Tech Tuesday–When A Window Closes

So, last Tuesday I was home sick as a dog.  102°+ fever.  Sweating.  Couching.  Runny nose.  The works.

So, of course, I was still working.

Anyway, my laptop decided to try this new trick on me.  Every 30 seconds, just like clock work, all the windows would minimize to the task bar.  They wouldn't close.  Just minimize.

It didn't matter what app: Word.  IE.  Chrome.  All minimized.

It didn't matter if you let the screen be or were typing.  All minimized.

Trying to Google what the F* the problem is?  It would minimize 3 times while trying to type the search terms into the bar while you're trying not to hack up a lung.

So, I tried using the system restore points.  No good.

How can you possibly (app minimizes)…

… use a laptop when every time you (app minimizes)…

… try typing something it seems like your (app minimizes)…

… computer is performing some sick torture on your (app minimizes)…

… already tortured being.

I fired off Norton to see what it would tell me, and it reported an error.  So, I went to the Norton site, entered the error code, and started a chat with "Team India".  The guy on the other end was oddly helpful.

I have Comcast internet, and it appears that somehow they had given me an app called "Fast Connect", and it was seriously messing with things.  We uninstalled that, uninstalled Norton, reinstalled Norton, and then re-downloaded all the security updates.

And now, all my windows say open.

Cyber-Monday – Gone Fishing

Welcome to Cyber Monday, the place where old bloggers rediscover their mojo, if at least for a day.

My story for the day:

Over Thanksgiving, I was talking to my mom & dad.  Apparently, one of my mom's uncles wrote a book recently about fly fishing.  We are NOT on the fishing side of the family.  And we laughed at a shorthand version of one of the few times my dad took me fishing.

I was probably 8 – 10, and my dad took me and my sister to the local lake to fish.  Not that anyone was into fishing, but it was the 70's and that's just one of the kind of things that parents did to bond with their kids.

We were casting for blue gill.  The lake (Calhoun) was only just starting it's downward spiral of silting in and mossing over, so it was really a nice day to be out there.  Warm air.  Blue sky.

We were on the bank, in the shade of a big tree tree, and I put my rod back and went to cast.  As I did so, I felt my line snag.  Thinking I snagged a tree branch, I gave my rod a couple quick tugs.

Each punctuated by a yell from my father.

Seems I hadn't snagged a tree branch, but instead had put the hook into my dad's right ear.

I don't exactly remember how the hook got out of my dad's ear, but I do know the following:

• It wasn't done at a hospital.  Unlike when I got a needle in my little toe.
• It was the end of that fishing trip.
• I'm not sure we ever went fishing again.

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