On Monday night I broke my work computer. I was walking up the stairs in fuzzy socks and I slipped and it hit the floor from maybe a foot up, right on the corner. The screen (which was open because it takes a while for the log-in screen to appear so I generally open it while I’m walking to wherever I’m going to use it), dissolved into a mess of pixels before going black. It wouldn’t turn back on again.
My work computer is MY computer these days. It has been for a long time. My actual personal computer is a white MacBook. I mention the color because the white ones haven’t been made in many years. Technically it works, but it can’t really support its operating system so everything moves VERY SLOWLY. Like painstakingly slowly. It also has no available storage. I stopped using it about three years ago when I started needing to take my work computer home (because I had to take it between the two schools). I even back up my phone, and download my photos, onto my work computer these days. So when I broke it, I was pretty distraught.
Tuesday the entire tech department of our district was taking a sick day in protest of proposed cuts, so I had to drop it off knowing it wasn’t going to be looked at. I got a loaner laptop from the secretary at my first school and then another from my second school.
You forget how well your computer knows you until you are using some other random laptop. None of my regular websites auto-filled after the first few letters were typed, none of my usernames and passwords auto-populated. None of my Word files were accessible (I didn’t have the time to access my Dropbox). If I create a new Word file I couldn’t print it and had to email it to myself to have a copy. It was just a mess, especially since I use my computer during every single class.
On Tuesday I also broke my rolling briefcase bag that serves as my portable office as I travel between campuses. I actually bought a protection plan on it, but couldn’t find the receipt for long enough that I got pretty upset. I eventually did find an adequate form of proof of purchase but of course the process for actually registering my “replacement plan” and accessing it is long and grueling. The whole thing has just required a ton of time and stress and on top of the broken computer, it felt like adding insult to injury.
I also had a super long staff meeting that ended up being an even bigger waste of time than usual. I am always trying to fit so many things into the afternoons of my weekdays, it’s incredibly frustrating to have to waste two hours on something that feels totally unproductive. I absolutely loathe staff meetings. And we had a professional development on Wednesday afternoon! Why two days in a row?! So unnecessary!
Did I mention that my daughter came to school with me on Tuesday? Because it was Lunar New Year so she had off and I didn’t and I thought it would be good to get her annual “take your daughter to work day” checked off early. She loves coming to my school and was so excited to be there, but it was a long day and we were both very frayed by the end of it (especially after the staff meeting)!
I also need to get a new phone, because at this point I need to restart mine about 3×4 times a day and it’s a constant source of frustration. I’ve had it for almost four years so I feel satisfied enough with how long it’s lasted. But I have no desire to get anything new or fancier, so it sucks that my old one is crapping out of me.
Anyway. Tuesday sucked, and I was really exhausted by the time I got home.
Luckily Wednesday was better. First of all, I started my period, which might sound shitty, and certainly isn’t fun, but definitely improves my mood. I’m not a happy camper the 2-4 days before my period starts, but I generally even out once it gets going. Yesterday I definitely understood better why Tuesday was so upsetting.
I got the ball rolling on getting my bag replaced, and while it’s been tedious and frustrating, I’m thankful the bag is being replaced and I don’t have to pay for it. It was an expensive bag and I rely on it to transport my considerable supplies from one school to another and then home again every day. I’m kind of panicked about finding a way to accomplish this without my bag for the time it will take to get it replaced.
But the best news was that the tech guy got all my information off the hard drive of my computer, even though that was ultimately the issue and it had to be replaced. So now I have my old machine back, with a new hard drive that has all my stuff. When I turned it on Chrome was altering me to the fact that it had not been shut down correctly and asking if I wanted it to restore my windows. I have never been so thrilled to read that error message.
So now my computer is back, and I’ll have a bag to transport it in soon. Oh, and I’ll have a new phone at some point too. Too bad a replacement plan won’t be paying for that.
Sounds like a stressful week, but one that is ultimately panning out okay! This reminds me to check all of my backup settings. Ha!
YES! Back ups! ALL the time.
But what a terrible pile on of upsets. Deeply glad you were not also broken in the slip and fall! A reminder of close we all are to the edge ~ sort of like the majority of the country who cannot absorb an extra unexpected cost financially. Good luck with the phone replacement ~ my daughter has had good luck buying refurbished to say money over cost of the newest and most gadget-ed.
MUCH sympathy and support!
What a relief that IT was able to recover all of your data! Technology is great, except when it fails us.
I am in a similar situation with my iPhone. It’s nearly 4 years old, and despite a battery replacement and doing every “hack” to keep from draining the battery, it’s just not working optimally any more. I will hold off on replacing it for as long as I can because I hate adjusting to a new device.