Puppy Drama!

Sunday I had dropped my car off to get repaired and my Mom brought me back to my house. I was doing some things upstairs and Phoebe was playing downstairs. I came downstairs and found a chewed Clorox pen on my bed!!! Why does she have to do stuff like this when I don't have a car??!?!?! By this time, it was 2330. She had chewed a whole in the pen but it was still pretty full. I didn't think she had gotten to much but didn't know how much was too much for my little dog. I read the back of the pen and it said to push fluids. She didn't want to drink. I decided to just watch her for any abnormal activity.

The evidence:



I went to bed and let Phoebe sleep with me. She seemed to be acting fine. Then about 0500 she woke me up vomiting on my bed! She thought she was in trouble for making a mess on my bed and started running from me. Poor pup!



She finally let me get near her and she just gave me puppy dog eyes. I started to get a worried and started googling about dogs and clorox bleach. I didn't really find anything but found a ASPCA phone number. They wanted $65 just to consult. I thought that was too much so I didn't continue. When the vets opened, I called them and they suggested I call the number on the back of the Clorox pen. I did and they transferred me to a toxicology vet and paid the fees associated with the phone call. They told me since she was acting better since vomiting to just watch her. She never did have any more vomiting episodes and has done fine since. Phew!

I think the cats were blotting to kill the dog! :-) I had the Clorox Pen on my kitchen table so they had to have knocked it on the floor and the dog found it. I no longer own a Clorox Pen and if I do, I need to hide it better!

A day off, but only one!

I worked last night and it ended up being a good night to charge. I wonder if the hospital is slowing down a bit for the holiday next week. Whatever it is, I am liking it.

I didn't feel like I got adequate sleep today. Mainly it is because I have been letting my pup stay out of her crate and play while I sleep. She wants to be near me so she was bouncing around me while I try to sleep. I kept catching her doing stuff that she shouldn't be doing. Then after I relocated whatever she had her eye one, she decided that she would curl up next to me for a while. That didn't last long! I finally woke up and noticed that I had "legs" at the foot of my bed. I later learned that they were cricket legs. The body was not to far under a cover. Oh my! So I disposed of the body.

Since she kept bouncing on me, I finally got up and was able to cook dinner, take a shower and leave the house in time for my Camera Club meeting! I was quite impressed that I did all this in a 2 hour time frame. A phone call from my Mom was in the middle of all this. Know if I could have that kind of initiative everyday!

I have been enjoying chinese box dinner kits. My two favorites is Cashew Chicken & Garlic Chicken. So yummy! I just wish it came with brown rice instead just to be a little healthier.



I arrived at the Camera Club meeting and it was packed! I was glad that I arrived a bit early. The meeting was a slide show of a trip that some of the members took in about 4 canyon national parks. It made me want to just travel and take pictures! If I could only find me a job that would let me do that. I need to plan me a photography trip but a tropical one! :-)

I am hoping to stay up and get a few things accomplished tonight but I am sure I will fizzle out early. I hope that means that Phoebe will be tired tonight since she pounced on me all day! :-)

I am at Borders using the free wifi and have a few photography magazines I want to look at. I also want to do a little work on my Project 365 pictures. I am behind on posting them and need to get up-to-date! Later!

Car issues . . . .

I have had my car for about 9 years. It has actually been the best car I have owned compared to all the repairs I have had in previous cars. That is one reason I have kept it for so long. The second, I love not having a car payment.



Last week I had gotten off work only to find that my car wouldn't start. When I got in my car to head to work it didn't want to start but finally did. I even said at work that my car was going to die on my soon. I didn't realize it was going to be that morning! I called security to jump start my car only to find out that my battery had a crack in it. He said he could attempt to jump start my car but there was a risk for my battery exploding. So, I opted not to have it jump started. I was going to call my Mom to come pick me up and possibly have my car towed. When I called my Dad answered the phone which I wasn't expecting. It turned out he was off work because it was a holiday. My Dad came and picked me up and we got a new battery and installed it in the parking lot. I was happy that I didn't have to have my car towed. It turned out the battery was 6 years old! It was time for a new one.

I was told about 50,000 miles ago that I should have the timing belt and water pump changed. If the timing belt broke, it could damage the engine. I sure don't want that! It is an expensive repair. So I have finally saved up enough money to get these repairs done. Then I also need to have my muffler checked as it is loud and rattles a little. Next week I am having the big repairs done and then hopefully I will be able to get my muffler checked. It will be a lot quieter driving in my car when I get that fixed!

I have been really tired today as my allergies got crazy last night! I couldn't stop sneezing. I was glad that I woke up to no more sneezing but just have difficulty breathing. I didn't want to get up and do anything today but I had to be at work for a meeting. If it wasn't for that I would have stayed in bed longer! :-)

I have been trying to learn more about the Photography Society of America that I joined. I am currently taking a course to help teach me more about photography. I have taken some non-credit courses and learned lots from them. I just want to reinforce and build on what I have learned. i can't wait to finish my first lesson!

I am actually going to see what organizing I can do in my scrap room till I am ready for bed!

Grandma's and Birthday celebrations!

I was on vacation for 11 days from work the beginning of November. The first day of my vacation, my Grandma was admitted to the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in July and it is advanced. The oncologist believe that this started from her breast cancer she had years ago. She had been doing pretty good up to then but having problems with being short of breath. She finally got to go home 10 days after she was admitted but with oxygen. She is now adjusting to having oxygen at all times.

Over the weekend we had a birthday celebration for my Aunt, my Grandma's sister that has been staying with her. It was a nice family get together.

My Aunt and her birthday cake:


My fave is a picture of my Aunt and Grandma:


I have a page kit I bought from the LSS a week ago about sisters. I was planning on making it for my sister and I but know I think I am going to combine it with a generation of sisters. My Grandma & Aunt, my nieces and my sister and I. I need to get this kit out and start planning my other pictures. :-)

I have been trying to get my scraproom organized so I will feel like being more creative. Also being able to find things would be great! I hope to be able to slowly work on this. Tonight the allergies are starting to bother me and it will have to wait till tomorrow.

Michael Jackson

Photography love!

I have a great love for photography! I have taken all the non-credit courses at a local college and feel like I have learned a lot! I took a class over the weekend at the local photography store about exposure. I enjoyed it and hope to take the class on composition and lighting when they fit with my schedule.

This video I have had saved for some time and hope to take the time to learn how to TTV some photos!

DIY: How to fake TTV from Joe Philipson on Vimeo.

In June I joined Photographic Society of America and need to start taking advantage of some of the benefits. I also enjoy JPG magazine which is currently online. They now have digital subscription available.

Camera Critters!

I woke up this morning with Phoebe have fun playing some of her toys on my bed. I like it when she plays happily on my bed and lets me get some sleep!

Ice Hockey!

I had a fun day!! I ended up sleeping with Phoebe last night which she sleeps as close to me as she can get! I was so tired that I didn't even notice it till 0730 this morning! I had went to bed about 2200. I was tired! I thought that was good so I could get up and get ready for the day! The coldness in my house was making it difficult. It was 60 degrees in my house and I finally turned on the heat. After I got out of my shower, I was cold so I went to my warm waterbed only to fall asleep again! That was a mistake. I was hoping to be at my Grandma's between 1230-1300 and didn't make it till 1415!!

We all gathered at my Grandma's before the hockey game. Then we all headed off to see my cousin play ice hockey! I have never gotten to see her play before as she used to live in Seattle and play ice hockey there. She lives closer now and she was playing on a team that just happened to be playing here! It was exciting seeing her play. She is pretty good!! Her team won 2-0!

Then after the game I went home for a bit but then we meet up and had dinner together. We ended up eating at the Outback. It was good!

I love weekends like this!

Cold, jam packed day!

I hate the cooler weather we are having. We went from being warm to cold. I like a nice subtle introduction to the cold. All the rain we have had has made it cold! The only good thing out of this will be the killing of the pollen! I need that to be done badly!

I am tired as I didn't get my nap today! I got up early and was actually dressed at 0945! That doesn't happen very often. I decided since i was going to be gone all day to have Phoebe in Doggie Day Camp at Petsmart. I had a free coupon and I was able to get her in today on such a short notice! Phoebe was soo excited when we got there. You can watch them in the play room and Phoebe was greeted by all the other dogs sniffing her! It was funny and I am not sure she knew what to think about it. She didn't care about me standing outside the glass so I left.



I went and got my allergy shots, had a little lunch, mailed rolodex cards and then was off to Branson! I had signed up to get a free Chicago vacation a year ago by listening to a timeshare presentation. It was about to expire so I finally got scheduled to get my vacation.

I finally get to the place in time for my appointment. The lady at the desk told me I would have to wait for an hour!! I told her that I was on a time schedule and I had a 1330 appointment and can't stick around if I had to wait. She got on the phone and had someone to start this presentation. The guy happened to own a bar in my town and I had been to it before. I remember this particular band that I went to see and so we got to talking about that band. I loved Dead Eye Dick back in the day and still have there CD somewhere! I need to find it now.

The presentation was looonnnggggg. I was told it would take 90 minutes but it took 2 1/2 hours! Kinda cut into my plans a little. It was interesting listening to the timeshare and wasn't sure what to think about it. I would love to be a world traveler more than I am now and I felt like this would help me accomplish this. I didn't understand the "owning" your vacation vs. "renting" your vacation. It is still money I won't see again and I didn't understand where the equity part of this came into play. I was tempted but I knew I couldn't afford another monthly payment plus I wanted to understand it better. Since I decided not to do this I had to sign a waiver that I wouldn't be eligible for the Platinum package as it was for first time customers. If I can see in the future if this would work for me I am just out of luck. I guess it just wasn't meant to be but I do have a vacation to Chicago to use in the next year. I need to figure out when I can use it!

Then I went to the scrapbook store and then did a fast job through Branson Landing. It was too cold to enjoy Branson Landing plus I need to get back home to pick up Phoebe before Petsmart closed. I was able to accomplish what I wanted to and then I headed home.



Now Phoebe and I are tired! Phoebe is actually napping on my bed with me. She normally is chasing the cats! My plan of having a tired puppy with putting her in Doggie Day Camp has worked!! I actually might go to bed early tonight too. I got up way to early this morning!

I have another full day again tomorrow! :-)

This is a test . . .

I downloaded BlogPress for my iPhone and trying it out.

I have been watching Dexter Season 1 on netflix instant watch feature. It is interesting. I don't get Showtime so I will have to wait for each season to be released on DVD.

I have been doing some filing, cleaning and organizing while watching Dexter.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Long time no post

I have kept myself too busy lately. Between work and everything else going on, I just haven't taken the time to keep my blog up.

This month has been filled with all kinds of activities! I went to an all day scrapbooking event, family reunion, Cider days, C-street loft walk, Dog Fest, and my employee picnic! Then next weekend I am celebrating world card day, and scrapbooking with my sister. I am also going to visit my Grandma with my pup Phoebe.

I am still loving having a Mac! I have slowly gotten programs in Mac format that I like on my PC by shopping at ebay. I was able to get them cheaper. I would like to have Photoshop elements but have recently learned that version 8.0 is coming out. I hope that means Mac will too. I haven't taken the leap into upgrading to Snow Leopard yet. I have Photoshop Lightroom and CS4 and have heard of incompatibilities. I am hoping to wait till updates can be made for these programs before updating.

I am currently sitting in the Mudhouse to have a relaxing evening. Since the college students have been back in town, it has been busier here!

I have gotten myself behind in updating my Project 365 on flickr. I have been keeping a log of what photo I took on what day for my Project 365. I hope to be able to sit down and get that all updated soon. I am still learning the differences of Photoshop on a Mac and how to save things. It's also a little confusing that I will use 3 different cameras - my big DSLR, my point & shoot and iphone.



I have always been a fan of Macy Gray. Someone at work knew this and told me that she was going to be on Dancing with the Stars! I had to watch! I am sad that she was the first to get voted off. :-( She didn't dance very good but she did spice it up a bit! I was looking forward to seeing her on the show. Now I think I am going to have to watch to see Kelly Osborne. She did a great job!

A scrappy weekend!

My fun weekend started on Friday as I traveled to St. Louis to meet up with friends and scrapbook for 3 days!! It was a great weekend and hope to do this again in the future!

Here is my luggage & scrappy supplies:


Friday night was the arrival for the Scrapology event. I drove and I am not used to all the highways that St. Louis has but I did okay this time! One of the girls I meet up with lives in the area which is a big help with finding things! I also use my GPS system which I am not sure how I traveled and found things before getting it! After we all arrived, we scrapped for awhile and then went to dinner together. We had Mexican and it was good! I can't remember the name of the place though! Then back to the hotel for a night of scrapping!!

The crop room:

Our table:


Saturday we scrapped the day away but had a late lunch/early dinner to Fritz's! They make root beer and it was sooo good! It was a fun place to go. I have a big camera so I didn't bring it with me so I have no pics. ;-( I need me a good point and shoot camera to keep in my purse for times like this!

My plan for the weekend was to add pictures to the LO's I had done at the LSS. I was having a hard time getting pictures to fit the way they had them planned on the LO. I got pictures on a few of them but I was hoping to get the whole album done! I really need to sit down at my computer and be able to resize and print. I also brought a bunch of page kits and did scrap some of my Paris/London pics. I am slowly getting this album done! I didn't get as much done as I was hoping but I enjoyed the company I had!

I was proud of myself that I didn't go shopping at the vendors at the crop and I didn't sign up for any classes. I normally have a weakness for these things but was strong!! When I was getting ready for Scrapology, I have to many kits to put together at home. I need to start using more of my stash. But I did have to go to Archivers while I was in St. Louis as there isn't one in my town. St. Louis one is the closest to me which is a few hours away! It is always fun to visit that store!

Sunday, my roomie and I slept in a little. We finally got to the crop about 11am and ended up leaving about 2pm. Not much scrapping on Sunday. I was feeling tired even after having about 8 hours of sleep! Then we did do the Archivers shopping then we headed home.

What I got done on Sunday:


It was the tax free weekend so I have been wanting a MacBook for quite some time. After my PC laptop troubles in May and talking at length with someone about what an apple would do, I really wanted one!! I called Best Buy in my town to see if they were having any special financing and they were!!! 18 months with 0% interest!! They even had extended hours so I was able to get back in time to get me my new toy!! I have a 13" MacBook Pro and trying to figure it out!! I am sooo excited about the battery power - I have been on here for about 1 hour and I have 7 hours of battery life still!! My laptop would be dead by now. I have Photoshop CS3 on my PC laptop and need to figure out what to do about that. I might need to search ebay to see if I can find it cheap!

There are little things I am so used to on my PC that doesn't work on my Mac. I saw on the apple website that I can take tutorials to help me learn my Mac. I am happy I saw that!! I am looking forward to learn more and fall in love with a Mac!

My new computer!


I got a hot pink cover for my Mac and love it!!

I have lots of updating to do on my blog of some events that have happened in the last couple of weeks. Some sad and some fun stuff! I am going to be working tonight with no sleep. I usually will take the day off after traveling but I didn't this time. I needed to go pick up my pup from being kenneled at the vets so it messed up my day sleep schedule. I just hope it is a good night!!

I ♥ faces! - Feet

This is for the feet photo challenge at I ♥ faces! This is a picture I took at the dog park last November. I wish I had some summer feet pictures but I can't find any. :-( I need to do better at tagging all my pictures so they will be easier to find! This is my pup Phoebe and my nieces feet. Her boots have fuzzy balls on them but Phoebe kept playing with them so they are hidden inside her boots!

Lazy weekend . . .

Saturday morning I got off from work and I went and visited my Grandma in the hospital. She told me she was feeling better but she seemed short of breath to me. I didn't really think much of it since she has pneumonia. On Sunday she had a chest xray to see if her pneumonia had improved and she has fluid on her lungs. That explains why she may have been short of breath also. I hope and pray for her to get better. This is her second episode of pneumonia this year. :-( Earlier this month she lost her voice and they haven't been able to figure out what has caused this. At least she is keeping a positive attitude through all this.

I was playing around one night while waiting at a stop light and got this picture:

Also Saturday morning was Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk. I really wanted to go but by the time I found out about it, it was full. :-( I thought about showing up anyway to see if I could participate but I decided visiting my Grandma was more important. Plus I had worked all night and needed sleep! I am going to have to get my nieces together and we will have to make our own photo walk! I follow the blog of the person who was leading the photowalk in our area and saw some pictures. I had meet him while talking a portrait photography class last year. I have noticed that he is in the camera club that I have been getting involved with. I ♥ photography!

On Saturday, I was pretty tired and just couldn't wake up till 2100! I was hoping to get my bike tire changed and ride my bike since the weather has been so nice. I thought I would do that on Sunday but it just didn't work out. I hope the temps cooperate this week and I can get this accomplished!

Sunday I went to one of the scrapbook stores to attend an Intermediate Design Studio class. It was fun and I have learned some new things! I had taken a nap in the afternoon before going so I thought I would be able to stay up later than what I was able to. I was hoping to play more and make something creative.

After the class, I went to the Mudhouse to chill. I just enjoy being able to relax and attempt to learn more from the web in relation to Photoshop and photography. I ended up cruising the web, looking at pictures and reading MB and didn't get everything done that I wanted. When I was getting involved in listening to a video about some photo editing, a guy decided to sit at my table. ????? I was sitting next to the bathrooms and so he decided to wait at my table. He didn't smell the greatest and I actually ignored the fact that he was at my table. I thought once the person got out of the bathroom, he would leave. The person was taking a long time so he started yelling and cussing. I was still trying to ignore it. Then an employee came by and asked what he was doing and he said he wanted to use the bathroom. He was told it was for customers only and that he had to leave. He fought for a bit and he was asked to leave and told where the door was. I had lost all concentration in learning about photo editing at this point! He finally did leave and the people at the table in front of me turned around and thought I knew this guy which I didn't. Then the employee that told him to leave came to my table to tell me that he had been bothering people in the coffee shop so he decided he needed to leave since he wasn't a customer. I was ready to leave at the point but then stayed a little longer afraid that this guy would be sitting in front of the coffee shop. When I did leave, he was no where in sight.

I did a little grocery shopping and then returned home. I decided to watch Harper's Island once I got settled at home and it started to get real interesting! I was starting to fall asleep and went to bed. Phoebe was being calm and laid down with me but then I woke up about 0600 with her jumping and playing around me! My pup recharges to quickly! She is quite adorable!

It is Monday now and I am watching more of Harpers Island but plan to go back to bed soon. I need to get more sleep to work all night. I just hope it is a good one! I have woke up feeling like I am getting a cold. I hope that isn't true!! I am sure my allergies are to blame for some of this.

I ♥ faces!

My adorable pug puppy, Phoebe. This is her favorite bone but it is getting a bit worn now. This is for the pet photo contest at I ♥ faces!

Friends, Photography & Scrapbooking

I have had a busy last 5 days off from work. On Wednesday night I went and had dinner with some friends and then we ended up hanging out at a few places. I got home about 0100. It was a fun evening. One of my friends is moving an hour away.

Thursday, I ended up sleeping most of the day. I was supposed to go to a charge nurse meeting and slept through my alarm! I did wake up in time to get ready to attend the Southwest MO Camera Club. I really enjoyed this meeting and got to interact with more of the members. I was planning on joining and still plan to but there was a lot of people around the person who does new memberships. I thought I would do it after the meeting but the meeting went longer than normal and he left before it was over. I am going to miss the next meeting because I am working. :-( I hopefully will be able to make it to next month's meetings and attend some field trips in the future.

Friday, I went to a crop at the LSS. I always enjoy going to crops and meeting new people. I did get a few things done but I need to print pictures for some of the LO's I did.

Saturday, I met up with some friends from work and we went bowling. I hadn't been bowling in a long time! It was fun and my highest score was 104! The other two games weren't that good. My total for all 3 games was 229. ♥ Then afterword we went to on of the girl's house and hung out. We ended up staying till 3am! We had a fun evening but I paid for it on Sunday!

I was looking forward to Sunday as I didn't have anything planned. I was soo tired from going to bed so late. I had woke up around noon but was back in bed about an hour later and slept till 1830! I got ready and then headed to the Mudhouse to hang out for a bit.

My 5 day weekend has come to an end and it was a fun long weekend. I am still tired from it all! ♥

How time flies!!

It has been almost a month that I have posted anything! I didn't realize it had been that long.

I guess I will do a little catching up on a few things.

The 4th of July didn't go as I had hoped. My sister, nieces and I went to the, "I Love America" celebration here in our town. It was fun as always but they had it on July 3rd. It is normally on the 4th of July so I requested July 3 & 4 off so I could be awake during the day to enjoy the day activities. Since it was July 3, I worked the night before leaving me sleeping like I have in years past. I did bring my tripod and got some good firework photos! Here is one:



So on the actual holiday my family never gets together. We all live inside the city limits so no fireworks. I was trying to get together with my sister and nieces to go swimming. It rained so that was out. Then my sister thought her husband was going to have a BBQ but that didn't happen. So, when I found out nothing was going to happen I went back to bed and just slept most of the afternoon. I had to work the next day anyway so I didn't care if I slept to much.

I hope next year it works out better! It will be on a Sunday so I can see them moving it to another day since it is a church that puts this celebration on.

Sleepless nights . . . .

I have been on vacation from work since Sunday morning. I came home, got 3 hours of sleep and went to a Design Studio class at the LSS. I actually didn't feel too bad but my allergies were driving me crazy that day. That night I took some Benadryl. I ended up sleeping for 12 hours! I woke up on Monday around 11am. I wasn't able to get to bed early Monday night and ended up falling asleep about 5am.

Tuesday I was so tired from not having that much sleep that I ended up falling asleep during the day. I was falling asleep waiting for my comforter to be done in the laundry and decided to find another cover for my bed. I went to bed about 3am and have been laying in bed! I can't seem to get a good nights rest. GRRR!!!! It is currently 0540 and I decided to just get up for a while. Maybe I need more strawberry milk but I don't want to wake the puppy up!!!



Tuesday was a productive day even though I did sleep some of it. I have been having problems with my garage door opener which I thought it was the remote. After taking my remote to the company it came from, I found out it was working okay and giving off a signal. They did adjust the signal and thought that might help. It didn't so I needed to get either a new motor unit that is more up-to-date or get a wireless transmitter. I decided to get the wireless transmitter since it was the cheaper route. He programed it for me and then I just had to install it. He made it sound easy and it actually was! It didn't take me long and everything is working again! I am so glad to have a working garage door remote/opener! I just hope it last!

I decided to take on the Geek Squad today and try to get my money back. I went in with my receipt and explained to them that the laptop is already repaired and they didn't repair it and I would like a refund. He said just a minute and walked away for a few minutes. When he came back he had all these numbers and was typing me in a refund!!!! I was so happy that I didn't have to fight about it! I was ready . . . they should have caught this the first time around anyway.

I have fallen in love with a Mac! I really hope to be able to get a Mac laptop later this year. I need to recooperate from all the home/laptop repairs I have had to do! I am glad that a new iphone is coming out and that I will be able to get one! I was originally supposed to upgrade May 18 but I had cancelled my internet in February after Phoebe chewed up my phone. That moved my upgrade date to August which now is a good thing since I will be able to get the newest model! :-)

I really hope that I can get some sleep. I don't have too much planned for today, just hanging out at the coffee shop and preparing for an all day crop this weekend!

Hopefully, I will catch some Zzzzzzzz's soon.

The rest of the computer story

I am not happy how this story has ended and the money I have spent. I could have put a good down payment on a new computer. GGRRRR!!!!! I am seriously thinking about switching to a mac laptop. I already talked to someone about this and how I can get my windows version of Photoshop CS3 to work!

I love the PC vs. Mac commercials! I can so relate to them having a PC. I think this picture of the PC guy is the shape my laptop is in. I have only heard good things from people that use a Mac!

I dropped my laptop back off to the Computer Hospital the next day of picking it up. It was freezing up still and not letting me do anything. On Tuesday, I got a phone call that they thought that my anti-virus and spy sweeper was using a lot of CPU's to run. They wanted to remove them to see if that helps my situation so I told them to go ahead. I had the programs at home to be able to reload. Then I didn't hear anything.

I was getting concerned and called on Saturday. He was getting ready to call me to tell me I had a bad hard drive. I wasn't happy that Geek Squad didn't catch this as my service plan would have paid for this!!!! I was uncertain what to do but they had already did a ghost image of my old hard drive to a new one. I really thought they would call me first before doing anything like that. I said I wanted to call Best Buy since they should have caught this.

I call The Geek Squad and they told me they would have to run diagnostics to my laptop again. I told them I know what is wrong and they missed it the first time. They still had to run diagnostics. They couldn't guarantee me that they would replace the hard drive if the diagnostics came up negative again. I have been so upset in regards to my service plan this time. I will never buy one again from Best Buy!!!! I was getting the run around.

I decided to wait and call the Computer Hospital back the next day to give all this some thought. I had asked other people about this and what they would do and they weren't sure either. On Sunday, I had decided to let the Computer Hospital to go ahead and install the new hard drive and to forget the Geek Squad since they were giving me the run around. I now have my laptop back with all my old stuff on a new hard drive. It isn't freezing up!!! So nice! I am done with the Geek Squad!!

Since I paid for Geek Squad to repair my laptop and they never did, I feel like I deserve my money back. I have already asked them for my money back the day I picked up my laptop. The guy told me to figure out another way to back up my computer and I could bring it back on the 30 day guarantee for a restore. I didn't push the issue anymore. I am ready to push the issue since all this should have been covered under my service plan. I was too busy today and didn't get to pursue this. If I have to, I will file a complaint with the BBB for the service I received.

A computer story

Long time no blog! I have kept myself a little busy with scrapbooking, photography and work! I have been without my laptop for about 3 weeks. I just got it back and as I typed the first couple of sentences, IE stopped responding. I logged back in using FireFox instead.



On May 10, I had woke up early that morning and was using facebook. I was in one of the apps when I saw how my friends had played this game and to try to beat their scores. Well, it was a trick. I clicked on it and started downloading this game. My antivirus program came up saying it was unsafe so I stopped the download. I had downloaded a virus to my computer!!!!! Trend Micro quarantined it, and then I deleted it. Ever since my computer had been running slow and would just freeze up on me. I was going out of town the next weekend and wanted my laptop. I would get it to work but then it would eventually freeze up.

I took it to Eureka Springs with me and I did get it to work on Saturday but it was the last time. It wouldn't let me back up files are anything. I took it to the Geek Squad on Monday. I have a service plan with them and wanted my DVD drive looked at also as it wants to work all the time!!! Plus I had the new problem with my system freezing up. I was very unhappy with them as they told me that it was going to be $130 just for them to figure out what was wrong with it. I wasn't happy with the new policies they had but if the DVD drive was something my service plan would cover, I went ahead and had them service it.

I waited, waited and waited some more for a phone call. I had stopped in the store a few days after dropping my laptop off and wanted them to also remove some programs I don't use anymore. I found out that my laptop was in the middle of the diagnosis program and that I should be getting a phone call in a day or two. After about 3 days and no phone call, I decided to call. I got told that they were running virus/spyware programs and they would call me in a day to let me know what the outcome was. After 9 days of being told a couple of days each time I was getting frustrated!! I called last Friday and they said my computer was actually ready the day before BUT they couldn't get anything done with it as it kept freezing up on them. I wanted to tell them THAT IS WHY I BROUGHT MY COMPUTER TO YOU FOR!!! The Geek Squad has my laptop for about 2 weeks and I was getting it back in the same state it was in when I dropped it off. So frustrating!!!!!!

The next day I called the Computer Hospital actually to price a backup. Geek Squad wanted $160 for anything over 9GB. My pictures alone are 12GB and I refused to pay that much money for a backup. A couple years before that it was $99 for a backup and I had my whole computer backed up! The other place I called said a back up would be $25 for the first DVD and $5 for each additional DVD. Much better pricing!!

I took it to the Computer Hospital and they were asking me about what my problems were. I ended up letting the repair it. I dropped it off on Saturday and on Sunday got a phone call of the repairs it needed and what it would cost. Very nice people and it only took them 2 hours!! They had found some various virus and spyware that my programs for some reason didn't pick up. They removed them and my laptop wasn't freezing up for them. Awesome!!!!

I actually started this blog post on Sunday and finishing it up on Monday night. My laptop did good for a while but started freezing up again. It was doing much better than before. I attempted to copy files to my desktop but my picture file is so big it eventually would freeze up. I finally gave up and called the Computer Hospital back and they told me to bring it in and it wouldn't cost me anything else since it was repaired just recently. He said that they stand behind there work and want to get it right. I am hoping to get a phone call with some good news Tuesday! I was planning to get a backup of the files I wanted and restore it. If it doesn't work this time, that is what I will do.

I have had a rough last 3 weeks with my laptop! This computer story is still in progress and hope the ending is good!