Back in the barn, if not on the horse

I wish I could be like Garrison Keillor and say, "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town ..." It's actually been a busy week.

Saturday night, we attended the annual talent show and dinner at our church. The 'Coffee House' is put on every year by the high school youth group. This year's theme was Pirates. All the kids dressed like pirates. The fellowship hall was decorated in the theme as well. Bad pirate jokes were told between the acts on stage. And, the menu had a nautical theme (pirate stew, skewered sea creatures, cold grog, etc.) The best part of the event, for me, was that each table was covered in brown craft paper and supplied with a box of crayons. I thoroughly enjoyed coloring while waiting for dinner to be served. I guess it really shows that I am feeling a strong need to express myself visually.

Saturday afternoon, my husband and I went shopping for the elusive Windows XP laptop. I want no parts of Microsoft's latest anything. Years of experience have taught me not to adopt a Microsoft product until Service Pack One of said product.

We are fortunate to have a CompUSA, Best Buy, and Circuit City, all within a block of each other. CompUSA had an Acer laptop that was still available with XP. However, we went with an open-box Compaq laptop from Circuit City. The price was right, and the features were adequate. Since it was an open-box item, they needed to restore it to its original settings. We purchased a two year protection plan and had them create a set of recovery disks for us.

After I picked it up on Sunday, I took the machine home and began removing all sorts of junk that came bundled on the laptop: a trial version of Microsoft Office, ISP sign-ups, potential spyware (Wild Tangent games), Vongo (a real pain to remove), etc. I then began installing some of my core applications: Zone Alarm, Audible, TiVo Desktop, Open Office, Firefox, and it's NoScript plug-in. I also set up a distinct limited-access account for myself. I don't have the machine perfectly set up yet, but I feel pretty good about the security and sleekness of the environment I've created thus far.

Purchasing the laptop forced me to finish filing our taxes. I usually have them done by the end of February, with President's Day being my big tax day. We almost always get a refund, so it's not like I was trying to avoid paying them. I just hate spending the time and obsessing over the innane details of our finances. Plus, I really don't enjoy sitting at my desk for hours on end, because of my back issues.

One of the prime motivators for picking up a laptop was my ongoing back issues. Having a wireless laptop will allow me to use a computer throughout the house, not just at my desk. I find that my back does better with my feet up in a reclining position. Plus, with a laptop I could also work on the computer standing up at the kitchen counter on occasion. Who knows? The ability to work away from my desk may also come in handy if (read: when) I have surgery.

I had my MRI on Tuesday. I probably won't get to discuss the results with my doctor until next week sometime. That's really o.k. by me. I've lived with this issue, in various degrees, for more than a decade. So, I'm in no hurry, especially if the next step is surgery. Also, if that course of action is inevitable, I have a life that I'd want to schedule the surgery around.

I have a project at work that I would want to finish up before potentially being out of commission for weeks. Plus, I have vacation plans in late April and late June. Pragmatically, if I need to have surgery to diminish my discomfort, mid-May could potentially work for me. (Silly of me to be thinking of all this before even discussing the results and options with my doctor, but I've always kind of been an over-planner.)

In any event, I hope to get back on track on my blog by posting at least once a week, if not more frequently. I may even post again later today or this weekend. I'm supposed to be reorganizing my home office. However, I'm great at avoiding things that I'm supposed to do. During exam week back in college, I always had a superbly clean dorm room and all my laundry was washed and put away.