July 9, 2015

White Dog came and settled next to me at my desk. Like everyday, I changed glasses and pressed the button to turn on my monitor. Nothing happened. WD looked up at me.

I checked the CPU; no "on" light. I pushed to Power On. Nothing. I flipped the master switch that controls all of the elements of my computer system, rocking it from "on" to "off"  and back again. The panel showed no life. The printer was silent. The wireless box and the internet connections both lacked their usual happy glows.

I sighed. White Dog sighed. We had LOTS of work to do...all of it on the computer.

I reached for the house phone to call Steve (my IT guru) at school. Of course our houseline is computer-based, through via-talk. Deep breaths. WD pawed at my leg and reminded me that I DO have a cell phone. I dug through the stack on my desk and found the primitive old-fashioned dumb phone. Fortunately, it was plugged into the recharger.

Steve was in class when I called with my pitiful message: "no computer. no phone." I thought about it and called back to add, "no computer at all not just lacking internet." And then  White Dog and I got up to return to the living room where we could at least not have to stare at the electronic blankness.

And my elderly slide out keyboard phone lept from my shirt pocket to its death on the floor. "Noooooooo! The ONE time I needed you and you off yourself?" I picked up the battery and replaced it. Nothing. Could not find the backplate. "Doesn't it just figure," I asked WD.

Now we were really isolated from the world...that worried me a bit. We carefully made our way back to the living room and resigned ourselves to trying to find some joy in reading while we waited for someone to miss us.

Mid-afternoon Candace came in from the studio and the WDA swarmed her in gratitude. "Could you text Steve and let him know I destroyed my cell and that we still don't have computer or phone?" I asked her. I did not want him to worry when he could not reach me through my cell.

After sending the message, Candace went into the office to check the connections and cables. This involved crawling around under the desk and moving things away from the wall.  Zsofia stuck her head in the footwell, next to Candace's in an attempt to be helpful. Nilla and Sachi guarded the side of the CPU. "Everything is plugged in and nothing is loose or chewed."

In the meantime, Steve had texted a few suggestions of things to try. None worked. He directed her to the surge protector and asked her to set the restart. It would flash its light and then would fail. Zso helped Candace experiment by removing plugs from the protector and plugging them directly into the wall outlet. They seemed to work as each was tried.

My black box seemed to be the problem and as Nilla and Zsofia pawed assistance in getting the heavy box out from behind the desk Candace noticed its low battery indicator was on. She unplugged each component of my system and replugged them into a temporary strip outlet.

Sachi came running out to tell me that the computer had booted! White Dog ran into the office to verify Candace's act of magic. Sure enough! It was true! We had reentered the electronics age...except the phone was still not working.

I didn't care. The computer worked and I could access files AND had internet connectivity. Woohoo! I offered Candace my first born human child in thanks.

White Dog sighed in relief. "I thought for a second there, momma, you were offering ME as payment!" "As glad as I am to be able to get things done, Little White Dog of My Heart, THAT would never happen!" But today Candace is my hero!