CPU CPR & The Death of an Idea

It finally happened. She died on me. Dead. As in door nail. Would someone please research where the hell THAT expression came from? She'd refused to go to sleep for some time now, simply shutting down altogether and restarting if I tried to make her. Short of that she was running fine, so I lived in a state of denial, until that morning I came out of the bedroom to find her........DEAD.

After mashing the power button, unplugging and re-plugging her power cord, opening the back and staring at her innards, all to no avail, I knew it was time to take that half-hour drive to the other side of Jacksonville to the Apple store, that Mecca of the Mac faithful I'd always wanted to make a pilgrimage to, only under different circumstances, preferably with lots of money to spend. After finding a parking space something like three blocks away, I carried her lifeless corpse into the stylish store and was told by the kid less than half my age that I needed to make an appointment at the "genius bar", which had me standing around for an hour salivating at all the cool Apple stuff I couldn't afford until they could get to me. The 24 inch Imac looked like a St Bernard compared to my 17 inch Yorky, but hey, all that LCD real estate is overkill anyway; my baby gives me all the visual pleasure I need.

After a close examination and diagnosis by their resident geek who actually knew the difference between capacity and a capacitor, the kid took what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time on his laptop finding that yes, my computer had been cursed with the famous G-5 Imac Power Supply problem, and that yes, it was covered under a special extended warranty, so that the repair would be fully covered, and that I would have my baby back in no more than a couple of days. Once again, I knew why I would never own anything other than an Apple; never had, never will.

Now she's back home, running better than ever, and I'm trying to catch up on my blog. So follow along, my loyal fans, as I bring you all up to speed.

After a relatively short and tumultuous life, I have put Freedom's Place to rest. I will leave it to those who participated and those who read what resulted as to whether or not it was a marginal success or an utter failure in democratic literacy. What amazed me was how hot it got sometimes for no real reason other than someone's desire to stir things up, again, for no real reason, at least none that I was ever able to figure out. Sometimes I think that no matter WHAT one publishes to the net, there is someone out there who will dispute it with extreme prejudice, just to see themselves type. Some have tried to explain the phenomenon on the lack of body language, and that I can understand, were it not for the fact that some comments were made with such meanness ingrained within their font that no amount of body language would have altered their flavor. You need only examine the numerous contributions and comments that were made that did not rely on any kind of vitriol to see how possible it was to examine the human condition without all the drama. If you have two possible responses to what Jane says, one being, "Jane, I disagree with you, and here's why....", or the other, "Jane, you ignorant slut......", well, you can't blame that second choice on body language.

I also discovered that although I might absolutely ADORE the writing style of a person, I don't necessarily have to LIKE that person. Some I can even tolerate to some degree, because, after all, many of our friends have quirks that don't HAVE to be deal killers when it comes to putting up with them. Some I even discovered you can only like while they are ALLOWING you to, which sounds kind of strange unless you have experienced it the way I have. One thing I have learned getting as old as I have gotten is that not everyone can love me as much as I would like to be loved. Not unless I want to bend over backwards and kiss their ass, which I shouldn't have to. I am not always as smart as I think I am, I have been known on occasion to say stupid things that I regret later having said, and I have personality traits that I will probably never overcome to my own benefit, but when push comes to shove, I AM basically a nice, good person with good intentions, and given time, I think it becomes obvious to anyone without a personal axe to grind with the universe. So, those who remain loyal to These Thoughts will do so only because they find a certain comfort level that they know I can provide them, while those with issues will find my blog wanting, which is fine by me.

If I haven't thanked you, my steadfast friends, for being so, then allow me to do so now.

Oh, and the goats are fine. As is the dog, the cats, AND the gecko.

Kindness, it ain't easy, but it's possible!