Monday 27 February 2012

Save The Planet

The power supply that I have been waiting on, which I need to repair my ailing and long suffering computer was delivered today. Yay! I have been going to the track and trace site for both the US post office and the Canadian post office on a daily basis. For the past week and a half neither post office acknowledged that there is/was a parcel of that description now or ever in their system.

I was about to fire off an email to the company that I ordered the part, telling them that they may have made an error and failed to ship the parcel. It must be their fault, because how would two efficiently run government agencies (one of them the agency that proved there was a Santa Clause in the Christmas classic “Miracle on 34th Street”) make that kind of screw up? I don’t know how they did it, but screw up they did. Somehow, in spite of all of the checks and balances, I received the package without it showing up on either post office’s track and trace.

I guess that I should be grateful that it was delivered in a timely and efficient manner and that it arrived in one piece without dents, scratches or missing parts. Go post office!!!

Now, I have to actually install the power supply instead of just talking about it. I opened the box and it looked like an octopus from Chernobyl. How am I going to figure out where everything is supposed to go? I made a work station on the kitchen table and started to label wires and groups of wires that looked alike which only left a couple that I had to guess at. I don’t know a lot about electronics, but one thing I do know is that you aren’t really supposed to guess. That kind of thinking can start fires, electrocute older bloggers or fry about a thousand bucks worth of computer. Fingers crossed!

I hooked up all of the wires, cables and plugged the power cord into the wall. The fans started to whir and the blue operating light came on. Well, it did for about ten seconds. Shit! I pressed the button again and F2 several times. It started! I have access to my main computer again. It may only be for a short while, but at least I didn’t blow that money needlessly which was what I was beginning to think I did. The computer is four years old which is pretty old in computer but not so much if you were a tree or building. I will admit that it is almost impossible to send or receive an email with a tree or building.

I think I am going to keep my eyes open for a replacement machine. I hope and pray that this is the fix that I want it to be, but in my heart of hearts I don’t think it is. I guess if I wanted to be one of the cup is half full kind of guys I would say that I am wrong about things more than I am right, so, working on that premise, then perhaps the machine will run for another ten years. Uh-huh…right!

I posted on facebook that the machine was running and a friend sent kudos that I was saving the planet and reusing, repairing and reducing my carbon imprint. I have tried to do my bit to save the planet, and continue to do so in my own small ways. I use a push mower, I ride my bike when I can, I recycle, I turn off lights when I leave a room and I even try to grow a little food. Some of them I am proud of. To be honest though, the only reason I repaired the computer is that I don’t have any desire to spend the money on a new one. Maybe it will be the cheap bastards that save the planet in the end.

1 comment:

  1. Ha, its so true, I'm a cheap bastards for sure and I probably have the smallest carbon foot print out of most people we know. My only vehicle is my home, and I removed the steering column last year to get the bed to fit. A truck would be handy living in the bush but then I'd have to work more. I burn less than 200 lbs of propane a year to cook on, and about that in the winter to heat water(which I was to cheap to do last year) I'm gonna be dropping 2 grand on renos for my home and that seams like a lot to me, and my home is entirely gutted. Materials usually fall into my lap. Last year I built a shed entirely out of reused materials and only had to make 5 cuts. After I finished wrapping it in plastic due to not having materials to build walls a friend dropped off some 2x6 and old siding. Man I am a cheap bastards to! And I'm gonna save the world! ... Or at least my self...

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