You know, computers suck.
I mean, I love them and everything they do, but they really are inconvenient at times.
Let me explain…
After an extremely exhausting Monday rushing around with Dad errands (including an interminable sojourn to the Toledo Clinic), I found myself unable to finish my usual duties at the store. I mean, technically I only reserve Mondays for paying bills, updating my records, and moving stock around to make room for the new shipment on Tuesday. But I am, after all, in the middle of a big renovation and there were some minor paint jobs I wanted to work on as well as trying to get some poster art up on the walls to liven the place up a bit. The small amount of mail order I due was also a couple of days behind (They are coming now, Ernie and Will…taken to the post office yesterday!) getting shipped out. I had a list of stuff and everything…
Unfortunately, the best laid plans and all of that crap.
I didn’t get much done on Monday. By the time I was finished with my Dad errands and got back to the store it was already after 6 and I had a date to meet some friends over at Doc Watson’s for dinner and a drink or two. When I took of to meet the gang I had kinda sorta promised myself that I would come back to the store and get SOMETHING done before heading home. Unfortunately, after two beers and way too much fried food I couldn’t work up the energy to go back to the store. Instead, I reasoned, I’ll just go home and work on the laptop and still get something accomplished before going to bed.
Well, I did get some stuff done, but not nearly enough before sinking into my bed. I made a solemn vow seconds before slipping off to Dream Land that Tuesday was gonna be my day and that I had plenty of time to get everything done if I just went in a little early and got started promptly. I was actually quite pleased at the amount of catch up work I completed in the first two hours I was here.
Then…disaster struck.
Have I mentioned how much computers suck?
I had a very old Apple brand router that I have used in the store since the beginning of time. It has served me ably, but I knew its service time was drawing to a close. Unfortunately, I was too lazy or too complacent or both to actually go out and buy a new router before the old one crapped out. Maybe I thought it would be disrespectable to abandon the poor thing after it has served so well for so many years. In any case, while I was waiting for UPS to bring me the weekly shipment from Diamond, I was fooling around with my poster idea. This involved steadfastly refusing to no longer put tack holes in the wall for securing posters and instead employing low cost poster frames to make the whole presentation look a little more professional and neat. I didn’t realize that, while I was scurrying up and down the New Release rack measuring and securing my first new poster frame, that the Apple router had quietly passed away. I didn’t notice until I took a break and was checking the store’s e-mail and realized with sadness what had happened.
Surprisingly, I didn’t panic. After all, I knew this was coming and I supposed that if it was going to happen his was as good a day as any and it was definitely better than it happening on a Wednesday afternoon. My roommate David was already planning on coming in to work on painted the big showcase, so I called him up and asked him to come in quickly so that he could watch the store and catch the UPS shipment while I went off to WalMart to grab a new router. I went and got the router (a small adventure in and of itself, but it’s still not terribly interesting) and returned to the store. At this point, the shipment had arrived, David was doing an excellent paint job on the old counter, and the router was touted as being easy to install by essentially containing no instructions whatsoever. So I unboxed it and set about connecting everything up. This was going to take 15-20 minutes and then I could get at lest one more poster up before I tackled unpacking the shipment. I’m sure you can infer at this point that nothing was going to go right at this point.
First off, it costs me nothing to admit that I am an idiot when it comes to electronics. I don’t know what my damage is, but I cannot help making hooking up things three times more complicated than it actually is. So I disconnected the rat nest of cords and wires in order to extract the Fallen Device from my set up. I kissed the dead Apple router gently and then tossed it in the trash. When I turned around, new router firmly in hands, I realized that I had no idea what connected to what. As I mentioned above, this is not a new sensation for me. I sighed and began picking my way through the cords and connections. Eventually, after a little trial and error, the likes of which could be compared to assembling a jigsaw puzzle, everything came together and I turned on the new device. As it roared to life I turned to the laptop to synch it up and restore internet capability. Then disaster struck…or at least mild inconvenience…
It didn’t work. The computer briefly synched up to the new router and then it just…stopped. What I mean to say is the computer lost all connection the new network AND it refused to detect ANY networks. Understand that there are generally as many as a dozen or more networks typically showing up around here during the day. So either the entire internet disappeared in a poof or there was something wrong. You can probably see where this is going.
Well, long story short (That was actually a joke for Hillman), something something Windows gazpacho just took out the computer’s ability to detect wifi networks. I eventually figured this out once I realized there other devices in the store to test the connection, including my phone and cash register, and they connected just fine. At least my ability to ring people up and get credit card payments was restored. But the computer stubbornly refused to acknowledge any networks. “LA LA LA LA!,” it exclaimed with hands clasped over its ears, “There ARE no networks.” I thought it might be lying to me, so I started doing the usua…rebooting the computer, rebooting the router, and clicking through diagnostic routines. “Okay, you got me,” the computer quietly admitted, cursor downcast, “It might be a driver problem. I don’t know.”
Success! I knew what a driver is and I vaguely knew how to check them and update them! How young and foolish I think I was back in those days…those heady hours and hours ago. Jumping ahead through the story of my initial optimism, then confusion, then profound irritation, and soul shattering despair, I couldn’t figure out what he problem actually entailed. Then I began consulting my “experts” in these matters and Cyn Mackley and Ryan Rigaux ably and unstintingly provided a great deal of support during this trying time, but, alas, none of us could figure out the solution to the problem. In despair I cast about for any person who could help during this Crisis of Infinite Proportions. (Apologies for not thinking of Aaron Melzak!) Mind racing I finally realized who I could message who is helpful AND close at hand. The inestimable Ben Sweetser! Ben helpfully swung by the shop, and, like, 10 minutes later has everything up and running! It was like, dare I say it? Magic!
So everything is up and running again. I mean, I still had to stay at the shop until around 11pm on Tuesday to finish the job of unpacking and sorting the comics, but that’s the life of a comic shop owner.
So thanks to everyone who helped out, especially Ben! Oh…and sometimes computers suck.
We got in the CRAZY sized POP Jumbo Marvel Galactus PX 10IN Metallic Fig this week! I’m not kidding at all. It’s “Give-It-A-Shelf-All-Its-Own” size. And it has the cutest itsy bitsy Silver Surfer figure to go with it. Frankly, I love it. If I had the space I’d take one home. While supplies last we’ve got them at SRP of $45.99. This one is already sold out from Diamond so once they’re gone, they’re gone…
I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday afternoon. The shot, of course, didn’t bother me at all. I did feel a little dizzy in the hours after I was administered it. When I got up this morning I felt more or less same as usual. I’m feeling a little tired now, but, hell, I don’t know if it has anything to do with he shot or if it is just usual tiredness…lol. I guess it’s good I’m not feeling sick.
Well, that’s it for me this week. Now that everything is back to normal for the time being I am going to spend the afternoon trying to get some paperwork caught up. I’ll post the links to this week’s FOC soon so take a look and see if anything catches your eye. Have a great weekend!
Eddie