Happy New Year to those that are keeping track of the days.  I know many of you just plod along from one week to the next and may not have noticed the change.  I’m hoping that includes many of you.  Then you won’t notice how long it has been since I posted last.  I have a few excuses that I will get to shortly, but I did want to put in writing the same resolution that I did last year, namely, to write more.  Once I have that mental pressure perhaps I will get back into the swing of things.  I have so much to cover in any case.  Now, on to the excuses.

I traveled since my last post.   I traveled a lot.   One trip took me to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Another took me to Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan (again) and Kuwait.  Shortly after I arrived home from the first trip, which would have been late September, I found that my computer was fried.  Completely fried.  I called in experts.

Three incredible geek friends (these are incredible friends who happen to be computer geeks, not friends who happen to be incredible geeks.  Just clarifying since they all put on armor and hit people with sticks) came over and looked at it.  They poked and prodded and jiggered and moved cables and fiddled with knobs.  (Not that there are knobs on my computer, but fans of Black Adder will appreciate the reference).   They went to the DOS prompt and put in complex words and slashes and other symbols that were unintelligable to me.    AFter each input they watched the results and collectively muttered.  They looked like three surgeons working on a terminal patient.  It was NOT good.  I began to think when the first one started to nervously edge away from the computer and distance himself from the other two, that the patient was going to die.  When the second came back and nodded to the first then look hopelessly at the third who still tried to resucsitate the patient, I was certain there would be a funeral.  “It’s fried,” they collectively agreed.

I spent weeks mourning the loss.  I finally decided to buy a new gaming computer so I went to the Dell site and looked at their top end gaming systems.  This was obviously before the stock market crashed and I lost…well…I don’t want to talk about it.   I spent thirty minutes deciding what I wanted then bit the bullet and ordered a new computer, or so I thought.  Once I hit the “continue” button I found that I had to fill out “options” for the computer.  Each option had links to explain why I wanted whatever it was offering.   You know, you click on the “Illudium 238 Space Modulator” button and it explains how this will help keep rabbits out of your hard drive and assist you in attracting hot martian chicks.  There were sixteen pages of options if I recall.  It took me over an hour to get to the credit card page, by which point the system had timed out and I got an error screen.  It was late at night and I wasn’t thrilled, so I didn’t buy the computer.

The market crashed and it wasn’t a good time to buy a new computer so I took up a new hobby…more on that in a follow on post, though I will say in advance that Heather is an evil…I mean a wonderful influence.

I went on my second trip and decided that I might never get a new computer.  Just before I went on my trip however, my lovely wife called in an international specialist from Holland.  That is to say, the most incredible computer geek friend I have flew in from Holland to fix my computer.  Ok, he flew in from Holland for some training, but while he was here he fixed my computer.   (I like the way it sounds the first way better).   The computer runs fine now, though there is a big plastic bag full of parts (I’m not kidding) that he said I really didn’t need and could probably sell (so why were they there in the first place?).   So soon, when I get back into a routine, and break away from my new habit, I mean hobby, I will begin to write again, several times a week.

Did you hear that?  Several times a week.  I plan to write several times a week.  If you are close, nag me.  Really.

Happy New Year