a headache in the same spot, over and over again. I either have a tumor, lots of stress or need new glasses. The last time I had new glasses was in summer 2008. Might be about time to have the specs checked, eh?

Because we have summer school, I actually don't have the entire summer off like most people who work in education. I do, however, get three weeks to take at my choosing. If I am wise, I can use 13 of those days, the 4th of July holiday, and 8 hours of comp. time and be off from July 1- 24 which will feel pretty good to me. I'm saving 2 of those days to take Mac to college on Aug. 19-20.

I'm not sure I even want to get dressed and leave the house today. I have a good book and I need to do laundry. I want to make some cards with Daddy-O. I have food laid out for dinner. I'm thinking I might just be a worthless layabout for the day.

Speaking of card making, ever since I did the workshop at lunch with the kids at school, I've been making cards at home with Daddy-O. It's tons of fun. I really like it. There's even a card making workshop I want to go to in Northern Civilization. (SisIL you'll be hearing from me on this!)

And finally, please pray for me, send me good luck, go a dance, chant, rub Buddha, whatever you do because I applied for a job at the local prison. One of the Universities in my state has a program so inmates can earn college degrees. They actually staff an office at the prison and it has an opening. The administrative assistant there fills the role of secretary, registrar, financial aid liaison, and admissions reps. While you all know I LOVE working at the library, I need a full time job. With health benefits. I need MONEY. I'm hoping that with my brother's connection (he knows this guy because my Bro works at the prison and Bro told me about the job) and my ability to usually interview well., I'll be made an offer. Please please please.

That's it for the Sunday ramblings.
Maggie

More random Thursday thoughts from a tired brain

I zumba-ed tonight and am so tired that I can't string together coherent thoughts so you get random stuff. I'm not sure my fingers can type. I think I'm really gonna hurt tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow I'm supposed to appear in court on behalf of Princess; this is a typical thing that happens not because she was in more trouble. Her court hearing is 5 hours away. We're supposed to have 2 inches of ice and then 6-11 inches of snow on the ground by morning. Her caseworker, who is doing the driving on this road trip, said we're going no matter what. I told her over my dead body would I let her jeopardize the safety of Princess. She asked how I would stop her from going. i said I'd call our company President if I had to. I emailed her this morning, after she was dithering around to me that she didn't know "what to do if it snowed here tomorrow." I suggested that she call the judge, talk to his clerk. explain the situation and see what happens. The judge would either say call us tomorrow to see if you got the weather, tough crap and be here, or give us a continuance. I'm betting on option three. I'm frustrated. I don't think she did her job and I don't think she should endanger lives because she doesn't want to make a phone call. Ugh! Furthermore, I don't want to go tomorrow if the weather is that bad.

I still haven't heard anything about the job. Ridiculous.

I filed my taxes and I'm getting a return and I can now finish Mac's FAFSA. Please pray we get a ton of money.

Mac announced he wants to buy a MacBook Pro to use in college. He's opting out of prom since I said I would give him the cash I would spend on prom to put toward the computer. Those things are $1500. I hope he gets a lot of money for graduation gifts.

I like the word maelstrom.

Tons of movies are being released on DVD next month that I want to see: 127 Hours, Black Swan, Faster, Inside Job, Morning Glory, Next Three Days, Switch, Tangled, and Fair Game.

Okay this is it. My brain is yogurt. And I want chocolate. Now.

Maggie

Foray into Facebook

Reasons I don't Facebook:

1. I will not do anything that supports Mark Zuckerburg

2. Anyone I like well enough to be in contact with, I already am

3. I blog

4. I don't care

5. I would be upset if I was blocked or un-friended or if people wrote bad things on my wallpaper.

6. I'll be the person who can't keep her mouth shut and would wind up fired because I said something inappropriate or had pictures of me doing something "inappropriate."

That being said, I have apparently been a topic of discussion on my son's Facebook account, and ITSam has pictures of me on his. The easy one first: Sam did ask me if it was okay to have pictures of me on his Facebook AND he let me pick which ones I wanted him to use.

As for Mac... well, the background is that Sam and I were kissing on the couch the other night, after we thought everyone had gone to bed. We were not naked, touching naughty bits, or having sex, not groping or dry humping. We. were. kissing. on. the. couch. At my dad's. Mac came downstairs; he didn't say anything, but he did make gagging sounds. I thought nothing of it.

Until after school yesterday when Mac TOLD me he wrote it on his F-book, about it was "gross and disgusting to see" his mom and her boyfriend making out. Well, I guess he's gotten about 100 comments. The kids are teasing him to death- hey, he asked for it. And he told me I have a fan club. I've met most of the kids who said anything, either while they were hanging out with Mac or when I worked at his school for 8 weeks. One girl (she and I had a discussion one day about the difference between black and white guys) asked mac if my boyfriend was chocolate. Mac said, "NO! He's hairy, bald and vanilla- and mauling my mom." (there was no mauling, I swear!) The girl responded "Oh yuck- what is she thinking?" (Is it yuck that he's bald, hairy or vanilla?). The kids have really razzed him and love me, and just him to get over it. Mac said he was shocked at the number of kids who said they walked in on their parents having sex. He decided at that point, it could've been worse.

I can't believe he wrote any of if. I can't believe the kids commented. I can't believe I have a fan club.

Sometimes I wish I had a Facebook account only to see the pictures my sister-in-law posts of Fab Finn and the Divine Ms K. She takes tons of pictures and the kids are adorable and I would just love access to that. Sometimes I would like access to Facebook to ask, for example, Sam's cousin's wife (his 2nd cousin in law?) for a copy of a picture she took of him and me last summer at a picnic. That's pretty random, I know, but it's an example I can think of right now. Or when Farrago is going to sing karaoke or be in a show I could easily see this info- if he would let me be a friend.

Actually, Farrago had an idea. He said if there was stuff on Facebook and I didn't want to have contact with people in my past, that I could Facebook as Maggie. Now, that's a thought. Though, he did say this about 8 months ago and I haven't done anything like that so I think that's just what it is: a thought.

I think Mac gave me a new reason to stay off Facebook.

Maggie

Not ready to make nice

My library computer died today.

I checked books out all morning. When I got back from lunch and went to check out a book, I got an error message. I couldn't log back in without getting the same error message over and over again.

I let kids checkout books the rest of the day and just wrote the info down. Not a big deal, it seems, right?

I also should point out that 98% of campus used the library today. It was the first day we were open after a long Christmas break so all three English teachers brought all their students into day and all of them got at least one book, most of them got two.

So, at the end of the day I called our IT School Support guy. This is NOT ITSam. This guy is a liaison between the school and the IT department. So I called my Liaison and he came and did some stuff to my computer and discovered that not one single book I check out to student, nor any books I checked in or new library cards I issued were in the computer any longer. A called was placed to our library software support department and they went 10 rounds.

What it all came down to was that no back up files were made due to an errors someone made 3 years ago. Okay, so then we just go to our server, right? So our Liaison calls ITSam who says that he can't get that information because it was all corrupt. WHAT???

All day long different people called the ITSam department and reported our email wasn't working and we kept getting "can't connect to the server" message. ITSam's response to everyone all day was that there was nothing wrong with the server.

So now at the end of the day, after about 200 hundred books went out the library door to a school filled with kids who are mostly criminals, nothing is checked out. The computer shows all the books as "in." OMG... and did I mention that the majority of the books that were checked out were new books that I processed right before Christmas?

ITSam said that he could get information off the server when it did the morning back up but after that, the information is corrupt. So wait a minute. First he said it wasn't his server's fault, then he said my library computer wasn't on his server, then he said he could only get some information? Which story is right here?

I told him at the end of the day we were NOT going to discuss this at home. I was in tears at work over this whole debacle and I didn't want to talk about it with him. He said it wasn't his fault. I said I thought it was his department's. Mac stepped in and said to ITSam, "Dude, just back off mom. She thinks you're wrong and you think you're not. She said not to talk about it and man, I've known her a lot longer than you. Walk away from it while you can, before she annihilates you." We agreed to not talk about it.

The evening went on fine and after dinner I wanted to run out to Big R to see about a sweater sale. Well, ITSam couldn't let well alone. We argued about it and it was ugly. When we got back from Big R he said he just wanted me to drop him off at home, and I said I planned on it. And that was that.

I was right, by the way.

I might not be healthy for me to date a man with whom I work.

Mags

Not the sharpest tool in the shed

Now many of you may know this and if you do, you are much smarter and much better people than I am, obviously. If you didn't know this, then learn from my mistakes.

I used Mozilla as my web browser. I like it. Everyone has their own preferences and I just happened to like Mozilla. So several months ago, I decide to delete the Big Blue E from my computer. Yes my friends, I decided to delete Microsoft Explorer. I never used it and it was just sitting there taking up a huge amount of space. I thought I was freeing up space and making my life easier. I went through the whole "uninstall" thingy and even though it kept giving me a million warnings, I deleted that sucker anyway.

And for a few months everything was fine. Occasionally something wouldn't work or there was quirk or something odd but nothing that was really that bad. And I didn't really know WHY it was glitching. I thought it was just my computer or that I had a virus or something. Then I noticed that none of the add-ons I added would work. Then my MSN instant messenger program failed to work. And then the other day my computer auto set itself up to do something and I couldn't make it undo it.

So I went to ITSam and he started poking around and very nicely and calmly asked me where my Microsoft Explorer was. I casually said, "I deleted it because I use Mozilla." Dead silence. Utter and complete and total dead silence.

I can literally SEE the gears in his brain working. I can see his jaw moving and no sound. He got control and then very quietly (almost too quietly) and nicely said, "ummmm, honey, that does a little more than just act as a browser. You kinda need it for other stuff." I ask if that's why stuff has been going wrong and he says yes. Oh.

Then he starts poking around and muttering and looking and clicking... and he nicely and calmly tells me he's going to back up every single thing on my hard drive and will then have to restore the factory settings. And then he'll reinstall everything.

Oh. My. Goddess. And he wasn't kidding.

He nicely and calmly explained, without making fun or me or making me feel stupid, that while Microsoft Explorer is a browser it is also hard wired into the inner workings of my computer and to all the user systems. Or something like that. It was technical. I sort of glazed over but the big picture is that deleting it is bad and that Bill Gates somehow makes it necessary to have The Big Blue E on all computers whether you want it there or not, or your computer will slowly self destruct. That's what I got out of ITSam's explanation, anyway.

So I said to him, "Um, if you were just some random IT guy who wasn't dating me that I called on a customer service help line, and told you what I did, after you fixed it, you and all the other IT guys would get together and compare stories of the dumbest customers of the day. And when you got to tell about the lady who deleted her Microsoft Explorer, you would win dumbest customer award, wouldn't you?" He grinned and said "yes, but I love you anyway."

Damn blue E,
Maggie

Happy Freakin' Mother's Day to me...

On Mother's Day I woke up to find my computer had a very wicked Trojan Horse virus thingy called Antispyware Soft, which is supposed to look like your Microsoft virus protector thingy but it is so not. And if you think it's fake, like I did, and click the red X in the corner to make it go away, it actually runs the thing. So I shut it off right away and then I used Daddy-O's computer to see if I could learn anything about this TroHo. What I learned was there is a way to make it go away but I don't understand what I read. Furthermore, there are about 13,845 different instructions to supposedly rid my computer of this thing, but since there are so many choices, I'm a bit skittish on which will really take it away or which will make it worse. Yeah, the virus inventors also post directions on "how to make it go away" and it usually makes it worse. All it does is make me physically ill and really ANGRY!

So, my big plan for Mother's Day, which was to do nothing but drink coffee and catch up on my wonderful bloggy buddies' blogs, since I have been outta da loop for about a week (yes, self induced), was ruined. I couldn't read any. And I hate to take up Daddy-O's computer for hours to just hang out, surfing. And he has a desk top so it's not nearly as much fun and comfort as my usual corner of the couch prone position with my laptop.

Curley's son was supposed to come and fix it Sunday but couldn't so I ended up driving out there last night, to drop it off. Being without my computer, by choice, doesn't bother me; being without it because of some fucking computer virus monster thing just pisses me off!

And my most updated resume is on it as is Microsoft Word, which Daddy-O doesn't have so each time I want to send a resume I need to go to the library. This is not a convenient virus.

He called me later in the evening and said it's fixed! I told him it was like losing my favorite purse or an arm or something; he said it was losing my favorite shoe- I told him to bite his tongue! So I get my 'baby' back tomorrow, thank goodness and can't wait to make sure it's all workin'!

Suffering withdraw,
Maggie Mae

Housekeeping!

I finally got a new computer cord so now my blogging life and computer life are back to normal. I can once again sit on the couch and read blogs and write and all that stuff. So, for those of you who wondered why I stopped reading (and commenting) I worked last night to try and catch up and will do some tonight and over the weekend, hoping to get up to speed on your lives, so that I am technologically reconnected again to the www. Thanks to Daddy-O and Curley for getting me the cord, and to King of the Computers, the Nerd I love Most, for figuring out the dang problem to start with!

Speaking of blogging, I have no idea what shape I'll be in to blog come next Tuesday since that's when I'm having my wisdom teeth removed. And if they're so smart, why does everyone want them gone? Hmmmmmmmmmm?

No word from AlaskaSam on when, where or if we're going to meet for a holiday. Figures, and par for the course in life with (and without) him.

Not counting today, we have 6 more school days until Spring Break. I am SO ready! Daddy-O is going away and I plan on staying home and sleeping in and being a worthless layabout for as many hours as possible, when I'm not having girl's time out!

I also want to take this time to shout out a huge HELLO DARLINGS to all my new followers. Holy Moly- I have 60! Look at me go. That's cool. Thanks for following and reading and commenting! (hint hint!) Welcome! I might do another give away when I hit 100!

Mac's opening night of Alice in Wonderland is tonight as he debuts as the Mad Hatter. Send happy thoughts his way, please! And I'll try to post pictures over the weekend!

I also want to shout out a HUGE thank you to Wiley. About a million weeks ago this girl sent me chocolate cookies and a fountain pen in the mail. All the way from Australia! OMG- chocolate cookies with chocolate creme in them covered in chocolate. They're Tim-Tams and are just about the best cookie in the world (next to Mallomars). She sent these over an ocean because I commented on her blog that they sounded good. And this is an amazing fountain pen, and I love the way it writes. I cannot believe that all this time past and I never said anything! I suck. So I'm sorry Wiley, for taking so long to publicly thank you, but THANK YOU. Those cookies were freaking awesome. Mac stole one and almost lost a limb. Thank you so much- you rock!

I also want to say another thank you to my BFF in the Wild West. She sent me a Christmas present. Around, ya know, Christmas, and I just found a post buried in my archives with a picture of the cutest silver purse key chain. I LOVE this! She also made homemade camels but those didn't last long enough to be photographed. I'm not kidding about that! Thanks, Gulo! And you were a beautiful bride; I love that picture of you!

Here's the material for my dresses. The flowered pink one is a cotton from the wonderful line a fabrics called Tutti-Fruiti. The other is a silky material that is wild! Love these and will show off the finish products!

Just another Thursday,
Maggie

Ya ever have one of those weeks? And Friday hasn't really even started yet!

Mild Monday
Good day at school, even better when I got home because I went with Daddy-O shopping and then to hang with Curley for a few hours! It rocked!

Terrible Tuesday
The day started with a meeting of all "none certified staff"- this means all the folks who are not teachers. We were all told hours were being cut. And while that didn't affect me, I was basically told that I won't have a job next year because the grant money to pay me will be gone. So, come June 2, I am officially unemployed-again.

Otherwise, it was a good day at school- yeah, I know- two in a row? Who knew?

It was AFTER school where the first problem hit. First, I had to have a parent teacher conference, and I was the parent. Apparently, according to Mac's Step-monster, he got in a fight with his science teacher, cussed her, pushed her and threw a desk at her. In REALITY, what really happened was that he yelled at her, and cussed in FRONT of her. He never pushed her nor did he ever throw a desk. His step-monster is an over-dramatic, pot stirring, bitch from hell.

Anyway, I went to meet with the principal who first set me straight on what happened. Then he said he met with Mac ans since this behavior was COMPLETELY out of character for him, he was told he had to apologize and meet with the school counselor. BUT if he got in trouble again, he would automatically start at the 3rd disciple level. Then I had to meet with the counselor and filled him in on his sperm donor's supreme asshatness as a father and the super bitchiness of the step-monster. The counselor said he would meet with Mac once a week for the rest of the school year, that I had to pay $47 for SAT fees, Mac is a good kid who needs to apply himself and if he doesn't, the the law school Mac wants to attend won't even take him. Ummmm, okay- please hit me with all the bad news at one time.

I went home and had a long "Come to Jesus" meeting with Mac, so I think we have the situation in hand, and he lives to breath another day. And the swearing? he told the science teacher that "just because I took a dumbass science class doesn't mean you should treat me like a dumbass." Yes, world, he wants to be a lawyer. Judges don't call attorney's mommies to court to reprimand them, right?

Tuesday I also found out my computer was dead and I had to buy a new one.

Tuesday wasn't totally horrible because XRayGirl and I did see a movie and have an uber-cheap dinner.

Wastoid Wednesday
School was okay. I made it through the day and didn't lose my mind, so I consider it all good.

I went to the library and got some good books, and even had a sweet tea from Mickey D's.

I had a few hours home alone and instead of doing anything productive like housework, laundry or read, I was a complete worthless layabout on the couch and worried about going to the dentist, the cost of a new computer, Mac, the cost of prom, getting Mac a car, finding a full time job, no health insurance, being fat, wanting to drink, being lonely, and pretty much all other weights of the world I piled on me.

But hey, I had some alone time!

Thankful Thursday
School was fine. I am sick of poetry. I am sick of teaching. I am sick of students, as well as people in general. 'Nuff said, right? I'm tired of the politics and just in general stupid stuff that happens when you work in a public school.

I also went to the dentist. Okay, I know this is weird but I AM thankful for this because I got my teeth cleaned and they feel all shiny and new and pretty and smooth. I also got my new crown on, and it FIT! Though my gums are sore and my mouth is achy, it was good to have it all work right and be done. A further plus: I have no cavities. So when I get my 2 wisdom teeth pulled, I am done until I have a 6 month check up and cleaning. Thank you!

I also went out to supper for my favorite pub in my college town with Daddy-O. Dinner was great, as was the company- thanks father!

And the big news was that my computer wasn't really dead after all! One more big whoot-whoot to Curley's son! Love me that boy- he's my hero!

So all and all, this has been my work week, so I am more than excited about today being TGIF!

I need a weekend so badly. That's right, I NEED a weekend!

Hope your Fridays are delicious, too!
Mags