It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted with any regularity. Life has been extra busy, or at least busy with out-of-the-ordinary stuff. It’s hard to believe that the summer (speaking in terms of school rather than the season) is more than half over!
This is a bit of an unusual post, but I thought it would be a good transition back into my normal blogging routine, which amounts to roughly one post per week.
Here’s what’s been going on:
- Built a New Computer: A little over a month ago I built a new computer. Building it was actually fairly easy and a very good experience. I’ll share what I learned sometime soon. For now I’ll say that I’m fairly certain I will build from now on, unless, of course, I need a new laptop (which may be sooner rather than later; read on).
- Lightning Damage: Less than a week later, our condo suffered damage from a lightning strike. I watched as a bolt of lightning (okay, perhaps a surge of electricity) came out the front of my newly built computer, less than a minute after telling Shanna that I should probably shut it down as it would be horrible if it got fried. God was kind to me and spared the computer from any significant damage; it’s still running very well. My router was not so fortunate. But replacing a $50 router is much easier than a $600 desktop.
- No Internet: As a result of the lightning damage and some power outages, we’ve been without internet several times for several days at a time. Emails and RSS feeds don’t take a break when your internet is down.
- Parents’ Visit: My parents came for a visit on somewhat short notice and stayed with us. Shanna decided that we needed to get the house ready for them, which involved (1) cleaning out our guest room, which has a way of turning into a storage room, (2) doing a major cleaning of the whole house, for which Shanna gets most of the credit, and (3) hanging some pictures and shelves and doing some other decorating. Being that I have perfectionistic tendencies, I found myself drilling holes, filling them, painting, and then drilling new holes. This happened more than once, largely because of an inaccurate laser level.
- No AC: Our AC decided to stop working the last night that my parents were here. I was glad to be able to get someone in the next day to fix it, since it was in the mid-nineties in Greenville at the time. The $250 price tag was more than I was expecting, but the damage might have been caused by the lightning, so perhaps our condo insurance will cover it and the router. (Unfortunately, after the $250 deductible, it won’t amount to much help.)
- Anniversary in Charleston: Shanna and I went to Charleston to celebrate our third anniversary. I was able to take July 5th off instead of July 4th so we could have a longer weekend. We had a wonderful time together. (You may be interested in reading Shanna’s brief blog post and seeing some pictures.)
- Laptop Problems: My old laptop, now Shanna’s, is doing all sorts of crazy things. The video card is on its way out. This has resulted in taking the whole thing apart twice and several interesting exchanges with Dell’s technical support folk.
- Sister’s Wedding: My sister Valerie is getting married next weekend, and we’re heading to OH for her wedding. We’re very excited for her and Jon and look forward to seeing them and the rest of the family soon.
The stuff of life has been eating up my dissertation time. Hopefully the next several months will be somewhat more routine and ordinary.
