Computers

As a kid, I didn’t really eat pie very often. When we had dessert, I most often went for cake or ice cream. Or brownies. Or some combination of those. Or all of them.

Regardless, I have developed an appreciation for pie later in life. I will never turn down some warm apple pie or a decadent slice of key lime pie.

I have found a new kind of pie I want to try recently: raspberry. But you can’t eat this kind of pie. I have bought a Raspberry Pi, a mini-computer designed to teach students how to code and explore the world of technology.

I had a dream. I dreamt I could order piece of a computer on the Internet and easily build my own machine. My family would live in a land of speed and magic.

That’s what I thought three months ago when I hatched this scheme. To make things worse, I told friends about it and even wrote a column. A couple of people I know asked me questions in the ensuing weeks. I had some trouble carving time into my schedule at first to set up the new system so I had a good excuse.

I finally had a chance one night to hook everything up. As I wrote before, I have done a number of upgrades on computers in the past, but this would be my first attempt at building one from scratch.

Naturally, the thing didn’t work on my first try. I got a whir from the fan, but the rest of the system wouldn’t start. I took a few deep breaths and headed to the Internet to see if I could figure out how to diagnose the problem.

As I wrote this, the pieces of my new computer sit in several boxes in my basement.

I didn’t go on some angry tirade and break the thing apart. The shipping company didn’t drop a box and shatter the thing. In fact, nothing bad happened.

I have decided to build our new computer from scratch.

Apparently Apple released some sort of new phone the other day. I think I heard about it because people were camped out in front of stores hours before they opened to get the new product.

I may be wrong though because I think these Apple people were camped out in front of stores a few weeks ago for something else new, something I heard described as just a really big phone without the phone capability.

So I didn’t know at first if they really had a new phone out or if these people had just missed the memo and showed up too late for the iPad thingamajig. Or maybe they just like spending the night in front of Apple stores.

I stopped by to see Maria at work last weekend. She just started working at a shop called Treasures downtown. I had nothing better to do since it was near the end of the Thanksgiving holiday.
With several days off, Maria at work, and Bridget spending several days at my mother-in-law’s, I had lots of time to kill. Luckily, I have almost qualified for an advanced degree in wasting excess free time. I looked at the few days as a challenge, not a burden.
I did the things that I do best. I played video games. I practiced my guitar. I watched a few of my favorite “Leave it to Beaver” episodes.

You are supposed to be reading a column about Easter, but my computer is jealous. At least that’s the only explanation I came come up with why my laptop died the other day.

I wrote while I ate lunch at work and everything seemed fine. An hour later, I popped open the lid of my two-year-old workhorse so I could listen to some of the music I had stored on there.