What a whacky week

Here I was thinking my schedule would ease off a bit, because I finished teaching this term on Monday and I'd only have to worry about my day job for a few weeks, except of course, once extra time opened up, other activities expanded into that extra time, so there goes my down time! At least I don't have to shuttle back and forth between jobs until mid-January!

Part of the activities have been taken up by the day job. It's one of those jobs that will just expand itself into the amount of time you give it. Plus, I open my house up to friends and family around New Years every year (it's a Japanese tradition), so I've been trying to clean and fix things up before the 29th.

Last week was declutter week, and it was FREEZING, literally -- it was actually in the 20s in the Bay Area one night -- so when I did my yearly scrounging for items to donate, I included with the normal stuffed animals, kitchenware, bedding and assorted clothing, a winter coat, insulated jacket, sweaters and some long-sleeved shirts, because I figured someone would really need those this year. I recycled a pile of research papers I'd had for something like 5 years, because most of them I can get online now, and threw away a 32-gallon can of junk. I also drained the spa.

I didn't do anything in the house during the week, because I've been putting in extra hours at work to get things organized in our new office, and I've been exhausted at night. I filled the spa yesterday (Saturday) while I was organizing some files and re-organizing my closets. Except I forgot I was filling it and it overflowed. I powered it up anyway, figuring the jets would splash out the excess water, closed the cover and headed back in the house. I was tired, and after dinner I even skipped a party I'd been looking forward to attending all month!

I climbed into bed, opened my PowerBook and got a message that the OS needed updating. I started the update, clicked over to the Crossword I was working on... and nodded off! I wasn't going to accomplish anything, so I shut the 'book, turned out the light and was out cold before my head even hit the pillow. This was midnight. I normally fall asleep at about 1:30.

At 6:30, my eyes popped open, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I fed the animals, made oatmeal and coffee for my housemate, who had to be up early, went outside to the spa, and lifted the cover, looked at the display, and nothing! No lights, no error message, zip! And the water was COLD! So I turned off the breaker for a minute, flipped it back on, and still nothing! Then I noticed the water on the bricks running out from under the tub, so opened the housing and saw water running down from the depths of the insulation. I must have overflowed or overloaded something in the structure, which sprang a leak and shorted out the electrical system. Great. Now I have to call in the spa repair guys... arrrgh!!!

I went back in the house and opened the Powerbook to try and find the number. The little beachball that tells you it's in the middle of a process started its spin, and as I waited for the login window, I heard the hard disk spin down and then the display shut off. I hit a key to start it again, and it did that again... and again! So I shut down the power completely and restarted. The little Apple appeared to tell me it was booting, and the hard disk started up, and I waited.... and waited... then I set the thing on the floor and did something else for awhile and came back. Still on the same screen. So I tried a couple more times with no success. I'm on my way out the door right now to a cookie baking party, at which there will be a few computer geeks, so I'm bringing the thing with me, hoping they can fix it. If not, I may just buy a new computer!

Oh yeah, I'm late for the party!!!