Sigh. Our computer has chosen to vacation without us. It’s physically with us but unresponsive. So no more blog updates until we’re back home.
We have a Dell Inspiron 5150, which (we find out now) is notorious for overheating and melting components around the power supply. Dell U.S. recently settled a class action lawsuit by offering to pay for repairs to all their customers, but since we bought ours through Dell Canada, we’re still stuck. Dell said they would fix it by replacing the motherboard (with a new but still poorly-designed one) for $500. Instead we opted to send it to Absolute Raleigh, a shop in North Carolina that fixes this exact problem regularly for less. When we got it back it worked for a couple of days, then quit powering on. You hit the power button and the power light just blinks for a few seconds, then goes dead. I’m trying to get back in touch with Absolute Raleigh to see what’s up, but of course this had to happen over Christmas…!
I’m not too impressed with Dell at the moment. And trying to decide if we continue to put money into this laptop or get a new one (or be happy with just our desktop).
Sunday
We took it easy Sunday. Hung out at the Wycliffe apartment, went swimming, read books, recouperated from the trip. Mom dropped by in the afternoon, gave us supper and our cell phone. Roy & Becky and family dropped by briefly to say hello.
Monday
Monday was our official “visit Wycliffites” day. The kids enjoyed the Word Spring museum–lots of interactive exhibits for them, and lots of real information for us adults.
Met the Bruneaus at the cafe across the hall for lunch and swapped Canada stories. Kenan thought George was Santa Claus–apparently it was “hat day” in his office.
The Thomas the Train set we’re borrowing from the Eyres is a mixed blessing–the kids love it, but they’re having more trouble than usual sharing!
Tuesday
Tuesday was Eyre Day – another visit with the Eyres, a bit longer than on Sunday but still fairly rushed as Christmas season is here, with all its events, and the Eyres are happenin’ people! 🙂 But we managed to squeeze in an afternoon and dinner, get caught up on each other, and let our kids get over their shyness (in about 30 seconds). I don’t think Shana ever stopped laughing at Aidan and Cotter’s antics.
Tonight is cleanup night: laundry, repack everything, baths for the kids (blogging for me so I get out of some of it–I’m no dummy!), and tomorrow we’re off to Sanibel Island for a week at the beach.
We have a Saturn Relay, and we’re all in love with it. Helen and I love the dual powered sliding doors. We also love the remote starter and heated seats, except those features are totally wasted down here! The kids love the fact that the doors slide open automatically when they pull their ear lobes (somehow it only works when Daddy suggests it) but their favourite feature is the DVD player!
On our five hour layover in Hamilton, we had a surprise visit from G&G and Kipper! A wonderful blessing to all of us, the kids because they were entertained, the parents because they got a bit of a rest during a long day’s traveling.
Forget about Y2K–the space shuttles just have a Y problem!
The space agency likely will not attempt to launch past December 17 since flight controllers want Discovery on the ground before the new year.
Shuttle computers are not designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. A potential solution to the problem has not been thoroughly tested.
(From News24.com.)
We’re hoping tomorrow’s scheduled shuttle launch gets delayed at least a few days, because then we may be able to watch it!
The Twizzler 