I’m ba-a-a-ck!
Many thanks to everyone who checked in via comments and email to see if I’m still alive. I am. In fact, I finally feel as though I’m (dare I whisper the words?) *making progress*. It hasn’t been smooth, though.
I’ve always figured household appliances and electronics are not only sentient, but also conspiring to torment humans. So I wasn’t overly surprised when, not long after my laptop caught fire, my desktop computer ground to an error-ridden halt.
Since there was no actual threat to our lives this time, the desktop’s demise merely made me shrug. I spewed a few quiet profanities; but my heart wasn’t really in it. I only had to reload the operating system. I had a bare-metal system backup. No problem.
I fired up the restore program with confidence, and the computer cooperatively ran through the process. Then it popped up a message: “I restored everything just like you asked. Well, everything except the stuff I chewed into a garbled mess just for shits and giggles. Suck on that, meatbag! Hahahaha!!!” (Okay, I might be paraphrasing that message.)
The resulting blue screen offered a few options; but it was only taunting me. Every option pretended to do something just long enough to raise my hopes and waste my time, then it crashed back to the original BSOD. (That’s a geek acronym that stands for ‘Blue Screen of Death’; but if you were thinking it was an abbreviation for BASTARD SOD, well, close enough.)
Fortunately I had more backups. (Yes, I’m completely anal-retentive.)
So I got the desktop computer running again without losing data; but I lost a lot of time. And then it was my corporate yearend, and the black hole of bookkeeping and taxes sucked me down. I clawed my way free only a few weeks ago with my brain wrung out and twitching… just in time for all the last-minute Christmas baking and shopping and New Year’s socializing.
But I sneaked in a few precious hours between crises, so I did get some work done on the (hopefully not cursed) Book 18.
And here we are in a brand-new year. I’m not going to make any foolishly optimistic predictions, but I’m hoping for lots more productive writing time!
Happy New Year!
Book 18 update: I’m at the mid-point of the book, woohoo! Aydan has been demoted twice (in one day) and assigned to a new partner-in-charge who’s completely squirrelly; and she has less than 24 hours to find and save two innocent people from dismemberment and death… all while avoiding an assassin. Plus, Kane is hiding something and refuses to talk about it. Pretty much par for the course for Aydan, but suddenly my own life looks remarkably simple and trouble-free! 😉
Author Diane Henders 
Welcome back, Diane! I’m glad you taught that BSOD a lesson. I happen to know that term as well, from my geeky husband. 🙂 And, it seems like you’re making decent progress on the writing projects. Of course, irony remains part of your life. I feel we have that in common, for sure.
Here is our latest: We woke up to an entirely flat tire in the morning and – through deduction and reasoning and realization – discovered that a screw had fallen out of our camper because of the bumpy terrain, it fell to the ground, and we backed up and ran over it when getting settled to camp. You can’t make this shit up!
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Aargh, you’re KIDDING!!! (Okay, I know you’re not – like you say, you can’t make this shit up.) Murphy’s Law is ever-present.
And I’m hoping the BSOD takes the hint and doesn’t come back. Ever. (Although I realize that’s probably asking too much.) 😉
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Glad to hear everything is ok. All of it must have been so frustrating, but had to laugh with “I restored everything just like you asked. Well, everything except the stuff I chewed into a garbled mess just for shits and giggles. Suck on that, meatbag! – Hahahaha!!!”
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I’m glad you got a laugh! I can’t remember what the actual message was (definitely something much less inflammatory) but the meaning was the same. I love computers… but only when they work!
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I am so glad to see this. I was about to phone you I was so worried after your comment on my blog post. There is no such thing as too many backups, that is for sure. Glad you and your computer are both up and running.
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Yep, we’re both chugging along; and thanks for your concern. 🙂 I see I’ve missed one of your flash fiction pieces, so I’ll be over to see you on your blog soon!
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I sent the link in an email. Waiting for your reaction
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Got it, and duly hopped over to comment. Your Rick O’Shea noirs have the BEST lines! (And groaners, which is part of fun.) 🙂
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I’m ready for 2026. The end of 2024 was a bit frustrating, though, in terms of a new computer build. I need something powerful enough for 4K60P video editing. Spent a month picking out and comparing components. Got everything I needed. Assembled. Aaaaand…nothing. Turns on for half a second with a “00” error code on the motherboard. So it turns out the top Intel i9-14900K processor doesn’t work with the “compatible” motherboard.
So what do I do? It’s been sitting here for nearly a month now. I typically have had OS/software compatibility problems any time I’ve built a system with an AMD processor (except, weirdly, in my 12 year old laptop) but even my buddy who retired from Intel admitted it might be better to go with AMD. If the previous generation i9-13900 (in any variation) will work, I may do that, and return the 14900.
Short version? I hate computers.
As for 2025…yeah, like I said, bring on 2026. Won’t go into details of Jan 2 and the fallout, but the omen for 2025 to be a bad year had to be waking up in Orange Beach, AL on Jan 1 getting texts messages from various friends and family members…”Are you OK?” We had been in New Orleans for four days…but we left the morning of Dec 31. I mean, family should have known that we wouldn’t have been out at 3:30am partying on Bourbon St. (we were actually passed out by 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve…didn’t someone mention “old”?), but we still had to reassure them. We did visit Bourbon Street two days prior but could only drive a couple of blocks since they had the street closed in a few places.
At least we had temps in the mid 60s, a beach view from the balcony, and my better half only had one gastric attack while we were on the trip.
The drive home was…interesting. We had that major storm heading across the midsection of the US. We were planning on leaving Orange Beach early Saturday morning, driving to Louisville to stay the night, leaving us with only a 5½ hour drive home. I kept an eye on the radar and the forecasts, trying to plan around it.
But due to what happened on Jan 2, she didn’t want to ride in the car. So Saturday afternoon, I dropped her off at the Pensacola airport at 12:20pm, then made the decision en route to…drive all the way through. Even if I stretched my goal to Louisville (which was around 10:15pm), I’d wake up to the storm even if I got up early. I did really well until I got fuzzy around Findlay OH (1¾ hours from home), but I made it by 4:30am. 16 hours including the hour trip from hotel to airport. 🥳
Other than all that…it’s good to hear from you! I figured life had gotten in the way, but still had to check in…
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Wow, what a killer drive! At least it wasn’t a literal killer… which I guess was the whole point of the exercise. Glad you’re both safe and well! (Although I’m willing to bet you aren’t eager to see the inside of a car again for a little while.)
Computers, ARGH! Ya gotta love it when the brand-new-out-of-the-box gear doesn’t work with its “compatible” hardware. I hope you get everything figured out, without committing homicide or electronicide in the interim.
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Happy New Year
Good to have you back, your silence had me thinking that the dreaded big one had come and I hadn’t been invited.
Welcome back and don’t be a stranger
Blair Backman
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Thanks, Blair! Nope, no ‘Big One’ just yet. Fingers crossed that it holds off for another few decades; when I’m not around to care anymore. 😉
Happy New Year to you, too!
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The only reliable backups Ive had on the homefront is using an additional hdd in a caddy and meticulouly copying any folder that has useful information from one to the other. The OS as you say is easy, programs dont scare me, I hate redoing settings though.
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Same here. The system restore is easy, if not particularly quick; but at least you can walk away and when you come back it’s done. And for data backups I’ve written a batch file to copy all data from my main hard drive(s) to the backpack drive, so that’s easy, too: Start the batch file and walk away. I still haven’t succumbed to the lure of cloud backups – I’m just little too paranoid. 😉
And you’re right: Updating the settings (and running all the system updates after a restore) takes FOREVER! Blech.
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Sorry for your troubles! Good luck
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Thank you! My troubles are very small and few compared to many people’s, but I appreciate the good luck all the same. 🙂
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Glad to hear you’re still alive. I had feared that your computer had in fact eaten you or somehow managed to enslave you. I am certain that Satan had a lot to do with the design of computer systems.
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Isn’t that the truth! I suspect I’m enslaved, but at least I haven’t been eaten… yet. Fingers crossed! 🙂
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Hearing from you is like hearing from my best friend! Tho today you have exceeded her in tech drama! Thrilled you are back and Happy New Year!
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Aw, thank you so much! It’s good to be back, and your comment made my day! 🙂
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Welcome back. Aaaargh on the tech issues.
Your final sentence reminds me of part of the reason I do volunteer work. No matter how stuffed my life feels I listen to a few of our callers telling of lives that would have me velcroed to the carpet under the bed and refusing to come out and am reminded of just how lucky I am.
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Thank you, EC. Your volunteer work always inspires me! I often feel ashamed at how I whine over ‘difficulties’ that would seem like delightful luxuries to others less fortunate.
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