Happy New Year to one and all. Thanks for stopping by my place on the internet. My new year had quite the ‘different’ ring to it this year. I entered 2009 computer-less , unplugged and disconnected from my much needed and much loved blogosphere-land called the World Wide Web.

I have a habit routine (who doesn’t). I come home from my day and ‘catch-up’ on my connected world. I came home from work last week and was denied the one thing that I guess you would call my hobby.

I turned my computer on and went about my business. Changed, chatted with my beautiful wife, took out my contacts, blah, blah, blah. When I returned to the ‘office’, my computer screen was asking me to proceed in ‘safe mode’. (uh-oh~ not good)

Now I’ve visited ‘safe-mode’ land more times than I’d like to confess admit. Just like the rest of the world, I’ve had my ups and downs, my trials and tribulations with personal computers. Everything from accidentally re-formatting my hard drive, to inserting the wrong disc at the wrong time during re-boot. (Yes, that’s a true story) So my ‘spidey-sense’ was activated, but I wasn’t sweating just yet. I mean for all I know, the start-up program could have just had an attitude adjustment… right? RIGHT?!

I won’t go into the horribly painful details, but it involved a maniacal cycle of reboot – safe mode – restart- no memory – no hard drive- no operating system- WTF?! It entailed a trip to the local electronics store to purchase new hardware. It involved reformatting and re-installing software (including a new operating system). The process lasted 2 1/2 days, and ended with my ‘borrowing’ a relatives boot disc and operating system that FAILED miserably. It was not pretty. Lets just say the language that emanated from my lips… was … errr… ummm.. colorful (and that’s putting it mildly)

I can proudly say I didn’t break anything within arms reach nor did I destroy any innocent by-standing furniture.

Side note: Thankfully my wife’s computer was operational, and I could get a quick look-see at my email during this debacle.

New Year’s day came.

I spent the better part of the day swimming, surfing, and drowning on the internet exploring my options. More grunting, groaning, clicking, backwards, forwards, WTF?!

I SCOURED the internet for viable options. I didn’t want to have to buy a new computer. Granted, ole Bessie was over 4 yrs old. I had abused her something fierce. I added, updated, revamped, and upgraded just about every piece of hardware and software she could take. (including 2 separate disc drives, and an external hard drive)

But dammit, I didn’t want to fork-over the mullah needed for a new toy.

If you’ve visited my blog over the past couple days, I did surrender. I purchased a new toy.

I can confess and at least rationalize that I explored all viable options (for me personally). I am not a guru that can build his own computer from scratch. I do need some help from time to time with the detailed specifics of my operating system. There ARE things I cannot fix on my own when it comes to a computer. So my purchase was based on what I needed now, what needs I forecasted for the next couple years, and of course what I was capable of handling.

Outside the amount of money we (yes I must include my wife) dumped into the new tower, it’s a dream machine. It perform above my expectations and I’m very happy with my decision.

I just HATE how it all PAYED played out.

So my next major obstacle is creating a solid back-up plan for my cherished computer and all it’s contents. One that I’ll follow and use! Any suggestions?

Although my pocket book doesn’t feel very happy, it has been a happy new year for me and my wife.

Look out 09!

Carpe Diem