eruthros | Boring Life Update Post #311-B

Really, I'm impossibly codependent. I'm sitting here going "yes, yes, yes, but when will it be back?"

That's right, my laptop is In The Shop. Metaphorically speaking, of course, as it's more likely In Transit or On An Airplane or Dropped in a Vat of Boiling Acid Never To See Human Hands Again or something similar. I have crucial data backed up, of course, but still... laptop! Laptop not here! Laptop gone! And someone else is going to touch it! Clearly this is a horror that cannot be accepted.

Sadly, I must put up with it, as the connection of the AC adapter to the laptop itself was what is politely referred to as "loose." Meaning "sometimes I could maybe get power if I wiggled the plug and then held it right. there." And the battery only held a charge for 15 minutes. Between the two ... well. It was getting very frustrating. And I am a reasonable person. Really. So I took my laptop out of its safe case and gave it to some weird kid who wasn't even sure how to plug it in. And now it's gone.

***

And at work today, similar computer stuff going on. I have a terminal, see, not a real computer, so I can connect to a "desktop" via citrix or to accounting software via telnet. And I got in this morning to find that -- surprise suprise! -- neither connection was working. Fiddled with connections, fiddled with power, tried again a few times, had no luck, and eventually called the "helpdesk," which, as office folks know, is really what we used to call "the overworked admin assistant for the whole of IT." Explained my problem in detail, read out the error messages, and was given a ticket number to wait for a return call. Got a return call from someone who wanted to know whether the program that wasn't working had been working before. Explained politely that as I was on a terminal, I had to have been able to find the network every time I'd logged on previously. Further explained that I was not attempting to use citrix for the first time -- I needed to use it everyday to use the computer. The fellow said "okay, we'll send someone up in a minute."

Waited an hour. I have no phone, so I was using my coworker's phone, and they phoned her back to inform her that she seemed to be logged on just fine. She said "yes, but it's

eruthros that's having the problems, that's why we gave you her log in info." "Oh," they said, "gosh, I guess that is written down here. Well, we'll send someone right up."

Waited an hour. Finished re-reading Small Gods, which I had intended to be my bus-ride book. I started it this morning, btw, is how long this took. Someone had twenty minutes of filing for me to do. So, at around 12:30 pm, my productivity for the day was around 20 minutes of real work, 30 minutes of folding miniature cranes out of scraps of post-it (really not the best paper for miniatures), and Small Gods. And then, finally, at 12:30, someone from IT showed up.

And asked me a lot of questions over and over again. Eventually we established that I'd never had this exact problem before and that it had started sometime between when I left yesterday and this morning. This took a while, but it may have been worth it. Then the IT person fiddled with the cables, fetched a new cable and tried that, fiddled with the power, fiddled with the settings, discovered it didn't work, and finally unplugged my terminal and took it downstairs to IT, saying she'd "be right back." ... So, naturally, by the end of the day I had seen neither hide nor circuit of her or the terminal.

However, one of my co-workers left early, so I got to use her computer. Of course, that was about 2:00 pm, and then I had to futz with settings so's to access the Oracle Forms and whatnot. Total productivity for the day: probably two-three hours.

Oh, yes, computers are the wave of the future, whoo boy. I can see them improving my work ethic e'en as we speak.

***

At least my very productive work day left me enough time to bookmark one of my favorite quotes from Small Gods, one that really says something about PTerry to me.

"But what's it a sign of?" said an elderly man who had been camping out in the square for three days.
"What do you mean, of? It's a sign!" said the wooden-legged man. "It doesn't have to be a sign of anything. That's a suspicious kind of question to ask, what's it a sign of."
"Got to be a sign of something," said the elderly man. "That's a referential wossname. A gerund. Could be a gerund."

Possibly the reason I like this so much is because I consider "it bodes" to be a perfectly reasonable statement. I mean, some clouds bode well, some clouds bode ill, some clouds just bode. I think pretty much every event in Hamlet, for example, bodes. Who needs an object? (Or, in the case of signs, a prepositional phrase?) I ask you!

Actually, Small Gods is the first first Pratchett I ever read. Loaned to me by

copperbadge. In return, I believe, for my copy of The League of Frightened Men, the second Nero Wolfe book, which I feel obligated to point out I never got back. *clears throat* A-hem.

And, okay, so there were like ten DW books before it, but SG came out in 1992. I was eleven. I think I'm doing pretty good in that I'd read every DW book before they were all published in the States. (Thanks for the loans,

copperbadge; really, it's okay, you can keep the Rex Stout.) I feel comfortable in my fannishness. *g*

***

In other Random News, that being all I'm doing today, Robert Heinlein's widow donated his personal library, including letters and manuscripts, to UCSC. And also funded a position to do research and organizing. How's that for weird?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Actually, Small Gods is the first first Pratchett I ever read. Loaned to me by copperbadge. In return, I believe, for my copy of The League of Frightened Men, the second Nero Wolfe book, which I feel obligated to point out I never got back. *clears throat* A-hem.

*laughing* And that's the one he recommended to me, which is sitting on my living room table at the moment. (My own copy, that is, not his/yours. That would have been too strange....)

To be fair, I got my first copy at a library book sale for fifty cents, and since I got my replacement copy for the same price at the same library sale a few months later (after I decided that my copy had clearly been Absconded With, Never to Return), I didn't feel the original's loss much. Not like my copy of Good Omens, which I keep buying new, only to have people borrow it and then wander off...

And that paragraph is fraught with crappy grammar, but it's late here, and I think you know what I mean.

I know how that goes. I bought The Princess Bride three times, used twice, so I just gave it away outright twice... by the third copy I'd bought the anniversary edition hardcover, which cost enough that I'm keeping it close. ;)

Meant to say, too, that it really is my favorite of the books, and I hope you enjoy it. The Archie and Wolfe reparte in it is fab, and of course the plot is pretty fun too. Plus, Wolfe attempts to solve a murder by reading poetry, which amuses me endlessly.

Do you know, I haven't been able to find LOFM for nearly three years now? I'm quite aggrieved over losing it, as it was my favourite. Clearly I'll have to find two copies *grins* I think I may have lent it to a chap named Goodwin at undergrad -- he was iffy about reading the book but they spoke to his sense of humour and he borrowed most of the ones I owned...

*kicks LJ for not sending me comments in email*

Oh no, really? It's gone? How sad and horrible! I love it, and I love the twist in the plot that I won't say more about because

casira hasn't read it yet. But it's a fabulous, fabulous twist. And I adore the reasons for the soup-drinking in the fellow with the pink tie. And also I adore the bad poetry. And, really, the whole thing.

You don't need to find two copies -- I've got another one now. I may even have two, so I might be able to "loan" you another copy.

I hope M. Goodwin enjoyed it. :)

It's really one of his best stories, which is odd, isn't it, as it's only the second novel? The soup-drinking fellow indeed *grins* My favourite bit is the paragraph about the ostrich-skin wallet, however...

Goodwin did enjoy it! Clearly, if the bastard kept it...

Oh god yes! How could I have forgotten the paragraph with the ostrich-skin wallet? That is the bestest thing ever, especially since the whole thing is from Archie's POV. And then when Saul tells you about the bits that Archie didn't see ... well, my reaction is pretty much: *sniffle* awwwwwwww.

I think that part of the reason it's one of his best stories is that he hadn't developed a routine yet so he really had to think about characterization. And also he hadn't yet worked out his "stuck in the plot? kill off someone else!" model of mystery writing. I mean, they're still fun, but clients and suspects drop like flies and so you don't really appreciate them as characters rather than plot -- unlike Mr. and Mrs. Chapin and the soup-drinking man with the pink tie. Who are absolutely characters. *g*

That's actually me up there. Not m_shell. Which is what I get for not checking to see who's logged in.

Gotcha :D Replying here. Tell her happy birthday btw -- sorry I was late on that.

The ostrich-skin wallet is proof that Archie and Wolfe are madly in love :D

I agree with you about routine. Everything's still very fresh, because it's so early on. It's also one of his longer ones, isn't it? And certainly the one with the most dynamic characters...

Madly in love in a manly, platonic, swinging-forties sort of way, you mean? With orchids and declarations of love that are more "Archie. I submit to circumstances. So should you."? (And not in a gushy "I wuv you" way, or in a "Archie, I am your father" sort of way? Because ... no.)

I think it is one of the longer ones, yes. And all fresh! and new! and exciting!

Btw, you know remember Dol Bonner, the female detective Wolfe uses sometimes? She's got a book of her own, which I found at (where else) the library book sale and have now read. Not bad, although odd -- female protagonist and all. You can borrow, if you like. Also I have Red Threads, the one with Cramer as the main character, and The President Vanishes, the one with nobody we know in and with the president being kidnapped.

Madly in love within the constraints of two men who can never admit they are madly in love, yes :D

I remember finding the book of Dol Bonner's, but I never could get into it. Or Red Threads. I needs me some Archie!

That's the best kind of manly love. *g*

I could never get into the Dol Bonner one (boring) or Red Threads (even more boring), although I didn't read both of them all the way through, but I have a shameful and rarely spoken-of fascination with The President Vanishes.

I've reread it. Multiple times. And by "multiple" I mean "probably approaching ten." Really. *ashamed*

But it's got a Stoutian plot, with a very Archie-like lead. And... actually I don't know why I like it. But I do. (Very embarrassing, given the plot. If I wanted to read that sort of thing, I could pull out the Eric Ambler and really give it a go. Conspiracies! Hidden agendas! No-one knows the truth! Oy.)

I'll have to keep an eye out for that one. NOt that I can ever find any stout, ever *fwaps all second-hand bookstores*

I read Hogfather first which might have meant it was hard work to catch up on the first 20 (or thereabouts) before Jingo came out....but I managed it :D oh the torture ;)

Clearly horrific torture! Was a comfy chair involved? *g*

I know, it was terrible! And yes, sometimes the comfy chair, sometimes the bed or the train or the car.... ;)

Boring Life Update Post #311-B

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